First Laptop Purchase...Suggestions?!

[SeanBest]

I'm in the market for a new laptop for my girlfriend mainly, I'll use it a little here and there. I'd prefer something fast (duh?) with a video card maybe. Ram I'd like a minimum of 2GB and for a HDD it won't store but some school work, and other basic stuff, so even a small 80GB-120GB HDD is more than enough.

Main uses:

1) Running Windows (XP or Vista, which ever comes installed)

2) MS Office Enterprise 2007 (before I hear it sucks, don't care I got it for $20)

3) Web surfing/online classes

Questions:

1) Are the integrated video cards that bad? Not gonna be gaming, but I know they can effect web surfing and basic interface especially on Vista.

2) What's a good brand that won't come with 67.8TB of worthless junk installed (i.e. Dell)?

I'm not asking you all to do my shopping for me, merely asking for good brands you all have had luck with. Especially in the pre-installed software department. If you happen to have a specific model or link that'd be great.

Thanks,

Sean Best

 

[Ethre]

Are the integrated video cards that bad?

Not unless she's trying to run Aero. Aero's likely possible, but will likely make things laggy.

What's a good brand that won't come with 67.8TB of worthless junk installed (i.e. Dell)

Sorry to say I don't know. However, if they give you an OS disk you can do a clean install yourself and not have to worry about it.

 

[Route44]

Your girlfriend's requirements for a laptop sounds almost exactly like my daughter needed for a laptop.

In May of 2007 I purchased a laptop for my daughter who was going to enter college as a freshman in the Fall (yes, I am old). At my local Staples I came across a Compaq Presario (HP bought them out and produces a Compaq line). It has an AMD dual core chip @ 1.6 GHz and I upgraded the RAM from 2x512 to 2x1 gig. It has Vista.

The bottom line is it has been rock solid and does everything she needs: class work and term papers, surfing the internet as well as researching, it plays DVD movies without a hitch, rips as well as burns CDs, she downloads music to her MP3 player, connects wirelessly and not one hiccup with all the use.

She has yet to report any internet slowdowns with her integrated graphics card, but remember Vista loves RAM.

I am relating all this to say that if you search the weekly adds for Staples, Office Depot, Best Buy, etc., you'll find good, solid offerings. As for all the junk the only way I know to avoid the pre-installed items is to go directly to the manufacturer and customize your build but I have found that it costs more this way.

 

[ou_phidelt]

What price range are you looking for?

Integrated will be fine, especially if you pick up one with the X4500 chip. As Route44 mentioned the biggest thing is going to be memory, 2GB minimum for Vista is key. For that type of use I would recommend a Thinkpad. Built rock solid and very reliable. Certainly not the cheapest in the world but you get what you pay for. Outside of that I would look at HP's business line or Dell's business line or Studio line.

Some vendors will let you cut out the bloatware but you have to request it when you order it. I believe both HP and Dell do this but only on business models.

 

[SeanBest]

Price range is ... cheap. Both poor broke college students living on financial aid and a few hours a week pay (but loving it!). So, I was looking at 2GB ram minimum, more like 3-4 if possible. She likes the way Gateways look, but you can't customize them at all. Any ideas about MSI, ASUS, or Acer laptops? Saw a few openbox clearance Acer models at CC for under $400. They had integrated video, but 2GB ram, Vista premium, 120GB HDD, 8x dvd burner, and some other nice stuff, just never used an Acer laptop though.

 

[chevro1et]

Personally, I have been getting great mileage out of my Dell (see sig), even plays HL2 at low settings/ low res on integrated graphics. There are lots of guides online for cutting Vista bloatware (one of the first things I did when I got my lappy). Great product and warranty for the price, just a little work to tweak it up to its real potential

Additionally, there should still be some good 'back to school' sales kicking around, shop around.

 

[Essenar]

Price range is ... cheap. Both poor broke college students living on financial aid and a few hours a week pay (but loving it!). So, I was looking at 2GB ram minimum, more like 3-4 if possible. She likes the way Gateways look, but you can't customize them at all. Any ideas about MSI, ASUS, or Acer laptops? Saw a few openbox clearance Acer models at CC for under $400. They had integrated video, but 2GB ram, Vista premium, 120GB HDD, 8x dvd burner, and some other nice stuff, just never used an Acer laptop though.

Next week, this is what Best Buy has on sale. If you go SUNDAY morning, you can grab one before they're sold out or before all they have are the "Geek Squad Preinstalled" ones with extra stuff installed you have to pay for.

"http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspag...product&id=1211587727715"]Acer Extensa EX4420
$449.99 on Clearance next week. Be at the FRONT door of a Best Buy in the morning tomorrow if you want one. It has an AMD Turion X2 (Dual core), 2gb of ram, 120gb hard drive, a DVD/CD burner, an ergonomic keyboard.

Here's the Best Buy Ad Scan for tomorrow courtesy of Slickdeals.net:
http://slickdeals.net/?sduid=0&sdti...tobucket.com/albums/ii260/Anwa123/BB Sept 21/

Here's the Circuit City ad scan for tomorrow courtesy of Slickdeals.net:
http://slickdeals.net/?sduid=70040&...tobucket.com/albums/ii260/Anwa123/CC Sept 21/

If you're in the market for a laptop, research next weeks ad scans for retail stores and be at their FRONT DOOR in the morning the next day to get what you want. If you put it off, gotta wait til next week. It's a "snooze you lose" type of deal. They just want people in the door. Most of the people I sell to, come in on wednesday or thursday desperate for a laptop and because we don't have the cheap deal, they settle for something $150-180 more that's not even much of a better laptop.

 

[burningcpu]

Buy whatever model of computer you want, and then use PC decrapifier to clean it out. It'll cut through all that crapware in a matter of minutes. You just select which programs you want to uninstall and it automates the process. I just used it on a horribly junked up Toshiba Vista installation, and it only took about 20 minutes as opposed to several hours.