Need Laptop Purchasing Advice, Take 2

[rabbit]

Now, since the first thread failed miserably, I'm going to try again.  This time, don't post dumb shit.  I'm looking for help finding a laptop, not a bunch of arguing jackasses posting useless bullshit.

I'm in the market for a new laptop (my current one is about 4 years old and is pretty ungood).  I've been browsing Newegg and Best Buy and stuff, but I really don't know all that much about laptops.  I'm looking for something for work/random leisure.  I don't have any plans to do any gaming on it or anything.  I'm trying to avoid dual core (my current laptop is C2D, and it angers me to no end).  I've mostly been looking at Acer's stuff, and I'm thinking about this.  Thoughts and preferably suggestions?

[Sidoh]

I don't know how much against Apple you are, but I've never been more pleased with a laptop than I am with my MBP.  :)

[MyndFyre]

I don't know how much against Apple you are, but I've never been more pleased with a laptop than I am with my MBP.  :)

I have.  My MBP has been pretty unreliable. 

I bought a Gateway laptop a couple years ago and absolutely LOVE it, but I know you said you won't buy Gateway again.  :(

[rabbit]

My budget is pretty firm at not $apple.  I've got too many student loans to pay back.

[Joe]

I have.  My MBP has been pretty unreliable.

Agreed. My Inspiron was more reliable than my WhiteBook until it literally started falling apart. I'd still buy Apple again though. They really take care of the warranty.

That said, @rabbit, I don't think you can really go wrong with an Inspiron.

[Sidoh]

shrugs... had mine for more than a year without a single problem.  My inspiron's battery died in less than a year, and the power adaptor died shortly thereafter.

There's something to be said about the way Apple does warranties.  It's pretty awesome to be able to waltz into the store and say "FIX IT" and have them do it (I suppose you have to make an appointment sometimes, but still...). 

I have a gateway too, and it's still running pretty well.  The case is way shoddier compared to my MBP, though.  The screen feels like it would fall off with just a little bit of force.  It sits in a corner and runs Linux now. :)

[Joe]

My Inspiron's battery last me about a year, which is all I expect from a laptop battery, especially when I'm killing it royally seven days a week. My MacBook's battery died in a similar timeframe. It didn't make it to the cycles advertised (1000 advertised, I barely made it past 400 before my charge was seriously dropping) so Apple replaced it.

You can't go wrong with the unibody design. It's ridiculously solid. The "plastic" MacBooks aren't plastic, they're polycarbonate. They're pretty much indestructible, and if you manage to destroy one through everyday use, Apple will probably hook you up.

I still stand by Inspiron if you can't afford an Apple, though.

EDIT -
One thing to consider though is that with Apple, you don't need a new machine every year. I've always had a computer for about one year before getting a new one (usually due to epic failure of the old one). This one still is very on-par with my needs and I'll probably have it until at least the two-year mark.

[Sidoh]

I drain my battery at least once a day -- probably more like 2 or 3, and it still lasts 3-4 hours, depending on what I'm doing.

I expect a battery's performance to degrade over time; I don't think I should have to expect it be dead after a year, however.

[Armin]

I expect a battery's performance to degrade over time; I don't think I should have to expect it be dead after a year, however.

Yeah, lithium-ion batteries' capacity should degrade at ~20% per year (depending on temperature and charge-levels).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery#Shelf_life

[Sidoh]

My budget is pretty firm at not $apple.  I've got too many student loans to pay back.

Fair enough, then.  What is your budget?

The 13" MBPs start pretty close to $1000.  My girlfriend has had a MacBook for more than five years, and it's still running strong.  There were a few things that borked it, but the warranty covered everything.

[Joe]

I should clarify what I meant by "died". The battery is specced to be at 80% health (full charge divided by design charge) after 1000 cycles, and mine hit 78% health at about 400 cycles. It still lasted a few hours, but I'd had issues before so I wanted to get it fixed.

[nslay]

What will you do with the laptop?

I'm increasingly finding even the most powerful laptops too underpowered for my computing needs.  Aside, I use my existing laptop just for surfing the web ... a netbook is suitable for that.

[Joe]

What will you do with the laptop?

I'm increasingly finding even the most powerful laptops too underpowered for my computing needs.  Aside, I use my existing laptop just for surfing the web ... a netbook is suitable for that.

I used to use my desktop as my powerhouse machine and my old Pentium laptop for web browsing, but then I got into college and haven't bought a desktop since. The most intensive things I do are video conversion and compiling. For the video conversion I queue everything up on my desktop (dual processor PowerPC, excellent for media) and let it run at 200% CPU for weeks at a time without heating up, and for compiling I can distcc with a lab of iMac's at school.

[while1]

What size screen/ resolution you looking for?

If fucking ASUS starts selling the USB 3.0 + BT 3.0 version of the Eee PC 1215N in the US, it'll be what I'm getting to replace my 6 year old laptop.  Hell, considering its specs, it even plays decently SC2 and TF2 at mediumish settings according to G4.

EDIT:  Good riddance, it looks like ASUS recently updated their product page for the 1215N from the version they had up previously which mentioned the features including USB 3.0 + BT 3.0 with an asterisk next to it (where at the bottom of the page they put in fine print how they're fucking leading you on and that USB 3.0 + BT 3.0 is only available with models based on region/country).  Fuckers finally removed the misleading product advertisement of features.  They really pissed me off with this, cuz if you search Google for the 1215N, all review and blog sites are raving about it having these features but in reality none of the US models have these features (hell as far as I'm aware the UK models don't either).

Anyways, I'm fucking sick of the slow rate of USB 3.0 adoption.  I have decided not to a buy handful of products in the last month simply for the fact that they only support USB 2.0.  I'll most likely be holding out in the meantime.

[Joe]

LightPeak will rape USB3.