John and all you other computer dudes, I need to get a laptop very soon, I'm going to be starting grad school..blah blah blah..
can you guys give me some advice on what specs I should be looking for? I am lost with this kind of stuff. I just show up to work and my computer works - that's all I know.

I don't need anything crazy, just something that will be very fast when browsing the internet and using MS office (I will get cable high speed, but I do not want to wait a long time for anything to load) and something that can handle the various mp3 and photo programs out there (i-tunes, etc.).
So what would I need in terms of RAM and ROM and Gigs and Processing speed and all that crap?

sounds like you arent a computer person.
I recomend a mac since they "just plain work"
also, the apple stores have what they call the "genius bar".
free walk in tech support. very cool. most positive experience I have EVER had in a computer store.

look on craigslist for a used macbook with a processor that is over 1Ghz. try one that comes with office.
alternately, install OpenOffice.org (OOo)
it can open/edit/save office file formats.

apple has been and continues to be the leader in A/V so should get you what you want.

I just bought a Gateway laptop, so far i can't complain. Priced around $750. Great for internet, music, photos etc. Thats basclly all i use it for.

http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/showthread.php?t=35887

-spence

Thanks for advice guys - and thanks spence for that - I did see it, is that something that I would need?
I am pretty clueless as you guys can tell.

MikeT - I would love to go to Mac, but I am going to be grad school next year - as long as I have open office, should I be ok with file conversions and all that stuff? I will be using excel a ton and a lot of stuff is down electronically in schools these days.

If you just want the basics of a computer, where you have your internet and itunes and all your word processing (word,etc) programs then you could survive very well with a deal that HP has.. For about 600 dollars, you can get a laptop with a CD-Rom/Cd-Burner, 60-gig harddrive, and 512 MB of ram.

HP Notebooks (http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/store_access.do?template_type=landing&landing=notebooks&aoid=1027&jumpid=re_R602_prodexp/hpcom/psg/notebooks)

That page there displays a few laptops that you can choose from, and i think even choose the few things you want. Every computer no matter its use will come with Microsoft Office or Microsoft Works. pretty much the samething except the file extensions, which are very easy to change.

Hope that helps you out..

Read my post here:


http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/showthread.php?t=28006&highlight=fatwallet