I know that comes back often but I’m trying to plan ahead a little bit. My niece will finish high school an go to university next year. The family wants to get together and buy a computer for her next summer. She is pretty good with the basic computing stuff and can fix some problems herself.
A laptop seems like the best option. I don’t think she wants an Apple ( 
).
Any advice or suggestions at this point? And aren’t students getting discounts sometimes too?
Thanks
Other than the fact that the price and quality is good, I buy Dell for one reason; Complete Care. All damages, including the very expensive LCD are covered.
I dont have any suggestions of what to get, just what not to get. Do not buy a toshiba, their service is crap at least for me it was. I sent my laptop in to have the fan and lcd replaced.
they proceeded to break my motherboard and try to charge me for it, they kept the laptop for 3 months didnt fix the screen or replace the fan only the motherboard they broke. Great service… theres more but i dont want to go into a big rant… toshiba sucks
[quote=“jesus”]I dont have any suggestions of what to get, just what not to get. Do not buy a toshiba, their service is crap at least for me it was. I sent my laptop in to have the fan and lcd replaced.
they proceeded to break my motherboard and try to charge me for it, they kept the laptop for 3 months didnt fix the screen or replace the fan only the motherboard they broke. Great service… theres more but i dont want to go into a big rant… toshiba sucks[/quote]
I’ve had similar experiences with Toshiba. Dealing with their warranty people is always like pulling teeth.
Off topic… but i believe someone here is from ft st john? cant remember who 
anyways, ITnorth.ca do you know who they are? if so are they a good company and should I apply for the network specialist job.
If you checkout places like Futureshop they often have great deals on refurbished computers. This summer I picked up a laptop, 3.2GHz P4, 80GB HDD, 1GB DDR Memory, and a DVD-RW drive all for a little less than $1300. Not because I needed it but because it was a good buy.
[quote=“jesus”]Off topic… but i believe someone here is from ft st john? cant remember who
anyways, ITnorth.ca do you know who they are? if so are they a good company and should I apply for the network specialist job.[/quote]
Are you thinking of herbie_popnecker? He lives in Foreskin JAMES, I believe.
Most likely was… hey herbie wanna hire me? 
13 bucks an hour doesnt cut it
If you’re looking for cheap, Dell has a $549 laptop. Canadian. The quality sucks, but you get what you pay for. Cheap cheap cheap, but that’s not a bad thing. Warranty is good, but only one year. Add more money to get a longer warranty.
Start with the price, not with the options. Figure out how much you want to spend, then buy the computer that costs that much.
Whatever you do, and I have to underline pretty firmly – DO NOT LISTEN TO ANY SALESPERSON. PERIOD. You’ll know a salesperson is lying when his lips are moving.
Go into Futureshop or any place like that and ask which computer is the best, then go back the next day and ask the same question – you’ll get different answers. That’s because salespeople want to sell. They don’t want to help you, they want to sell.
So, pick a price first and buy the computer for that price.
Think of computer shopping like car shopping – don’t get suckered by a salesperson.
I disagree with Mig. Be prepared to spend lots! But be SURE to buy the one with the TURBO button. Because turbo means fassst!
I have an Acer laptop. I really like it. Has a great display especially for watching movies. Easy to use as well. I am currently using it for my courses and I have had no problems in that category. The price wasn’t bad, it was $850 and I ordered it on NCIX but I have seen it in the source.
ps - this is Anita
I’d have to agree with the price thing. Sit down think of a price but also think of features you want or will want. Is screen size a big thing etc etc make a list… I almost bought a hp laptop the 14" widescreen $1499 HP DV1330 Intel Centrino 740 1.73GHz Laptop with 100Gig hard Drive and 1gig of ram… But instead i bought a 12" pb and ordered a 20" lcd instead. There are lot’s of laptops out there some will say certain brands are good some will say certain ones are bad it is just choice. go to a store play with the laptop look at it pick it up move it around etc etc get the feel for it open notepad and type with the keyboard play on the mouse pad look for ports you may need. my first pic would be this hp laptop.
Well I’d hire some of you guys after I make $13 an hour cuz this town sux. December is believe it or not, one of our worst months for retail. The entire town blows out to Prince george to shop, and you know what? The kid at future shop knows more than the guys that work for me (public perception). That’s why Dec 27-Jan 7 we’ll get busy again fixing all the crappy compaq’s hp’s e-machines and Dell’s everyone got for xmas!
But: here I post with my not crappy Toshiba laptop, bought from Suture Shop (w extra warranty, so I can get coverage anywhere), that I picked because I can’t locate a better brand name/price point with new Ubuntu Live CD.
I sell Acer (crap, but better than last year) and Fujitsu (too pricey) laptops. I try to tell people if they’re gonna buy a Dell don’t buy the cheap one, and spring for the 3 year warranty.
Ubuntu booted without a problem and I had no trouble with the Atheros wireless. The Athero is 1,000 times better than Broadcom, it sees my tower on the other side of the lake over 12 miles away! So the Dlink on my S.O.'s desk is no problem.
Gotta decide if I install Ubuntu or Fedora for a dual boot. Probably go Fedora cuz 2/3 of my servers run it or Red Hat. Gentoo’s too geeky.
Got a few copies if anyone needs to try Ubuntu PM me w your mailing address.
My room mat just bought a nice toshiba 1 gig ram centrino 1.7 with dvd-r burner 15" widescreen with a dedicated 256mb video card. Kinda over kill but 2k EKK!!
Mine was over 2K with taxes and 3 yr warranty 5 mos ago. Future Shop has it for $1399 now.
Hear about the $388 Toshibas that started a riot in Seattle? Only 1 per store at Best Buy & hundreds showed up…