Comments | dicemonkey: Dear Dr. LJ

dicemonkey

Dear Dr. LJ

Apr 29, 2008 13:43

I humble myself before you. Normally I am technically capable and competent, but I have fallen behind the times. I no longer know where to get a good deal on a laptop, and what type of system I really need ( Read more... )

Comments 9

willful_zephyr April 29 2008, 19:02:57 UTC

http://www.mrnotebook.com/notebooks.htm

Look for as much RAM (both regular and on the video card) as you can afford - that will be more important the the processor.

Check out the video card specs on the games you are interested in.

shadow_nite2 April 29 2008, 19:12:38 UTC

I hear some decent deals can be found at discount electronics on Anderson near Lamar if you look hard enough.

throm April 29 2008, 19:18:26 UTC

I would recommend looking at Dell Vostro 1500 (Small Business) which have an option for XP. Check www.gotapex.com for good deals and coupons. $700 maybe tight if trying to include MS Office.

Personal recommendation that memory is going to be more important then processor speed. We have an a 3 year old Inspiron 9300 that has a 1.6Ghz processor and 128MB video card, that runs Visio, Exel, Word, PowerPoint, and Project at once and runs just fine with 2GB of RAM.

Many of the newer Inspiron laptops do not have an option for XP and may not even have drivers for sound/video if you try and load manually.

ambientsidewalk April 29 2008, 19:42:15 UTC

Any non-replacable components on the notebook will be key.

This means processor and video chip.

You are usually better off getting the smallest amount of memory you can and upgrading it as soon as you get it because the ram "upgrades" the manufacturers offer are ridiculously expensive.

The biggest problem you are going to run into is getting a decent video card at that price point. The manufacturers lately haven't been putting even servicable video cards on anything but their "gaming laptops" and "desktop replacements" and then charging a premium.

Intel doesn't produce a single decent integrated video chip. Just say no.

Here's a comparison guide. If you going to attempt any sort of gaming from the past 3-4 years, stay away from anything below Class 3.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Grafic-Cards.130.0.html

ubiquity April 29 2008, 22:21:43 UTC

Awesome, I was going to link to that exact same page.

danamongden April 29 2008, 19:48:20 UTC

I've had good luck buying used laptops on EBay. Specifically, I've bought IBM Thinkpads that were marked as "lease refresh" or "corporate lease". This typically means they were well cared for by an IT department for 18 - 24 months and then kicked out the door. A year ago I bought a 2GB T41 for $400. It didn't have Office Home on it, but I had a license.