Gonna Buy New Laptop, Need Advice!

[Simran9]

I'm going to buy a new laptop soon and need some advice on whats new out there as far as specs.

Last time I bought one was probably 3 years ago and a lot has changed since then! Bascially I'm going to use it for school/work assignments, store/listen kirtan, and need wireless internet capability (which I think is standard now anyway), and dvd burner.

The one that I have right now is a Dell inspiron. Since then "dual core" and "ddr2" stuff has come out, and windows vista (which I hate but can get used to I guess).

my budget is approx $1200.

It would be nice if it was lightweight, but I know the more storage you want the heavier it gets.

[S1ngh]

Get Dell XPS M1330 its worth it... you can get one for 1100 bucks from dell.com

If you want to get cheaper one but with lots of cool stuff on it then go to DELL OUTLET and get the computer (i usually buy all from there but sometime you can get the bad laptop since its refurbished.)

[Tera]

From what you say you are going to use the laptop for, school work, Kirtan and Internet... you dont really need anything that powerful.

HOWEVER, you do need a pretty powerful laptop with good graphics card just to get Windows Vista to run right. We currently have got a Dell XPS M1530 (XPS is one of Dell top end machines) - you do pay a little extra for the looks, but it does look good

There is a XPS M1530 currently on offer on Dell website at $1299, this one has a very good spec (4GB memory, 250GB Hard Drive) and will run Vista perfectly + do what ever you need with ease --> http://www.dell.com/content/products/produ...les_laptops_4~~

Currently has $599 discount but offer finishes Wednesday July 09, 2008!

You can get cheaper laptops that will do what you want, but that is probably the best you can get for your budget. If you take a look at Dell Outlet, you can get a refurbished model like the one above for quite a bit cheaper. I saw a refurbished model exactly the same but it had a bigger 320GB hard drive (instead of the 250GB in the one above) for $1,149.00.

[Tera]

Or the other option... Have you ever though about a mac?

I have never used one but everyone I know who has used one or has one seem to love it. You can get a Apple Macbook starting from $999 with students getting $100 discount + they give you free ipod touch. With all the newer macs, you can install windows on it too, so you will essentially have both a mac and a pc in one.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-780-5009/WebO...2Gd42zc1ujJRxQN

[singh763173]

WJKK WJKF

As Tera said above, for what you have stated to use the laptop for, you can easily pick up a laptop that will be sufficient for £400 which I believe is approximately $800. XPS laptops are great if you need such high spec (multimedia students) however if its mainly word processing etc then an XPS will just be wasted as you wont use majority of the cpu or ram.

I payed £399 for a Toshiba Satellite L300 with a Pentium Dual Core 1.7ghz single core (3.4gh) 2Gb Ram and 120gb HDD (intergrated gfx). Its a triple boot with Vista Ultimate, XP Professional and Ubuntu 8.04. I use it for work and college and use photoshop on here. Never given me a problem.

As for Vista, i still advise clients to install XP. Vista uses alot of the CPU and RAM unneccesarily. With XP you still have stability, security and the networking is great.

Ill post a few links when i get home.

WJKK WJKF

[itech]

vaheguroo jee kaa khalsa, vaheguroo jee kee fateh

for around that budget i would recomend something which is reliable that is the reason i would suggest the Apple MacBook

you cant go wrong when buying a Mac, weather it be one of their laptops or desktops, it has everything you would want, and more

if you haven't used a MAC before go to your nearest apple retailer and try them out for free, there truly amazing.

all the Specs are available on the website. just follow the link provided above.

[Barfi n Mithai]

I would recommend a VAIO. Sony in my opinion is the best quality around. Mac is good too but you always have compatibility problems and thus have to buy additional software. I used to have a HP Bell too. It was the DreamWave edition which is regarded as the best in home entertainment: it crashed so many times! I was always getting it serviced and buying extra insurance. My Sony VAIO laptop I've had for 4 years. It has not once crashed on me, I've never had to emergency restart it ever. Its more than enough for uni too plus I have the best screen to watch my awesome movies on. Sony is my favourite brand. Read around by all means but I would highly recommend a VAIO.

[singh763173]

WJKK WJKF

Just my 5 pence worth, but i would not recommend Sony Vaios. I have had so many Vaios brought to me for repair that it is beyond belief. Ive repaired atleast 20-25 in the last 3 months? Something along those lines anyway.

Majority of them needing new hard drives or OS rebuilds.

WJKK WJKF

[Raju]

I would recommend a VAIO. Sony in my opinion is the best quality around.

Check out the new LG P300, it beats both the Vaio and Mac hands down quality wise.

It's not available in US as of now, only in Canada @ Futureshop.

[Simran9]

thanks for the info!

Can I use the 2003 version of microsoft office with windows vista? I really hate the 2007 version of it, its so time consuming to find things in it.