Laptop Crisis!

[sincere]

Laptops are the bane of my existence. And yet, I crave them.

refracting recommended a Vaio like this.
maladaptive recommended this Dell.
madfnorder recommended the third-party WidowPC.

I do not want to spend more than $1800 on a laptop.
I'll want to buy it over the weekend. It's a sales-tax free holiday weekend, so I'll pay no sales tax, la~

What do you think?

[Poll #790003]

If you have any nightmare stories about how Dell sent out a crew to repair your laptop and they used your drapes for handkerchiefs and ate your kitten, please share them. If you have any glowing praises about how a Vaio laptop rescued your neighbor's children from a burning building, please share them! You can also share if you want to tell me that Totally Random Computers makes a wonderful laptop that actually runs, has decent battery life, and doesn't burst into flames like my HP laptop did.

Just don't tell me about Macs.

Comments

[briarwolf.livejournal.com]

I will share one quick horror story from the having of my Dell. I don't believe they sell the model I had anymore, but it's still a factor to keep in mind, particuarly since through research I discovered the problem had been found before I bought mine (direct from them) and yet wasn't addressed at all by Dell themselves.

Certain models of Dell laptop are apparently striken with a design flaw that causes overheating and results in the motherboard warping. When this occurs, here's what happens when you try and use your computer... It blinks out. More and more frequently until it comes to the point that you can't move it at all if you do manage to get it to start, because the case puts enough pressure on the motherboard to send you off to having a black screen of nothing. The computer itself doesn't shut off, you then have to hold the power button until it does, and you lose everything you were working on, pretty much.

When this happened to mine, it started as an occassional thing, and I thought it was something minor with a pressure point on the bottom of the machine. In the end, earlier this year, the machine broke down entirely and even the slightest motion caused the problem. I was informed (by both Dell and an outside contractor) that I could have the problem fixed, but it would cost me anywhere from $500 - $750 to do so. And the contractor claimed he could keep it from happening again, but Dell couldn't offer the same assurance.

In the end, I scrapped the Dell and bought another laptop. Because of this, I'll never buy another Dell, no matter how many positive things I hear about the company. I have a Toshiba now, and have had absolutely no problems with it. But. Judging by your poll, you aren't interested in one of those. XD

(I want an AlienWare machine, but they're pretty pricey.)

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

Gah, overheating is the bane of my existence! As you can see, my HP laptop literally combusted before it died of melting, and my Toshiba laptop has been overheating something brutal lately -- around once a night it shuts itself off without warning from the heat, no matter how careful I am to keep it on a flat hard surface and elevated etc. (What model of Toshiba?)

My desktop is big and beautiful and custom-designed by a third party gaming vendor and has never, ever given me a single problem, and it has fan power to the max. My computer is always touchable, but you can feel the heat coming out in a solid wall from it because I leave it running for weeks at a time even in oppressively hot weather thanks to the powerful cooling system.

*coos at desktop* who loves you baby??