StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I'm currently in the market for both an inexpensive television and an inexpensive laptop. I've managed to pretty easily find products that fit both my budget and desired features, but I have no idea as to whether the products in question are any good. I'm having difficulty finding reviews for products that aren't the "OOO-AAH" top of the line, just out this year, etc, etc, products. Here's the story:

• The TV: I gave my old TV away to a less fortunate friend years ago when I moved in with my ex, and so I've been living without a TV for almost a year (gasp! the horror! ). I don't give a crap about HD-TV, and I don't have a very big place in my apartment for a bigass TV. And frankly I don't watch that much TV, so I really don't care to spend any serious money on one. The only reason I'm not just going to a junk sale is because I don't want to have to buy another TV in only a year or two. I've found some decent smallish TVs in the $250-400 range, but I don't have any idea who's making reliable TVs these days. BestBuy seems to have some Samsung and Inspiron models in the range I'm looking for. Inspiron made my ancient 19" (and 35kg!) computer monitor, which has worked for me for some 8 years or so, but finding unbiased reports on brands is tricky.
• The Laptop: While I work on pretty hefty CAD/BIM software at the office, for home use I'm a bit of a Luddite so I don't need anything nearly as powerful; I'm currently using an old throwaway machine at home that has 512MB RAM and a ~600Mhz processor! The only reason I'm even looking to buy a new machine is because I want a laptop rather than a desktop, and the old beast's components are slowly starting to go. All I'm looking for is a machine to do some web-browsing (and site maintenance), writing, and a little GIMP (Photoshop) stuff. No gaming, unless you count occasionally firing up Masters of Orion II for kicks. Big deal. I've easily found laptop computers with the properties I want for <$1000. (First guy to tell me I should be spending $1700 and getting some "KICKASS LOLLZ!!11" alienware gaming rig gets an e-punch in the nuts for missing the point).
  
  But again, the "who do I get it from?" problem is there. I can't seem to find reviews for low-end machines. I also can't seem to find laptops that come with XP instead of Vista (which I'd rather not mess with). And I have this vague feeling that maybe it's time to switch over to Mac for home use (I used a Mac years ago)... it's not like I've got a huge library of software I'd be losing, and all my writing or images are burned to CD and can be ported over no problem.

Any suggestions for good places to get honest reviews on "lower-end" electronics? Any suggestions on good brands to take a look at?

Edit: I should probably add that my biggest two criteria for both products, outside meeting the minimal specs, are reliability and value. I don't like replacing home electronics on a yearly basis like some people; they just aren't that important to me. Hell, I just realized the other day that my alarm clock is almost 15 years old. They don't make 'em like they used to! [/curmudgeon]

I would strongly suggest spending a bit more money and getting something like a ThinkPad (there should be a sale around Labor Day, if you can wait).

phongn wrote:I would strongly suggest spending a bit more money and getting something like a ThinkPad (there should be a sale around Labor Day, if you can wait).

I don't mean to be snarky, but why? We use a few ThinkPads here at the office for our "road warriors" and they're swell, but they're expensive as fuck and way more than I really need in terms of power. What's the big advantage?

Turin wrote:

phongn wrote:I would strongly suggest spending a bit more money and getting something like a ThinkPad (there should be a sale around Labor Day, if you can wait).

I don't mean to be snarky, but why? We use a few ThinkPads here at the office for our "road warriors" and they're swell, but they're expensive as fuck and way more than I really need in terms of power. What's the big advantage?

Mostly quality of construction. If you don't plan on banging it about much, HPs make some decent laptops for under $1,000. Though you'll need to upgrade the ram in most default configurations for adequate performance.

Nearly all of my customers with laptop hardware problems bought an HP or Compaq. It's been years since the power jack problem has supposedly been fixed but I still hear about it...

Anyway, I've heard horror stories about every manufacturer out there, Thinkpads included. I usually prefer to get a cheap of model as possible (~600 or less nowadays), just so I'm not out so much in case it grows legs - I use it for support work and not general stuff, so I suppose that's a factor.

Xeriar wrote:Nearly all of my customers with laptop hardware problems bought an HP or Compaq. It's been years since the power jack problem has supposedly been fixed but I still hear about it...

Good to know. We use HP-Compaq here at the office for desktops, and haven't had much problem so I wouldn't have guess that.

As it turns out, that sale on ThinkPad looks like it's going on now. I've priced a ThinkPad R61e, HP V6000Z, and Dell Inspiron 1501... all of which are pretty close in specs and within a ~10% range in price. A similar MacBook is as much as the ThinkPad (without the sale price -- another $300), so I think that potential adventure is going to be out.

Xeriar wrote:Nearly all of my customers with laptop hardware problems bought an HP or Compaq. It's been years since the power jack problem has supposedly been fixed but I still hear about it...

Anyway, I've heard horror stories about every manufacturer out there, Thinkpads included. I usually prefer to get a cheap of model as possible (~600 or less nowadays), just so I'm not out so much in case it grows legs - I use it for support work and not general stuff, so I suppose that's a factor.

What kind of hardware problems, out of curiosity? I've had my laptop for going on ten months and haven't experienced any kind of major hardware issue with it yet.

Turin wrote:As it turns out, that sale on ThinkPad looks like it's going on now. I've priced a ThinkPad R61e, HP V6000Z, and Dell Inspiron 1501... all of which are pretty close in specs and within a ~10% range in price. A similar MacBook is as much as the ThinkPad (without the sale price -- another $300), so I think that potential adventure is going to be out.

As noted earlier - quality of construction is a big reason I like the ThinkPad series. It's pretty much where the price premium is going - for example, the T61 and R61 have honeycomb magnesium frames inside designed to protect all those electronics from harm. it also prevents that annoying flex that many laptops have.