My HP laptop has died after just over 3 years use.

I don't really want to buy another HP as I'm not that impressed it needed a new screen after 2.5 years (£150) and now it needs a new motherboard (£175).

Sony Vaio is probably top of my list as they're supposed to be well made, etc, and they seem more reasonably priced than they were when I was last looking 3 years ago. Hopefully the drop in price isn't reflected by a drop in quality.

Any other suggestions?

my acer is er, ace.

😉

Thanks Pook.

Which model, how much was it, and how long have you had it?

I always come back to looking at a new Acer (currently have one of 4 years) but can't help thinking "You gets what you pays for". They do seem a lot better made these days, though. Only thing I can fault on mine are;

tinny speakers
shite battery
bit flimsy

but it is 4+ years old, with memory upgrade so actually its doing alright!

Dell.

MAC

Sony laptops are nice but I think they're still bested for quality by Lenovo Thinkpads. Lenovo is the former PC manufacturing arm of IBM. I've had two and both have been great when compared against Dells, Acers and Toshs. Add Ubuntu and a solid state hard drive and you have the perfect PC.

My recent flatmate got through a Dell every 18 months or so. I wouldn't touch em now.

In the Acer range I would look at the 5732Z or 5536.

Macbook Pro. All the cool kids have them.

Got a Dell Inspiron over 8 years ago and it's still going strong (albeit very slowly compared to my desktop – oh, and the battery no longer holds a charge. It got quite heavy use for the first 4 years, including carrying around between jobs/sites.

Don't know what Dell's build quality is like these days tho.

p.s. be interested to see what others recommend, 'cos I could do with replacing my Dell.

Cant go wrong with Dell IMO, myself and about 50 people at work have them as laptops and not an issue (famous last words!)

Im using a Inspiron at home which i got on a really good deal here – http://www.dmxdimension.com/

I have a fujitsu siemens that has vista on it (god, vista is crap!!) and it's not bad but I wouldn't necessarily go for another one….

if/when mrs Ed gets a netbook or similar this will get linux on it, too early for windows 7 still and I'm sick of billGs OS

I've got a HP at work and that's pretty good, also had a (before they were called lenovo) thinkpad and that was smart

As mentioned above Lenovo Thinkpads for business use. Reliability but expensive. Or a Novatech jobbie with no operating system so you can install what you want.

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Very happy with my Toshiba Satellite – great touchpad on it and veery good screen. I've used plenty of IBM's/Lenovos/Compaq's/Dells at work and this seems more than a match for the compaq's and lenovos for build quality and blows the dells into the weeds.

Just bought a Macbook Pro 13 – £810 at Dixons. Always had Windows or linux but the Mac is just so much more intuitive. Picked up a Windows laptop and can't help using the "gestures" on the trackpad – it makes the Windows devices feel like antiques.

…shame the hard drive died after four days though!!! It's on its way back, but I'll be buying another.

Lenovos are well built if you need a windows OS.

Don't but a netbook if you're reading / typing lots of documents – the screens are just too small. Great for web and email though.

samsung n110 with a 13 quid upgrade to 2gb of ram running xp.
about 300 quid.
lovely.

Disclaimer-i work for a pc manufacturer but this is just my views. Get a dell, hp, etc and buy the three year warranty. Get next day. Don't bother with sony, you pay a premium for perceived value but actually they are no better made. Spend the difference on the warranty. It will save you in the long run!

They all break….3 years = time for a new one…repeat

Money no object – Samsung, best value – Acer, best built – Lenovo.

Have a look on Ebuyer.

Best deal now i think is this…

In the market for a new lappy too. Must admit to finding them exceedingly dull and CBA to spend hours poring over specs even though my current default machine is ~6 years old and falling to bits (literally).

Went over to Ebuyer with the intention of buying the Acer schrickvr6 linked to above. After reading the spec/reviews, I ordered this lappy instead.

I can't claim to have done any extensive research but the Acer dint have Bluetooth/modem/SD card reader which I need but does have 2gb more ram. The CompHPpaq also has a bigger/faster HDD and is £30 cheaper.

If you search for another in th 615 line, you'll be up for £50 cashback from HP if ordered before end Dec 09. Sadly, this one doesn't qualify.