Forget the X300 comparisons, this is more in it's class...

[EvryDayImShufln]

Apple is consistently near the top of the ratings for laptop reliability. No company is perfect.

Actually, if you read consumers reports november 2007 I believe, they grade apple as the least reliable of the tested brands (granted, not by much: they were at 23% repair rate over a few years while most others were at about 20%).

However, they graded apples customer service and tech support at the top by a significant percentage.

 

[Sesshi]

You think so? I get the opposite impression; that the smallest flaw sends people into screaming heebie-jeebies.

That's true, but then the Apple Store service is quite good as long as you have time to kill - which I assume most domestic users are able to put up with. The Genius service IMO is unfussy and provided you give them everything they need to resolve the situation, they do it very well for the most part.

Thing is, it is about the pretty. A not-unacceptably (for a domestic user) failure-prone machine which looks very good and is fixed with a smile scores better for satisfaction overall among people who don't regard their hardware as critical, than a machine which never goes wrong and isn't as heavy on the eye candy.

Someone like me on the other hand never expects to require to see a tech* in the lifetime of the machine, which in my case is a short and hard one - stop snickering in the back - when buying a machine with a reasonable reputation. The downgrade in that sense was significant when I took up Apples. Shocking actually, to be honest.

*or even worse, actually cart it in myself... I mean, what company wishing to cater for halfway serious people still does this stupidity? My gaming PC's have on-site support / upgrade!

 

[Roba]

For a Windows budget laptop I think that the Acer Gemstone is better than that Gateway laptop. It seems like a good portable laptop to recommend to someone who is on a budget or somebody who doesn't like to spend to much out on computers. TrustedReviews recommended the 15 inch version of this model and gave it a 9/10 rating. I believe that BMW is responsible for the design of these laptops.
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_2920Z_Laptop_LX.ANM0X.044/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_2920_Gemstone_Laptop_LX.ANK0X.105/version.asp

http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2007/05/31/Acer-Aspire-5920/p1