The gf needs a laptop. suggestions? where to look..

[zCypher]

So my gf will be getting a laptop soon for university, since she will be moving out and won't have her home computer. Luckily she has someone willing to cover the cost for her (no, not me) and the budget is about $4500cdn (just under $3k usd). Basically she needs it to write up her homework, and if she has internet connectivity then to do research as well. not sure if she'll need that though, cause I don't know if an internet connection will be paid for or not, and she doesn't work.

So, I would suggest whatever hardware required to run win2k or winxp flawlessly, and not have any trouble or lag whatsoever running Office 2000 or XP (don't know which versions of what I'll be getting for her yet).

Where do you think is the best place to look for laptops? I know you can't really custom build them yourself like desktops, but I also know places like dell let you customize it on their website? What would be the best bang for the buck? Whatever works best, fastest and most reliably.

Thanks in advance, I very much appreciate any tips/direction you can give me!

 

[Darien]

Anything else she'll be doing?



I'd snag an iBook and keep some of that money. an iBook will do just fine for things like that. Plus, chicks dig the cuteness 😉😀

 

[Maelsturm]

You could definitely spend a lot less than $3000 USD. She sounds like someone who doesn't know too much about computers, so a place like Dell with good customer services & warrenties and what-have-you is probably a good idea.

 

[zCypher]

Originally posted by: Maelsturm
You could definitely spend a lot less than $3000 USD. She sounds like someone who doesn't know too much about computers, so a place like Dell with good customer services & warrenties and what-have-you is probably a good idea.

What did I say to imply she doesn't know much about computers? You're kind of right, though.. She's not a geek, that's for sure... but she knows quite a bit more than most girls I know. 😛

I was thinking dell ...

aren't ibooks more expensive?

 

[Darien]

Originally posted by: zCypher

Originally posted by: Maelsturm
You could definitely spend a lot less than $3000 USD. She sounds like someone who doesn't know too much about computers, so a place like Dell with good customer services & warrenties and what-have-you is probably a good idea.

What did I say to imply she doesn't know much about computers? You're kind of right, though.. She's not a geek, that's for sure... but she knows quite a bit more than most girls I know. 😛

I was thinking dell ...

aren't ibooks more expensive?

Starts at $1000 US here. Next one up is $1300 IIRC.



EDIT: Someone mentioned 12" PowerBook. I think that starts at $1800 US or so. And he's right, it's a sweet notebook.

 

[zCypher]

OK, I looked up apple's site and checked out the powerbook. They are pretty damn sweet. Showed my gf, and she likes them, of course. 😉

She may get the 15" Powerbook with the GHz G4/512MB, Superdrive and all that.. comes out to $2799 total? That's within her budget.. hehe.

 

[everman]

I would strongly suggest no less than a 15" screen, OR you could actually get a seperate nice big 19" monitor to plug it into when doing work in the dorm if that screen is too small. You can easily get a Dell for example for under $1800 US and get a seperate crt for the dorm. I like big monitors so that's what I"d do.

 

[Spicedaddy]

15" Powerbook is sweet, and I'm sure she'll like it.


If it were me though, I'd put 2K$ in my pocket and get something similar to the Dell in my sig. It's more than she'll ever need to do homework... Mine was 2400$ (CDN) including shipping and taxes. 4500$ for a laptop seems like a waste of money, especially if whe won't be doing anything intensive.

 

[zCypher]

Originally posted by: Spicedaddy
15" Powerbook is sweet, and I'm sure she'll like it.


If it were me though, I'd put 2K$ in my pocket and get something similar to the Dell in my sig. It's more than she'll ever need to do homework... Mine was 2400$ (CDN) including shipping and taxes. 4500$ for a laptop seems like a waste of money, especially if whe won't be doing anything intensive.

What about anything net related (has NIC), and CD+DVD burning/movie watching?

 

[Spicedaddy]

NIC & phone modem, DVD/CDRW combo drive. (watch movies, burn CD-roms)

And yes, a 1.7GHz CPU can handle net surfing and DVD movies... 😉

 

[zCypher]

Originally posted by: Spicedaddy
NIC & phone modem, DVD/CDRW combo drive. (watch movies, burn CD-roms)

And yes, a 1.7GHz CPU can handle net surfing and DVD movies... 😉

Yeah, but are you talking about that laptop you said you got for $2400cdn? What are the overall specs?

 

[Spicedaddy]

If it were me though, I'd put 2K$ in my pocket and get something similar to the Dell in my sig.

Click on "Inspiron 4150" Only thing I added is the Wireless LAN card...
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[OldSpooky]

Wait til March and see what the Intel Centrino platform has to offer. Supposedly, this platform will allow windows notebooks to finally match or exceed Apple in form factors and battery life.