School laptop

[Finns14]

My sister is off to college soon so she is getting a laptop. As the resident geek of the house I have to pick it out. I am going with a dell because they are stable enough for her useage and they have a good warranty. The only thing she will really be using it for is typical college non nerd stuff (AIM, music, homework, etc) Well I decided to go with a 7200 rpm HD cause thats about the only thing she will notice with start up time. I think intergrated sound and video should be fine but I'm not sure. Also how power of a cpu do you think I need. Thanks for the help.

Also if you know how I can link the build I was making from dell post it.


Edit money is not a huge issue but I hate seeing my parents paying more for power she won't use.

 

[wolfman11]

Hmmm....I'd say a Dothan 1.8 or higher should keep her in good stead for her college years.

Instead of a garbage Dell laptop though I'd highly recommend a Thinkpad T series. I have an expensive Dell Latitude form work and it's absolute trash in comparison to my Thinkpad...you can get warranties up to 5 years with accidental damage protection, etc...

 

[Finns14]

well that was my biggest question is it worth the 150 extra to jump fro 1.8 to 2.0

 

[RebateMonger]

These are cheap and don't require electricity.

 

[wolfman11]

Originally posted by: Finns14
well that was my biggest question is it worth the 150 extra to jump fro 1.8 to 2.0

Honestly, I wouldn't if it was my machine. Laptops are quickly becoming a commodity item like desktops. I'd probably pocket the $150 nowplanning on having that $150 towards a new machine later...I doubt the average user will be able to tell much of a difference between a 1.8 w/2 meg L2 cache and a 2.0 w/2meg L2 cache...

 

[Finns14]

thank you wolfman I had the same gut feeling

 

[Philippine Mango]

If you want something that will last, don't get a dell. I was in your same position two years ago when my sisters were off to college, well at least one of them, the other was in college and needed a replacement laptop. I picked out two 600m laptops, and things were fine, for a year, then thats where all the problems began to happen, especially for the one who was off to college. Now it's two years later and the one in college replaced the laptop due to it's "failure" (she could be lying which I don't doubt) and the otherone is as miserable as you can get about her laptop. We're now considering replacing her laptop, preferrably with an IBM but because she doesn't really need a new laptop, I was thinking of an IBM T40-42 laptop.

So to conclude this, if you think a laptop with at most a two year life cycle is fine, then by all means get a dell.