Calling all Computer Gurus
 

Ok, so despite my immense love for beer, my laptop unfortunately doesn't share that love. Since accidentally sharing about 3/4 of a bottle of Founder's Nemesis 2009 with her keyboard she's not talking to me anymore. Now you're going to make me some recommendations, I'm sick of having spending a shit ton on computers only to have them be ungodly fast for ~a month then go down hill like a freakin rock. I'm partial to Toshiba but I'm willing to stray from that if you convince me to do so, hell I'm even willing to stray from the laptop path to a full on desktop or all-in-one if enough people convince me to.

Discuss.

I'm probably going to get flamed for this but...

Get a mac, mine's almost 3 years old and due to the snow leopard update it's actually faster than the day I bought it. I still keep a windows laptop around for tuning purposes but I refuse to use it for anything else when it's just going to get bogged down with crap.

I remember when I first got it I my friend had a Dell with much more processing power and ram. We did some benchmarks and I beat him on almost every one. Computers are like cars, raw power is nice but sometimes it's more about how you use it.

Only thing you won't be able to convince me of (unless you tell me I can enjoy a nice beer with one) is a Mac, been there done that, was not happy. Thanks for the input though

How long ago did you have a mac?

Too long ago to convince you to not say "well try them now." :bowrofl:

First off, pull your power and battery and pour some rubbing alcohol on your keyboard and slosh it around, dump it out, and hit it with a fan.

second of all:

my advice on buying a computer is to ignore my advice on buying a computer.

1: I did pull power right away, then proceeded to disassemble said laptop and dry EVERYTHING, then detail the shit out of it with q-tips and glass cleaner, then inside has no beer residue left and dried overnight, still not cooperating today. Didn't try rubbing alcohol though.

2: Noted.

DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA, DO NOT GET A TOSHIBA,

That is all.

Laptop Rules of Conduct:
1> Never buy a fucking Toshiba.
2> Never buy a fucking Toshiba.

If its not salvageable I'd recommend a refurbished thinkpad, they are cheap, readily available, and durable (business class). My work yanked my old T40 and T60 and replaced it with a Dell and I still cry myself to sleep.

So you're a Toshiba fan...hogging them all for yourself huh?

Any input on the all-in-one's from HP, I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on one in a couple hours unless I'm convinced to do otherwise.

Big or small?

Seriously- are you an egotist who wants a >16" machine with all the bells-n-whistles, a hipster who's gotta show off your little netbook, or a conformist drone who just buys the first thing he sees in the 13-15" class.

My opinion: aside from pointing devices (and display quality) there's no meaningful difference from one manufacturer to the next. Shop features, not brands. I never thought I'd buy a Sony Vaio until my research led me unavoidably to the TX model. Greatest laptop I've ever owned.

I'd give serious consideration to the whole ultraportable class (netbooks, but with real CPUs). Having a machine that weighs 2.8 lbs with battery and takes up no more space than a hardback novel is handier than you might initially give it credit for.

I just want something in the sub-$1000 range that is fast, will play the occasional movie, I don't do online gaming. I'm not a fan of the little netbooks, something in the 15-16"+ range most likely. I don't need "all the bells and whistles" but I want my shit to be able to keep up with my multi-tasking with ease. A bigger HD (in the 600GB - 1TB range) so I can store all my movies/music without an external wold be nice. I guess out of your choices I fall under the "conformist drone" category. :giggle:

Windows 7 is much better in this respect that XP or Vista. Also you need to uninstall all the bloatware in the beginning.

I would look at Acer for a budget laptop. Lenovo for a midrange. Get at least an intel i3 processor. Do not bother with AMD or any Celeron.

Apple is the only company so far that can pull off a good all in one. I would stay away from HP in general.

I always here people (even on here) talking about how they build these bad-ass computers for next to nothing compared to the off-the-shelf systems... give me some of that action :giggle:

I'm one of those tough motherfuckers, yo.

Newegg.com is your new best friend. They have great prices and a great layout. The site is retardedly easy to navigate.

If you've never built one before, start with the motherboard. Build around the motherboard, don't make the same mistake I made and build around a videocard/processer or whatever.

Don't ignore cooling; I did for my rig and now I have to run it with no side iwth a fan blowing into it.

I'm on newegg now (have been for a few minutes actually) I'll most likely be PMing you here in a bit if that's cool, if not just ignore it and :fawk:. :giggle:

Thanks everyone for your input...to think I was the computer geek in HS just a few years ago before cars took over my life.

You on gmail? If so shoot me a pm so we can chat on their and i can help out with piecing a PC together. I got to kill 2 hours at work today.

I'm not one of the cool kids yet.... :crx:

So then, How much do you want to spend? Do you want a full tower? Do you already have a monitor? AMD or Intel?

Hey, I'm here to help.