Laptop question

[Petro-Sooner]

I'm looking to purchase my first laptop. I'm hardly a
computer guru. Looking for one for basic use and
inexpensive. Thoughts? TIA

[OUHOMER]

my kids got me a Dell Vostro for my birthday. I love it. no clue on the cost.

[Vaevictis]

If you're buying consumer grade laptops from the major manufacturers, focus more on price and features than on any perceived quality differences from the manufacturers.

If I recall correctly, something like 80% of all consumer-grade laptops come from one of three manufacturing groups in Asia, irrespective of the eventual brand on the laptop. So basically, it generally doesn't matter.

[King Crimson]

my kids got me a Dell Vostro for my birthday. I love it. no clue on the cost.

i bought a vostro for work about 18 months ago and it's been a solid, reliable machine. it was about 900$ (even cheaper now) and has done exactly what i needed. it's nothing spectacular or an aesthetic masterpiece but no problems at all. fine work machine. i was also able to get XP on it, which was nice.

[yermom]

how inexpensive is "inexpensive"?

http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/168536

that's pretty cheap for a new full-size laptop. although, i'd look for discreet graphics, personally

i'm also fairly fond of the netbooks, for the portability and price. but it kinda depends on what you are wanting to do

[picasso]

used to be $10 at Night Trips but I haven't been in years.

[King Crimson]

i'm also fairly fond of the netbooks, for the portability and price. but it kinda depends on what you are wanting to do

i have an eeePC that's about a year and half old and sort of first gen. only has 4g HD and Xandros as the OS compared to what you can get now with memory and ubuntu or XP or Android coming soon. but, i've using the heck out of it the last few months--for all kinds of stuff. i think it's great. in a way, i can't wait til this one meets it's end so i can buy a new one!

[Petro-Sooner]

Would like to be able to play a DVD if needed.
Maybe a game I guess memory I should look at.
After looking online 700 looks like a range.

[Vaevictis]

Unless you're planning on dropping big-ish dollars, don't expect a laptop to play the latest and greatest games all that well.

Under no circumstances should you expect a laptop to play the latest and greatest games while running on battery power. Well, not for very long, anyway.

[yermom]

i have an eeePC that's about a year and half old and sort of first gen. only has 4g HD and Xandros as the OS compared to what you can get now with memory and ubuntu or XP or Android coming soon. but, i've using the heck out of it the last few months--for all kinds of stuff. i think it's great. in a way, i can't wait til this one meets it's end so i can buy a new one!

you can upgrade the RAM to 2GB for like $20 and the netbook version of Ubuntu installs in under 2GB of space real easy off of a thumb drive

[yermom]

Would like to be able to play a DVD if needed.
Maybe a game I guess memory I should look at.
After looking online 700 looks like a range.

i'd probably suggest something like this: http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/168525

Dell Vostro 1520 Core 2 Duo 2.1GHz 15.4in LED Laptop (3GB/250GB/Vista Biz + XP Pro/Geforce 9300) $599 (+tax, but free shipping)

it's hard to beat the Core2 Duo and the mobile NVidia video card

it also comes with a free XP downgrade, which is nice

[King Crimson]

you can upgrade the RAM to 2GB for like $20 and the netbook version of Ubuntu installs in under 2GB of space real easy off of a thumb drive

yeah, i bought an extra G of RAM when i bought the machine (after reading some internet comments among the eee "community") and one of my projects the last summer and this one was to convert that and the vostro mentioned above to eeeUbuntu and ubuntu respectively....but, fact is, during the school year there's some advantage to running an OS that other people are using for file exchange and student attachments/assignments and interacting with the CU blackboard software--at least for me, looking for a minimum of student related problems being a relatively novice type computer user who's ambitions often exceed my practical ability.

but, i'm still going to do it someday after i see what Windows 7 does for me. i've run Ubuntu on the laptop for extended periods of time inside windows and i like it a lot....but, like i say there's some advantage to running a common OS. i also actually like Xandros in it's simplicity for what i use the eeePC for.

[yermom]

i'm still running Windows on one of mine for basically the same reasons mentioned. you can do a light amount of working on docs between Windows and Linux but it's still not great

i installed the RC of Windows 7. mostly i think it's a way to distance from the Vista name. i didn't see much different about it, but i didn't run it long because i couldn't get 64bit drivers for my soundcard (for any Windows) and playing media was the only reason i was switching to Windows

[soonerboomer93]

I'm looking to purchase my first laptop. I'm hardly a
computer guru. Looking for one for basic use and
inexpensive. Thoughts? TIA

what is "basic use" for you?

what activities do you actually do, do you play any kind of games?

[Petro-Sooner]

It would be primarily for the web and office applications.
I didn't play games on the computers I've used in the past.
Mainly because they were borrowed or one for work.
I'm thinking that if I wanted to put one on the thing I could and
wouldn't have any problems. I'm sure I'm over thinking this
whole deal. Thanks for the help.

[soonerboomer93]

weight?
screen size desires?
store music and or vids/pics?

[soonerboomer93]

oh, i wouldn't necessarily buy a laptop right now either, new intel chips are coming and these have the memory controller on chip

that's a factor for me, may not be for others

[GottaHavePride]

If I wanted to play games on it, I'd get a desktop.

If I wanted a basic sort of laptop any would do ok.

If I wanted a sweet laptop I'd look at Maingear or Alienware :)

[yermom]

i think i really want a 13" MacBook Pro, if i wanted something nice

the thing that's been bugging me about laptops lately though is horizontal lines of resolution, with all the widescreen crap and 1366x768 displays. way too much scrolling. it's so hard to find a laptop that will do 1600x1050 or better (and not be like 17")

even the 15" MacBook Pro only does 1440x900, which could really be better