17" laptop recommendations

[F4mandolin]

Dell 15" just died yesterday morning....actually died during the night peacefully since it wouldn't start yesterday.....been on it's last legs for a month or more. Was thinking about going back to a desktop....but I do like dragging it out to sit on my lap on the couch. Might be switching out of my Comcast in June anyway and going back to Hulu+ and/or Netflix.....bigger screen will work better for watching. Might play some games as well....although not much into that anymore. Touch screen doesn't sound like anything I would really use on a laptop......even though it is the "in" thing.

 

[Katsmeow]

I bought a 17" laptop from xoticpc.com. They sell Sager laptops (which are made by Clevo). I have been very happy with mine.

Gaming Laptops - XOTIC PC - Gaming Notebooks - Custom Laptops - Custom Notebooks

 

[W2R]

I have a 17" Dell Inspiron laptop that I bought in July, 2011. It has an i7 processor, Windows 7, an upgraded video card, and all the bells and whistles that had any appeal to me. Very nice, although not cheap. Maybe this post should be in the "guilty pleasures" thread.

When my desktop computer dies, I don't plan to buy another. I can do anything on this laptop that I can do on my desktop.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I bought a smaller screen Dell laptop last week. I'm pretty easy to please, but I find Windows 8 to be the worst OS I've ever encountered (but I skipped Vista so am not familiar with that). Worse, my elegant little b/w laser printer does not work with it as HP has yet to provide a driver for it and I'm not techie enough to use a work around. Grrrr. But other than that I love the new laptop....

 

[Katsmeow]

I bought a smaller screen Dell laptop last week. I'm pretty easy to please, but I find Windows 8 to be the worst OS I've ever encountered

The most important thing I've learned about Windows 8 is to go download a program that will create a start menu for you. Once you do that you can just set it to work from the desktop and then you have a start menu with all your programs and it is pretty much like Windows 7. I am currently using a little free program called Classic Shell which makes Windows 8 ever so much nicer.

 

[modhatter]

I purchased a 15" Dell XPS last year with their best screen which is superb. I had a TV tuner card installed, purchased a moju leaf indoor antenna (great simple indoor antenna) and have a TV, with excellent HD picture almost anywhere I go with it. I also have large TV's on wall, but I like the flexibility of having a TO GO tv with me. Of course, it cost me around $1,350 for my set up, but I feel it is worth it. Having a really good screen is a very important feature if you are planning on watching any amount of video on your laptop, so I would make that a priority.

You also want to have Windows 7 installed on it, because you get Media Center with it, which will allow you to record all your favorite TV shows on your laptop, so if you need entertainment when you travel, or if your internet goes out, or you have to visit your in laws, or just watch something only you like, it makes for a nice TV, with built in recorder (DVR)

You can buy Media Center for Windows 8 for about $100 (unless you have Professional, which I think includes it) But I have not heard good things about Windows 8, so you might want to pick up a copy of Windows 7, while you still can.

 

[Calgary_Girl]

Just ordered a 17" Inspiron laptop from Dell since the old laptop is starting to get a bit buggy. I have read awful things about Windows 8 so I made sure that the new laptop has Win 7

 

[F4mandolin]

Arrrrgggg. When did Dell stop letting you make little adjustments to an order? Now you are kind of stuck on whatever they want to sell you. You used to be able to change all kinds of things on the computer. Are all the other companies doing this as well?

Kind of tempted on a Toshiba that Costco has online for a little over $1100.

 

[Katsmeow]

Arrrrgggg. When did Dell stop letting you make little adjustments to an order? Now you are kind of stuck on whatever they want to sell you. You used to be able to change all kinds of things on the computer. Are all the other companies doing this as well?

Most of the "big" companies don't allow the customization they used to allow. That is why I (who used to buy Dell a lot) bought from xoticpc.com because I could customize just about everything on it.

 

[pb4uski]

I have had very good experience with Lenovo ThinkPads. They are rugged and hold up well compared to other laptops we have had (Dell, Asus). Only laptop I will buy now. I believe that the Lenovo site allows some customization but not as much as they did in the past and much of the customizations are just pitches for more expensive high-margin bells and whistles.

 

[KiraC]

I have a Dell 17.3" laptop and love having the extra screen space. I also connect it to a 24" TV because of how I use it all day. Works perfectly!

 

[HighRoller]

I have 2 Sony VIAO's and have really liked them. No problems.

 

[rbmrtn]

I bought a smaller screen Dell laptop last week. I'm pretty easy to please, but I find Windows 8 to be the worst OS I've ever encountered (but I skipped Vista so am not familiar with that).

MS has finally admitted Win 8 is flop. There is a major upgrade coming later this summer probably a service pack that is supposed to return the normal user interface.

Update to address Windows 8 confusion will be free | DailyComet.com
/1008?p=2&tc=pg

There are shell replacements that return the start menu feature

Welcome to Classic Shell


17" laptops are getting harder to find and more expensive. But some deals can be found. Also check if they come with a downgrade option, win 8 to win 7, done that for quite few.

 

[Bestwifeever]

MS has finally admitted Win 8 is flop. There is a major upgrade coming later this summer probably a service pack that is supposed to return the normal user interface.

Update to address Windows 8 confusion will be free | DailyComet.com
/1008?p=2&tc=pg

There are shell replacements that return the start menu feature

Welcome to Classic Shell
....

Thanks, Rb (and Katsmeow above). I will be the first in line for the service pack. I just stay at the desktop "tile" on Windows 8 and ignore the rest of the smart-phone/tablet like opening screen. Such irony in shells being available to run an OS more effectively--what's next, booting up with a couple of floppies?

 

[rbmrtn]

Thanks, Rb (and Katsmeow above). what's next, booting up with a couple of floppies?

