<p>did any/most of you guys get ur laptops yet? Any recommendations besides dell? I heard vaio and hp kinda suck, ahh this is probably the most difficult item to shop for. For you guys who got a laptop recently, can you post the brand, and main system giznits like processor, speed, ram, video card, size, and most important price?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>I've had mine since uhh, December? Because our newspaper staff was ghetto and lacked funding for new computers so I had to bring in my own laptop.</p>
<p>I chose price over performance. Got a toshiba, but only a pentium m 730 1.6 Ghz, 512 DDR ram. Not bad but not the snappiest shiet. Got it for umm, $600, was it? There are better deals out there, I bet (slickdeals.net) but I'm pretty happy with mine.</p>
<p>Buy an IBM. Its customer service is amazing!</p>
<p>I have a Sony VAIO and it's operating just fine. What negative comments have you heard about VAIOs? It wouldn't happen to be about customer service, would it? </p>
<p>O, and about the Sony rechargeable batteries blowing up, they DON"T affect VAIOs.</p>
<p>I copied this down from somewhere. Minimum requirements (according to CNET) for a student computer: </p>
<p>Processor: Mobile Celeron, Pentium 4-M, Pentium</p>
<p>Memory: at least 256 MB (recommend 512 MB or even 1 GB)</p>
<p>Hard Drive: at least 60 GB</p>
<p>Disk Drive: DVD + RW</p>
<p>Wireless and wired networking equipped</p>
<p>OS: Windows XP Home or Apple MAC OS X (ten)</p>
<p>SW: Microsoft Office XP Standard or Student</p>
<p>What's your budget? I'll help find you a notebook or help you assemble one yourself later.</p>
<p>i just bought a Dell Inspiron E1505...works fine i guess. very good value?</p>
<p>It all depends what you want to do on your laptop. If I was just going to use it for word processing and browsing websites I'd prolly only spend around 1000$ or less.</p>
<p>Buy an ultraportable is you're bringing a desktop for your multimedia needs.</p>
<p>dont get a dell, theyre just garbadge</p>
<p>I have a Macbook, i am happy with it. But of course it may be too expensive for some. So it really depends on your budget. If you can afford it then a Macbook is probably the best choice, in my opinion. But if not a dell or whatever is perfectly fine.</p>
<p>For the price, Dells arent that bad...I didn't get a Dell, but it would have been my second or third option. I bought a 14.1" gaming capable laptop (ya know, just in case I wanted to).</p>
<p>I was thinking about 1000? It sort of depends on the brand and specs, I pretty much have to pay with what I earned from my summer job, so definitely the lower the better, but I was looking at simple 600 dollar dells and the specs seem really bad.</p>
<p>You could always use those $200 or 20% off $1000 coupons on an Inspiron and get something decent (well, in my opinion) for ~800 + tax. For example, the E1505 with something like T2400, a gig of ram, 80 gig hd (5400 rpm), dvd burner, and GMA 950 (assuming you're not gonna do any gaming or any graphic card intensive stuff, or...using all that fancy Vista display stuff...)</p>
<p>Or theres always retail stuff like <a href="http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=156638%5B/url%5D">http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=156638</a>
Office Depot/Costco/Staples/whatever has had some nice cheap ~500-600 dollar deals throughout the summer (I heard an ad for a toshiba that was pretty nice for 500 bucks on TV and went to check it out the next day but they said they sold out within hours)</p>
<p>1) What is your budget?</p>
<p>2) What size notebook would you prefer?</p>
<pre><code>a. Ultraportable; 12" screen or less
b. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
c. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
d. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen
</code></pre>
<p>3) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?</p>
<p>4) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?</p>
<p>5) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?</p>
<p>6) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?</p>
<p>7) How many hours of battery life do you need?</p>
<p>8) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?</p>
<p>Screen Specifics</p>
<p>10) Would you prefer standard or widescreen?</p>
<p>11) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?</p>
<pre><code>Standard
a. XGA -1024x768 - Large and easy to read text + graphics icons, but you fit less stuff on the screen.
b. SXGA - 1400x1050 - Compromise resolution between XGA and UXGA.
c. UXGA - 1600x1200 - Very small text and graphics icons, you can fit lots of stuff on the screen.
Widescreen
d. WXGA or WXGA+ - 1280x768/800 or 1440x900; Wider viewing version of XGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
e. WSXGA+ - 1680x1050; Wider viewing version of SXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
f. WUXGA - 1920x1200; Wider viewing version of UXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
</code></pre>
<p>12) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?</p>
<p>Build Quality and Design</p>
<p>13) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?</p>
<p>14) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?</p>
<p>Notebook Components</p>
<p>15) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 160GB?</p>
<p>16) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD-ROM, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-RW drive?</p>
<p>(I know that for many features the answer is "yes, I want it, but no, I don't want to pay for it.")</p>
<p>^^ That's a good suggestion too Slorg. Those guys at NBR are really helpful!</p>
<p>i have an hp and the disk drive is a piece of crap.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I was thinking about 1000? It sort of depends on the brand and specs, I pretty much have to pay with what I earned from my summer job, so definitely the lower the better, but I was looking at simple 600 dollar dells and the specs seem really bad
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's strange. Dell typically has the best specs per $. Were you looking at the listed prices on its website? Dell is notorious for having tons of coupons. If you calculate coupons in, I expect the prices will be lower.</p>
<p>I bought a Dell a while back with a 7900 GS for under $1000.</p>
<p>Dell is notorious for overpricing their ram. If you factor in a coupon you could save up to a few hundred dollars though. I just got my dell today, spent about 2 grand on it.</p>
<p>Yes, never buy RAM from Dell. It's nearly always cheaper to buy it seperately.</p>