# What kind of laptop do you have and how do you like it?



## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

As above.
Thank you :tiphat:


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

Dell Inspiron 15 3558. Not fancy or high-performance, but lets me write papers, arrange music, and do basic networking. And that's all I really need as I'm not much of a gamer. Intel i3, 4GB RAM (upgradable to 8 which I'm about to do soon) and 1TB hard drive. It's kinda bulky and not as pretty as a Mac or a more expensive PC, but it does everything I need it to do, and ran me only about $300.


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

Have had a Toshiba for a few years. Not the best but better than it was as its had a new
hardrive
keyboard
CD player

Pay to Currys Know How so didn't cost me anything to have these repairs!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Acer Aspire V3-771. Good enough for me.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Dell Inspiron E6500 ... quite a few years behind the times but with an Intel Core2Duo chip, 4Gb of memory and a 160Gb solid-state disk, it is more than fast enough. Actually the solid-state disk does the most to help performance as it is much, much faster than a standard rotating disk. Of course it helps that I am not using Microcrud's Windows  We have 2 of them and they have been very reliable. We started using them after experiencing one on loan from a client, a local university, where they were their standard and got heavy uses.

Incidentally, many years ago I published some papers on software performance and our mantra was "Is it faster? Does it matter?" I.e. there comes a point where faster means saving a few tenths of a second!


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

I'm more of a desktop guy than a laptop guy, but my laptop is the fastest personal machine even though it's 6-7 years old! It's an HP Elitebook 8440p with an Intel i5 processor and a 14" screen. I like it for the most part. I much prefer business laptops like this over consumer grade laptops with their terrible trackpads, keyboards, and glossy screens. The screen is about the right size, but the resolution is not great. I kind of prefer the old days with the 4:3/5:4 screens and not these widescreen monitors that makes it harder to read websites and word processing documents without having to do a ton of scrolling. The widescreen format does make the keyboard more naturally sized though I guess. I like that it has an optical drive unlike a lot of laptops now. That's important for us classical fans! It also has a FireWire port which came in handy for a digital video archiving project I was working on. Oddly enough, it also has a 56K modem too. I've never used it though.

I also have a Fujitsu U820 UMPC with a 5.6" screen. I don't use it often because it's so damn slow. It only has 1gb of RAM and isn't upgradable. It works well for traveling though since it's so small, light, and has travel friendly features like GPS. 

I have a Core2 Duo desktop that I use most of the time. It's over 10 years old, but it still does what I want so I've never been able to justify an upgrade even though computers are so cheap now. This is a far cry from ~20 years ago where a computer that was 3-4 years old would become essentially useless for the modern tasks of the time. Of course, it probably helps that I don't play video games anymore.


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

I have 2 desktop PCs, one in the study and one in my office in the garden, and (amongst other things) they both carry my music files.

My laptop (netbook, actually) goes everywhere with me, is small, sturdy, battered, elderly and fairly slow by modern standards - it's an HP mini 210 with a 25 cm screen and an intel atom processor. One review in 2010 when this was new said "Nothing particularly impressive nor disappointing distinguishes the HP Mini 210, but the price is right.", which sounds about right. 

One modification my son Rob and I made was ditching Windows 7 Starter, which it couldn't run quickly enough, for the Xubuntu OS, a derivative of Linux Ubuntu and Xfce which has a 'low memory footprint'. The laptop and I have never looked back.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

One desktop with a Dell 30 inch monitor and a i7 processor for heavy RAW photo-files processing and professional work. + an 2nd hand HP Eiltebook 2570p (for 250 Euro) for travelling and fun. The Lithium battery of this laptop is defunct, but we don't mind. Both have their place in our way of living


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Klassik said:


> I'm more of a desktop guy than a laptop guy, but my laptop is the fastest personal machine even though it's 6-7 years old! It's an HP Elitebook 8440p with an Intel i5 processor and a 14" screen. I like it for the most part. I much prefer business laptops like this over consumer grade laptops with their terrible trackpads, keyboards, and glossy screens. The screen is about the right size, but the resolution is not great. I kind of prefer the old days with the 4:3/5:4 screens and not these widescreen monitors that makes it harder to read websites and word processing documents without having to do a ton of scrolling. The widescreen format does make the keyboard more naturally sized though I guess. I like that it has an optical drive unlike a lot of laptops now. That's important for us classical fans! It also has a FireWire port which came in handy for a digital video archiving project I was working on. Oddly enough, it also has a 56K modem too. I've never used it though.
> 
> I also have a Fujitsu U820 UMPC with a 5.6" screen. I don't use it often because it's so damn slow. It only has 1gb of RAM and isn't upgradable. It works well for traveling though since it's so small, light, and has travel friendly features like GPS.
> 
> I have a Core2 Duo desktop that I use most of the time. It's over 10 years old, but it still does what I want so I've never been able to justify an upgrade even though computers are so cheap now. This is a far cry from ~20 years ago where a computer that was 3-4 years old would become essentially useless for the modern tasks of the time. Of course, it probably helps that I don't play video games anymore.


