LapTop Suggestions?

[funked up]

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.

I really like the looks of this computer, and it actually works out to be less expensive the the inspiron. Thanks for the help. I def think she would be happy with something like this. Are there any disadavntages with getting a computer thats designed for small business compared to personal use. Or are they basically the same thing only setup slightly different?

 

[astrodon]

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.

Strange, we have had just the opposite quality issues with Dell laptops at our university, the Latitudes were crap and the Inspirons were the models that didn't break down. I have had no trouble what-so-ever with my Inspiron laptop so far.

Vista is a memory hog. I would get at minimum a 2 GB RAM machine to run it. Your machine will run very slow with Vista with only 1 GB.

 

[aberkowitz]

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.

Some of my business school friends at google HATE their open source software. When you learn how to do serious financial modeling you learn all of these neat little shortcuts and tricks with Excel (which is by far the most powerful program around) and at Google they can barely do 25% of what we learned!

 

[aberkowitz]

Vista is a memory hog. I would get at minimum a 2 GB RAM machine to run it. Your machine will run very slow with Vista with only 1 GB.

I was just looking- you can have Windows XP installed on a Vostro. To the OP- this is absolutely the way to go!!

 

[gus6464]

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.

The OO that IBM uses is modified by them. That version is not readily available. And depending on her major in school some professors actually use advanced features of excel and pp. Also if she goes to college she can get Office 2007 for cheap. My school sold Office enterprise for 40 bucks and XP pro for 29. Why go through the hassle of getting full compatibility when you can get the worldwide standard for that cheap?

 

[bandphan]

correct, sorry for highjacking

and get vista, sp1 is out soon a kinks will get worked out, and if you need xp you can dual boot

 

[gus6464]

I really like the looks of this computer, and it actually works out to be less expensive the the inspiron. Thanks for the help. I def think she would be happy with something like this. Are there any disadavntages with getting a computer thats designed for small business compared to personal use. Or are they basically the same thing only setup slightly different?

Does she go to a 4 year university? All 4 year schools have student pricing on MS products. That way you just buy the Vostro and buy a copy of XP Pro for cheap and Office as well and do a clean install. Then just install the drivers you need along with the software and anything else she will use and you will have a machine that not only will run a lot faster, but only have the stuff you really need.

 

[gus6464]

Once you get the machine and software I can give you a quick tutorial on how to do a proper windows install the way corporate IT departments do it. It's fast and easy as long as you have the proper drivers and software. You will be surprised at how good windows XP can be when installed properly.

 

[gus6464]

Also take a look at the Vostro 1400 with the 14in screen as it's the same price but it comes with 250gb hdd instead of 160 and X3100 graphics instead of dedicated. Since it's for school I doubt she will be playing any games and will benefit more from increased battery life and bigger hard drive.

 

[masak_aer]

IMHO, 80Gb hdd for a laptop is more than sufficient, 120Gb is ideal. Above that, it will only be a waste. Before you are able to use up the 120Gb, your other laptop parts will have worn out. I am talking about regular use of office documents, not so many mp3s (1000/2000?). Also, external drive/flash drive is so much cheaper nowadays that it cost a dime to a dozen.

I'd rather spend the extra money to add more RAM, go to the highest if possible (4Gb?), 2Gb is just enough for Vista. One gig or lower on RAM, your laptop will go painfully slow on Vista. Trust me, I had it. I had 3 Vista still on the box that i haven't even open yet. I had to downgrade several laptops and several PCs to XP.

WinXp is still one the most versatile windows version yet if you know how to set it up properly. For Vista, there are still many compatibility issues, one of the known issues i have dealt with is with the accounting software called Solomon (a microsoft product too!!).

FYI: I have two toshibas at home: satellite pro and the tecra. Both have no problems. One is 15" (5 years old), the other is 14" (1 year old). My company has used Sony (not recommended), Dell (Ok), Toshiba (Ok), Fujitsu (Ok), and HP (Not recommended) and Compaq (Just fine). It is only based on my observation and personal experience.

 

[sparky77]

How about this one, it works well for me. If you don't like vista just reload it with xp like I did.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3529032&CatId=1891

 

[Hi Ho]

I have a Toshiba Satellite A215-S5818 and I love it. It runs very stable with 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. It runs very cool, cooler than any laptop I've used. Vista runs fine on it. It has one bug that causes the screen to blackout periodically but it's very easy to fix and I have never experienced the problem after setting the minimum CPU in power management to 100%.

The company I work for has used Toshiba laptopts almost exclusively and have had no problems.

 

[Thare187]

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.

Not sure if the deal is still alive but Best buy has an acer with 2gb and 160 HD for $499.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8691695&type=product&id=1198286608353
Not sure about the performance but it looks to have the basics.

 

[iohovah]

It's fantastic that someone finally seems to have made a remark to openoffice on this forum.. openoffice will work perfectly with any windows based documents and infact in my opinion work much better. And btw toshiba is typically an excellent laptop manufactor.