Laptop advice for a laptop dummy, please (1 Viewer)

[Julian Reville]

I have never owned a laptop; all of my 15 (!)computers have been desktops, so I need a little advice on what to buy.

I need one that will:

Read CD-ROMs and CD-Rs/CD-RWs, mostly containing PDFs.
Video out for displaying on a separate monitor.
Modem.
Sound, via ear phones would be OK
Play DVDs (just for fun)

Pretty basic, but I'm unsure of minimum OS and processer/memory needed.

Oh, and I don't want to spend very much money.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Carlo_M]

Another important consideration: do you plan to use this as a true portable machine (i.e. carry it around a lot)? If so, the difference between a 7-8 lbs machine vs. a 4 lbs machine will be quite considerable.

 

[Rob Silver]

Apple 12" iBook? Or one of the Dells if you don't want to spend much. Or you can look out for deals from IBM on ThinkPads. They had a killer deal on some ThinkPads a month back. What's your budget?

 

[Bob Graz]

Julian, check your e-mail for a note from me. Bob

 

[Julian Reville]

Budget? We don't need no steeenkin budgets!

Credit card, baby.

Being more realistic, about $800. Which restricts my choices a LOT, I know.

 

[Carlo_M]

Best Buy often runs the "apply for our card and get 18-24 months same as cash on laptops" that might be a way to increase your budget without feeling too much of a pinch on your pocketbook...

 

[Elinor]

Well, whatever you get ... keep it outta your lap.

Today's news reports decreased sperm count among male users of laptops. Seems all that heat and the leg position inhibits production of the little rascals. Could be a cheap alternative to a vasectomy, but if you *do* or *may* want to breed in the future ... beware.

 

[Tekara]

For the $800 price mark I would start keeping an eye on Dell. It's pretty common for Dell to run some big promotionals and having some big discounts on their laptops.

 

[Mike_J_Potter]

Check out the deals section on here. They have a a few good deals on Dell Laptops including a Dell Inspiron 1150 with 2.60 ghz cpu 256 megs of ram and 30 gig drive for about $600. For the 200 you save you can bump up the ram and cpu if you want. Mine came in on monday and so far I happy with it, the only change I made was upping the ram to 512.

 

[Will.MA]

How do you to intend to use your lappy? Unless you need a portable workstation, just about any modern system will give you the functionality that you've listed.

I'd add from experience that it's best to stay with manufacturers that will have parts for your system for some to come in case it breaks or needs upgrading. Also, it may not seem like much difference, but when you carry your system everyday to work or elsewhere, there is a significant difference between 5 & 7.5 pounds.