Quest4Less said:
Want:
P4 2GHZ or better
512 memory or better
30-40 gig HD +
CDRW
3.5 floppy
ethernet card + modem
reasonable size display
Was thinking Dell, or maybe MDG....
Advice? Anyone know price ranges?
Hoping to keep it under $2000 (as far under as possible).
I just bought a new laptop and it will be delivered tomorrow. (I’m exited). Mine was $3,900 but is a pretty high end desktop replacement machine with a 15.4” screen, lots of RAM and a good video card. Your $2,000 price is right down near the bottom end of the market so you may find it difficult to get everything on your wish list. Consider looking for a floor display or nearly-new reconditioned model if you must have more features.
My last laptop was a Dell and I bought Dell again. I’ve heard lots of people bitch about Dells but we have lots of them in our office and they have been okay for us. My experience is that all computers can break but Dell will come into your office and fix it there, in 24 hours, without taking it away for 2 weeks. I’d be out of business if that happens again like it did with my last NEC.
Make sure you determine whether you need WinXP Pro or can make do with the home edition. Most laptops in ads are priced with the home version to keep the price down.
I’d Consider a Pentium M processor (Centrino) rather than a P4. They are faster than an equivalent clock speed P4 and consume much less power (think longer battery life). The fastest P4’s with hyperthreading are still the fastest chips but are likely out of your budget range. Lesser P4s do not have HT technology and do have smaller on-dye caches. If budget is really a problem you may even have to drop down to a Celeron processor.
Go for more RAM rather than the fastest clock speed available.
Consider buying an extended warranty if you can afford it.
Most laptops don’t have floppies anymore. They are optional extras which swap out with the CD drive or must connect with a cable.
30 to 40 gig hard drives, ethernet, modems and CD/RW’s are standard on all but the cheapest machines these days.
Don’t just look at the size of the display (14” is very common these days). Look at its resolution and the amount of RAM on the video card. If you go SXGA don’t cheap out on the video card. Avoid UXGA as the icons and fonts are microscopic unless displayed on a very large monitor. You may even think SXGA is too small. Look at it first.
Also consider HP/Compaq. I have a friend with one and he loves it.
