Ok does anyone have any experience with these 3 laptops? The ones I'm looking at are

-http://www.hypersonic-pc.com/2001/index.asp

They seem to have really good pricing and although they aren't as big as the next two I've heard good things about them

-Alienware

The system I configured was more $ and less performance.

-Dell

I've heard their CS was good but as with the Alienware I customized a better system with the hypersonic system for less $

Any comments are appreciated

 

I've used HP, Toshiba, and Dell laptops. The HP was a brick, but bulletproof. The Toshiba seemed to spit hard drives on occasion. The Dell's varied by model (I think I've had about 5 Dell's so far). Never really had a problem with the Dell's and got very good support.

Can't really speak to the other brands. It's worth checking around to see if your place of work or a friend's has a discount with them. Often this is extended to employees.

Don't read much into the fact that I've had a bunch of laptops. I'm in software and have always needed the fastest, meanest, screaming machine to run and demo applications.

Good Luck,

 

Don't have any experience with Alienware laptops, but they are known for making good stuff. Unfortunately the chances of them actually making the laptops are slim.. Try to find out which major brand they share their supplier with.

I've had Dell nothing to rave about, but same supplier as my Quantex that was nothing but a brute that kept working no matter what. Including a full coffee spilled on the keyboard.

Just looked at the alienware site. Looks to me like they use the same supplier as toshiba. Have a Toshiba now and I despise the freaking thing. Me and others have all removed the caps lock key.

 

Voodoo just unleashed a laptop. M series I think for mobile. Supposedly fastest in world. Never used one but I do have a Voodoo tower and its the equivalent of a Ruf Twin Turbo. I hear Alienware has major support problems. Only from what Ive read at Reseller Ratings. At Voodoo, the company president even helps you out when you have an issue.

Oiks. Whered my avatar go?! Hmm.

 

buy an apple ibook or powerbook and forget all that pc stuff.

seriously, i have been a mac user since 96 and a die-hard pc guy before that. switching to the apple platform was the best thing i ever did.

os X is rock solid and beautiful. plus apple's simplicity is fantastic.

the only reason to buy a pc is for a pc-specific application. that's becoming less the case nowadays with the advent of os x running as a unix system.

if you are buying just for games, save yourself thousands of dollars and get a game console like xbox or ps2.

if you insist on a pc, go with sony. sure, they try to screw you by making you use sony specific features (like memory stick), but they are the nicest pc laptops i have used.

just my professional opinion.

 

Cool cool, I'm liking these opinions... I hate macs though and all my "software" is pc based. I already own a ps2 and roomate an xbox hehe. Pc is definitely my application of choice, and yes I have used a mac before, just not my style.

I was hoping someone had experience with the Hypersonic because that seems to be the one nobody has heard of yet cnet gave one of their computers editors choice and I can get better hardware for less money.

 

I may try an Apple laptop soon but the thing that keeps people from permenantly migrating to Apple desktops is software. I probably have three grand worth of IBM/PC software and theres no way Im spending another three grand to get MAC titles of Photoshop etc on top of a three grand G4. Also, a lot of the software I use doesnt run on a MAC. I think Dreamweaver or something. Cant quite remember.

Dont get me wrong. If this impedence was not there, I'd be MAC bound in a NANOSECOND. Its been my belief that this impedence is what keeps reluctant IBM/PC people hooked to their WINTELS in spite of their grievances and if Apple wanted to make a killing, they would give away their PCs for free so people would only have to buy the software over. Sure it would cost $$ to give them away for free, but when its time to replace it, 98% of every free MAC you every gave away will be replaced by someone ready to buy a new one (or two). Once people have the MAC, they wont go back to WINTEL and you've effectively monopolized the market forever. I think Apple needs to give their PCs away for free or offer new buyers to exchange their WINTEL titles for MAC titles for next to nothing.

 

I know a lot of folks don't care for them, but I got a great Compaq laptop @ their factory outlet here in Houston. It is now HP Factory Outlet. Mine was an "extra" that a company did not take delivery of.

Presario 715US Athalon 1.2 / 40 Gb drive / 10/100 NIC / 512 Ram / CD R/W / 14" TFT Display

$873.27 (Sept 2002)

The technology gets outdated so quickly, I can't stand spending $$$ only to have it replaced with the "NEW" model/technology by the time I take it out of the box. I always try to buy last years "state of the art". I travel for a living and my laptops get the sh** beat out of them and I need it work when I get to where I am going. Me personally, I would never buy anything that wasn't from one of the top 4 biggies. IBM, Dell, HP, Toshiba.

Just my thoughts, everybodys needs/uses for a computer are different.

