Notebook Recommendations

[Tywais]

I realize there are several topics on notebooks but this one is somewhat different in that tight criteria and multiple purchases are involved. Our latest research center is near completion and the 2nd floor will be for the new Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics, a National consortium. The director wants all notebooks for the staff due to the amount of heavy traveling involved. As such, it has to perform primarily as a desktop computer and a budget limit of 30k per seat for between 8-10 seats.

Since it is a desktop replacement, screen size is of importance but with the above budget it limits me to 15-15.4 inch units. The alternative is 14" (around 22-23K) plus a 19" LCD monitor but I feel that may be awkward in that the notebook screen would stick up in the way of the external monitor. I would prefer HP Compaq or Lenovo but they are above the budget. The closest I can find is the Acer Aspire 5530G. I'm hesitant to consider Acer due to mixed reports on this forum regarding reliability. Since this is a major purchase I don't want to make a mistake with this.

If I went the way of an external LCD monitor then the two 14" notebooks I have my eye on are these: HP Compaq Presario and Lenovo G430

They will be used primarily for administrative, secretarial and accounting work. Since I haven't dealt with notebook purchases (primarily I make recommendations and purchases of desktop systems for the lab) any advise, recommendations would be appreciated.

[PennyFarthing123]

I can't really advise you on your purchase other than to sayI have a HP/Compaq Presario 2500 and have had multiple failures with it. The cooling fan replaced, CD writer replaced (still won't write to the new one) problems with it getting hot and shutting down without warning, battery completely died after about 8 months even when I followed the instructions about monthly using the capacity before recharging.

I am now in the process of looking for a replacement, but not sure what to buy either.

Good luck on your selection.

[Guest Reimar]

From my point of view your first priority should be an available good service if you've to handle a bunch of laptop's.

Ok, the brand is important, maybe. But the truth is that Acer has the most reliable service all over Thailand include available spare parts! And even the product itself is good and cheap as well.

HP/Compaq is terrible in service terms and even the compatibility isn't such as from Acer. I refuse to do any service for HP computers after very bad experiences with that brand.

Lenovo/Thinkpad is good, as long as the product is out of the Thinkpad series. The Thinpad's are still made in the old IBM production facility while the Lenove is "real" Chia made and such quality!

But anyway you'll make your decision and have to do so. Good Luck.

Cheers.

[Tywais]

From previous postings, Acer does seems to be on top in terms of service. One concern I have about the Lenovo series is how proprietary is it? Heard stories of the IBM series and a "special" partition to restore from and I prefer flexibility. Came across a few topics from the past that pretty much shows bad experiences with <insert brand here> and equally good experiences which makes things complicated. I would say service and warranty would be at the top of the list due to the quantity involved. Extended service contracts would be useful if available (anyone know about this aspect for the different brands)?

Previous topics:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Notebook-Qua...ty-t200826.html

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Compaq-Acer-t140526.html

[Guest Reimar]

Acer come with one year warranty and one year free insurance as standard but for a fee of 2,+k you can extend the warranty up to 3 years which is the "normal" lifetime of laptops in terms of relaibility concerning available software.

The Acer coming with an hidden partition from which you can create the set of Recovery CD's/DVD's or even a direct reinstallation back to the "virging" state as delivered.

And Acer is the Top End of Service in Thailand!

Cheers.

[Priceless]

I realize there are several topics on notebooks but this one is somewhat different in that tight criteria and multiple purchases are involved. Our latest research center is near completion and the 2nd floor will be for the new Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics, a National consortium. The director wants all notebooks for the staff due to the amount of heavy traveling involved. As such, it has to perform primarily as a desktop computer and a budget limit of 30k per seat for between 8-10 seats.

Since it is a desktop replacement, screen size is of importance but with the above budget it limits me to 15-15.4 inch units. The alternative is 14" (around 22-23K) plus a 19" LCD monitor but I feel that may be awkward in that the notebook screen would stick up in the way of the external monitor. I would prefer HP Compaq or Lenovo but they are above the budget. The closest I can find is the Acer Aspire 5530G. I'm hesitant to consider Acer due to mixed reports on this forum regarding reliability. Since this is a major purchase I don't want to make a mistake with this.

