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Getting a Laptop, need help......

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Goodie

Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Location
Ontario Canada
I am going to be buying a Laptop very soon and need some help. I don't really know much about laptops , but I'll tell you guys what i was planning to buy and then you can tell me if it's cool.
This laptop is on the Compaq Site, you need to customize it, but it comes out looking pretty good. This is my first laptop... thx in advance for any replys.
This laptop Is a Compaq Presario 2500 series

PROCESSOR
Intel P4 2.8 GHZ

OPERATING SYSTEM
Windows Xp Home( I want Pro)

MEMORY
1024 MB (2x512) DDR SDRAM

HARD DRIVE
80 GIG

VIDEO CARD
Radeon 64 meg

FLOPPY DRIVE
3 1/2" Built in floppy

DISPLAY
LCD 15.0 TFT SXGA+

APPLICATION SOFTWARE
MS Office Pro

CD-ROM
DVD/CDRW Drive

NETWORKING
Buillt in 56k modem + 10/100 LAN

PRIMARY BATTERY
8 cell Lithium Ion Battery +
A replacement battery

MOUSE
Usb Travel mouse

POWER ADAPTER
90w Notebook Ac Adapter

WARRENTY UPGRADE
3 year damage protection

CARRY BAG
Back pack style

Total Price before tax and shipping = 3,174.96
 
The spes definetly look sweet, but what are you using it for. I'm just curious really. I am thinking about buying a laptop for college, but nothing more that for wordprocessing really. I mean you can get a decent laptop for around 800-1000. Unless you are a graphics professional or gamer. But yeah except for the cost I would say that is a real nice setup.

**ToledoSteel dreams of 3K in computer upgrades**
 
I would check www.techbargains.com every day...I found the deal for my laptop (in sig) there for $999. you will see a lot of good laptop deals listed there. IMHO its the best resource you could have to find a good one.

Also, I would not spend a ton of money on a laptop (>$2k) because they are not as upgradeable as desktops; you keep it for its useful life, and then get another one. (this is just my opinion). I would guess that you could save a lot of $ by going down to 512mb of ram, there's probably not a lot you can do on a laptop that will utilize a full GB of ram. I have 384mb in my machine, and I can run most of the design programs I use (dreamweaver, flash, fireworks) plus an email client and IE without any big problems. Also, if you have 80gb on your desktop machine, you probably won't need another 80gb for your laptop.

I have 20gb on my laptop, and i transfer all the excess onto my desktop machines. I know my viewpoint is centered around how I use a laptop, but it just seems to me like $3000 is a lot for a laptop....especially when you can buy a good $1200-$1500 laptop and still have plenty of dough to upgrade your network & desktop machine...
 
Thx for the replys guys. as for what im useing it for. well the college im going to is buying this for me. They say i can get what ever i want so i went for this one. I really want the Alien warez one, but thats too expensive in my opinion.. Anyway , im useing this for Visual Basics, C++ , Dreamweaver MX, Home site, MS Office and other apps like that. I also am going to have Games like UT 2003 installed and im going to be watching movies on it. I hope that helps a bit. hehehe
 
dell inspiron 8500 would be shweet in that category because it has a gf4 Ti4200 in it (not an mx like 99% of laptops)

I hear that a mobile radeon 9600 will be coming out soon- that might be one to watch.
 
Well I pretty much settled on the Dell Inspiron 8500.

2.0 GHZ CPU

512 Megs DDR Ram

Ati Video card( my first Ati, better be good cuz im a Nvidia fan, big time)

30Gb HDD

XP Pro

Logitech Optical mouse

24X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive

bunch of other crap too, hehehe gonna cost about $3,058 before tax and shipping, Canadian.

I can't wait to get it. hehe thx for all the help guys, really helped.

Thx to Nealric for mentioning Dell, I totally forgot about them and was looking mostly at Compaq and HP, and the Alien Ware Laptop, but no way i can get that. hahahaha
 
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