laptop

[Malaya1221]

trying to buy a laptop for my brother...price range around $600-$700...need any suggestions on any decent specs...thanks

[eii]

Hrm, kinda hard to just decide a laptop for you, but there's just too many options to go through. Try going to this newegg link and search for specific needs:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2034940032%204021

Just avoid the Pentium Dual Cores, AMDs and the Intel C2D should be good. Even if it's just for school type stuff, Pentium Ds are just too slow imo. These wont be gaming laptops, maybe very minimal gaming, because most of them come with a integrated gpu. Just look for a good brand like Sony, toshiba, hp, gateway, etc and hell even one you just like the looks of if its just for surfing/studying. I'm not too sure about lenova and acer, though acer may be good too. They should come with warranties too.

If nothing there is something you like you should just go to manufactuer's websites and custom build one. Sony vaio's, toshiba, hp, and gateway websites.

When you decide on one, post it here and let us/me review it. If you still cant pick on just gimme more details on what you need this laptop to do and I can try to help.

[Malaya1221]

thanks for posting that link...guess i'm looking for 2gh and up of processing speed...

[eii]

Yeah no problem. I dont really wanna get too technical with you, but ghz nowadays doesnt matter too much. Its really about the flop/s they do, and pretty much C2Ds are the shiznits.

[Malaya1221]

c2d? core 2 duo?

[IllusionX]

at that price, just about anything you can find at futureshop is descent.

but not as eii suggested...

i would try to stay away from toshiba. Toshiba is having hard time with their palm rest interegrated touch pad, and requires the whole top cover to be changed.

[ChinoCharles]

For me, the big factors are HD space and RAM. Most modern processors will suffice for just about anything you'd want to do on a laptop, assuming he has a desktop as his main machine.

[LtNoogie]

Is this powerful and inexpensive enough for him? You don't have to spend big bucks anymore for a good laptop.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9263496&type=product&id=1218071605696

[GeneW]

trying to buy a laptop for my brother...price range around $600-$700...need any suggestions on any decent specs...thanks

We use Dell 600s at work. I think mine is a higher tier model. Dual core, two or so GIG ram, uncertain of drive capacity. It has a built in DVD burner and card reader.

I rarely see any problems with them. Usually I dock mine and get to work. The tiny little screens and flaky mousepads do not suit my uses. I do very intense spreadsheets. I write reports. I'd like to start to use it for CAD work.

You probably are going to need to spend more money than $600 if you want something decent. While I am not conversant on Laptop prices I just dropped $700 for a complete system rebuild - parts only, and at almost wholesale prices. That was for a desktop model with dual core pentium, 4 gig of ram, 500 gig drive, 22 inch LCD monitor and DVD RW. I had a licensed copy of OS so that's not an issue.

If you buy a used unit it's a crap shoot. You could do well or ill.

I think it would probably help people here if you could shed a little light on what you intend to do with your purchase. What sort of OS you intend to use and so on.

Gene

[GeneW]

Oh, and watch out for the Sony batteries. While it's not that common a few have caught fire.

Gene

[YAR1S]

Hmmm I have an ibook... it's ancient but it does internet, word, email, all the stuff you need a computer to do... plus its real tiny and will last forever.

but then again its an oldie and not as fast as newer ones.
depends what you want it for.
im quite happy typing this on my ibook :]

[ChinoCharles]

I'm a Mac convert. I love my Macbook.

[CompanyXPaladin]

+1 on the Macbook. Very fast, user friendly, and low maintenance. Its worth the little extra money..

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Check out www.dealnews.com. And get something with at least 4 gigs of RAM. I believe AMD processors are better for gaming, and Intel is better for having multiple apps/windows operating. To me, I can't feel much of a difference as I have an Intel, and my gf has an AMD

[Malaya1221]

thanks for the help girls/guys...my brother is a 50 yr old kid and i think he's only going to be using it for spreadsheets, email, and the usual internet surfing...this is going to be his first laptop...he only tried using the net about a year ago so i don't think he will be playing online game, yet:smile:..window vista will suffice for the os...bought the wifey an ibook about 6-7 yrs ago...ibook is a beast, that thing runs forever...am also looking at tigerdirect and pcmall...keep the suggestion coming...

[GeneW]

:..window vista will suffice for the os...

Vista - where do you want to go today, besides insane?

Gene

[CompanyXPaladin]

Vista - where do you want to go today, besides insane?

Gene

Thats hardly true.. providing you have enough resources to whore out to it. :laugh:

sonicelectronix.com has pretty decent deals on Apple laptops...

If you absolutely must get a PC, checkout Newegg.com for deals. I've had pretty good luck with HP, MSI, and Toshiba laptops. :wink:

[GeneW]

Thats hardly true.. providing you have enough resources to whore out to it. :laugh:

sonicelectronix.com has pretty decent deals on Apple laptops...

If you absolutely must get a PC, checkout Newegg.com for deals. I've had pretty good luck with HP, MSI, and Toshiba laptops. :wink:

I've heard about Vista SP1 and how it makes things go well. I use it at work on some systems. I'm not convinced that it will play nice with some of the older programs that I use here - and lack source code to port to Vista.

Gene

[CompanyXPaladin]

I've heard about Vista SP1 and how it makes things go well. I use it at work on some systems. I'm not convinced that it will play nice with some of the older programs that I use here - and lack source code to port to Vista.

Gene

Vista is still a resource whore - good luck trying to do anything at any speed with less than 2GB of RAM. SP1 definitely helped, but running (for example) Ubuntu and Vista, or even XP and Vista on the same system, its obvious how much Vista by itself uses. As for your programs, backwards compatibility is always an issue, but its worth trying the program in compatibility mode. :wink:

Sorry for the threadjack, OP! :respekt: