best place to buy laptop?

[Mike Kallies]

On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 10:42 PM, Thomas Milne
<tbrucemilne-TcoXwbchSccMMYnvST3LeUB+6BGkLq7r at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> Someone asked me about what laptop to buy, and I don't know laptops,
> so I checked here :-)
>
> Going through the 'laptop recommendation' threads, I saw that Lennart
> was very keen on Lenovo and also Asus, esp with the Core 2 Duo, so
> that's what I recommended. However, one thing I'm not sure of at all
> is what is the best way to buy one.
>
> Are the best deals online? To my thinking, it's more likely you are
> going to get _exactly_ what you want if you order online, as opposed
> to buying whatever Store X has in stock, but does anyone have any
> experiences with this?

I think you're right about buying online.

but... If you have to buy in person, I've sent people to
www.csctoronto.com and they've had generally good experiences.  Last
time anyone I know dealt with them, they actually had knowledgeable
bench technicians who honored warranties (the usual protests apply...
don't do anything dumb like drop your machine, don't leave it out in
the rain, you need to back up your own data, etc.).

They seem to charge a premium, but they seem to only carry better
hardware and they stand behind it.  we all know what margins are like
in the computer industry.  You *need* to charge a premium if you want
a nice store front or any reasonable level of service.

Personally, I buy online, but I do my own support and take my own chances.

-Mike
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