If I went the way of an external LCD monitor then the two 14" notebooks I have my eye on are these: HP Compaq Presario and Lenovo G430

They will be used primarily for administrative, secretarial and accounting work. Since I haven't dealt with notebook purchases (primarily I make recommendations and purchases of desktop systems for the lab) any advise, recommendations would be appreciated.

Hi Tywais,

I can only second the good things others have said about Acer, with the addendum that my g/f and I have run two Aspires for about three years now, without a single problem. My new Acer, from which I am posting this, would be just the thing for you but I don't think it's available in Thailand and it would probably be over your budget too. (TravelMate 7720G, 2.4 GHz dual-core CPU, 3 GB RAM, 320 GB HD, 17" screen, built-in webcam etc.)

Go for the best service organisation, all computers with similar specs seem to me to be about the same as long as they're running OK .

/ Priceless

[Gary A]

I wouldn't buy any laptop without a 3 year international warranty. My friend bought a top of the line Toshiba at the same time I bought a Lenovo Thinkpad. He had a 1 year warranty and I had a 3 year warranty. His screen failed at 13 months. Of course it was out of warranty. My main board died at 2 1/2 years. It was repaired in Thailand free of charge. Nearly every city in Thailand has authorized Lenovo repair centers.

[Robski]

I realize there are several topics on notebooks but this one is somewhat different in that tight criteria and multiple purchases are involved. Our latest research center is near completion and the 2nd floor will be for the new Thailand Center of Excellence in Physics, a National consortium. The director wants all notebooks for the staff due to the amount of heavy traveling involved. As such, it has to perform primarily as a desktop computer and a budget limit of 30k per seat for between 8-10 seats.

Since it is a desktop replacement, screen size is of importance but with the above budget it limits me to 15-15.4 inch units. The alternative is 14" (around 22-23K) plus a 19" LCD monitor but I feel that may be awkward in that the notebook screen would stick up in the way of the external monitor. I would prefer HP Compaq or Lenovo but they are above the budget. The closest I can find is the Acer Aspire 5530G. I'm hesitant to consider Acer due to mixed reports on this forum regarding reliability. Since this is a major purchase I don't want to make a mistake with this.

If I went the way of an external LCD monitor then the two 14" notebooks I have my eye on are these: HP Compaq Presario and Lenovo G430

They will be used primarily for administrative, secretarial and accounting work. Since I haven't dealt with notebook purchases (primarily I make recommendations and purchases of desktop systems for the lab) any advise, recommendations would be appreciated.

I have the Advent/MSI and I'm very happy with it, as I've said before, and as many reviews will agree.

The ability to upgrade to 2gb ram is a plus although that would void the warranty, however it seems to be able to run XP, video streaming and Voip perfectly well with 1gb.

One thing you will need to consider is will the programmes you use run on a screen res of 1024x600, some just won't run at all and others will have the bottom clipped off them so if there is important info at the bottom you won't be able to view it, I think this is rather an oversight as making the screen just slightly larger to run 1024x740(?) would be ideal.

There is a thread on the link supplied by PhillConners http://wiki.msiwind.net/index.php/Main_Page (cheers Phil) on how to scale the display to 1024x768 although again that might void the warranty as it is a hack.

There does seem to be a lot of scope for modification to the Advent/MSI, which offsets the voided warranty with easy replacement of parts.

Edited November 15, 2008 by Robski

[anotheruser]

Given the budget it doesn't sound like you have much choice other than to go with Acer. Sounds sort of like you can go with crappy A, crappy B or crappy C. The couple of Acers I had worked well enough and were reliable. These days I can't say I would buy one out of anything other than financial necessity though. If I had to buy one it isn't like I would rush home looking forward to the joy of setting it up.

[NHJ]

you may give a try to dell thailand :

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Dell-Product...and-t61265.html

[moris]

I just bought ASUS (F80S) with Vista license (29.900,- THB). I was deciding between Compaq, HP (really nice), Lenovo, ThinkPad (resistible). I just crashed my Compaq (one week after warranty expired ), that is why I decided to take ASUS: 2 years warranty (1 year insurance), original Vista, good specs. Can’t say much about it yet, as I have it only for 3 days. It is not the prettiest, but up to now does all I need and I hope will last for a bit longer than my Compaq.