1. You get what you pay for. Putting "use for work" and "cheap laptop" in the same thought is asking for trouble. If its going to be used for your job, or making you money, you need it to be fast and reliable.

How much money would you lose if the laptop was down for one day? two days? One week? Two weeks?

Definetly want the warranty and see what the timeframes for repairs/replacements are.

2. Nothing at all wrong with Vista, all my customers are getting it and after they get past their whiney "its something different" attitude they love it.

3. If you must buy a sub thousand dollar laptop, buy a spare.

4. Do NOT be fooled by high numbers. 1GB ram, high capacity harddrives, etc mean nothing when the quality and speeds are mediocre. Harddrives should be at MINIMUM 5400rpm on the SATA interface. Alot that tout high capacity drives and are inexpensive machines are 4200rpm on IDE. You will notice a difference.
Laptops using DDR2 ram (intel core series) should be 667mhz. Alot skimp and use 533mhz.

Doesnt sound like alot, but when they skimp on several items at 15% speed a piece it adds up FAST.

5. Warranty; buy a 3 year, and dont worry about life after the warranty. Using a laptop beyond 3 years for business is doing yourself an injustice. 3 years up, warranties up, sell it and move on.

6. Battery life on low price machines is horrible. If youre using it in the field, check for a minimum of a 8 cell battery.

DO not go off of customer reviews. Those reviews are NOT written after owning the item awhile. They are written by brand-loyal fanboys or people who are simply so happy they finally got a computer the next day they go online and write about how great it is (like 3 hours has given them enough time to evaluate it).

Lots of other things to consider too.. screen resolution, if the screen gives extra options such as brightness or colorenhancing. Being out in sunlight these screens will be a huge advantage.

If in sunlight, avoid buying a "glossy screen" or you will spend half the day observing the spots of hair you missed while shaving (too reflective in high light environments).

Location of the components.

No laptop should have any ports on the back except power, maybe modem. Everything should be accessible from the sides. Should have minimal features on the front. You do not want to tilt the laptop back or lower the screen and reach over the laptop everytime you want to use a USB device or open the cd tray. This is commonly how parts get broken (lcd hinges from people picking up the laptop by the lcd to insert usb drives into the back, a/c plugs get broke off by flipping the laptop backwards, causing the a/c plug to hit the surface the laptop is on, etc.)

If youre running GPS software or any sorta graphical things on the screen, youll want a higher resolution (1680x105) display. This will allow you to see more on the screen without scrolling around so much.

Ok thats about all for now... No brand bashing this time.

 

Great advise.

Thanks, RJR

 

I will 2nd and 3rd on the Lenovo Thinkpads. I manage a Company of 70 users and no other laptop has stood up as well as the ThinkPads. They are not the cheapest but the are the most durable.

 

No bashing here.............the only new one I've had is a Compaq, mid price range. I've had it for a little over a year and have had no problems. I haul it around in a backpack a lot, and it keeps on ticking.