question about buying laptop

[imported_Malken]

I've been looking for a laptop mostly surf the web and play dvd's without being choppy or anything. I was thinking of getting this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...2&ref=dynamitedata.com

its 430 after bing and paypal discount.

Would this be overkill to play DVD's, or could I go a lot lower on price perhaps for just that?

thanks in advance.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Real DVDs (MPEG-2) will play just fine on any laptop you can buy. A $200 netbook would be perfect except none of them have a DVD drive.

What makes a processor work hard is yarrMateyWare torrented stuff encoded with MPEG-4, h64, etc. to save space.

For just DVDs a single-core $300-350 laptop would be fine (see the Hot Deals forum and the Sunday paper), but having dual-core is nice for even just surfing. It will also play back web TV from Hulu, Netflix better than a netbook would.

 

[imported_Malken]

I was considering buying this laptop from the dell outlet:

Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista Home PremiumMemory

2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)Hard Disk Drive

160 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)Video

Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HDWeb Camera

No Camera

6 Cell Primary Battery
65W AC Adapter

Base: Inspiron 15 (1545) Laptop: Intel Pentium Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)

8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability

Software Upgrade:
Windows Live
Microsoft Works 9.0
32BIT Operating System CD
32BIT Operating System CD

Network Interface Card: Dell 1397 802.11B/G Wireless Mini CardSystem

Jet BlackLaptop

Screen: 15.6 WXGA Laptop Screen Display with TrueLife

Its a dell refurbished, but it does quality for free win7 upgrade as well. after coupon code It would be $295 after all taxes and shipping.

I'm pretty sure this would be adequate to play dvd's, stream netflix and such, but I'm also curious whether or not its a good deal, it seemed pretty good to me, sub 300 after taxes, but I'd like to be sure before I buy it.

there's also a similar laptop but with core 2 duo 6400 (2ghz), 4 gb ram, integrated webcam and 64 bit vista premium for 382 after taxes if the previous one wouldn't work out for what I need.

thanks

 

[DaveSimmons]

What's the warranty? Having a full year instead of 30-90 days is worth paying extra for.

Hot Deals and the Sunday paper ads have a steady stream of new laptops for $350-400.

 

[Brainonska511]

That laptop looks okay for what you want, but I don't know if I'd want WXGA on a 15.6" screen if I was going to be using it for video watching. I don't really like WXGA and I'm using a 14" screen. Not a great resolution and no HD stuff from the internet.

 

[imported_Malken]

It's still a full year warranty. What so bad about WXGA? Does it look bad er something?

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: Malken
It's still a full year warranty. What so bad about WXGA? Does it look bad er something?

It's just the resolution - 1280x800. Not very nice when you have a larger screen (ie: less windows fit on the screen, etc...)

WXGA+ (1440x900) is a little better, but if I had to pick a resolution ideal for 15.4" screens, it would be WSXGA (1680x1050). Great balance between screen real estate and not too small for text.