Home > Buying Guides > Notebook computers > Page 5

Accessories

Don’t buy them! This is where the vendors make a lot of their money. Rarely are the prices of the accessories a good deal. Unless a vendor is running a great promotion, hold off on the accessories and buy them yourself. You can get software, keyboards and mice, cases, external drives, and the like much cheaper at vendors like Amazon.com , Buy.com , Newegg, and Zipzoomfly. Check out my Hot Deals page and the deal sites like Bensbargains.net, dealnews.com, and Techbargains.com for great deals on accessories.

Warranty

A lot of cheaper notebooks are coming with only a 90-day warranty. This is absurd. If you put down $1000 or more of your hard-earned cash, the product you buy should last for at least a year without you having to pay for service. As I said at the beginning of this article, notebooks are much less reliable than desktops. There is a pretty good chance that something is going to go wrong over its working lifetime. If you are paying a premium for a higher performance laptop, it’s probably worth buying a longer warranty. At any rate, any notebook should have at least a one year warranty. Everyone’s situation is different. You have to consider how much more you want to spend, and how hard you are going to be on your notebook.

My recommendations

IBM and Toshiba make the best notebooks and provide the best service. They aren’t cheap, but worth it if you are traveling with it everyday, can get your company to help you buy one, or can make it a tax write-off.

For the rest of us, the best deals can be found on notebooks from Dell and HP/Compaq (now the same company) at HPShopping.com. Dell and HP/Compaq make quality notebooks and they are constantly running percent-off, rebate, or coupon promotions that make them cheaper than other vendors.

What about Apple? Apple does make great notebooks, but they are much easier to buy because there are only two lines of Apple notebooks – the more budget-friendly iBook and the performance PowerBook. They both have much fewer options to consider than a Windows-based notebook and Apple lovers tend to know what they want in their computers.

1 2 3 4 5