Laptop for Parents

[phucng_10]

Hey,

I'm new to these forums and would like to know a bit about buying laptops. I've been looking at a few laptops under the budget of $1000, and my eyes are caught on the HP Pavilion dv2660se and the DELL Inspiron 1525. Been searching lots of reviews on it and those 2 laptops seem to go side by side with each other. Their options seems nice and the price is just right for me. I would just like to know what you guys think about these laptops? Are they good for light multi-tasking (I.E.: email, chat, surf the web, etc)? The laptop will probably not be used for gaming or maybe just light 2D gaming since my little brother might use it.

I would appreciate any feedback seeing that I will buy a new laptop for my parents soon. If there are any suggestions on better laptops that are under the budget of $1000, please feel free to suggest me. I also would like to know what are the flaws of these laptops if anybody owns one of them here on these forums. Anyways, thank you for your time and I hope to get some good replies.

-phucng_10

 

[Maziar]

Hello and welcome to the fourms mate
Plz feel the FAQ

 

[pcfreak101]

Just get the Inspiron 1525 with a good core 2 duo processor and 3GB of ram. If you can upgrade the screen resolution, do that too, you won't regret it. I got one of these for my mom and she loves it.

 

[m@rc]

The inspiron 1525 is a great laptop. My cousin owns one and he likes it. If you don't mind having a smaller screen, I'd suggest you the XPS M1330 13" from dell also. It has a better screen and components quality, light, runs for long time on battery and not too small for web, mail, word, etc.
It costs just a bit under 1000$

 

[phucng_10]

It seems like no one really likes the HP Pavilion dv2660se? Or no one has made the purchase of buying of those bulky laptops?

Anyways, if I plan on getting a Dell Inspiron 1525, here are the specs:

PROCESSOR
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5800 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)

OPERATING SYSTEM
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1

OFFICE SOFTWARE
Microsoft® Works Plus 2008

WARRANTY AND SERVICE
1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis

HD DISPLAY
Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch display (1280x800)

MEMORY
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz

HARD DRIVE
Size: 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)

VIDEO CARD
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100

INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE
CD / DVD Writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)

WIRELESS NETWORK CARDS
Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini-Card

INTEGRATED WEBCAM
Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam

BATTERY OPTIONS
6 cell battery

SOUND OPTIONS
Sound Blaster® Audigy™HD Software Edition

DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP
Dell Online Backup 10GB for 1 year

All those upgrades costs $778 without taxes/shipping + handling.

I'll probably wait for some other members that can give me some details on the dv2660se.

 

[theworminator]

Your configuration looks pretty good. My suggestion (which is mostly optional, not really needed unless you have some spare cash) would be to upgrade the screen, as 1280x800 on 15.4" is decent, but not as sharp as I would personally like. They offer 1440x900 for another 50 bucks, which is a decent price. Too bad they don't offer the faster 7200 RPM drives on as an option.

 

[pcfreak101]

Definitely upgrade the screen res.

 

[phucng_10]

Thanks for the reply TheWorminator. I'll probably think about whether or not if I should put in the 50 bucks to upgrade to a 1440x900 resolution. I might keep my eyes on the 1525.