Actually I still boot many of my diagnostic tools on a DOS/linux boot floppy. Many things that break in windows are easier repaired that way.

 

[ERD50]

There are shell replacements that return the start menu feature.

I purchased the laptop I'm typing on now ~ 3 years ago. Rather than a replacement shell, I just replaced all of Windows:

Tour « Xubuntu

easily customized to support the way I work (multiple work-spaces, hierarchical 'start' menus for apps, etc).

-ERD50

 

[james7]

I have 2 Sony VIAO's and have really liked them. No problems.

Three years ago I decided to upgrade from the ten year old Dell laptops that I was using. I bought two Sony Vaio laptops with the latest bells and whistles. They have had a lot of use, sometimes 24/7, and there have been no problems with good performance.

 

[In-control]

I have purchased three laptops for my family from HP and have been very happy with their service. I personally would not buy a laptop. For me a better model has been to buy a workstation, cheaper then laptop, with the basics and use that for any real content creation. Much more reliable then a laptop and can be used with your cable modem/printer and wireless router. This is our house hold unit that everyone uses for basic service.

I spend most of my time, 99%, on my Kindle Fire. My family has IPAD's and Kindles and they spend almost all their time on them as well on them instead of the laptop's etc. Good part of the tablet' is that they are very reliable, no moving parts, closed OS(like cell phones), so they are pretty secure and virus free and easy to use. Extended warranties, I got two extra years on my Fire for $25, are cheap and basically a swap!

It really depends on your need but I have found the above model to be reliable/cost effective and I spend all my time with the device productively.

My two cents!

 

[Midpack]

MS has finally admitted Win 8 is flop. There is a major upgrade coming later this summer probably a service pack that is supposed to return the normal user interface.

I kinda liked the live tile version of Win8 and found it reasonably intuitive, but there's no doubt they had a minor user revolt on their hands. The fact that Win8 is markedly different, shouldn't in itself be a fault. Win8 does make sense if you want an OS that looks/acts much the same on PCs, tablets and phones.

With all the growth rapidly moving to mobile, Win8 seemed like a good direction to move. The old Win desktop UI clearly makes no sense at all on a phone. And with how readily users adapted to the iPhone, iPad UI, you'd think Win users could have just as easily adapted.

It appears the "revolt" was more simple resistance to change among the installed base, which is sad, but no question MS has had their heads handed to them with Win8. YMMV

 

[pb4uski]

....It appears the "revolt" was more simple resistance to change among the installed base, which is sad, but no question MS has had their heads handed to them with Win8. YMMV

It is hard to teach old dogs new tricks.

 

[Midpack]

It is hard to teach old dogs new tricks.

True, but thank goodness the old dogs come along eventually or we'd still be riding horses and communicating by snail mail/rotary phone among other old tricks...

 

[ERD50]

...
It appears the "revolt" was more simple resistance to change among the installed base, which is sad, but no question MS has had their heads handed to them with Win8. YMMV

It is hard to teach old dogs new tricks.

I disagree. Most people embrace positive change. But change for change's sake, or change that does not markedly improve the experience? Why bother to relearn anything for no benefit? People legitimately gripe about that. Every change took effort for the developers, and can create bugs - it's frustrating when the effort isn't applied to changes/fixes that provide clear benefit. Otherwise, leave well enough alone.

The Linux/Ubuntu community went through this with the 'Unity" (IOS/tablet-like) interface. If you like it, great. But those that liked it kept accusing others of being 'resistant to change', or 'old dogs'. Kinda crazy considering most of us had to put some effort into changing from Windows or OSX to Linux. If we were resistant to change, why didn't we stick with the old OS?

I tried Unity on Ubuntu. It might be nice for a tablet, but it sure didn't work for me for the way I use my computer. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to install a new interface on Ubuntu and use that, so I switched to Xubuntu (which required another change), which allowed me to configure it (that is, changing from the default), and got it tweaked just the way I like. Whenever I come across some utility that will help me work/play better, I also make that change.

That's a lot of change for someone who is described as 'resistant to change'.

-ERD50

 

[Midpack]

I disagree. Most people embrace positive change. But change for change's sake, or change that does not markedly improve the experience? Why bother to relearn anything for no benefit? People legitimately gripe about that. Every change took effort for the developers, and can create bugs - it's frustrating when the effort isn't applied to changes/fixes that provide clear benefit. Otherwise, leave well enough alone.

Sure there are "bad" changes, but sometimes it's hard to see that in advance. If you never try anything new, you'll never know. I heard most every reason below during my career, and many of the biggest detractors actually admitted they liked the change once they got used to it.

No "start button" seems to be the leading criticism of Win8 users - that's embracing change?

And there have been several threads here with people complaining about change giving no reason other than they liked the status quo (efiling taxes, Sat USPS delivery, etc.).

But this is a thread about 17" laptops, so apologies to the OP.

 

[Semiretired2008]

We have 3 laptops in our family. An HP, Asus, and a Toshiba. For bang for the buck - the Asus wins. For impressive quality - Toshiba wins. The HP will be turned into a give away and be replaced with either another Asus or a Toshiba.

As far as Windows 8 goes - the upgrade they are coming out with in the summer will offer two things and Microsoft will be offering it for free, but only to current Windows 8 owners - it will include the Start Button every one missed and the ability to switch back to the old style format if desired. The big part that the change to Windows 8 was supposed to bring was that computer resources (footprint on memory for the computer to run) were supposed to be freed up quite a bit and offer more bang to your computer and software...

 

[bUU]

I've worked my way through all the brands, and the only brand I would buy, these days, is Lenovo. Everything else suffers from remarkably poor quality, in one way or another.