I am too. Hate laptops and tablets. I dislike going away for an extended period of time. Miss my soooooo easy to use, fast desktop!!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I have 2 desktop PCs, one in the music / T.V room and one in my office on the top floor .


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## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

Had HP with 19 inch screen years ago, which developed cable connection problem very quickly or perhaps it came with this defect only I hadn't realized it at the time. About six or seven years ago a friend bought HP laptop which had the same problem. Now we both have pc desktops and I don't know if HP resolved this issue with faulty cable sockets, they had plenty of time for this. I don't own any laptops right now, don't need them.


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Marinera said:


> Had HP with 19 inch screen years ago, which developed cable connection problem very quickly or perhaps it came with this defect only I hadn't realized it at the time. About six or seven years ago a friend bought HP laptop which had the same problem. Now we both have pc desktops and I don't know if HP resolved this issue with faulty cable sockets, they had plenty of time for this. I don't own any laptops right now, don't need them.


It's not uncommon for laptops to get loose power jacks. I've heard of that happening on a number of laptops from different brands. I had a Fujitsu laptop from the early 2000s which developed the same problem around 2003-4. I'm not sure if it's still a problem with new laptops, but it was a big problem back in the day. It's possible to solder a new jack in for very little money if you know how to open up a laptop, but it's not the easiest thing to do if you've never done it before. Soldering in a laptop is not nearly as easy as it is on a piece of stereo equipment or something like that.

Another problem that some laptops have is that they run so hot that they roast your nuts if you're actually using the laptop on your lap. I think business class laptops are better in this regard than consumer grade laptops. My HP isn't too bad in that regard unless the processor is really getting taxed. But, yeah, I prefer desktops for all these reasons and more.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I have a laptop at the office (Dell) and it doesn't matter to me that it is a laptop vs a desktop. At home I have three computers:

Something from 2006, commercial grade that was sold off from the print shop my brother worked at. It is my main computer.

Asus netbook with not enough RAM.

Amazon Fire tablet 7" which is handy but also tedious as I prefer a keyboard.


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## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

Florestan said:


> I have a laptop at the office (Dell) and it doesn't matter to me that it is a laptop vs a desktop. At home I have three computers:
> 
> Something from 2006, commercial grade that was sold off from the print shop my brother worked at. It is my main computer.
> 
> ...


That reminded me that I bought Asus laptop 6yrs ago maybe, but had to return it next day, not enough memory to play video. I've got an impression that Asus laptops were badly balanced, memory, graphic card and generally performance-wise.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

MacBook Pro. It's great for presentations. It has a lot of storage space, and it plays audio and video clips very well - everything loads up pretty quickly.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

I've been a Mac guy since the mid-80's, so right now it's a MacPro 15" laptop. It seems like every 5 years, the Mac just dies without warning. So I've learned to backup every day my daily work on my compositions. This one's 2 years old. So even tho' time is on my side, I still backup on an external drive every day.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I have a Toshiba Satellite touchscreen. I have had it for a year and haven't had a problem with it.


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## Guest (May 16, 2017)

HP Pavilion, which I use only for playing back hi-res audio files through my computer and for travel; otherwise, I'm a PC man! The HP is fine--gets the job done and is reliable.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Kontrapunctus said:


> HP Pavilion, which I use only for playing back hi-res audio files through my computer and for travel; otherwise, I'm a PC man! The HP is fine--gets the job done and is reliable.


I have an old HP Pavillion from 2006 that I plan to put back in use as a print station. It had Vista but soon will have Linux Mint operating system.


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## Guest (May 16, 2017)

Florestan said:


> I have an old HP Pavillion from 2006 that I plan to put back in use as a print station. It had Vista but soon will have Linux Mint operating system.


Mine is about 2 years old with Windows 10. So far, so good!


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## Harmonie (Mar 24, 2007)

I have a Toshiba Satellite that I got around two years ago.

Wow, it's already been two years ago. I can't even believe that. It still feels so new to me. My Toshiba from 2010/2011 (I forget which year) still works, as well. My HP from 2007... not so much. That thing was a disaster. I can never trust that brand ever again.


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Harmonie said:


> I have a Toshiba Satellite that I got around two years ago.
> 
> Wow, it's already been two years ago. I can't even believe that. It still feels so new to me. My Toshiba from 2010/2011 (I forget which year) still works, as well. My HP from 2007... not so much. That thing was a disaster. I can never trust that brand ever again.


I would say that HP's consumer grade stuff does indeed suck. Granted, you might be able to say that about any number of brand's consumer grade stuff. HP's business hardware is much better though in my experience (though, again, the business grade computer equipment from most brands are usually pretty good).

It might be fair to say that HP's consumer grade laptops suck more than even other companies' consumer grade laptops from the stories I've heard from their owners though. I know I recently had an HP consumer inkjet printer (well, it's listed as a business product, but I'm sure home users buy it mostly) that crapped out in less than a year with only light use. What a far cry from the tank-like quality of the HP inkjet printers I remember from the mid-1990s! Of course, something like an HP Deskjet 550C cost around $500 in 1993 compared to <$100 for a modern inkjet. Our newish HP business laser printers at work have been very reliable though so it's worth it to buy legitimate business grade equipment (though it may not matter that much with desktop PCs).


