need a laptop asap

[Tret]

I'm currently in the market for a laptop for my parents. They just need some decent laptop that goes for under a grand. Since, they're just going to use it mostly for office programs, and the internet. Something wwith a decent harddrive space would be nice and at least 512mb of ram. For under a $1000
Thanks.
I need one asap! So where would you guys recommend me to buy one?

I'm not up to date on laptops.
What processors would you guys recommend? As well as harddrives, and the other components?

 

[yida]

hey duo cores are good, and pentium 4,

never get celeron. harddrives, 30-120 is sufficient, depening on what you need.
heres what i got

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=45&threadid=1901761

 

[Ayah]

Check out Dell's array of notebooks.
I suggest something similar to:
Pentium M 7xx or Core Duo (Probably a T2300)
1GB of DDR2, speed not that important
60GB+ 5400rpm drive, you *could* skimp and go 40GB
15" or larger screen
Integrated graphics will be enough, as long as it's GMA900 or 950.
Get them a DVD burner

Do NOT get them a Pentium 4, Celeron (D, whatever), Pentium D, AMD X2, AMD XP Mobile, etc. Old stuff.
A dual core Turion would be acceptable, perhaps a single core one if it's cheap.
But do get them a minimum of 1GB of ram.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: yida
hey duo cores are good, and pentium 4,

never get celeron. harddrives, 30-120 is sufficient, depening on what you need.
heres what i got

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=45&threadid=1901761

Don't spam your items if you're not going to give good advice. Pentium 4 notebooks are to be avoided like the plague.

Not everyone needs 1GB RAM. Get a solid system first, 1GB RAM second.

As much as I hate to say it, Dell pretty much wins in value. The E1505 15.4" can be configured with Core Duo, 1GB RAM, DVDRW, 60GB HDD, 6-cell, ATI X1300 graphics, and 2 year at home warranty for $916. If the laptop is staying put all the time, plugged in, then this configuration will work nicely. If they're going to take it out & about a lot, I would opt for the GMA950 graphics, 9-cell battery, and maybe accidental damage coverage.

 

[Bender316]

1G of ram is important with a laptop TBH, because if you go into page file then your HDD will soak up your battery power like nothing else. RAM is much more efficient for CPU to use for temp file storage.

Totally agree with AVOID THE P4 - it's the prescott! Hot and power hungry. Stick with P-M or Core Duo (latter is better).

If you don't mind refurb, there are a lot of nice Dell lappys in their outlet shop for <$700 that fit your bill. you can get extended warranty too.

 

[fbrdphreak]

If you are running enough applications that your hard drive is being paged that much, then yes you need 1GB RAM. However for most users running Office, web browser, e-mail and the basics, 512MB will work just fine and battery life not be adversely affected. RAM is so cheap these days it should be easy to fit into one's budget, but if not then that is an area for compromise.