Is this laptop worth buying?

[ManBearPig]

I've been waiting since last time I saw a deal for this cheap. My sister is in college, computer retarded, only uses AIM + Word 2007 + Firefox (and that's because of me ). How would this workout for those functions? Seems pretty good to me for what she does.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...oduct&id=1218012528210

or, since you have to spend $499.99 to get 18 months no financing, do you think we should get this?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...oduct&id=1218006772494

 

[IlllI]

get the 399 one. anything in the past 8 years can run aim and ms word. the difference between the two that i could see was one had 2gb ram and the other had 3gb. that does not justify the extra $100 difference

 

[xSauronx]

get the cheaper one. the only difference performance wise is the dell has more ram, and thats hardly a $100 upgrade. its also heavier. you can add more ram for cheap if you think she will need it.

 

[corkyg]

Agree! The Acer is better value, ie., more for less.

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: Kazaam
or, since you have to spend $499.99 to get 18 months no financing, do you think we should get this?

If you're trying to spend enough to get the financing deal, then I suggest the following models:

Gateway $599

Acer $549

These are 14.1" laptops...a little smaller and thus slightly more portable than the 15.4" systems. They're also pretty well loaded - in fact the Gateway's pretty much a computer you don't need to upgrade out of the box, with its 4GB memory, Core 2 Duo processors, DVD burner and a big enough hard drive @ 250GB.

It's nice to have smaller laptops in college. My first "modern" laptop I bought in college was this 15" 4:3 Compaq behemoth that was just a chore to take out of the bag, then later went to a 14" widescreen Compaq and eventually a 13.3" Macbook, it was a relief. I didn't lose much real estate since all of them had nearly the same resolution, but it was just lighter and easier to lug around. You'll find this even the more useful if you went to a school cross-country and had to fly. I couldn't even take out that 15" monster on the plane because it won't fit in the seat tray.

 

[ManBearPig]

thanks for the suggestions. I figure we'll just find something worth a hundred bucks to pick up besides that or just buy it outright. Seems like its perfect for what she wants. She doesn't care about portability too much since it'll be in her apartment most of the time, so that isn't a huge issue.