LapTop Suggestions?

[funked up]

I know this is a bit of topic from audioholics, but it seems that many of you are also computer savy, I am not. My girlfriend is looking for a new laptop. She is willing to spend up to ~$650, but would like to spend less if possible. She will mainly be using it for writing reports, preparing powerpoints, surfing the internet, maybe downloading some music. She doesn't play computer games or do any serious activities that would eat up memory and/or require a powerfull computer. She just wants a nice, easy to use, reliable computer, with good wireless internet, and maybe looks cool too. Any suggestions would be great. She is looking at dell, since she can get a discount through the school, but is not limited to them. Thanks.

 

[aberkowitz]

I know this is a bit of topic from audioholics, but it seems that many of you are also computer savy, I am not. My girlfriend is looking for a new laptop. She is willing to spend up to ~$650, but would like to spend less if possible. She will mainly be using it for writing reports, preparing powerpoints, surfing the internet, maybe downloading some music. She doesn't play computer games or do any serious activities that would eat up memory and/or require a powerfull computer. She just wants a nice, easy to use, reliable computer, with good wireless internet, and maybe looks cool too. Any suggestions would be great. She is looking at dell, since she can get a discount through the school, but is not limited to them. Thanks.

Keeping it under $650 is going to be kinda hard, particularly if it will be a Vista PC. From everything I've read you need to have at least 1 GB of RAM for Vista to run reasonably well. Factoring the cost of MS Office Student/Teacher (around $150) and a decent virus protector, even with a school discount a Dell is probably going to run at least $700. Lenovo will be around the same price. And while warranties are generally snake oil business practices, I would HIGHLY recommend signing up for one since laptop parts are generally more expensive to replace than desktop parts and often need a professional to open them up to do repairs. I used to repair my old desktops all the time, but I'm much more conservative with a laptop.

Having been a heavy laptop user from my time as a consultant and a business school student, laptops are not worth skimping on. Anytime you plan on carrying a computer anywhere it's going to get beat up more than a desktop, and I've seen firsthand how this effects performance. I used to blow out hard drives all the time in my work laptops b/c of the beatings.

My recommendation would be to either A) Get her to up her budget to closer to $900-1000 and buy an Apple (I'm on my 2nd one and they are the best out there), or B) Buy a desktop. My fiancee and I just bought a nicely loaded Dell for her mother for just around $650 with everything included.

 

[masak_aer]

Dell is working great. Since she is not going to use it for any serious programming, she may pick the most basic feature but add another 1Gb of RAM if possible. If she doesn't want to spend the money for RAM then downgrade it to XP. I think she might want to consider the most convenient screen for her to work on. IMO, 14" is too small for me, 15" is fine.

 

[bandphan]

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3408620&CatId=2510

also toshiba makes laptops under 699 with all you need, as for virus protecton, dont pay use avg, by grisoft... its free for personal use

 

[aberkowitz]

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3408620&CatId=2510

also toshiba makes laptops under 699 with all you need, as for virus protecton, dont pay use avg, by grisoft... its free for personal use

Toshiba makes $hit for laptops. My old company used to use them- they had so many breakdowns that they had to start handing out retired Compaqs in order to keep people working. They overheat, they have poorly made hard drives, and they are notorious for bad customer service.

Btw- Just checked out Grisoft's website (I want software for the Windows partition of my Mac), and it doesn't look like anything is free anymore. Do you know specifically which product is free?

 

[Alex2507]

AVG Free Edition

I've been using it for a few years now. That's anti virus. I also use their free anti spyware job along with Ad-Aware. All free.

 

[dnice555]

I would look at a bottom of the line dell - with that discount should be well under budjet. An entry level dell is more than enough to surf the internet,download music, and use powerpoint. Games, photoshop, ect are the only things that would require more horsepower.

 

[bandphan]

Toshiba makes $hit for laptops. My old company used to use them- they had so many breakdowns that they had to start handing out retired Compaqs in order to keep people working. They overheat, they have poorly made hard drives, and they are notorious for bad customer service.

Btw- Just checked out Grisoft's website (I want software for the Windows partition of my Mac), and it doesn't look like anything is free anymore. Do you know specifically which product is free?

http://free.grisoft.com/

also i use a toshiba, and 0 problems, used dells since 91. which units did your company spec, and the stock batteries did over heat ?

 

[aberkowitz]

http://free.grisoft.com/

also i use a toshiba, and 0 problems, used dells since 91. which units did your company spec, and the stock batteries did over heat ?

Thanks for that link. When I searched for Grisoft it took me to the commercial page.

We use a couple generations of Toshiba Tecras and the Proteges. After that we switched over to HPs and Dells- which were much better.

My original point wasthat you can get the hardware all for about $650-700, and I think it's a real mistake if you don't put at least 1 GB of Ram in there b/c Windows Vista will destroy your machine with any less, but don't forget to factor in the cost of Office. Some Universities have really good deals on Office (when I was a grad student I got it for $25), but assuming that's not the case you're paying an extra $150 and that will blow the budget right out of the water if you're expecting to get EVERYTHING for less than $650.

Btw- Dell student discounts are pretty crummy. It's typically only an additional $50 or $75 off, but you've got to buy their extended care package. the care packages, however, tend to be discounted very well for students. I still highly recommend getting a care package. My fiancee's Mac gave out earlier this year- without the 3 year care package it would have been $300+ to repair.

