The asus line is gaining my interest right now..

Any experiences on those brands for laptops?

thanks..

Some time back I decided to buy a new laptop when I returned to the US for a visit. I had a couple of months to decide which brand, so I spent a lot of time looking at reviews, reliability, customer satisfaction and popularity. There is a lot of conflicting information and obviously many people have their own favorites. The more I read the more confused I became but I gradually sorted through the prejudices and marketing ploys. I think that if you are going to be using it here in Thailand you should concentrate on service, reliability and the length or the warranty. I ended up with a year old leftover IBM (Lenovo) that was loaded and I was able to buy it for half price. It has an international three year warranty. The Duo Core is the hot seller right now but I doubt it is worth paying a big premium for technology that you probably wouldn't take advantage of anyways. Before long the Quad Core will come out and the Duo Core will become a thing of the past. Anything you buy will quickly become obsolete. My goal was the most dependable computer with WiFi, Bluetooth, LAN and modem that I could buy.

I agree with Gary A. With a Thinkpad from IBM you can never go wrong. Asus is probably not

bad, but to me they are more renowned for motherboards.

If your needs are minor and you aren't going to get any new programs, then you can go ahead and get the least denominator or a used computer. Otherwise, get something that's at least current, or you'll be kicking yourself later on. The trend these days is to use laptops as desktop replacements, and buying a lousy laptop means a lousy replacement. If you're going to be simply churning out spreadsheets and documents all day long, you won't need much. If, however, you want multimedia and game capabilities, don't be stingy, since notebooks are already inferior to desktops in most areas.

In the end, it depends on your needs and your budget. IBMs (Lenovos) are nice, but they're very business oriented and have little in the way of bells and whistles. Don't expect a good multimedia experience from them.

Definately IBM machines are the way to go. Top notch reliability and aftersales service. Toshiba are also good machines but stay clear of Acer which are known to have numerous reliability issues (problems with charging unit, dead pixels on LCD screen, etc).

You keep repeating the mantra that Acer have 'numerous reliability isuues'. I'm not doubting you but can you present any reliable evidence which shows that Acer's reliability record is any worse than the other laptop manufacturers?

Personally I'd go for Toshiba, good quality and great specs. Have had 3 Toshibas and I can't complain about neither of them.

In the end, it depends on your needs and your budget. IBMs (Lenovos) are nice, but they're very business oriented and have little in the way of bells and whistles. Don't expect a good multimedia experience from them.

I don't know much about multi media but my IBM plays DVD's great. I think the main thing is a stand alone video card rather than shared memory. Here are the specs from my T43p;

Optical Drive Read Speed 24x (CD) • 8x (DVD) Display Tech SXGA+ TFT Active Matrix Display Size 14.1 in. Display Color Support 24-bit (16.7 million colors) Display Max. Resolution 1400 x 1050 Video Graphic Processor ATI Mobility FIRE GL V3200 Installed Video Memory 128 MB Graphic Bus Interface PCI Express External Video Resolution 2048 x 1536

You keep repeating the mantra that Acer have 'numerous reliability isuues'. I'm not doubting you but can you present any reliable evidence which shows that Acer's reliability record is any worse than the other laptop manufacturers?

I have a travelmate 740 and would never buy another acer, as you point out above reliability is an issue

I was quite interested and impressed with Toshiba. The reviews were pretty good and it is a good machine, BUT, if there were any problems, the service was reported to be quite dismal.

I had an old very slow Toshiba that never missed a beat. I have since given it to a friend of mine and he is still using it. It works fine for word processing and the Internet. I had no use for three laptops. I did keep my old IBM 600 Thinkpad. It is about seven years old and works fine other than the keypad gave up. My wife uses it with a remote Thai/English keyboard and wouldn't use the built in keypad anyways.

The asus line is gaining my interest right now..

Any experiences on those brands for laptops?

thanks..

What will you use it for?

Word/internet/dvds?

Then make sure you have atleast 512mb of ram.

These days almost all new laptops will run basic applications with no problems.

If you want to run games then higher specs needed.

Don't overbuy.

The asus line is gaining my interest right now..

Any experiences on those brands for laptops?

thanks..

What will you use it for?

Word/internet/dvds?

Then make sure you have atleast 512mb of ram.

These days almost all new laptops will run basic applications with no problems.

If you want to run games then higher specs needed.

Don't overbuy.

I am after:

-internet use

-a lot of windows media files

-no gaming whatsoever

-photoshop, movie editing, etc..

-multimedia stuff

I'm looking for great reliability & warranty. It sounds like IBM, then Toshiba..?

You keep repeating the mantra that Acer have 'numerous reliability isuues'. I'm not doubting you but can you present any reliable evidence which shows that Acer's reliability record is any worse than the other laptop manufacturers?

I have a travelmate 740 and would never buy another acer, as you point out above reliability is an issue

In my last job I bought over 100 Acer laptops and 3 years later had had no problems (other than user problems) with any of them so I'm curious to see some reliable figures that support youngkiwi's assertion.

Over the past years, I've bought around 50 Acer laptops. Only 2 have had any problems, which were fixed within warranty.

You have to keep in mind that Acer notebooks outsell all other brands in Thailand by a *large* margin. Let's say you sell 1,000 Toyotas and 10 BMWs in the last year. 2 BMWs had to be sent in for service, while 10 Toyotas needed servicing. Do you say "Oh, Toyotas SUCK since so many more were serviced" or "Wow, only 1% of toyotas needed servicing, while 20% of BMWs needed repair"?

From your needs, you would require a notebook with:

A fast processor, dual core would help A LOT.

A good seperate video processor, but not the best.

Lots of memory (the more the merrier, go for 2GB)

Lots of HDD space (100GB+).

I can think of a few budget Acers/Asus/Compaqs that go for around 40k, or a few Toshibas, Sonys, etc, that would go for around 60-70k. IBMs, while they *can* do multimedia, won't do multimedia better than an average notebook.

Over the past years, I've bought around 50 Acer laptops. Only 2 have had any problems, which were fixed within warranty.

You have to keep in mind that Acer notebooks outsell all other brands in Thailand by a *large* margin. Let's say you sell 1,000 Toyotas and 10 BMWs in the last year. 2 BMWs had to be sent in for service, while 10 Toyotas needed servicing. Do you say "Oh, Toyotas SUCK since so many more were serviced" or "Wow, only 1% of toyotas needed servicing, while 20% of BMWs needed repair"?

From your needs, you would require a notebook with:

A fast processor, dual core would help A LOT.

A good seperate video processor, but not the best.

Lots of memory (the more the merrier, go for 2GB)

Lots of HDD space (100GB+).

I can think of a few budget Acers/Asus/Compaqs that go for around 40k, or a few Toshibas, Sonys, etc, that would go for around 60-70k. IBMs, while they *can* do multimedia, won't do multimedia better than an average notebook.

I'm looking to spend frm 30k -40k baht only..

So, what I undertand is to look for a good warranty with either of the following: Acer, IBM, Toshiba, or Asus.

Anybody have experience with Asus???

Steer clear of HP [Compaq] most of the Compaq laptops my firm brought have had recurring problems.