Awol wrote:ant1 wrote:a question that is basically "what laptop is good" is a teensy bit too vague to be answered properly
If you read past the first sentence of my initial post, you'll find some more specific information. I'm just looking for a general use laptop, not a super powerful gaming or media machine, but I want to know what PC brands are reputable these days. I want reliable hardware that will last, even if it's not the latest and greatest in terms of speed.
If you want reliability and can deal with the obsolete, may I suggest getting a Tandy Model 102. Perhaps the most durable, reliable, and stylish laptop ever to grace the market IMO. Full travel, full size keys, an easy to read (when there is ambient light) 40x8 character LCD display, 40 hours of battery life from a set of AA batteries, and it's 100% solid state. No moving parts, no need to bother with "saving" documents, if it's in RAM it's already saved. Comes with industry standard Microsoft Basic, a text editor, a spreadsheet program, contact list, and a 300 baud modem with optional acoustical couplers for a go-anywhere machine. If you need massive amounts of RAM, no problem, you can upgrade to as much as 32 kilobytes of it. You can choose software from dozens of titles. You can hook up to an optional dot matrix printer for making near letter quality hard copies of your work, and if you need the ultimate in high density data backup, you can add an external floppy drive which also runs on batteries for convenient portability.
I'm serious about this. If you need something small and portable and durable for taking notes in class, writing papers, and playing with Basic, this is it. You can hook this up via serial to a "modern" computer to move your documents around, and this thing is built like a tank. I have dropped mine down 3 flights of stairs, set nearly 100 lbs on top of it by accident, spilled liquids on it, and subjected it to temps of -30 degrees F. And it still runs like a champ. Also has my favorite keyboard ever attached to a laptop. It also makes and excellent portable serial terminal, AND wows the chicks.