Compare new budget Core I3 laptops

[whs]

That looks like a nice one. No quarrels for the price.

 

[gregrocker]

In some of the reviews on Office Depot site there were complaints about it, and I see the point made occasionally that Lenovo is now Chinese manufactured. Do you see anything to these complaints?
Lenovo G580 59359080 Laptop Computer With 156 Screen 3rd Gen Intel Core i3 Processor Brown by Office Depot

Also 2 USB3 ports, 1 USB2.

 

[whs]

Well, one guy had a hardware problem, that happens. The other complaints were just smoke. I would buy it for that money.

Everything is being made now in China or Korea. If you don't want to buy their stuff, it's going to look pretty barren in your house. I was still with IBM when my friend Andy Heller was running the PC division. They never made any real money. So selling it to someone was the most logical step.

 

[indianacarnie]

That Lenovo looks pretty nice. Decent spec.'s for the price too. But again I question the customer support. How tech savvy is your friend? You may not always be available to help with any problems that arise, at least not right away. No experience with Lenovo personally but at least one of the comments was complaining about it, which dovetails to what I've heard. Imho, if all else equals out, go with the best support system. Which with these particular machines, cries Toshiba.

 

[severedsolo]

I agree, looks pretty nice for the money. I'll point out that it does have 10/100 LAN again, but honestly not many people need gigabit lan, especially on a laptop. I'd say the USB ports more than offsets that. Greg, you are going to really struggle to get a 7200rpm HDD in a laptop nowadays, it's SSD or 5400rpm most of the time.

I am left wondering though just how old that guys mac was that it couldn't have more than 2 tabs open on chrome and not crash.... or more than one program at a time! (and by the looks of his review, not exactly taxing programs at that!) still, easy to please some people I guess.

 

[whs]

If you count on customer support from the manufacturers, you are pretty lost. Try HP or Gateway or any of the others. Normally you land in China with some kid right off from college that has no clue of what you are talking about. Looks at his 'resources' (speak Google) and comes up with the same stuff you already know.

If you are lucky, you get someone from the Philippines - at least those guys you can understand.

 

[indianacarnie]

I don't have to rely on customer support now from any of the OEM's, Thats why I asked how savvy the friend was. Of the machines I have personal experience with and the support behind them,Toshiba's is by far the best. Yeah, they may have been Indian or Japanese, but they would not let me off the phone until I was satisfied. I like that in a company.

 

[whs]

I have a Toshiba laptop but I never needed their service. The laptop is a bit flimsy if you compare it to e.g. a Sony Vaio, but it works OK.

Btw: The Sony support is excellent, but you have to pay their prices and put up with their odd policies.

 

[gregrocker]

Wolfgang, I like that laptop site you posted but how do I get it to sort by New Deals or Price so I dont' have to go through 19 pages every time? Cheap Laptop Deals: Find the Best Online Laptop Deals and Sales at Deals2buy.com

It won't resort after selecting Price or Recent Deals.

 

[whs]

Yeah, the 'Sort by' selector does not do anything. I guess you are in for the 19 pages. Sorry.

 

[gregrocker]

How about this Toshiba which has 6gb RAM and a slightly bigger HD with the same 3rd-gen I3 processor?

Toshiba Satellite C855 S5194 Laptop Computer With 156 Screen 3rd Gen Intel Core i3 Processor Silver by Office Depot


Cancel that. The sound would be better with tiny tin cans. I can't believe they'd put such crap speakers on a 6gb I3.

 

[gregrocker]

This price tumbled at Office Depot today: HP Pavilion g6 2237us Laptop Computer With 156 Screen 3rd Gen Intel Core i3 Processor by Office Depot.

Seems really solid, fast, good sound compared to the Toshiba above, but the keyboard on the Lenovo seems more solid and responsive whereas the HP has a hollow feel under the keyboard.

 

[whs]

Good price. I am pretty happy with my HPs (1 laptop, 1 desktop).

 

[gregrocker]

I'm still waiting for this 10 year old HP 510 travel laptop to die so I can justify buying another. We're in a standoff right now and won't give up on each other. It runs Win7 so fast the only hesitation at all is the 2200B/G wireless adapter.

But $400 to have a solid i3 with an actual battery to use on flights is tempting. I think I'd rather wait though and hope it finally dies just as the i5's come down to that price.

 

[whs]

I have a 15" Toshiba with an i5, 6GB, USB3 and some other bells and whistles. First thing I always do is to replace the HDD with an SSD. I had a Vertex3 lying around.

This thing is really fast. I don't use it a lot - only for 'special tasks' and my wife uses it to control one of her electronic cutting machines for her crafting. I prefer my big desktop and my 22" screen.

 

[gregrocker]

Best Buy has this Asus 3rd gen Core i5 for $400 Friday and Sat: Asus KSeries 15.6" Laptop 4GB Memory 500GB Hard Drive K55A-SI50301P - Best Buy

Almost too good to pass up since he was going to spend the same for i3?

 

[TVeblen]

Now that is a good looking rig for the money. All modern controllers, an i5, and it comes with Adobe Reader too!:sarc::sarc: (I don't know if I would advertise that Asus)

A 4GB stick of laptop RAM can be had for about $20. If you buy it at the same time then that would make it a serious piece of machinery.

 

[whs]

This i5 is a really good CPU. Includes even the 4000 graphics chip.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Yoga....it's good for the mind as well as the body !

Newegg.com - lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 (59359568) 13.3" Touchscreen Convertible Ultrabook

 

[gregrocker]

Nice hardware Alan.

I'm trying the i5 at Best Buy now. The speakers are mounted underneath so Altec sound is a bit muffled. Not sure that is a deal killer.

The touchpad has the invisible buttons and stretch/gesture features which seem haywire. I don't need to do much to have it zoom 7F page size all over the place. I wonder if this would be completely resolved by using a notebook mouse, saving the touchpad only for gestures if needed.

Otherwise it seems very sold, and very thin for having a DVD burner. I wish I had a real OS on here to really put it through it's paces.

I tink I'll buy one since Best Buy assures it's 15 days full refund for any reason. But a week will be eaten with the shipping (none in stock here) so that leaves a week to home demo it.