I Believe Dell XPS is best…..
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Sony vaio.
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my opinion

I definitely think HP is the best.
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Dad is an electrical engineer.

HP is the best =)
dont get sony vaio, despite their price, its not better quality…
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I have an old HP laptop (3 year old) and its still alive! its really fast too

had gatway it was junk…have HP love it
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Why wouldn't you check one of the review sites?
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dell xps
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Toshiba is the best. I've asked that question to like a few ppl who call themselves professoinals in lyk this area of stuff… and they said..

Best Desktop Computer: Hewlett-Packard
Best Laptop: Toshiba!

Toshiba is apparently real expensive and very rare in retail.
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I prefer Dell. Inspirions are reliable and XPSs are good for gaming and lots of photos.

HP is also good, but I would stick with Dell.
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Still Dell is NO 1 in branded computers.
But its costly in price.

But, Acer could give high performance in a cheaper price.
It depends on your budget.
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Compaq
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That's quite a list you got there! Assuming you didn't just copy it from somewhere, I'm wondering why you went to all the effort, when all you had to do was ask your friends, relatives, and neighbors what they thought of theirs. Visit the computer retailers and play with the machines, if allowed. You could also visit your local library for consumer magazines and annual books. That would have narrowed the list, considerably.

I'm curious, what will you do if everyone on this website answers you with a different manufacturer's name? How do you know that they even used it? How do you know whether they had problems with it, or are just giving a random name? What are you going to do if you go with someone's suggestion and, by dumb luck, you happen to get stuck with a lemon (BTW, most initial problems are due to the user not giving the battery sufficient time to charge when taken out of the box)? What if that person got a very expensive, top of the line model, and says it's "great", and you buy a less expensive model, and it doesn't do a fraction of what you want?

Do the research on your own, per the above. At least, that way, you'll have nobody else to blame, but yourself (i.e., don't put the onus on others).

P.S. I can't wait for your next question on which car people think is best!
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acer / hp /dell / sony are the best known probably..

me I have an acer laptop and desktop . BUT the support hasn't been great for me.. but I know about PC's , so any problems I've had I sort out myself. I did call them 3 times and they were of no use to me.

http://www.ebuyer.com have a look there and the reviews.

want a high end gaming pc? DO NOT buy a laptop.. so many people do and then moan it's got a not so great gfx card.. and you can't change it.
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personal experience

Dell and HP are the best brands for laptops, without a doubt. However, both brands are quite expensive. Acer is a decent alternative. And of course there's Apple, which does have problems of incompatibility with other computers and software, but if you only want a laptop for music, videos, photos, internet etc. you'll be fine.
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MacBook or MacBook pro
MacBook Pro reviewed here
http://www.trustedreviews.com/apple/review/2007/11/28/Apple-MacBook-Pro-17in/p1
and here
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,135062-page,1/article.html
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Mac user since 2000.

HP! because its price is okay and the quality of the notebook is good. i've been using my HP for 2 years and never had a problem.

Sony is good too, but it's expensive. I have a vaio tz-17gn it's like the all-in-one laptop because everything i'm looking for is in there. it's nice, but pricey. also, the Sony said the battery will last up to 11 hours (or 14) but it only lasted for like 3 hours.

Asus is also good for affordable ones. i have an Eee PC and it works well. good price. lots of good features. there's a built-in WiFi, MMC/SD slot, webcam, 3 USB ports, plus good battery life. it has pre-installed of Skype, Firefox, Messenger(all in one), a lot more. Many games.. and there's a built-in dictionary. Good for school, work, or just web browsing. It's very light and portable.

in conclusion, if u want a good laptop with a price that is reasonable, go for the HP. if u want a laptop that u can carry around w/o worrying too much, Asus Eee PC is for you. if u want something u can show everyone (i know most of us are proud if we carry expensive things or with a well-known brand) plus with great features, go for the Sony.
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I would say - HP
Sony is good as well , so as DELL
My favorite is Fujitsu , because they are cheaper, but maybe heavier and not so practical!
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