Thread: What kind of laptop would you get??

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So, my wife wants a laptop for her birthday and some family members are offering to pitch in some money for it.
She wants me to pick it out for her, and I am up to the challenge... but I just wanted some advice!

What kind would you get if you were looking for a good internet browsing, photo-uploading, music-listening to machine?

I have heard good things about Sony Vaios, so I am not opposed to those...
I also have had a Dell Inspiron for a while and like it okay.

I just want to make sure I don't disappoint her on her bday!

Hmm, I haven't looked into laptops in awhile. I have a Lenovo Thinkpad but I got it back before the IBM plant was moved out of the US. I also have a Samsung netbook which works quite well. I can't really offer recommendations on a specific laptop, but every single brand has problems so try to get reviews for specific models and not just for a "series". I do recommend trying to find 32 bit instead of 64 bit - unless you're a power user you won't notice a speed difference if the computer is set up properly. I see many many issues with software and drivers for things like printers and scanners with 64 bit systems. It can be very hard to find a 32 bit system nowadays, so you may not have a choice. Also, driver issues hit older equipment more than newer (though there's still plenty of new printers and things that only have 'adequate' 64 bit drivers) so if you have older peripherals you want to use, check to see if they even have drivers for Windows 7 64-bit.

I also recommend avoiding Office Depot and OfficeMax for anything tech related as they both have very restrictive return policies. If it has a plug, battery, or wind up crank, you can't bring it back if you open it. You can't exchange it for a different product (though if you run into a nice manager they might be willing to override it). Store policy is exact exchange only. Nothing else.

wow... thanks for the info Xane!

Mines a dell, never had any problems with it.