Which laptop?

[amddammad]

Hello i am looking to buy a cheap laptop for my cousins so which 1 should i pick between these 2?

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-eMachines-l...04700219?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item53e3d56b3b

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Compaq-CQ62...89741831?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item255def1e07

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

They're both proprietary pieces of crap. Try an acer or dell.

 

[amddammad]

I have to buy it for $400 and dats it lol and i looked everywhere and found these 2 the bang for the buck.

 

[nitenichiryu1]

I'm sorry, but I'd have to agree with Magnus. These machines wouldn't be considered money well spent. You're better off looking at offerings from asus,acer, and dell.

 

[crucibelle]

You can usually find an Acer for around $400.

 

[amddammad]

Thx you guys for the help, gona look @ other laptops now

 

[Harvey]

Staples has the Compaq CQ62-225NR for $380 in store. Full specs from HP.

That's a decent price for that set of features so the question is whether there have been reports of any problems with this model. The deal is in store only, and Staples is typically close to everywhere so there's no shipping charge, and you can go see the machine before you buy it.

I figure most of any maker's entry level laptops are built by the same three or four Asian manufacturers and detailed out to each maker's specs so the biggest difference between machines with the same general feature set is the service you get after you buy it.

I prefer HP/Compaq laptops because, from my experience with them for my own Compaq lappy and for many friends' machines, HP's support has been nothing but aces. They've even helped with out of warranty machines at no charge through their online live chat system. When you contact HP/Compaq, the first thing their techs want to do is help solve your problems.

You get the exact opposite from Gateway, which owns e-Machines. The first thing Gateway tries to do is sell you something. Gateway is the reason you want HP/Compaq.

 

[Stifko]

Staples has the Compaq CQ62-225NR for $380 in store. Full specs from HP.

That's a decent price for that set of features so the question is whether there have been reports of any problems with this model. The deal is in store only, and Staples is typically close to everywhere so there's no shipping charge, and you can go see the machine before you buy it.

sounds like a good deal, but you have to pay sales tax at the B&M store. they're in stock at my nearby staples.

what about the Compaq Presario CQ61-411WM Refurbished Notebook on compusa for $350? do you like that deal?

 

[Computers_Plus]

Here is a nice laptop for $400 stay away from HP/Compaq and Emachine they are all crap

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834114929

 

[Computers_Plus]

spend $50 more and you can get a dual core CPU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834146765

 

[amddammad]

Wow when i click on the link it gives me this error

http://detonator.dynamitedata.com/c...resario-CQ62-225NR-15.6-Laptop/product_885796

 

[Harvey]

Here is a nice laptop for $400 stay away from HP/Compaq and Emachine they are all crap

You're only half right. Entry level emachines may or may not crap, but the company (Gateway)'s customer support sucks beyond all belief.

OTOH, I know that, overall, HP/Compaq builds good laptops, and I wouldn't be suprised if they were built on the same assembly lines as the Toshiba you linked. What I know from personal experience with several friends' and my own laptops is that their customer support is excellent.

 

[Computers_Plus]

HP/Compaq are crap and that's a fact I have more of their laptops come into my shop for serious hardware failure than any other laptop brand on the market

 

[fatpolomanjr]

HP/Compaq are crap and that's a fact I have more of their laptops come into my shop for serious hardware failure than any other laptop brand on the market

I knew it wasn't just me; my brother, his wife, and his sister-in-law all have HP/Compaq notebooks, and they are just awful, at least in terms of build quality. Cheap, cheap, cheap.

 

[Computers_Plus]

not only do their laptops blow but their imaging software is horrible horrible horrible

 

[JWade]

go to the delloutlet, get a nice refurb, right now they have a 20% coupon too, best time is early in the morning or late at night to check.

 

[Computers_Plus]

you have to be careful with refurbs most times they won't have the full warranty

 

[Harvey]

HP/Compaq are crap and that's a fact I have more of their laptops come into my shop for serious hardware failure than any other laptop brand on the market

< sarcasm >

Based on the number of good, working HP/Compaq laptops my friends and I have owned, along with the reports I get from my favorite shops, I can only conclude that the problem is either you or your city.

What's your shop, and where is it? I'll know never to bring my laptop near your town or your shop.

< /sarcasm >

And in case you didn't get it, I am playing. I don't know why you've seen so many problems. SOME models of every makers' products have specific design failures, including some from Toshiba, but as I said, I wouldn't be suprised if the Toshiba lappy at your link on newegg was made on the same assembly line with the same components in a Toshiba case and tricked out with nothing more than a different motherboard and BIOS to make the splash screen show their name.

The Lenovo Thinkpads may be a better build. Their Ideapads aren't, just as HP business class machines are better than their entry level machines.

What I know is, you should always do your homework to check out the specific models that interest you to see if there are reported problems or failures.

 

[Computers_Plus]

I am speaking overall across the board of all brands HP/Compaq has the highest number of system failures on their laptops here is a bit of reference to that point:

http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf

I have been a tech since late 2002 and own my own shop in Red Bluff it's a small town about 180 miles north of Sacramento Ca. I don't just make wild statements I call them like I see them.

 

[Phynaz]

HP/Compaq are crap and that's a fact I have more of their laptops come into my shop for serious hardware failure than any other laptop brand on the market

HP sells 1,000 laptops, you see 20 of them come in for service.

ABC sells 100 laptops, you see 5 of them come in for service.

Which is the more reliable brand?

Absolute numbers meaningless.

 

[Computers_Plus]

HP sells 1,000 laptops, you see 20 of them come in for service.

ABC sells 100 laptops, you see 5 of them come in for service.

Which is the more reliable brand?

Absolute numbers meaningless.

you know I'm sure your right it's obvious to me that you know way more about this stuff than me I should just bow out in light of your knowledge,

 

[chusteczka]

Take a look at the weekly sales at Office Depot. A couple weeks ago, I bought an impressive Lenovo G550 for $400 + $40 tax. They appear to have two different laptops on sale each week. Their weekly sales flier available online often has a sneakpeak for next weeks sales.


My experience is also that HP makes crappy computers that often break. But again, I may see more broken HP laptops than from other brands because more HP laptops are sold than other brands. Therefore, more people own HP laptops.

I do not recommend an HP laptop.


=============================
Here is my personal preference order:
Asus > Lenovo = Apple > Sony > MSI > Panasonic = Toshiba >>
Dell = Gateway = Acer > eMachines >>
HP > Compaq

I am unfamiliar with Samsung laptops but expect high quality on the level of Sony.
=============================


When shopping for a laptop, I look first at the following:
screen resolution: 1366x768, 1600x900, or 1920x1080
Memory: 4GB
Processor: AMD > Intel

The rest is marketing fluff. The size of the hard drive does not matter since files can be safely stored on an external drive cheaply.

 

[Computers_Plus]

In my market I see mainly HP and or Compaq followed by Dell Toshiba and then Acer the biggest majority of the HP products that come in are just out of warranty with dead boards the other brands I see come in a lot of them beat to crap but only have normal stuff wrong with them hard drive died it's infected DC power jack got broke stuff like that.

 

[chusteczka]

...

You have more experience than I do with repairing computers since my computer repair remains amateurish for friends and family but my experience seems similar to yours in regards to brands and their related issues. I agree with you completely.

 

[Computers_Plus]

thanks chusteczka