Avoid Sony.

You won't get everyone to agree, but if you took a poll I think that the
top 3 brands would be (in no particular order) Dell, Lenovo (Thinkpad)
and Toshiba. Even within brands, there are major differences by model.
In the Dell line, you are probably looking for an E1505 or perhaps
E1405 if the smaller screen is acceptable (but the machine is smaller
and lighter). In Toshiba models, probably an A105 or A135 series. Some
people would add HP or Compaq models to their list (I would not).

Personally, I'd avoid a model with a Celeron processor; look for a Core
Duo or Core 2 Duo (slightly better, but only slightly and more
expensive). I'd avoid any laptop that comes with Vista Home Basic.

If you can find a model that still has XP before March 15th, the upgrade
to Vista should be free and should be to Vista Home Premium ***IF*** the
laptop comes with XP Media Center Edition or XP Pro; models with XP Home
get the crappy Vista Home Basic AND you have to pay for that, so I'd
avoid them. All free and discounted upgrades on machines preloaded with
XP end on March 15th.

I would also only consider laptops that have a DVD burner; in my
opinion, a "combo" drive (reads DVDs but can't burn them) is no longer
adequate.

Good news: You don't need to spend $1,200. You can get a great machine
with everything you need for quite a bit less than that (probably $650
to $900).

If you are buying a Dell, be sure to check the deals on
www.techbargains.com; they have coupons that can save you hundreds of
dollars (you will still make the actual purchase directly from Dell).
You can get a very nice E1505 for $800 using the coupons.


mtech wrote:
> A friend of mine is searching for a laptop for her son for college.
>
> My daughter has a dell and I have a broken compaq but I'm still
> finding it hard to determine what manufacture makes a solid laptop
> that lasts.
>
> I haven't owned an apple or a sony to compare to so that makes helping
>
> her find one even harder.
>
> Would any of you recommend a name brand that you would buy if you had
> a son going to college and you had about 1200 to spend.
>
> Thank you for all your help,
>
> Steve
>