I'm in the market for a new laptop, as my current one is on it's last leg. It overheats every chance it gets even with the stupid fan underneath it.

I digress...It was between the Acer Aspire V5 or the Sony Vaio Fit 14E, but I've pretty much narrowed it down to the Sony.

Anyone have/use a Sony Vaio Fit? Any opinions on them?

Also, how is the ASUS brand viewed? I'm not too knowlegable on computers.

Thanks!

I'd rather slap my grandmother than own another Windows machine.

[quote="MyFoot"]I'm in the market for a new laptop, as my current one is on it's last leg. It overheats every chance it gets even with the stupid fan underneath it.

I digress...It was between the Acer Aspire V5 or the Sony Vaio Fit 14E, but I've pretty much narrowed it down to the Sony.

Anyone have/use a Sony Vaio Fit? Any opinions on them?

Also, how is the ASUS brand viewed? I'm not too knowlegable on computers.

Thanks![/quote]
Some people view ASUS poorly but every ASUS I've had has been a reliable machine. I just bought an [url=http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G750JW-DB71-17-3-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B00COQIKB4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376694714&sr=8-1&keywords=asus+g750j]ASUS G750J[/url] pretty recently, myself.

Addendum: I had to remove Windows 8 from the pc because fuck Windows 8.

[quote="Aplaca"]I'd rather slap my grandmother than own another Windows machine.[/quote]

On the contrary I cannot stand Mac OS and most Apple products, and those I do use are only out of convenience (I got a hand me down iPad so I use that instead of the Google Nexus I was going to buy, and I use an iPhone 3GS for an iPod because I got that as a hand me down for my last phone,and it broke so I bought an Android...but I still use it as an iPod because it already had all my music and I didn't have to spend money on something else.)
I have used Ubuntu and thought it very good, but is too much of a hassle to take Windows off a comp and put on Linux.

Thanks for the insight Blank.

You can sideload Ubuntu on a Windows machine. Pretty nifty. Driver support is a biiiitch though.

When it comes to laptops, most are about the same quality below the $1,000 flagship mark. Build quality particularly sucks when it comes to economically-priced computers. Honestly, I'd just get the best specs for the price and try to baby it as much as you can so it isn't falling apart after a few years.

[quote="Blank"] I just bought an [url=http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G750JW-DB71-17-3-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B00COQIKB4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376694714&sr=8-1&keywords=asus+g750j]ASUS G750J[/url] pretty recently, myself.

Addendum: I had to remove Windows 8 from the pc because fuck Windows 8.[/quote]

I actually had this exact laptop, but got rid of it during my recent purge. It was a sturdy, well-built machine, but yeah, Windows 8 sucks. I can wholeheartedly recommend a computer like this one, however. It's pretty noice. I was under the impression that ASUS computers are well-regarded, especially amongst gamers, but I could be wrong.

I don't have a whole lot of experience with Sony computers, so I can't help you there. I guess it depends on what you need to use the computer for. If you only really need it for schoolwork/surfing the web/watching Youtube videos etc, then you can certainly get away with purchasing a cheap laptop or even netbook that'll do ya just fine. If you want to game on it and do fancier things with it, then yeah, you don't want to spend less than $1000, regardless of the brand.

[quote="Lesser_Hamster"]It's pretty noice. I was under the impression that ASUS computers are well-regarded, especially amongst gamers, but I could be wrong.[/quote]
I think for the most part you're right, but due to the small amount of people who have had significant hardware issues out of the package and it being a Korean company (and not having the best support,) it's got its naysayers as well.

Imo, as far as getting the best bang for your buck for a gaming pc, ASUS is the way to go. I also haven't had any issues with ASUS support.

Thanks for all the input guys.

Yeah, I mean really, I only use my laptop for internetting, writing papers/doing projects/research, iTunes, and perhaps maybe some Netflixxing. The only specs/features I require are like at least are an optical drive, backlit keyboard, and maybe like a minimum 4GB RAM 500GB HD. That's better than what I have now.

My budget is like 600, but I could possibly squeeze a little more if it's going to make a difference. I can't near a grand, so if it's true that all sub-1000 ones are just as crappy, I'll stick with a cheaper price point. My only worry is I'd like it to last, my current Compaq Presario is like 3-4 years old now and ever since like 2 years ago it started overheating and I've had to use a fan under it whenever I'd use it or it'd just freeze. I don't want that, I don't want to worry about overheating, and I don't want to have to use that piece of shit fan under my new one!

Thanks again!

If you're not using your laptop for intensive activities like gaming or high-end visual design stuff, most of them should last you 3 or 4 years. I find that 3 years is the average life of a laptop for me, but I run them into the ground with video games lol.

I actually spent just under 700 for my most recent ASUS purchase via snagging a factory refurb through newegg. Unfortunately, about a month or so in (which is the end of the refurb warranty), I started having some rather annoying graphics card issues that won't go away with driver updates and stuff, so I'm wondering if I got a faulty graphics card in here, but overall it works pretty darn well, so I'd say if you're not trying to really use your computer rough, just aim for a refurb and get something that's more up to date than you could otherwise.

Edit: Also you should have a cooling base for your laptop just in general, they're always shitty at heat management.

[quote="Aplaca"]I'd rather slap my grandmother than own another Windows machine.[/quote]

Because something with Linux or Mac have the greatest driver support or application support right? lololololol

You're gonna respond with 'at least they don't get viruses"?

Lololololololol.

Apparently at your law institution you learned everything but what a computer really is.

Tangential question: out of curiosity, what draws people to Linux, anyway? I mean, I definitely know why I appreciate Linux, but I'm a programmer dorkface, so I figure my reasons for liking Linux might not line up with what laypeople care about.

I was persuaded to try Ubuntu by a friend who is also anti-Windows. It was perfectly fine, I enjoyed it, but there were no pros/cons to me over Windows which is why I still just suck it up and use Windows. Apparently Windows 8 is like the worst of the worst, so we'll see where I stand once my laptop arrives.

I ended up going with a Sony Vaio Fit 14. Has everything I wanted at a little higher than I was willing to spend, but I signed up with Sony as a student and they gave me 10% off which was nice.

Get a nice Thinkpad instead of some chinsy plastic shite.

edit: Nevermind.
[quote]I ended up going with a Sony Vaio Fit 14.[/quote]

After a couple days with it, I'm loving this computer. Very happy with my purchase and would recommend it to anyone looking for a new laptop!

I have a Vaio laptop (VGN-NW240F), and while it's not horrible, it's got its issues. The computer often gets trapped in limbo in between going to sleep/waking up, in which I have no choice but to do a hard reboot; very annoying. The plastic case isn't very sturdy, and it's starting to crack in places. The ridged surface is also hard to keep clean. The speakers suck and are too quiet. It's useless for games. However, the wide screen looks nice, and it's held up for a long time with no other problems (I got it in January 2010, so it's over 3.5 years old and doesn't have any issues besides the limbo problem.) I had far more trouble with my Apple iBook that I used in college.

Now that I have a stable living situation and I don't need to carry around my computer every day like when I was a student/teacher, I'm saving up cash to replace this computer with a modest desktop PC home build early next year.

If I were buying a new laptop, I'd check out ASUS.