I want to buy a laptop and I'm interested to know what brand is the best. How do you recognize a good deal? If anybody can recommend me a laptop model, I'm willing to go as high as 1100€ or 1700$. Thanks in advance.

i like my packerd bell^^ it was a steal from 1200 euros => 750 euros

Possibly Alienware if you're looking for a gaming laptop.

http://www.alienware.co.uk/product_pages/notebook_all_default.aspx

Well, a laptop that has anything over a Radeon 8400GT and a Dual-core processor is good, if you want to play games on it I mean. I've got a HP one and nothing wrong ever happened to it, but they do fill the hard drive with bunch of crap when you first get it though... (just put Windows XP on it)!

Or you could always customize one at Dell.com, there are some good deals there. Just don't get a Compaq, please. ;)

@ Kirby: yeah I was thinking of buying a HP. A friend of me told me not to buy a Compaq. I wonder why.

@ Shameless: thansk for the tip. Never heard about Alienware before.

Alienware is overpriced. Go with a wholesaler like newegg ncix frys whatever you got there.

Do you plan on traveling with it a lot, or is it going to sit in one spot most of the time?
Are you looking for a desktop replacement?
Is it primarily for gaming?
Does it need to be rugged?

I want to travel with it, I'm going to the Philippines over 2 weeks

it's not a desktop replacement

I play games on homeconsoles most of the time, but I like to play games on it too

I'll say this once:

Get a light weight sensible laptop unless you plan to leave it on your desk and never take it anywhere. I got a nice gaming laptop and its a pain in the ass to carry it all over the place. Seriously, if you plan to keep it with you don't go overboard.

I speak from lots of experience, my own as well as several other people I know.

PS - Alienware is about the worst place to shop for a laptop, Newegg or Tigerdirect will be way better bang for your buck. Also the last time I shopped around Acer was both durable/reliable and competitively priced, but there may be other decent brands as well. The ones to stay away from in my experience are Sony & HP, Sony for battery issues and HP for..well everything. Its been a while though so Sony may have gotten better.

Surprisingly I've found that Dell actually make the best laptops you'll come across!

Don't ask me how, but they sure do piss all over the desktops they make heh. Cheap, powerful and very sturdy.