Need A New Laptop

[phitsanulokjon]

Hi all

Apologies if this has been covered before........

I need to buy a new laptop but to be honest I'm no expert and all the specs/makes/models kind of merge into 1 when I'm browsing !!

It's to be used for a mix of business (for me) and games (for the kids) and I need good internet capability.

I'm quite taken by an Aspire 4730ZG:

Intel Core Duo (2.16Ghz), 1024MB DDR2-667, 5-in1 Reader, 250GB HDD,14.1" WXGA Screen, DVD super multi, webcam, bluetooth, modem, wireless LAN. 25,500BHT

Does this sound a good spec ? and price ? Is the processor "fast enough" ? etc etc

Any help, recommendations appreciated

Thanks

[ThaiLife]

Can't help you spec wise, but may be first have a look at .... The ACER FACTORY OUTLET

http://www.acer.co.th/acerthai2/index.php?...;method=factory

TL

[Swanky]

I'm also looking for a new lappie. Looked at some Sony Vaios, just because they look good, can't decide. I don't mind spending on a good unit.

Edited October 29, 2008 by Swanky

[Guest Reimar]

Acer has a very good service in Thailand. You'll find service outlets in nearly every IT-Mall.

Prices are good as well! And you get a free one year insurance, beside of the Warranty, which secure your property and in case of loss you get a new machine.

I have an Aspire 4493 for two years and I'm happy with it.

Cheers.

[Veazer]

I'm also looking for a new lappie. Looked at some Sony Vaios, just because they look good, can't decide. I don't mind spending on a good unit.

Sony's are a pain in the butt in my experience. Their drivers often refuse to install despite having the correct drivers for the machine, they need heaps of drivers for every button, switch etc. Their extras like batteries and power adapters are totally overpriced too.

[edwardandtubs]

Any laptop you buy nowadays will be fine for business and have good internet capability. Do you really want to use the same laptop for business that you use for kids' games? For a start there are the security issues as kids often fall victim to viruses and trojans hidden in cracks and games downloaded from the internet. Also the sort of laptop you mentioned wouldn't be enough to play the latest games. You need a decent graphics card and the one you mentioned probably uses some crappy built in one. It would probably be safer and more economical to buy a cheap laptop and then buy a playstation, wii or xbox for the kids.

[Seapok]

Macbook Pro all the way!

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop...pro?mco=MTE2NjM

[Swanky]

I will check those out but Acer seems the way to go.

Can somebody help me with quoting? I have checked out the help page but no luck. Do I just press the quote button or highlight what I want to quote? Is it 'add reply' first or ' fast reply'? Sorry, thanks in advance.

Edited October 29, 2008 by Swanky

[NHJ]

acer is one of the worst brand and worst service you can find.

despite reimar says he's been very disappointed by acer, see in this post two days ago :

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Buy-Computer-t219693.html

Edited October 29, 2008 by NHJ

[Guest Reimar]

acer is one of the worst brand and worst service you can find.

despite reimar says he's been very disappointed by acer, see in this post two days ago :

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Buy-Computer-t219693.html

I'm NOT disappointed with Acer the only question was about the Heat!! And I working since October 12. 2006 with that Laptop.

And that Laptop didn't get an CPU temperature from 100 C as yours!!

I'm disappointed with you because of your behaviour!

[GungaDin]

Asus & their 3 year international warranty.

[Guest Reimar]

Asus & their 3 year international warranty.

Since Asus is produced in China, the quality is gone a lot down. And not a good Service in Thailand!

The 3 years didn't apply for all just for some.

Cheers.

[GungaDin]

Asus & their 3 year international warranty.

Since Asus is produced in China, the quality is gone a lot down. And not a good Service in Thailand!

The 3 years didn't apply for all just for some.

Cheers.

BS!

[adammike]

I ordered a six cell battery for my white acer1 and i got a black one no big deal but DUH

and yes I did order the white one and it cost 99euros.

[Sarge]

Macbook Pro all the way!

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop...pro?mco=MTE2NjM

I second that recommendation, best laptop and OS in the market. Nothing comes even close to it

Edited October 29, 2008 by Sarge

[NHJ]

Macbook Pro all the way!

I second that recommendation, best laptop and OS in the market. Nothing comes even close to it

nowaydays mac are nothing more than regular laptop with apple os and a crazy pricing, i got mac osx 10.5.5 on my hp nx7400, i can't say all features are working, currently lacking energy saving features but for the rest i have a mac with a pc price.

laptop are build with little to no difference in hardware, so any brand will do the job, the difference will be in the design and intergrated features, service might be something to look into but laptops aren't made to be broken so better take in consideration the two previous(design and features).

