I might have to make the switch :(


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I had bought top of the line 15" MBP in Oct 2007 (Santa Rosa) and decided to pass on the apple care at the time. Within 1 year my webcam stopped working for which they replaced the screen, had graphics card issue for which they replaced the logic board. Since doing so I've my DVD drive stopped working and I've been having random shut downs. I tried taking it to the Apple store but they weren't able to recreate the issue and told me everything is fine. So I put up with it for almost another year and now yesterday it shut down on me and refuses to boot up. I've made an appointment at the genius bar tomorrow but I don't know whether they'll be able to help me since the laptop isn't under the warranty anymore. I'm pretty bummed about this given I've been extra careful with the machine the whole time and it didn't even last 2 years (paid $3K CDN in 2007).

Anyhow, in the likelihood that they ask me to pay for replacing the logic board and all I'll probably have to bite the bullet and buy another laptop. I can't afford another Apple so can you guys suggest something decent with an upper limit of $1130 CDN including tax?

I'd like Core 2 Duo, less than 15" screen, the rest I'm not picky about. I"m not a gamer and mostly use the laptop for studying, movies, music and social purposes...I've been looking at Dell Inspiron at the moment...opinions are welcome.

-BOUGHT an  ...life is good again but a little more financially indebted. I guess my reply was missed down there -

I ended up deciding to stick with the mac for a little longer and ended up getting the entry level mackbook pro. The deciding factor ended up being the magsafe adapter because I had a bunch of instances where i or someone else tripped on the wire and my laptop stayed intact. Other than that, I'll miss the power of my older laptop and going to spend the next 3 years justifying my purchase. Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I really appreciate it.

Side note...I missed the back to school promotion by 2 days, ironically it ended the same day my laptop decided to kill itself.

Edited by Clueless Fox
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Maybe something like this:

ASUS N81 Series N81Vg-X2A NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo P8700(2.53GHz) 14" 4GB Memory 320GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 120M - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16834220565

I've been using essentially the same configuration with a slightly larger display and it's be a great performer.

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Buy whichever brand is best at the time, nothing to be sad about. As a customer, being loyal to one company all the time is silly and illogical. As for brands, I wouldn't touch HP if they drove to my house and gave me one. Dell is not much better these days sadly but their laptops seem to be ok. I would go with someone like Lenovo (current makers of the former IBM Thinkpad) or perhaps Acer, but that's me. Read reviews and shop around though and if possible try them out at the store.

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good joke hp sucks ass

try the dell studio xps, those are pretty good

i thought apple hardware is good, guess not

I went to BB with a client to turn in her month-old MBP that was not working for her and her business. We picked out the Dell studio XPS 16. WOW. What a nice machine. She loves it way more than her

MBP that was about the same price.

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I'd definitely recommend a Dell laptop. If you're interested, you can get a Dell refurbished laptop from their outlet store: http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfh/notebooks/ct...s=dfh&cs=22

You can generally save quite a bit of money (anywhere from $100-$500) by buying a slightly used/returned laptop. They also come with 1-3 year warranties. My dad buys full desktops there from them all the time for awesome prices (he doesn't care/have the time to build his own).

Quote from their page:

Why Buy Refurbished Laptops?

A laptop computer is a convenient portable computer that has gained wide popularity with people who travel a lot, study in coffee shops, and particularly for those who enjoy the space saving design. Laptop computers have come a long way, with optional features such as integrated web camera for video chatting, wi-fi technology for connecting to a wireless network or an internet hot spot, mobile broadband to connect anywhere, Bluetooth reader, finger print scanner, or a space saving slot loaded disc drive.

Why buy a refurbished laptop? Not only do you get great prices on refurbished laptops, but all Dell Outlet laptops come with a 1-3 year limited hardware warranty1 and the same great service you would get with a new Dell laptops. Dell Outlet's refurbished laptop computers are cheap in price but not cheap in quality.

Dell Outlet offers three types of refurbished inventory:Certified Refurbished, Previously Ordered New and Scratch and Dent.

Since it's on a first come, first serve basis, sometimes you'll have to wait a bit to find exactly what you want or get better deals.

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hp suck...i know from personal experience last year.

dell...is pretty good... a bit expensive.

apple.....well you know, you need a small fortune to buy one.

toshiba...nice but cheaply made.

take your pick :p

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hey all,

i ended up deciding to stick with the mac for a little longer and ended up getting the entry level mackbook pro. the deciding factor ended up being the magsafe adapter because i had a bunch of instances where i or someone else tripped on the wire and my laptop stayed intact. other than that, i'll miss the power of my older laptop and going to spend the next 3 years justifying my purchase. thanks everyone for your suggestions, i really appreciate it.

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good joke hp sucks ass

try the dell studio xps, those are pretty good

+1

Every HP i have used is crap.

Since my family got it's first Dell, we sticked with it for PCs because they have not broke down at all.

Plus my cousin got a HP recently and it had like 2 or more GB of junk preloaded. <,<

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Well I have to say something nice of HP. :D

Most of my PCs have been HP, I have two HP monitors and an HP MediaSmart Server and all work great. Never had a problem with them. My sister and brother have HP laptops and they are fine too.

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alot of the refurbs look like great deals too...even for a runabout laptop...I have to keep an eye on that section more often...I don't know of any other PC vendors that have a refurb section directly on their site like Apple...I think Lenovo does but through thirdparty vendors.

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+2 here.

+3 here. Had 4 Compaqs and they have all be awesome machines. Always recommend HP machines to my clients and they have all been happy with them.

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