need a cheap laptop..

[dennisjai215]

so whats the best cheap NEW laptop i can get on the net?

looking for a laptop to bring to school take notes..
so i'll need decent battery life
wont play games on it.. maybe the classic Starcraft
but any computer can handle that...
need to do programming on the laptop

would the dell inspiron be the cheapest at $750? if not
please put your suggestions here thanks!

 

[Kaylya]

How long do you need the battery to last for? You will get better battery life out of something based on a Pentium M vs. a Pentium 4 or Celeron.

 

[dennisjai215]

i never bought a laptop so i wouldnt know how long the batteries last.. but can there be arouund 3 hours?

 

[Abhi]

Best deal for you ... would be an inspiron 1150 ... under a hot deal...

It will be heavy and big though...

 

[dementedlemur]

I second the Inspiron 1150, but you'll need the upgraded battery for the use you want. I have the 1100 with the upgraded battery and if I tweak the power and display settings I can get nearly 5 hrs of use out of it.

 

[Kaylya]

Most laptops can do 3 hours of basic use for things like Word. A laptop that's really good with batteries can do about 6 hours. Keep in mind that as time goes on, batteries tend to get less effective, although how fast this happens varies wildly on the battery (e.g. My battery can still last for about 3 hours; while some people I know, with the same model of laptop (IBM R31), have batteries that have become completely useless (as in, doesn't hold a charge at all), and others who have batteries that last for under an hour).

So if you want to take it to class to take notes, etc., most laptops will last for 3 hours, particularly if you ramp up the power conserving features (e.g. set the monitor to shut off after being idle for a minute or two). Minimizing the number of programs running in the background also helps - there's a HUGE difference in how fast my battery drains when I'm running a distributed computing thing vs. when I'm not.