I've been scanning the sale ads - me and the Mrs have a little money squirreled away and we're looking for a laptop and prices seem to be falling pretty quickly.

I know Toshiba used to be good - I've also been seeing substantial price drops on HP. Dell, too but Dell doesn't seem to be as good as it once was from what I hear.

I'm looking for 3 or 4 gigs of RAM, a 250 gig HD, a good burner and bundled with wireless and a good graphics card, since I may do some imaging work on it. Run time is important, too - I'm gonna start a project and may not always be able to access power -

Best Buy seems to be dropping prices the quickest - I guess we're looking at + or - $500 or so, price is an issue, just trying to get the most bang for the buck.

The only thing that concerns me is the Vista OS - seems like it doesn't play well - I guess I could wipe it and do an XP install...:huh:

Also interested in find a portable flat bed scanner - remember seeing one that was upright and can't remember the brand.

I'm becoming fairly fluent in geek-speak for an old guy - so let me know what ya think -

Any help would be greatly appreciated -

Be careful with some of those low price advertisements, as they don't always include the software you will want or need in the future. Some include software introduction packages that expire in six months. Both laptops we have gotten for my teenage twins over the past two years came from QVC, which also offers payment plans over 4-6 months. We got on their email list which notified us when they were coming up on sale. We have gone with Toshiba and Dell. Just my two cents.

XP doesn't play well over 3GB Ram. If you want more than that, you're best bet is to use a 64-bit Vista OS. I was reluctant to make the switch from XP to Vista, but the more I use it, the more I like it. It has been out long enough that all major hardware manufacturers have reliable drivers and with Service Pack 1, Microsoft fixed a lot of issues.

For the components you're looking for, I think you're definitely looking at more than $500.

It is *very* rare that a laptop will come with any useful software (like Office) without you paying extra. I'm willing to guarentee that a $500 laptop does not have Office installed. However, you (and everyone) should look into OpenOffice.org. It is equivalent to MS Office and it is free. A lot of people are suspicious when they hear free, until the try it. Also, it's free, so try it now to see if it will suit you on the new computer.

For a reliable laptop, I'd suggest a Lenovo ThinkPad. It's essentially an improved version of trusted IBM ThinkPad (they purchased the rights from IBM).

Also, I'd suggest a computer with either an Intel Duo Core or Quad Core processor. Intel just released a new processor line thus, these should start decreasing in price.

XP doesn't play well over 3GB Ram. If you want more than that, you're best bet is to use a 64-bit Vista OS. I was reluctant to make the switch from XP to Vista, but the more I use it, the more I like it. It has been out long enough that all major hardware manufacturers have reliable drivers and with Service Pack 1, Microsoft fixed a lot of issues.

For the components you're looking for, I think you're definitely looking at more than $500.

It is *very* rare that a laptop will come with any useful software (like Office) without you paying extra. I'm willing to guarentee that a $500 laptop does not have Office installed. However, you (and everyone) should look into OpenOffice.org. It is equivalent to MS Office and it is free. A lot of people are suspicious when they hear free, until the try it. Also, it's free, so try it now to see if it will suit you on the new computer.

For a reliable laptop, I'd suggest a Lenovo ThinkPad. It's essentially an improved version of trusted IBM ThinkPad (they purchased the rights from IBM).

Also, I'd suggest a computer with either an Intel Duo Core or Quad Core processor. Intel just released a new processor line thus, these should start decreasing in price.

Agree with Jonny D on just about all . 'Cept XP is OK with 3-4GB RAM but it just not use most of that range due to memory management issues, but I digress :hee: . I also think mos people are unable to take advantage of a 64bit OS (not truly 64 bit but I digress again :crying: )...

Here si one at Office Max geting some thumbs up: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=177120&t=1099817&highlight=notebook

http://www.officemax.com/omax/catalog/sku.jsp?skuId=21711122&searchString=21711122&displayBreadCrumb&_requestid=2545122

Lenovo - with 2GHz Core 2 Duo, 1GB ram (get 4GB cheap elsewhere), for around $500 after discounts: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=177120&t=1097234&highlight=laptop

If you see a deal - shoot me a PM and I'll look it at for you. I gotsta reply to yours ;)

Chuck not sure why johnny would say xp doesn't play well with more than 3gb ram.XP SP3 plays extremely well with large memory,actually better than Vista in most cases.