[nikster]

Macbook Pro all the way!

I second that recommendation, best laptop and OS in the market. Nothing comes even close to it

nowaydays mac are nothing more than regular laptop with apple os and a crazy pricing, i got mac osx 10.5.5 on my hp nx7400, i can't say all features are working, currently lacking energy saving features but for the rest i have a mac with a pc price.

yeah... because all regular laptops have a glass screen, a glass trackpad the size of an iphone, multi touch support, light up keyboards and are carved out of a single block of aluminium. oh, wait.. guess they don't!!!

with the previous MBP you could argue, it didn't have that many unique hardware features. it just had a much nicer design. but the new ones are far ahead of anything you can find on the PC side. maybe comparable with those all-carbon-fiber $3000 Sonys, if you are ignorant of the design.

kudos on running OS X on a PC, but "not all features are working" would not really cut it for me

Macs are not cheap, and never have been, but Apple keeps finding ways to add value. Put a new MacBook Pro next to any laptop and it will make the other one look like an old piece of plastic. It even makes the previous gen MacBook Pro look tired.

[Guest Reimar]

Just for those who want to compare Vista (PC) vs OS-X (MBP) here is an interesting blog: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=573

Cheers.

[JetsetBkk]

yeah... because all regular laptops have a glass screen, a glass trackpad the size of an iphone, multi touch support, light up keyboards and are carved out of a single block of aluminium. oh, wait.. guess they don't!!!

with the previous MBP you could argue, it didn't have that many unique hardware features. it just had a much nicer design. but the new ones are far ahead of anything you can find on the PC side. maybe comparable with those all-carbon-fiber $3000 Sonys, if you are ignorant of the design.

kudos on running OS X on a PC, but "not all features are working" would not really cut it for me

Macs are not cheap, and never have been, but Apple keeps finding ways to add value. Put a new MacBook Pro next to any laptop and it will make the other one look like an old piece of plastic. It even makes the previous gen MacBook Pro look tired.

My Acer has a screen (don't know or care what it's made from ), don't use the trackpad, is carved out of several blocks plastic , and looks like a computer .

I don't care much what it looks like as long as it works, which it has done for more than 3 years.

Fortunately I don't suffer from any physical disabilities so can pick it up when ever I want without cursing the designers for not making it out of a "single block of aluminium" or carbon fibre. I've never been one for "form over function" but more like "maximum functionality and reliability for lowest price".

[jasreeve17]

To the OP,

I wouldn't touch an acer myself. I recently went through the laptop purchasing process in Thailand and ended up with a Dell from Pantip plaza (check my thread on it for more details). I'm not an expert like some on here claim, but I do have an electronic engineer degree and have done laptop intensive business for decades. I also love techie type stuff and do intensive research...

In my humble, but extensively researched opinion, the Dell is the best laptop pound for pound on the Thai market by some distance, followed by the HP's - great workhorses. Basically you get what you pay for - Acers are cheap. Sonys have an inflated brand cost. The Chinese made ones are, well Chinese made (not a problem with construction, more a problem in design). Stick with US / Japanese designed products whereever possible with US / Japanese quality control measures wherever possible. Dell's are American designed and Malaysian made.

[Guest Reimar]

Much more important than any Brand or name is the avaibility of service for a machine which has the disadvantage of difficulties to repair in case of problems.

From experiences I had with Sony, HP/Compaq and even Dell in the past until today, that are the companies with the most bad service and even service policies!

But for those who like their computer for 3 weeks staying at the manufacturers service center because of unavailable spareparts (HP/Compaq), 2 weeks (DELL) or THB 9,000 for an Keyboard (Sony) and so on, go ahead and use that computers, it's your choice, your time and your monney. And I've some more of that experiences with that "good" name products.

That's just my 2 Satang!

Cheers

[phitsanulokjon]

To the OP,

I wouldn't touch an acer myself. I recently went through the laptop purchasing process in Thailand and ended up with a Dell from Pantip plaza (check my thread on it for more details). I'm not an expert like some on here claim, but I do have an electronic engineer degree and have done laptop intensive business for decades. I also love techie type stuff and do intensive research...

In my humble, but extensively researched opinion, the Dell is the best laptop pound for pound on the Thai market by some distance, followed by the HP's - great workhorses. Basically you get what you pay for - Acers are cheap. Sonys have an inflated brand cost. The Chinese made ones are, well Chinese made (not a problem with construction, more a problem in design). Stick with US / Japanese designed products whereever possible with US / Japanese quality control measures wherever possible. Dell's are American designed and Malaysian made.

