Ive been very against laptops my whole life, for a lot of reasons. But recently, because of my work-at-home job, it may be a good idea for me to get one. Being a desktop guy all my life, I really know nothing about laptops at this point. After looking around for deals on the internet, Id like to ask what is the difference between: Intel dual core, Intel core duo, Intel core duo2, Intel Centrino, AMD X2, AMD Turion, and any others you can think of. Can you rank them in order from best to worst? Or is it not that cut and dry? When buying a desktop, it has always been very important to me to not get an operating system, as I prefer to install my own. For this reason, I have always stayed away from Dell and certain other companies because they force you to buy an operating system. In the past I have ordered from places like NCIX and Tiger Direct, since they allow you to buy an OS-less computer. Unfortunately it seems like even these retailers wont let me buy a laptop without an OS. Does anyone know of a laptop retailer that won't force me to purchase windows Vista, or any other OS, since I want to use my existing copy of windows XP? Any other laptop specific tips would be greatly appreciated. By the way I live in Canada and want to buy from a Canadian store.

If you work from home, is a laptop actually important? Do you go out to visit clients or something?

When you say you don't want an OS because you already have XP, do you mean you don't want another copy, or you don't want to PAY for another copy? Quite likely, you can get a dell laptop with XP cheaper than many places would sell a similar laptop without an OS.

you could buy a laptop that comes with a linux distribution wich is free and you don't have to pay for it

Quote: Original post by AndreTheGiant
But recently, because of my work-at-home job, it may be a good idea for me to get one.

You probably don't need one.

Quote: Intel dual core, Intel core duo, Intel core duo2, Intel Centrino, AMD X2, AMD Turion

Intel Core Duos are dual core. Intel Core Quads are quad core. To make matters more confusing, the latest version of the Core is the "Intel Core 2 (Duo|Quad)".

AMD continues to make obsolete chips, so don't think about them unless you want last year's cheapest possible machine.

Quote: Unfortunately it seems like even these retailers wont let me buy a laptop without an OS.

So? The most you'll save is $20. If you're not going to use the license, you can get the OEM cost refunded by following one of the Windows refund guides. But for $20, it's not really worth it, so suck it up.

Quote: Any other laptop specific tips would be greatly appreciated.

Buy a Mac.

Quote: By the way I live in Canada and want to buy from a Canadian store.

Not a problem -- use TigerDirect or NCIX.

Quote: Original post by DumitruSorin
you could buy a laptop that comes with a linux distribution wich is free and you don't have to pay for it

Yes, thats pretty much what I'm asking for.... link please??

Quote: Original post by Ravuya

Quote: Original post by AndreTheGiant
But recently, because of my work-at-home job, it may be a good idea for me to get one.

You probably don't need one.

Thanks, but I think I'll decide that for myself ;)

Quote: Original post by Ravuya
AMD continues to make obsolete chips, so don't think about them unless you want last year's cheapest possible machine.

I have to ask, are you at all biased on this subject? I know for desktops, there are Intel fans, and there are AMD fans, but last I checked, neither chip was clearly superior over the other. Are you saying the situation is different for laptops? Or are you just an Intel fan?

Quote: Original post by Ravuya

Quote: Unfortunately it seems like even these retailers wont let me buy a laptop without an OS.

So? The most you'll save is $20. If you're not going to use the license, you can get the OEM cost refunded by following one of the Windows refund guides. But for $20, it's not really worth it, so suck it up.

I did not know about that windows refund thingy, so thanks. Although my preferred solution is to not buy Windows in the first place, so I'm still hoping for links to sellers who dont force windows upon its customers.

Why do you keep saying 20$ ? Id really like to know why you think that is the price difference. If you go to NCIX.com and go to PC Builder, You'll see that the difference between "NO operating System" and "Vista Home Premium" is $124. For "Vista Ultimate" its $207.

Quote: Original post by Ravuya

Quote: Any other laptop specific tips would be greatly appreciated.

Buy a Mac.

That is quite the opposite of helpful so I'll assume it was a joke. Haha, good one.

Quote: Original post by Ravuya

Quote: By the way I live in Canada and want to buy from a Canadian store.

Not a problem -- use TigerDirect or NCIX.

Agreed, great sites. Thats why I mentioned them both in my OP.

[Edited by - AndreTheGiant on November 26, 2007 2:29:55 PM]

Quote: Original post by AndreTheGiant
I have to ask, are you at all biased on this subject? I know for desktops, there are Intel fans, and there are AMD fans, but last I checked, neither chip was clearly superior over the other. Are you saying the situation is different for laptops? Or are you just an Intel fan?

Apparently you haven't checked much in the last two years. At this point there is no reason to buy and AMD chip. They don't perform as well, they don't get as good battery life and their price / performance ratio is lower then intels.

Quote: I did not know about that windows refund thingy, so thanks. Although my preferred solution is to not buy Windows in the first place, so I'm still hoping for links to sellers who dont force windows upon its customers.

There are plenty of options for that as well. Search around for Compal and Clevo laptops. Asus also makes some whitebooks which you can buy without an OS. One of the best deals on these sort of laptops is the Compal IFL90. It's rather plain looking but it's whats inside that counts right?

