I need help with Computer Buying

which site did you buy yours from? My co-worker has an Acer Ferrari seems like a good computer, I am checking those out.

The Acer Ferrari is indeed a nice laptop ... I am not much into the "screaming" red color but as a machine, you won't find many better out there.

I bought my Asus from www.discountlaptops.com but recently they seem to have cut down on their Asus-based products. Still, you can have a look at their site and check out the laptops they offer.

Other excellet and very reliable vendors I would recommend are:
www.powernotebooks.com (mainly Asus, Compal, and Sager/Clevo products)
www.proportable.com (great sellection of Asus products)
www.clubit.com (various brands, just like newegg.com)
www.1toppc.com (great choice of Asus laptops)
www.rjtech.com (Asus, Compal, Clevo/Sager, and MSI products)

Also definitely check out www.newegg.com - great online retailer for computers and electronics and I buy all my computer-relayed stuff from them - they have a nice sellection of Asus, Acer, Sony, HP, Lenovo/IBM, Fujitsu and other laptops. And they also have product reviews that are pretty helpful.

Here is a link to a list of online resellers on www.notebookforums.com - I searched for Asus vendors specifically but you can do the same for any other brand like Acer, MSI, Sager, etc.:
http://www.notebookforums.com/showth...t=asus+vendors (I think you need to be registered and logged in in order to see it)

I recommend that, time permitting, you read through the forums briskly and try to narrow down your options to say 3-4 laptops based on what cpu family you want (AMD, Intel), screen size, format, and resolution (15'', 15.4'', 17'', widescreen or not, W/UXGA, W/SXGA or W/XGA), size and weight of the laptop (lighter, more mobile laptops or something heavy that will spend most of the time on your desk), longer or shortet battery life, etc.

Once you've done that, start reading reviews for each of your 3-4 choices more carefully looking for heat, noise related issues, performance issues, screan/image quality and clarity, etc. After that go to one of the resellers and see what are your option regarding pricing, customization options, reliability of the online retailer based on what experience other people have had with that vendor ...
here is a site where you can check reviews and ratings for online stores:
www.resellerratings.com

The reason why I am mentioning these online vendors - and the reason why I myself bought my lappy from one of them - is because the laptops you can find there are anything but the mainstream stuff at BestBuy, CC, CompUSA, etc. Unless you live next to a boutique computer shop, buying on-line is the only way to get your hands on an Asus, Acer, MSI, Sager and such ... and IMO, these are better laptops than what the limited sellection at walk-in electronics retailers bring to their customers.
That doesn't mean that you have to follow my advice, however, as if you feel that a Sony or an HP or a DeLL is the laptop for you, then you just follow your gut ... I am just trying to show you some of the other options available out there, options that are unfamiliar to the average buyer.
No one's said that buying the best laptop for your needs is an easy thing to do

P.S. just in case you wonder what laptop I went for a couple of years ago after some really extensive research, it's the Asus M6BNe ... a more contemporary version (although it's also older than the very latest) is the Asus Z70VA - has a newer chipset, CPU, RAM family but the rest is absolutely identical:
http://www.rjtech.com/miva/merchant....roduct_Count=3

Product: : VGN-FE890
Product: : Wireless LAN (802.11a\b\g) and Bluetooth Technology
Product: : Microsoft Works 8.5 with Office 2007 "Home and Student" Trial Edition
Product: : Large Capacity Lithium-ion Battery (BPL2C)
Product: : NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600
Product: : None Movie Pack
Product: : Microsoft Works 8.5
Product: : Music Plus
Product: : No Engraving
Product: : 2 GB DDR-SDRAM (DDR2-667, 1 GBx2)
Product: : Norton Internet Security 2007 (Trial)
Product: : 4 Year Express Ship Service Plan for Notebooks
Product: : Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Product: : 120 GB Hard Disk Drive
Product: : Photo Standard
Product: : Video Standard
Product: : Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7200 (2GHz)
Product: : 15.4" WXGA TFT with XBRITE-HiColor Technology and MOTION EYE White Camera
Product: : DVD+-R Double Layer/DVD+-RW Drive
Product: : VGN-FE890


