lap top

Prices have come down heaps in the last year. Two of my daughters have bought laptops in the past few months. Rather than get the cheaper $900 units, they both spent $1400-1500, and bought ACER laptops with DVD burners, 512Mb of RAM and wireless networking. One bought an ACER travelmate that weighs only 1.6 kg and has a 12 inch screen - bought it thru an Ebay seller in Adelaide, and the other bought a 2.8 kg unit with a 15 inch widescreen thru Orrifice Works. Both are working well.

Having been heavily involved with building, programming and buying computers over 20 years, I would suggest you follow a simple rule :
Buy from a major brand with proven track record for product and service.
I understand some manufacturers build one line for the domestic market (=low warranty) and a better line for commerical buyers - so even buying from some major brands, the 'buyer beware' principal applies.

Laptop and Notebook = same.
The comptuers of today are all capable of the standard tasks - including Internet browsing and photos. Only if you are into videos and more particulary editing of videos, do you need a higher end (= more powerful) machine.
For years now I have bought ASUS. Proven track record, excellent service.
( not affiliated in any way. Just a satisfied customer).
All 3 of my current ASUS machines run AMD processors.
Why - better performance for the money. The Intel chips cost a premium for the same perfomance. I would rather spend those dollars on a better graphics card.

So - what would I buy :
An ASUS with an AMD 64 bit processor;
Look at the A4K series runing a 64 bit 3000mhz mobile chip; These have a dvd burner; a separate graphics card with its own on board Ram ( ati radeon 9700) + built in wireless 11G. You should pay around $1500 all up.
One suggestion - whatever you buy upgrade the ram to 512meg.
Most notebooks come standard with 256meg (to keep price down), but Windows XP loves/needs memory - so buy the extra RAM up front.
Have fun - Mapping software is also very useful. Ozi Explorer + digital maps.
regards, and happy Xmas...............

My opinion is not to buy Acer...

A nice Toshiba is the best bet...just look for the specials...

By the way...I sell them...I see what brands come back...

You could go and buy an Acer if you want but it will inevitably end in tears if your useage is hard.
I would suggest that you search these forums for advice on purchasing Laptops, as someone who spends all of thier work days working on computers I strongly suggest that you purchase a brand name Laptop with a warranty. For the last 3 years I have found that purchasing IBM Certified used Laptops that have just come off corporate release are the way to go. DONT go for speed you simply dont need a 3 ghz machine to do what you want they will run hot particularly if you start to use it as a navigation machine in your car. A 1-2 Ghz with at least 512 mb of Ram machine is more than adequate for what you want if you go the IBM Certified Used route you will pay more than some of the cheap crap that you can buy but you will get a quality machine that is about 2 years old and still has a brand new battery and 12 months factory warranty (you can extend the warranty for about $132 per year). Be wary of wide screens on cheap laptops as the manufacturers dont invest enough in the structure for use in the long term. To help you understand this look at it this way you could buy a brand new Hyundai or a second hand BMW the beamer will cost you more but it is a far better experience.
If you want to go the new cheap route that is fine because people like me make a living from repairing cheap rubbish that simply are not designed properly for hard useage.

Mate,

You will here heaps of people tell you what I am about to say is wrong BUT,

you cannot go past an iBook running iPhoto!

Anything else is, quite simply, in the same league!

Regards

Graham

PS - buy a PC if you must but I guarantee the moment it connects to the internet, which, you will do, you will have so many viruses and trojans you won't know what hit you

Evo

Try

http://www-605.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=36&catalogId=-36&langId=036&categoryId=8708905

This is not the cheapest place to buy them but you will always get a good result
Remember always buy Certified Used done accept any less

Other shops like this also sell them

http://www.notebooks.com.au/

Be very careful ONLY accept Certified Used not simply second hand

djam1

Hi micanddeb - here's my story - the good and the bad

I chose a no-so-cheap Toshiba Satellite as i wanted something with a good reputation for caravanning for my photos with a 17" screen, and to access Internet (not setting up from a mobile phone at this stage). I purchased from an Adelaide Ebay shop an ex-demo fully refurbished by Toshiba with 3 months Toshiba warranty. Pentium processor, fast speed, 1024 ram, 80 gb hard drive - plenty for my photos. It also has DVD burner, and is good for watching DVDs. I purchased from the Ebay shop with it an additional 2 year warranty through an Australian computer servicing company.

I did not know it was USA model until it arrived. First problem was i couldn't get it to burn to CD. Sent it to a Toshiba agent who said as a USA model, it would need to be sent to USA for Toshiba warranty service and did not recommend i keep it because of this - "sell it and buy and Australian model". He found no fault with the laptop - it seems it is fussy about brand of CD - it prefers TDK Gold, which was the brand i had chosen to store photos on anyway.

Enter my biggest fan "Murphy". When i had the flu and had not backed up anything, my regular computer died - motherboard and hard drive - nothing at all recoverable (several experts tried). 5 days later, i set up email, my software, and what i had on back up CD onto the laptop. Next morning it too was dead (darn that Murphy).

The purchased warranty company asked me to take it to my nearest computer shop, who ascertained the motherboard had gone. The hard drive and all my photos were OK. As a new motherboard had to come from USA it took many weeks. The laptop was sent to the warranty people in the ES who fitted it, tested it and returned it to the store i had left it with. The technician here said it was not working. It is now with a Toshiba agent in Perth who at first said the replacement motherboard is faulty, but also think the CPU has a problem. Months later i still do not have my laptop.

I do believe it is a one-off for the Toshiba, as the Ebay shop sells lots of these and offers the same warranty i bought. The warranty company were very surprised to find it was a USA model, so mine must be the only one that has failed (Murphy does love me so).

Maybe buying a laptop from Ebay (i still buy lots of other stuff on Ebay) is not such a good idea after all, but as photos are irreplaceable, and we spend a lot to get to the places we take the photos of, it pays to spend the extra to get a good quality laptop that will take the knocks of rough travel (notebook is just a new fangled name for laptop), with plenty of ram and speed as photos take up a lot of memory.

I think my problems have more to do with power supply fluctuations than with what or where i purchased.

Good luck with your research and purchase.

Motherhen

I use an Australian Toshiba satellite for various work things, it doesn't surf the internet at all. My only gripe is the memory, or lack of it. I have to upgrade it to 1mg for it to work properly and do all the functions I want, like burn movies from my vid cam to DVD...... so make sure you get one with the most memory you can get!!!