Need help picking a laptop

[xastralwerksx]

I need some help finding a laptop for my mom who thinks I know what I'm doing. I've looked at Dell, IBM and HP so far. She's looking for something small and lightweight and does not care too much about performance and screen size. I checked out the 600m from Dell, the X series from IBM and the dv1000 series from HP. She's trying to stay under $1500 and she will mainly be checking e-mail (wireless a must) and working in Microsoft Office while she travels.

The IBM is obviously the smallest and most portable which she cares about the most, however the most expensive as well. She already has a Dell 8300 and is also looking into the new Axim X50 as well. I'm not sure if it might help to have all 3 hardware pieces from Dell or not. The HP is the cheapest, however, and from what I've read on the boards, it also has another bonus since it's not a Dell.

If you have any ideas on what would be good for her that would be appreciated. I've narrowed it down to those 3 as they might be the closest to her wants.

Plus, since she's looking for a PDA, what do you think of the newest HP and Dell models?

Thanks.

 

[Commodus]

Unless she really, really hates OS X or needs an app that simply isn't available for the Mac, why not one of the new iBooks along with a copy of Office 2004 for the Mac? It has built-in 802.11g wireless; she'd just need to think about upgrading the RAM a bit (512 MB would be fine) and possibly the hard drive as well. It's about $1470 for a 12" iBook with a 60 GB hard drive - keeping the 30 GB drive drops about $75 off the price - and Office 2004 Standard. If she's an educational or governmental employee, she might be able to pay less than that.


Whichever laptop maker she goes to, avoid upgrading the RAM through the manufacturer themselves unless you know that a DIY upgrade would be too difficult. The memory almost always costs more, due to the cost of installation.

And as far as a PDA - if your mom really did get an iBook, her best bet would be a Palm-based PDA. Those might be the best choice anyways, if all she needs is something to help her manage her contacts and to-do list. I should note that there's apps like The Missing Sync that let you sync a PocketPC PDA to a Mac, though!

 

[dannybek]

xastralwerksx,

Would you consider a used Thinkpad? They are pretty reliable. Perhaps look at the T2x series. They were small and light. Also if you want long battery life perhaps a new or used X31 will cost around $1k. Shop around, for good deals and best of luck.