Thanks for the input everyone.

I'd be interested in looking at Dell - had several colleagues back in the UK who swore by them - but unfortunately up here in Phitsanulok, the choice is a little bit limited - Asus, Acer, SVOA, the odd Compaq or Sony !! I agree the Sonys look overpriced even to a layman like me !

What sort of price/spec Dell or similar am I looking at being available in BKK ?

Also, if I want good graphic capability, what card should I be looking for in the specs ?

Cheers

Jon

[Samuian]

Lenovo today - time of purchase was still IBM Thinkpad and it's rockin'

[NHJ]

yeah... because all regular laptops have a glass screen, a glass trackpad the size of an iphone, multi touch support, light up keyboards and are carved out of a single block of aluminium. oh, wait.. guess they don't!!!

ah yes i understand now, but i'm using the computer to work, not looking at it so our use is different.

[MKAsok]

I will check those out but Acer seems the way to go.

Can somebody help me with quoting? I have checked out the help page but no luck. Do I just press the quote button or highlight what I want to quote? Is it 'add reply' first or ' fast reply'? Sorry, thanks in advance.

Just go to the post you want to quote and click the reply button underneath that post. Don't worry about the add reply or fast reply buttons at the bottom of the page unless you just want a 'clean' reply i.e. no quotes. Also, try not to quote too much of the post. Just the relevant bit you're replying to is good. You can do this by deleting other stuff in the post, but remember the whole quote has to be wrapped in quote tags. Use the preview post button to check this. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it.

Oh yeah, and I use a Sony Vaio. Best laptop I ever had by a long way...

mk

Edited October 30, 2008 by MKAsok

[MaiChai]

Nothing stays the same... Acers used to be good, but now they are cheap and plasticy. HPs used to be boring and clunky, but are now very good. Never really likes ASUS, but then they could bring out cheap/nicer looking laptops. My last laptop was an Acer; my current one is a HP (well a Compaq but its the same thing). Look for the best value and buy what you think is reasonably well built. I believe you need to change your laptop every two years (technology moves on/keyboard gets shiny and wears out), thus don't spend too much. Make sure you buy a dual core (two cpu's in one), since software is now coming out that only gives you feature X if you have a multi core cpu. Look for the cheapest priced laptop you can find, and then move the spec up a bit and pay a bit more I am on laptop number 10 now

[JetsetBkk]

Nothing stays the same... Acers used to be good, but now they are cheap and plasticy. ...

I always thought "cheap" was good.

I never put "looks" anywhere close to the top of requirements when buying a PC , although I think mine looks fine. I like functionality, reliability and value for money.

My Acer is now over 3 years old and I have no thoughts about changing it as everything is working fine.

[corkscrew]

Macbook Pro all the way!

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop...pro?mco=MTE2NjM

He is SO right. The MacBook Pro is so brilliant. Once you have had one you will never go PC.

[MKAsok]

My Acer is now over 3 years old and I have no thoughts about changing it as everything is working fine.

Yeah, I definitely agree with this. Depends what you're using it for. My old mum (gawd bless her) still uses an ancient Packard Bell Desktop: 500Mhz Pentium 3, 128 MB RAM, Windows 2000 Pro (upgraded from Windows 98) for web, e-mail, Skype, watching DVDs etc without any major complaints. She refuses to get rid of it. Somewhat irritatingly she also has an 8MB cable connection (in the UK) - 4 times faster than mine here...

[happyAA]

I had the same dillema 2 years ago, finally bought a more expensive computer - fugitsu, service centre off skytrain near Central Chidlom excellent, no major problems.

Paid 60,000 baht, still works well 2+ years later.

Best place to check-out notebooks I think is Fortune tower (on underground train route), many notebooks for sale, looked at all, finally bought from the fugitsu shop there.

More cheaper notebooks now. At that time 2 years ago checked out cheaper ones, ACER and Compaq, but not keen because of quality, also they are very heavy.

If you will carry your notebook around, check the weight and estimate extra with bag, charger, ? extra battery. Notebooks are very easily stolen and the lighter, the more chance you won't be putting it down frequently.

Recently bought the wife an ASUS; extra RAM and Windows, works OK. My next computer may do this, and buy a flat screen for the home. Less depreciation on the ASUS and can change evry 1.5 years. With the more expensive notebooks, I tend to hang onto them for longer. Good luck.