Help Ced Buy a Laptop

[Ced 0]

I don't know where to look aside from the big retail stores. I just want a cheap, but respectable laptop for when I'm away from the house. TSM tech gurus/junkies, give a brother a hand.

[Secret Agent 0]

Since it's not your main computer I'd suggest at least a Centrino 1.6 or 1.8 - you don't want to lug a brick around, plus you get a little longer battery time. 512mb RAM is a must - nothing lower than that, and a 60-80gb hard drive.

 

My current favorite notebook is actually the HP DV1000 right now. That might be a bit more than you want to pay for one, unless you see a sale on it. However, it has a remote that can be helpful in power point presentations, the option to power on DVD player only instead of the whole notebook(gets more battery out of it), and it's Bluetooth enabled!

 

Anyway, still with that set up, and to remain affordable, you can go with; Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq, Toshiba, etc. The Sony Vaio is a good one, but it's a bit pricey. If you just want a secondary computer and aren't needing something to be a mobile media center I wouldn't drop the dough on the Sony. It's good, but pricey.

 

Basically, with those specs, I'd see who has the best deal going right now.

[The Man in Blak 0]

I've got a Dell Inspiron and it's a wonderful piece of work. Centrino processor lets me do my wireless thing, and it's got enough speed and RAM to run things at a nice clip (though I'll admit, I haven't went on a binge with Doom3 or HL2 to check out the real gaming power of the machine). Price is fairly reasonable too.

[Dr. Tom 0]

Dell and Toshiba are good. You can order off their websites.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

What exactly do you want?

 

I mean, are you wi-fi maven or no? Do you need Bluetooth or no?

 

Man in Blak: Cutting-edge gaming is pretty much the domain of a few high end laptops. And they're priced way too high to be worth the experience, since it's nowhere near as immersive.

[The Man in Blak 0]

Oh, I'm not arguing that. However, I've read at a couple of places that the Dell Inspiron is probably the best that you'll get in terms of gaming power, other than the super-expensive Alienware and Falcon Northwest rigs. Plus, if he uses a laptop dock, he can essentially have the same immersion as a desktop computer, plus do all his nifty laptop stuff.

[The Fett 0]

There was a sale yesterday at Office Depot for $400 HP laptops (after rebates). They were Celeron M, which is basically a Centrino with less cache. Not blazing fast, but very cheap and more than adequate for most people. I think the sale might have ended yesterday though.