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## Harmonie (Mar 24, 2007)

The HP laptop I got back into 2007 gave me so many troubles, and that isn't even the worst of it - the kicker that ensured I'd never look into buying from the brand again, but I'll get into it.

I used my high school graduation money to buy that laptop so I could use it for college. I used it very little until the first day of college. That day I open up the laptop and turn it on... To discover that the colors on the screen have gone negative. Frustrated, my dad and I take the laptop in to get fixed. HP was called, and we were told that nothing could be done, but they'd send us a new laptop - not only that, but one of a newer, better model because that one was already out of manufacturing.

When the day came... I ended up getting the original laptop back. Not what they promised. On top of that, the laptop was now constantly telling me that my OS had been pirated. It's been so many years now I forget exactly what it was doing and how I fixed it, but it was really frustrating - I was supposed to get a new laptop after all.

That's not where it ends. I started using the laptop more regularly because my desktop had some issues and the laptop didn't have those issues (like the USB drive for some reason did not work on my desktop of the time). So I'd put the laptop to sleep when I got done. It started not coming out of the sleep mode when I'd try to start it back up. Eventually it became much harder to get it to come back on. Finally one day I was using it when suddenly the screen went awry and showed a display of colors like a stained glass window. That's it. I could never get the laptop to turn on again. It would sound like it was on, but the screen never responded.

After that experience I was done with HP. Terrible computer. Terrible (lying) customer service.


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## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

Klassik said:


> I would say that HP's consumer grade stuff does indeed suck. Granted, you might be able to say that about any number of brand's consumer grade stuff. HP's business hardware is much better though in my experience (though, again, the business grade computer equipment from most brands are usually pretty good).
> 
> It might be fair to say that HP's consumer grade laptops suck more than even other companies' consumer grade laptops from the stories I've heard from their owners though. I know I recently had an HP consumer inkjet printer (well, it's listed as a business product, but I'm sure home users buy it mostly) that crapped out in less than a year with only light use. What a far cry from the tank-like quality of the HP inkjet printers I remember from the mid-1990s! Of course, something like an HP Deskjet 550C cost around $500 in 1993 compared to <$100 for a modern inkjet. Our newish HP business laser printers at work have been very reliable though so it's worth it to buy legitimate business grade equipment (though it may not matter that much with desktop PCs).


I've had good experience with HP desktops and printers so far and that's what i'm using from their products. Printer's laserjet cp1215..I think..too lazy to look right now, but it's been doing a good job for years and it's much cheaper to run than inkjet printer.


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Marinera said:


> I've had good experience with HP desktops and printers so far and that's what i'm using from their products. Printer's laserjet cp1215..I think..too lazy to look right now, but it's been doing a good job for years and it's much cheaper to run than inkjet printer.


Laser printers are more reliable than inkjet printers in general since they are targeted for business use. HP laser printers are generally very reliable except for the lowest end models. I'm not sure if this is still the case, but they used to use Canon print engines. Unfortunately, color laser printers are expensive, big, and still don't have the best photo quality so inkjets are still seemingly the best option for my needs. I replaced that crap HP with a higher end Canon. The Canon has been reliable so far, but it drinks ink even compared to the HP and is very slow for a higher end printer.

To HPs credit, the inkjet printer I had before was a 2002 model and worked fine when I retired it a couple years back, but ink for it was becoming hard to find and was thus very expensive when you could find it. I don't think they build inkjet printers like that anymore though. One thing I liked about the old HP inkjets is that the printheads were on the cartridges themselves so all you had to do was take the cartridge out and clean it with isopropyl alcohol to clean them if they got clogged. HP may still have a couple low-end printers like this, but otherwise most of the inkjets on the market today have printheads built into the printer and the only way to clean them is to waste a lot of ink.


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## dillonp2020 (May 6, 2017)

I have a macbook pro 15 inch. I find it does the job. I've always preferred apple products to the competition as they are more intuitive and aesthetically pleasing.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

I also have a 15" MacBook Pro. I've always been an Apple/MacOS fan, so there's no real question of me getting anything else. The downside would be the price, but the build quality and the ability to use the best OS (in my opinion) make up for it. I also this MacBook to listen to all my digital classical music.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

I have a HP Pavilion. It does the job.

We also curate and love Mrs Pat's old Sony Vaio laptop. It runs (very slowly) on steam and goodwill, but the screen image quality is the best I have ever seen.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

I got a Dell Inspiron about 2 years ago when I had desktop problems. It's basically a desktop substitute - 17" widescreen touch enabled, 1 Tb hard drive, 16 mb memory. Seems to work OK. Now running Windows 10.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

A Hewlett-Packard something or other - about 18 months old. Forced to buy it when the light went on my 6 year-old Acer.


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