I am pretty excited I think I got a pretty good machine I had considered going up from the T7200 processor the T7400 which is 2.16 GHz but was told that for what i want to do it wouldn't make a difference and for the extra $200 bones I would be throwing down for it I would prefer that it make a difference. The only other thing is the Hard Disk Drive . . the one I put in there is 5400 rpm I had been looking for something around 7200 but Sony didn't have that option. Overall I think I did pretty well for myself.

hey congrats, looks like a great laptop and the specs are pretty nice too.

whoever gave you that advice about the CPU speed, say a big thank you to him because he saved you 200 bucks.
the dif in speed, not only you wouldn't have needed it, but you wouldn't have even noticed it ... such negligible dif in CPu speed are nothing but marketing tricks people fall for as human perceptions are not capable of detecting the supposed increase in speed ... unless we want to, that is, so that we can comfort ourselves for not having dished out 200 bucks for absolutely nothing .

It's a good choice for an HD. True, 7200 would have been a bit faster but I read that the latest 7200 HDs are a bit noisier than the previous generation, so a 5400 has it's pluses too, and with 120GB of space, you won't be sacrificing speed either ... unless you are one of those people, who think that 5-8 sec less of start-up time will change their lives for the better . Plus you can always upgrade if you want to.

I see you have gone for the 2GB RAM, probably a little overshooting your immediate needs but at least you'll be covered for the future .

One advice though, next thing on your shopping list should be a laptop cooler ... see it as an additional warranty to your laptop

yes the laptop cooler is defintiely on my short list of things to get next along with an external hard drive . . investigating both. I looked that cooler you posted and am comparing it to others . . it seems that size is an issue for some people in their reviews of these things. I am going to wait to get the notebook to see where the fans are on it and try to get it to line up with the fans on the cooler . . . is that reasonable or does it not really matter? Also on the list is the external monitor . .

it's probably a good idea to get the laptop first and see where exactly are the air vents on the bottom and then choose a cooler.
There are two types of fan-based coolers - one, like the one I have and the majority of coolers out there, is where the fans simply blow onto the bottom of the laptop and thus cool it down. The other, however, has it's fans reversed so that they DRAW the hot air from the bottom of the laptop outwords.
I personally don't have any impressions on one design to be clearly better that the other ... to me it looks like it's mostly about how indiviual coolers perform, so pay attention to reviews.

As for the one I have, I would guess that peoplewho complain about the size have smaller laptops - say 12'' or 14'' screen size - because mine is a 15.4'' widescreen laptop - just like yours - andthe cooler is definitely SMALLER than the laptop itself (in terms of both width and length), so I really don't see how mych smaller a cooler SUITABLE for a 15.4'' laptop should/could be ... it's also pretty slim - by looking at it, it's less than 1/2'' thick, I think.

The good think about it is that you can vary the fan speed, it has 4 additional USBs at the back, which can be used even without the power supply that comes with the cooler, and a big plus for me is that it has "legs" on the back side that raise the back of your laptop - as opposed to it sitting flat on the table - and this gives you a better look at your keyboard and makes typing much easier.

At the highest fan speed it's a bit noisy but at the minimum setting it's almost inaudible. Most of the time, I use the minimum setting unless I am doing some heavy caclulations i.e. the full CPU speed is being utilized, then the full fan speed does come in handy .

Good review thanks for the info . . one thing I learned for sure while looking for a computer was how to research this stuff lol so it will be a good few days and a weekend before i make a purchase, but for gaming I think it is a good idea to pick up a cooler, I like the extra usb hubs yours has. Once again back to the websites . . also for external hard drives anyone have a reccomendation? or external monitors? around 20-22 inchers?

for external HD (3.5'' form factor as in desktops) I would recommend Seagate and WesternDigital's My Book series. I also like IoGear's ION series - well cooled and silent HD worth considering.
As for monitors, you'd have to see what budget you have set for it because there are just too many good monitors out there and they differ in price as well as perfomance.
The better known brands and better monitors are by Sony, Samsung, HP, NEC, ViewSonic and some less known ones like Acer, BenQ, Sceptre also make really good monitors.

No matter where you will decide to buy from, I suggest using www.newegg.com for reference as they have huge HD and LCD sellection and most importantly lots of customer reviews.