laptop recommendations...

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Go for something reliable if you can afford it - it will save you money and
hassle in the long term, as laptops are prone to breaking down (unlike
desktops). If you can find any of these models in your price range (even if
it is bottom of the range - it's still going to be pretty fast for what you
want to use it for, assuming no games).

Thinkpad (T series and R series seem pretty good, X series if you can afford
it w/ external optical drive)
(Apple) not pc
Toshiba Tecra
Dell Latitude
Fujitsu Siemens
Acer
Panasonic Toughbook

I've book them in order of what I think is worth going for.

Processor - try to get Pentium-M - these run cooler, quieter and more
efficiently. I think your laptop will last longer with this processor, as
opposed to Pentium4, which is more likely to burn out. As for speed, 1.3Ghz
Pentium is very fast for Office, Internet Explorer, Outlook, photoshop,
Winamp and pretty much everything a student encounters.

Memory - go for at least 256MB - this is the bear minimum. 512MB with WinXP
is at least enough for word processing, music, internet, email, powerpoint,
adobe etc. all at the same time. IN fact, 256MB can handle it too, if
you're careful to stop rogue programs running in the background, using up
memory.

Harddrive - 30GB is plenty enough for student stuff.

Screen - 14.1" is good for wordprocessing, smaller is a little harder on the
eyes. Bigger is better, but heavier. 1024x768 is a good resolution. Higher
is, again, better, up to a point.

DVD drive is useful for obvious reasons. CD-R is also useful, though I
recommend buying a 'memory stick' with your laptop, as Cd's can be a real
hassle to use, especially if you need to transfer files of around 2-30MB. I
wouldn't go for DVD-RW just yet - it's not completely sure if the format is
going to hang around (photographers who need large storage capacities are
saying DVD is useless, buying harddrives is better).

Operating system - XP is faster than Win2000 and just as reliable. Home/Pro
doesn't make any difference to students.

If you can afford the minimum specs outlined here, and you've got a bit more
money to spare then spend it on this, in this order: extended warranty,
512MB RAM, Higher screen resolution, lighter laptop.

All the best and hope that helps,
Duncan.

"katie.pretzel" <katie.pretzel@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1105973527.416179.258840@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Wondering if anyone has any advice for a girl who knows nothing about
> computers...I'm looking into getting a new laptop - PC works better for
> me since I'm in the business school at the University of Minnesota and
> they only use Dells...any advice? Price range from $1000-$1500. Any and
> all advice would be great! Thanks for helping out!
>
> Katie
>