What are good laptop brands?

[Minion]

3 things to pay attention to (this applies to more than just laptops, really):
hardware/specs
price
customer support

[Johnny J]

Ive got a Toshi and a Dell, and love the Toshi.

[canadianrcist]

ive got a toshiba laptop and love it.

for actually pc, i prefer custom built.

[penguinrusty]

Do not buy a mac, while they are good quality, you can get the same quality for much, much less. You're paying for a shiny case and the smugness that comes from the brand.
The good brands:
Acer, Asus, Sony, Dell, Lenovo

The bad:
Compaq/HP, Averatech (sp?), gateway, etc.

[Stealitall]

actually ( and i'm not trying to start a mac/pc war with this one, just stating a point), if you take pc and equip it similarly to a mac, they actually can become quite comparable in features and price

a few articles- (not trying to trash anyone, just some interesting reading)
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/reviews/4258725.html?page=1
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/06/24/aol-shopping-settles-mac-vs-pc-debate/
http://www.myfirstmac.com/index.php/mac/articles/mac-vs-pc-cost-comparisons-a-fair-fight
http://www.macworld.com/article/59565/2007/08/costanalysis.html

one point that come up often in anything with computers is that value is just as important as price
$70-$80 (unless you are on a very tight budget) shouldn't make or break your decision, you should choose based on your needs

[M3mph1s]

I think the extra your paying for a Mac will be gained back if you ever have any problems with it.
You could take a PC with the same specs and add a $400 protection plan for like 3 years, and there ya have a Mac! Plus, from what I've seen, they are far more reliable anyways. I've got plenty of friends with Macs and only seen one whose RAM went bad (replaced on the spot, no questions, no cost to him at our local Genius Bar) and his power cord ripped (because he bent it right at the connector a LOT).

[Stealitall]

they replaced my battery for free when it got worn down, something that rather expensive new

[M3mph1s]

Wow...even I wouldn't think they'd be willing to do that!

I don't have the money for a Mac, so I'm just going to build my own desktop. :)

[Stealitall]

its funny, it turns out that most new mac can run vista better than most of the new pcs

[penguinrusty]

And I paid $400 for my EEEPC and its freakin terrific. Just got the battery replaced for free as well, they even paid shipping.

[GOLDSNIPER]

Actually I am using a Gateway at this moment. I agree with other people that Gtaeway does suck. But some of there laptops in the FX Series can be comparable to Alenware. I personally have a modded M-6850 FX and I can play crysis high with little to no lag. Pretty amazing for such a high demanding game. Anyways contact me if you have any more questions.

[Kemo]

if this topic is still well alive (few lingering posters have been noticed), avoid dell like the plague. I get the left-overs from my mom's office since that's all they order. Low quality written all over it. The hinges are low quality, main boards suck, and so do almost all of the graphics cards that are included.

On top of that, if something goes wrong, its not covered by warranty. My hinges were shot (should have been recalled) and the lcd shattered. I call up dell, not covered by warranty. "yeah we can send you hinges, but not the screen. Thats not covered by warranty. Usually we will replace things that have been broken because of a faulty part" So I say to the guy "oh yeah? I'll need a free screen to go with those hinges". Whats he say back to me? "um... I dont think we can *hangs up*". And THEN... I get an email from him asking for a review with how helpful he was.

[M3mph1s]

You better have ripped on him in that e-mail...

I'm thinking about a nice Fujitsu. They have spill proof keyboards and shock sensors that retract the readers from the discs in a split second when a drop or bump is sensed. Runs at 2ghz with an Intel duo processor, 250 or 320 (can't remember) HDD, HDMI port, E-SATA port (up to 3GB a second...), memory card reader, the works! And I'll be getting an LCD monitor at the end of the year, so I can hook that up to it!
I'm also considering the 3-year coverage plan at Fry's. Covers ANY problems, free repair, rental computer while they work on yours, if they can't fix it, they'll replace it, ect... Seems resonable for $200. If the HDD, or the motherboard, or the screen, ect went bad, it would pay for itself instantly.

[Kemo]

I hope he's fired for what he did... but then again, its dell.

And then you have the goons at geek squad... they think they know what they are doing, but soon as you back them into a corner and prove they are wrong about something, they too disappear.