 

[bandphan]

is open office from sun micro systems a solution(since it runs almost ALL ms products perfectly), i use it as i am opposed to paying ms prices, and hate their licensing policy. free free free thats for me with software(or priced right)

 

[funked up]

Thanks for all the input. It def sounds like dell is a good way to go. Are there any specific models that I should look at?

 

[aberkowitz]

Thanks for all the input. It def sounds like dell is a good way to go. Are there any specific models that I should look at?

There's only 1 model of notebook that's within her price range. This price range is pretty much the absolute bottom for laptops (not disparaging here, just informing), so there will be limited choice. For Dell the model is Inspiron.

 

[dnice555]

It's def bottom for laptops but that's all she needs and with her discount it's prolly a little under.

 

[aberkowitz]

It's def bottom for laptops but that's all she needs and with her discount it's prolly a little under.

I went and looked it up on Dell's student page (I still have access from my school)- the lowest end laptop for students is actually only $10 cheaper than the discounted price for everybody else ($489 vs. $499) before adding RAM, taxes, and any software. Dell's student discounts go off of the normal retail price, not the discounted price offered to the public.

 

[gus6464]

If you go for Dell stick to the Vostro line and not Inspiron. The build quality for Inspiron is crap whereas they use Latitude parts for the Vostro line. Also make sure you clean out the machine from all of the advertising software that comes included in the system although the Vostro line comes with a lot less software preinstalled.

I work for HP but I don't really like our pavilion offerings as they have too many lights and buttons and crap. I prefer our Compaq line and business NX/NC line. Also stay away from Toshiba as their manufacturing has gone downhill over the last couple of years. Also buy the machine with the smallest amount of ram possible as you can upgrade to 4gb nowadays for less then $100 dollars. Just get the biggest HDD you can. As far as openoffice goes if your gf needs office for work go with MS office as OO is not that compatible on some things. Excel and Powerpoint compatibility are the worst. If she just needs it to type simple papers and such then OO would be ok. If she needs Excel and PP then definitely go for MS Office.

 

[gus6464]

This is a very good deal on the Vostro 1500.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=bqcwkta&s=bsd

$599 gets u 160gb HDD, 2gb ram, dvd burner and other normal stuff that comes with it. That is the best machine I can recommend for your price range.

 

[aberkowitz]

If you go for Dell stick to the Vostro line and not Inspiron. The build quality for Inspiron is crap whereas they use Latitude parts for the Vostro line. Also make sure you clean out the machine from all of the advertising software that comes included in the system although the Vostro line comes with a lot less software preinstalled.

That's part of the small business line... Can any individual buy those PCs or do you have to actually have a business of sorts? Is there any difference between a small biz laptop vs. a "consumer laptop" in terms of included software? I'm curious for myself, since the Vostro is much cheaper than the Inspiron.

As far as openoffice goes if your gf needs office for work go with MS office as OO is not that compatible on some things. Excel and Powerpoint compatibility are the worst. If she just needs it to type simple papers and such then OO would be ok. If she needs Excel and PP then definitely go for MS Office.

Totally agree. Plus, any job that she eventually gets she will probably be using PPT and Excel in some capacity, and it helps to learn the shortcuts.

 

[gus6464]

That's part of the small business line... Can any individual buy those PCs or do you have to actually have a business of sorts? Is there any difference between a small biz laptop vs. a "consumer laptop" in terms of included software? I'm curious for myself, since the Vostro is much cheaper than the Inspiron.




Totally agree. Plus, any job that she eventually gets she will probably be using PPT and Excel in some capacity, and it helps to learn the shortcuts.

Anyone can buy the Latitude or Vostro line. There is no qualification of any kind. As far as software goes the Vostro and Lat will have the least amount of crapware preinstalled. The Vostro is basically a barebones Latitude in term of parts. You have more options when it comes to Latitudes but the build quality of the Vostro line is very comparable. Inspirons are just pure crap as they use inferior plastics and just feel flimsy.

 

[gus6464]

Ohh and as far as virus protection goes there really isn't a need if you lock down windows from the start. AVG and spybot is all you need if you don't do a full wipe when you initially get the machine. Best way to lock down the PC is to have two accounts (administrator and user). Do all initial installs on the admin account and have her do normal work on a power user account. You can limit what a person can do on a power user account when it comes to registry. Just make sure you install all the software she is going to use beforehand and do any updates so when she uses the PC for normal usage it will all be locked down.

 

[bandphan]

Also stay away from Toshiba as their manufacturing has gone downhill over the last couple of years. Also buy the machine with the smallest amount of ram possible as you can upgrade to 4gb nowadays for less then $100 dollars. Just get the biggest HDD you can. As far as openoffice goes if your gf needs office for work go with MS office as OO is not that compatible on some things. Excel and Powerpoint compatibility are the worst. If she just needs it to type simple papers and such then OO would be ok. If she needs Excel and PP then definitely go for MS Office.

that funny because i use both and agian have 0 problems and the op stated for school . oo is implemented world wide, used by ibm and other major it companies including google. i cant speak for powerpoint, but it does excel just fine. as for toshiba well no problems at all almost 2 years on this unit.