<p>I'm computer clueless, so I need help.</p>
<p>All I do on a laptop is browsing the internet, using spreadsheets, writing papers, playing online poker and other online games, watching online videos, downloading songs, and some other stuff I can't really think of.</p>
<p>All my gaming I do on XBOX 360 and will always do that.</p>
<p>I'm looking for something that's quick on the internet (what type of machines are like this?), wireless internet, real long battery life (I have one right now that's 2.5 hours and that's not long enough), preferbably a PC with windows XP, software?(my school has software for purchase for real cheap), but most importantly price (I don't want to spend much more than 500 bucks, if even that, but think I can do that with what i'm asking for).</p>
<p>Okay, so what processors are the bottom level ones that I should avoid? What company(s) should I buy (i've heard Dell is good, I have a Compaq and it's alright)? Do some have discounts for college students? Should I buy through a store like best buy where I can get mega rebates with lots of software, or online like Dell?</p>
<p>I doubt you will get a fast computer for $500. $700-800 will get you a more than suitable Dell laptop.</p>
<p>Dell E1505: $749
<a href="http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=i6400lo&s=bsd%5B/url%5D">http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=i6400lo&s=bsd</a></p>
<p>You can get a 14.1" laptop for the same price if you would want a lighter laptop. (5.2 compared to 6.2 or so)</p>
<p>oh yea, i think you get a 10% student discount too)</p>
<p>THANK YOU!!! This looks like a very good basic one. I am excited about the discount. </p>
<p>I'm confused about the processors. What is a Core Duo and how is it better than a Celeron or Pentium or one of the AMD lower brands? I don't know what processors can and can not do. </p>
<p>Also, do I need 256 or 512 mb of memory?</p>
<p>Good site! Anyone else have any good links for good deals that will be appreciated</p>
<p>definitely get 512mb.</p>
<p>Core duo is a better processor for multitasking, its the next generation centrino pretty much. the celeron just sucks.</p>
<p>AMDs are good but they have less front side bus. the athlon is good for gaming though.</p>
<p>Alright, I heard that Celeron sucks, so i'm going to avoid that. What about Pentium? Core Duo seems like the top-of-the-line, i'm kind of looking for middle line. I've also heard that you need 512 mb minimum, so i'll look for that. I'll look for a good deal on a Core Duo if that's good for multi-tasking, because I typically have 3-4 applications running at once.</p>
<p>What is front side bus? Also, AMD has Athlon, Turion, and Sempron. Which ones are good and which ones are bad. Usually AMD has the better deals on processors. I have an AMD in one of my desktops, and it's been the best computer i've bought so far.</p>
<p>FSB is basically the thing that transfers info to your processor...</p>
<p>Basically, a slow FSB and an ultra-fast processor is bad... because even though the processor can handle the info really well.... the info can't get to it fast through a slow FSB</p>
<p>Celerons aren't complete garbage by the way.... they're just really really bad...</p>
<p>I use a Celeron D for one of my desktops (the really really cheap one that cost me 100 bucks to put together)</p>
<p>Thanks for the info guys. Do companies matter? Like Dell, Compaq, HP, e-Machines, Mac, Sony, Toshiba?</p>
<p>And what is a good size front side bus to get?</p>
<p>The best front size bus you can get is in the Core Duo processors (667mhz), which also have greatest cache (short term memory holding so that if you revisit a site, you wont have the same reload time).</p>
<p>Pretty much, the Dell link that I gave you is the best deal that you will find. A centrino notebook will be MAYBE $50 cheaper with a 400mhz fsb since they are phasing out the faster centrinos in favor for the core duos.</p>
<p>Bobbobbob, the cache you referred to with your internet reference is stored on the hard drive or on the ram, not the CPU cache.</p>
<p>awsome snag there, thats the same computer with double the ram for $50 less, plus the student discount. the dell website is like a maze, if you get the right link, you can get a great deal. the only difference is that the comp that i linked has an on-site warranty plan and yours has a mail in plan but its no biggie.</p>
<p>oh right war chant, youre right. its 12:45am and im trying to avoid writing a paper. ha. the cpu cache decreases the average amount of time to access the memory if im not mistaken.</p>
<p>Where can I find the student discount?</p>
<p>This is the one i'm going to get, lol. I've made up my mind. If I can knock 10% off (like a student discount), it would be brilliant. Maybe I can even take out a student loan to pay for it, lmao.</p>
<p>a lot of times its in the form of a coupon code from the university...im not positive since I havent looked into yet at my school. If you cant find it out online, you can always call up the school bookstore.</p>
<p>Well <em>I</em> would definitely get the $700 over the $500 laptop in that case because its the cheaper pentium processor. But I mean if cost is a concern, then that computer is perfectly fine for the internet and word processing and such if thats all you need it to do.</p>
<p>I decided to buy the cheaper one. It seems fine for what i'm going to do and I can't find anywhere a Pentium processor for less than 800 bucks, and this one is for 450. Although this seems like a great oppurtunity for the Core Duo, I don't think I really need it for what i'm going to do. What do you guys think?</p>