Compal IFL90 User Review

Some sites that let you build an IFL90 as well as plenty of other laptops without an OS.

R&J Tech
Xotic PC
Power Notebooks

I don't know if any of them ship to Canada but a great place to find distributer is the Compal and Clevo / Sager forums on Notebook Reviews.

Quote: Original post by AndreTheGiant
I have to ask, are you at all biased on this subject? I know for desktops, there are Intel fans, and there are AMD fans, but last I checked, neither chip was clearly superior over the other. Are you saying the situation is different for laptops? Or are you just an Intel fan?

Even on the desktop, AMD is just now catching up to the chip Intel just obsoleted. Perhaps you need to update your understanding of the market.

Quote: Why do you keep saying 20$ ? Id really like to know why you think that is the price difference.

Because historically, people who have bought a Dell or similar machine and pursued an OEM Windows refund have received about that much. That's how much it costs Dell to slap Vista onto a laptop.

Quote: If you go to NCIX.com and go to PC Builder, You'll see that the difference between "NO operating System" and "Vista Home Premium" is $124. For "Vista Ultimate" its $207.

That's because you're buying a boxed copy of Windows, not an OEM copy.

Quote:

Quote: Original post by Ravuya

Quote: Any other laptop specific tips would be greatly appreciated.

Buy a Mac.

That is quite the opposite of helpful so I'll assume it was a joke. Haha, good one.

You'll see.

Quote: Original post by Ravuya

Quote: Any other laptop specific tips would be greatly appreciated.

Buy a Mac.

Grr.

Is it just me or are Mac users these days a lot like non smokers? Personal preference please. I'm so sick of hearing Mac people preach. linky

Oh and I may have just had some bad luck but my first interaction with Dell was a pain in the ass. Firstly the laptop wouldn't power on, then after a week of seeing technician after technician and talking to clueless robot like "tech support" people over the phone, I'm now left with stacks of parts that they just left after replacing every component inside the thing (they refused to just send a whole new machine), and one hard drive that they have requested back, but I have to fuss around and get it back to them on my own time.

It's been about a month or two since now and I still have every part. The hard drive is sitting waiting to be picked up but due to their couriers "operating hours" even for phone calls clashing with my work hours, I'm having a hard time trying to organise the pickup. Needless to say I'm not too fussed about it, and until Dell seem fussed I refuse to care.

Quote: Original post by instinKt
Is it just me or are Mac users these days a lot like non smokers? Personal preference please. I'm so sick of hearing Mac people preach. linky

Oh and I may have just had some bad luck but my first interaction with Dell was a pain in the ass. Firstly the laptop wouldn't power on, then after a week of seeing technician after technician and talking to clueless robot like "tech support" people over the phone, I'm now left with stacks of parts that they just left after replacing every component inside the thing (they refused to just send a whole new machine), and one hard drive that they have requested back, but I have to fuss around and get it back to them on my own time.

This is pretty much why I recommend a Mac; when my machine developed a motherboard fault, I took it to a service centre, pushed it across the desk, and received it back within a day, with some other parts fixed as necessary. They also do complete replacements of the machine after successive faults, and even comped me a free power adaptor when one of the techs screwed up a keyboard alignment.

I recommend it against an ODM; for sure, you're paying a few hundred bucks' premium more for a machine that runs Windows just as well, but the warranty service is completely worth it.

It's not like laptops are invulnerable. If you depend on the machine for work, you should find one with a good warranty plan backing it. I used to recommend IBM or Apple -- but now that Lenovo's screwed up warranty service for Thinkpads, it's pretty hard to suggest that.

Quote: Original post by instinKt

Quote: Original post by Ravuya

Quote: Any other laptop specific tips would be greatly appreciated.

Buy a Mac.

Grr.

Is it just me or are Mac users these days a lot like non smokers? Personal preference please. I'm so sick of hearing Mac people preach. linky

The OP asked for tips on buying a laptop and he made a suggestion. Attacking him, Mac users as a whole, and non-smokers as a whole makes you a whole lot more annoying than him in my book.

I would agree with him, though. I run Vista (and previously XP) as a dualboot on my MacBook Pro and it's great. I get the ability to natively boot any number of OSes (without hacking the OS installation). I get superior help and great hardware. The MBP is smaller and lighter than most of my friends' laptops. I also found, at the time I bought this back in August/September, that I could not price an equally powered machine for the same price. Sony was closest, but it was either more powerful and larger for more money or less powerful for less money.

I also tried to find a "build-a-laptop" solution, but that doesn't seem to work very well. I think the laptop market is still pretty tied to either getting a Mac or getting a Windows-installed laptop. I know there are a few that advertise Linux, but I have no links or ideas of quality. I would recommend getting an Intel Core 2 Duo since it seems to be the standard laptop chip now. It's a 64-bit dual core processor and quite fast. I was impressed when I got my Mac to see it blow my tower away.

So I think your best solution is to find a laptop that you like and do the Windows refund process that Ravuya mentioned.