Toshiba laptops are second to none.

Crafty if Ya purchase your lappy at best buy...don't fall for the service plan they try and sell ya... because it's a joke...

they say they'll stand behind their product .... with a hefty price-tag... then you go in with a minor problem (6 months later) and they want to charge you a bundle to get it fixed....

just a heads up... spend a little time discussing those options before you take the bait...:lasso:

Chuck not sure why johnny would say xp doesn't play well with more than 3gb ram.XP SP3 plays extremely well with large memory,actually better than Vista in most cases.

Toshiba laptops are second to none.

I say XP doesn't play well with more than 3GB of ram because 32-bit Windows Operating Systems have a self limiting addressing system that limits total memory utilization (Page File Utilization) to 4GB. If you have any RAM in your video driver or Virtual Memory, that 4th GB of RAM paid for is not being used by the XP addressing system.

Memory limits for *all* Microsoft Windows releases can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_xp

While you could purchase a 64-bit XP and utilize more than 4GB of RAM, there is minimal developer support for that OS when compared to 32-bit XP or 32/64-bit Vista.

Instead of "play well," I should have said "is a waste of money."

Crafty,

Those systems John found look like they would be right up your alley. I'm a bit impartial to the Lenovo, but that's just because I've enjoyed the performance of mine and it has held up to the abuse it receives with all my business traveling.


To John,
You're dead on when you say 3-4GB, but I still think it's a waste unless you get that full GB. I always found it silly that all the inter-hardware communication runs on the same 32-bit bus. And here's a more technical read you might like on Window's memory limitations. http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx

Thanks, you guys - this isn't a need-it-yesterday thing but I would like to be ready to pull the trigger fairly soon -

Hopefully prices will continue to drop after the new year - a friend picked up a HP HDX 9300 which was impressive and pretty hefty but so was the price.

So should I limit brands to watch to say HP and Gateway and forget Dell - Lenovo sounds great but it sounds a little beyond what we've allotted ourselves to spend.

The vendor I would guess matters little since it's gonna be basically price-driven -

Last question (I promise) - I guess no one bundles them with Office which is what we'd prefer and the wireless LAN isn't always a common feature - my apologies, just trying to make a semi-educated choice.


Thanks again, men - all the input is greatly appreciated! :kewl:

Thanks, you guys - this isn't a need-it-yesterday thing but I would like to be ready to pull the trigger fairly soon -

Hopefully prices will continue to drop after the new year - a friend picked up a HP HDX 9300 which was impressive and pretty hefty but so was the price.

So should I limit brands to watch to say HP and Gateway and forget Dell - Lenovo sounds great but it sounds a little beyond what we've allotted ourselves to spend.

The vendor I would guess matters little since it's gonna be basically price-driven -

Last question (I promise) - I guess no one bundles them with Office which is what we'd prefer and the wireless LAN isn't always a common feature - my apologies, just trying to make a semi-educated choice.


Thanks again, men - all the input is greatly appreciated! :kewl:

Don't worry about MS Office.OpenOffice is by far a better suite and its free.It can open any and all MS Office docs.Its fully compatible with MS Office.

I

Instead of "play well," I should have said "is a waste of money."

Much better way of putting it.

That's why I'm a Linux man.No limits to deal with.

So should I limit brands to watch to say HP and Gateway and forget Dell - Lenovo sounds great but it sounds a little beyond what we've allotted ourselves to spend.

I'd say those three vendors sound good for you. If the price is right, you should be more than happy.

Last question (I promise) - I guess no one bundles them with Office which is what we'd prefer and the wireless LAN isn't always a common feature - my apologies, just trying to make a semi-educated choice.

Like basswipe said, go with OpenOffice (even though I distrust those Linux non-conformists:bl:). You can use the $200 you'll save not buying Windows Office to put towards a better computer. Also, any laptop worth it's weight in salt should have a wireless LAN included. If it doesn't have one, move on.

Thanks again, men - I appreciate it! :kewl: