NDR - Buying a laptop

Mark W

Mark W

Well-known member
Anyone have any advice to share on the best place to purchase a laptop? My daughter's charging pin broke (inside her current computer) and everyone I ahve talked to about repairing it has said it can't be done inexpensively if at all. Thus the need for a new computer.

Bummer part is she will be graduating from High School next year and going to college the fall of 2010. We were hoping to get her old laptop to make it to this time but it is now very hard to charge and use.

I've looked at the various box stores and Bset Buy seems to ahve the best prices on what we are looking for. Any other suggestions are most appreciated.

Mark W
 
Mark, my daughter left for college last fall. I found out from the school what they required/suggested for computing capability, and then tried multiple on-line sites to "build" her one cheaper than what the college bookstore offered. I could not. The deal through the school had all the packaging and 4 years of insurance could not be beat, plus thye have on-site support. My suggestion is to either find a local computer repair shop to fix what she had, find a cheap used unit to get her through, or if she knows where and what she wants to study buy through the school. Not sure the school really knew or cared if she was a student, we bought it during orientation, before she really started at school.

If it were me, I'd get the connector and open it up and take a stab at soldering in the fix myself, but be sure you back up everythign on there that you can!

Dave
 
We bought a Dell Inspiron 1545 from Best Buy. LIke you, we found that they had the best deals.
So far, other than one issue with updates to Windows Vista, we love it.
 
I bought a Dell Inspiron - 1525 from Best Buy in December I think and have had no issues. My last one was a Dell Inspiron 6000 that had the LCD screen fail, intermittently. It would have cost $200-$400 to fix it so getting new one for $495 plus add on stuff was a reasonable choice. No problems with Vista either.
 
Mark - Last week I did exactly as Dave did. Couldn't find a computer with on-site help (nite or day at the school), no hassle insurance for the duration, required software at anywhere close to the University's price. might pay to look into it.
 
I have bought the HPs at Costco for my 2 college age sons and my wife. No problems, all great machines.
 
I have a 20 year old step daughter who is in school at Western MI, they offered discounts at a lot of different places to get computers. Also on the hardware she may need if its not included in purchase... We got it before she was actually a student...

What we found was a mass amount of this age kids use apple brand computers, they are next to impossible to get or give viruses to, they do seem to cost a bit more but have a great tech support and warranty.... For her we ended up with the apple laptop.. Usually offer free shipping and a bonus like free ipod or printer...

You can buy online and save a certain % by using the college name she will be attending, cant remember right now if we needed a code or something to access the particular part of the site, if you are interested I will take the time to go back and look threw the site for ya...


As for myself I went to Walmart back in September and stumbled upon a sale, I got a 15" Toshiba laptop with windows vista and microsoft word home for $298.00 I use it hours every day and have had zero problems with it at all... I dont even turn my desktop on anymore this is so much easier and quicker...

anyway if any of that helped you out or if you want to know more let me know...


Bridget
 
I second the apple computer...if you don't want to go new also consider looking at remanufactured. There are a couple of companies out there that offer up to three year warranties on the computers that they remanufacture. Sometimes the only thing wrong with the used/remanufactured (the reason they're on that list...nothing wrong with them) is that they were the Demo Models in stores.

If you work for a large company, or even a small company, you may be able to get discounts on new computers...I know here we get discounts on Dells and Apples. Not much mind you, but every little bit helps.

Dani
 
Ditto,on the Apple. Both of my College boys run apples....NO PROBLEMS. My daughter will be attending college in a year and she will be getting an apple as well. Man, I just realized that I will have 3 in college at the same time for one year.................I need a third job!!!!!!
 
I second the apple computer...if you don't want to go new also consider looking at remanufactured. There are a couple of companies out there that offer up to three year warranties on the computers that they remanufacture. Sometimes the only thing wrong with the used/remanufactured (the reason they're on that list...nothing wrong with them) is that they were the Demo Models in stores.

If you work for a large company, or even a small company, you may be able to get discounts on new computers...I know here we get discounts on Dells and Apples. Not much mind you, but every little bit helps.

Dani
Click to expand...


By chance Dani do you know the companies you mentioned that offer 3 year warranties on remanufactured Apple laptops. Would sure appreciate that information.

Mark W
 
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