General Idea of what makes a decent Laptop?

[SPARTAN-117]

Hi all,

I got my first laptop at the end of the Spring semester this year. It was my moms P4 laptop. It has a GeForce FX 5200 VGA and 512 DDR RAM. It plugs along just fine in what I need, mainly Word and net surfing. But I've been considering getting my mom a new laptop to fill the void left by the old one. Tell me if I've overshot here on what I'm looking for:

Dual Core CPU
1-2gb RAM
Ok VGA
17" or bigger LCD
4hrs battery
exceptional Wi-Fi capabilities (not cutting edge but better than average)

Thanks for the replies in advance.

SPARTAN-117

 

[lostandwandering]

I think you have the basic idea. Definitely get 2 gigs of RAM if you get Vista. 4 hrs of battery life may be a little generous for a 17'' screen, but if you get a 9-cell or 12-cell battery you should be okay. If you want some recommendations give me a price range and companies you like or would like to avoid. I would be glad to help.

 

[SPARTAN-117]

I think $2500 would be the top end of the budget but if I can get similar for less I'll take it. I've heard Alienware is some what of a rip off and I really like the Dell's due to the online driver database they have for each PC they sell. Gaming isn't a requirement for this laptop so the VGA can just be a standard chip. No need for HD audio as well. Just a Word and net surfing laptop really, just the newer version of what I've got practically.

Thanks for the help.

 

[g-paw]

For $2500 you could get both you and your mom a nice Dell Inspiron. A 17" monitor would be fine if she's not going to be taking it many places, i.e., use it mostly at home. If she will taking it to a lot of places, might want to consider a 15'4 screen. You can easily do this for $1200 or less. Check out the Dell website.

 

[SPARTAN-117]

Thanks for the info. Sounds good, might get myself one too

 

[g-paw]

My wife has a Dell laptop and we've had no problems. Their online chat support works well, at least the one time I used it. I'd suggest you buy an OS disk for an extra $10 or so. As soon as you get the machine format the hard drive and reinstall Windows without Dell's crapware. I've read you can order from Dell and tell them you don't want the crapware but I'd still get the OS disk. I don't trust any of these tech companies that can sell any kind of placement crap on their product

 

[SPARTAN-117]

Agreed. My mom is warranty oriented, even in lue of my skills, so a laptop with an 2ghz Intel C2D, 128mb GeForce 8400, Intel Centrino wireless tech and McAfee comes to $1800.