My latest laptop buying experience...
 

I went shopping for laptop for my daughter so my 1st stop was Best Buy, the prices were OK nothing amazing, but the guy tells me the only way you can now get restore CD is buy it from them for $99, which I knew was a stretch and kinda rubbed me the wrong way.

So I thought maybe I'll pop into OfficeMax next door just to see what they had to offer and their prices were way better! To top it off, they even had a few clearance models that were crazy cheap. I ended up with a Acer, Intel Core i3-370M Processor, 500GB hard drive, 4GB system memory, wifi, webcam, etc for $379 and the guy even told I could make my own restore CD...lol

:thumbsup

Right on dude.

I hope your daughter doesn't have anything important to do with that machine.

I'd spend maybe 2 minutes with a Core i3 machine before chucking it out the window and running it over with my car.

Oh Xenigo! Lol..... Mr. Negative! :)

A core i3 is fast enough... What do you not like about it?

Whys that?

Can you chime in on this thread if you don't mind? https://gfy.com/showthread.php?t=1002592

Wizzo - do her a favor and get her a Macbook. She will be a much happier person and her friends wont make fun of her either :-0)

You know you can call me by my real name, dude. I'm not some closeted webmaster ;)

The thing I don't like about anything Intel brands as "home and family" or "entry level", what they mean in reality is "pathetically slow and lethargic".

The i3 is the new version of the Celeron processor. Any time I've ended up using one of those at some unfortunate family member's house, I've ended up banging my head against the table waiting for it to do really anything.

Agreed!!!

Damn, is the i3 really that bad? Would it be better to just get an older laptop with a core 2 duo?

I dunno... my girlfriend has a MacBook Pro with a Core 2 Duo and I want to chuck that out the window and run it over with my car too.

In my opinion the couple hundred spent on a beefy processor and adequate amount of memory is money well spent, and will reduce frustration when doing anything that stresses the machine.

Really my only options in the future are Lenovo Thinkpad's and HP Elitebook enterprise notebooks... those are the only machines built without compromise, and have appropriate screen resolutions (WUXGA 1920x1200), etc.

I hate best buy and their staff who treat you like an idiot over their stupid warranties and extended service plans.

Damn,that's a sweet deal

I ran into the same thing , I needed to buy a couple cheap laptops for my office. The kid wasn't going to sell me the Toshiba Satellite that was advertised at $349.99 unless I paid an extra $100 for them to have the software installed with a warranty plan , virus software and some other crap. They actually told me they didn't have any in stock that were plain and didn't have the extra stuff installed , He tried to scare me and tell me that my information wouldn't be secure and that if I did any online banking that anyone could access that. I told him I wanted to buy the laptops to take them outside to smash them so I didn't need that (which is funny because apparently thats what people think they're made for lol ) Finally after calling Best Buy corporate and talking to a manager they sold them to me. This was the Best Buy in Las Vegas on Rainbow and 215. I've lost all respect for Best Buy for using this scare tactic to fuck over and upsell customers

the frustration that is expressed in many of the above posts towards best buy could be part of the reason their stock dropped about 15% last week ;)

Comparing an i3 (hyper-threaded) processor to a Celeron, is like trying to compare hotdogs to Top Sirloin ... LOL

By making such comments, it is obvious that you have never used an i3 equipped machine ...

An i3 laptop, with 4+ GB of RAM, is going to going to be plenty of processor for 90% of all users - who are not using programs such as AutoCAD or similar processor intensive applications.

best buy has that policy...i think its that geek squad nonsense

I've found that I can buy almost anything through the web at cheaper prices than at retail stores. AND I don't have to put up with pushy, ignorant sales staff.

Bestbuy even has a 100 dollar package where they delete all the garbage they preinstall now

Ok now that's cheap!
I got a new Dell i5-core M-450, 2.40GHz with 6GB ram, 500GB HDD for $800 from Costco...

i own an acer, have given me nothing but trouble, and speakers sound sooo low!!

:2 cents::2 cents::thumbsup

That's a pretty good deal. Chances are that should be enough computer for a kid.

My decision is still out on Best Buy....
I've had some good service reps and some not so good.
Prices are really middle of the road. I can usually find cheaper prices if I check all the usual local outlets. Their selection is pretty good for games and tvs; but, we have a Frys nearby that gives everybody some real competition.
God Bless Frys!

Congrats :thumbsup

if I didn't need to edit and stuff for work I would just get a pad, how hard is it on the box to email and browse which is what most people do anyway? that and music and movies... pad will do all that.

since I use the notebook for work I have the sager with i975 and 12 g ram, ssd drive etc..

It is a big stretch and it's just one of many scams they often try. You can make the restore CDs yourself in 15 minutes once you take it home.

http://gizmodo.com/5439590/best-buys...huge-evil-scam

http://consumerist.com/2010/03/are-b...ssion-now.html

I can't even remember the last time I bought an electronic or other toy inside a store. I don't even buy movies or anything like that in stores either. Groceries are about the only thing I'll get.

Amazon and eBay are my hot spots. I love Amazon Marketplace.

I reluctantly bought an overpriced cable at bb couple years ago. The store shut down shortly after because nobody around here wants their pricey crap. Good riddance. :1orglaugh

ps. I miss Fry's!

I seem to be buying nearly everything off of Amazon recently. One odd thing that i've noticed on there lately is that sellers with their own actual website and shop seem to undercut their own prices through Amazon.

I have an Acer and love it. Its only used for after work hours use tho. If I recall you need 3 dvds to make the ehh... recovery disc, and that was for Vista.

Is the i7 any good?

I thinking about buying this:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-As...n.31156.0.html
Is it any good?

Yeah, the i7 processors are the best you can buy. I wouldn't buy anything else.

i7 - extreme ....

for burning his time on facebook or jacking on tube sites i3 is enough

for some serious work i7 would be better option...

it's all about for what are you going to use your laptop...

i7 is the fastest processor Intel currently makes, and is what we use in a good 50-60% of our servers ... but for most people who are not running processor intensive applications like AutoCAD or video rendering, is going to be severe overkill ... and a shock to the pocketbook.

An i3 with a healthy pile of RAM (3 or 4GB is plenty) is a great computer for most people ...

If you are paranoid that it may not be enough, then split the difference and go for an i5 ...

Remember that how much RAM you have will more directly affect how well your computer runs than the processor speed will ... RAM is cheap enough nowdays to splurge on a shitload of it ... an i3 with 6GB of RAM will run fantastic!!

I would stop and think about this post if i were you ... I7 Being a consumer Chipset is not the fastest processor Intel makes ... the xeon versions of the processors will always be faster and have more cache. Just figured i should let you know that.

Thanks to all who chimed in.

This thread is officially closed.