 

UDPride,

I am pretty sure Dreamweaver was originally written to run on Mac. So was just about everything Adobe now owns/sells.

It's a Ford versus Chevy thing. They're both (tongue in cheek) good platforms, they just appeal to different people.

I think one of the things about Mac versus PC is that Apple is more hardcore about certifing software, meaning Apple doesn't want Joe blow writing some random *** software and market it as Mac compatible. The same sort of holds true for windows, but it seems much more loose. Might be one of the reasons you hear folks claim there is so much more software for PC. Yeah, there is, especially if you include all of the random crap you can download of the internet.

Remember back in 1995ish when Apple started letting folks sell Mac clones. That lasted about ten minutes before Apple figured out that a lot of poop was making it out marketed as a Mac compatible system.

 

I think Dreamweaver MX is now finally certified for MACs but I dont believe prior versions were. Its a Macromedia product not Adobe. I have a few other things that arent MAC compliant too. Were this not the case, Id be using a MAC.

 

ughh, here we go, apple vs. pc. i have been a part of many heated discussions on this topic, and no side ever comes out the winner.

first off, all of macromedia's products have always been mac native. macromedia specializes in desktop publishing apps, and the apple platform has always been the choice for the printing/art industry. dreamweaver mx is simply the latest upgrade to take advantage of the new usability and power of apple os x. same with adobe. it was on the mac before it was ported to pc.

as far as having apps only written for your pc, which ones are you talking about? the only software that i know of (other than games) that isn't written for macs yet is some of the engineering apps. the entire microsoft office suite has been available on the apple platform for at least three years, and works pretty damn well.

i wish apple would give their products away, but let's get real. price is not even a shred as bad as it used to be. case in point. my brother just bought a new imac with the 17" flat panel display, 80 gig hard drive, 256 megs of ram, a 32 meg graphics card, dvd burner, firewire (an apple invention), usb, 1000 base-t ethernet, and an internal 56k modem for 1900 bucks. and to top it all off, the thing is simply beautiful. pretty good deal if i do say so myself.

here's another good point. when your mac crashes, you restart and go on your merry way. when your pc crashes, you spend the next 40 hours of your life trying to find some miniscule file buried in 15 directories that for some reason has now gone awol and won't let your os start up.

ok, sorry bout that. off rant.

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by Manning:
<strong>UDPride,
I think one of the things about Mac versus PC is that Apple is more hardcore about certifing software, meaning Apple doesn't want Joe blow writing some random *** software and market it as Mac compatible. The same sort of holds true for windows, but it seems much more loose. Might be one of the reasons you hear folks claim there is so much more software for PC. Yeah, there is, especially if you include all of the random crap you can download of the internet.

Remember back in 1995ish when Apple started letting folks sell Mac clones. That lasted about ten minutes before Apple figured out that a lot of poop was making it out marketed as a Mac compatible system.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">There's no such thing as "certified software" for the Mac. Apple doesn't require anything from developers in order for them to write software for the platform. Apple's always had bad dev relations, but it's getting a LOT better. Plus with a unix foundation, people are a lot mroe eager and able to write good apps without much work.

The clones weren't killed because they were incompatible. They were killed because Apple was losing $ to other computer makers. I'm glad they did, none of the clones were all that great.

All that aside, powerbooks are amazing machines, I've had one as my primary machine for years. They're the best built laptops in the industry, period. If Apple built a PC laptop like the did their Mac ones, it would be _the_ machine to own for PC users.

 

UDPride,

I was making two seperate statements. One stating that Dreamweaver (as well as everything else from MacroMedia) was written for the Mac OS and a second that everything that Adobe now sells was originally written for Mac (Remember Aldus?).

Also, to add to Jason's comment, I was using Microsoft Word and Excel on a Mac back in 1993'ish, so it actually has been available for a little longer than you stated.

And Jason, your right, it is a no win argument. BMW vs Porsche, Ford vs Chevy, etc.

 

Danger,

I'm not sure your 100% correct about that. The software itself may not be "certified" but I am pretty sure the developer has to be Mac OS certified to get Apples wink of approval from a marketing standpoint.

The Bad Apple rumors had them pulling the plug on clones because they were losing money on the deal. The Control freaks rumors had them pulling the plug because junk was hitting the streets and making them look bad.

If Apple had become the big player that Microsoft is today they would have been in the same position Billy and the gag is regarding monopolies, etc. But you know, it makes sense. If you want something done right (and you know how) you do it yourself, right.

 

i remember aldus. macromedia picked up the rights for freehand and adobe snatched up pagemaker.

but that was way back in the day.

i think manning is correct on the "certified" deal. i have always known true mac software to be "mac native". this means it was originally written and compiled for the apple os, not just a revamped version of pc software.