\GoBillsInDallas/ Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 I need to buy a new laptop for a combination of home use and “work from home” use. The only “necessities” are: runs Windows (it gets connected to the system at work once a week) runs the standard Office software. runs a desktop scanner downloads digital photos no gaming or photo editing I’m interested in what you techies out think I should look for and go with in terms of: Operating System Chip RAM Video Card/Memory Hard Drive CD/DVD Drive Wireless and/or High-Speed Internet capabilities/Cards USB Connections Service contract anything else that you think is important. Also, I’d like to hear any horror stories that you may have, as well as any mistakes that you may have made (ex. Not buying a certain type of CD/DVD drive, inability to upgrade, etc.). Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
todd Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 Operating System: XP Home or Pro. Chip: Intel or AMD - PIV with hyperthreading or amd 3 GHZ or faster RAM: 1 gig. No less. Video Card/Memory: Latest NVIDIA or ATI with 128 meg. Preferably a PCIE card. Hard Drive: Should be 80 gig or more, preferably SATA. CD/DVD Drive: DVD writable at least. Wireless and/or High-Speed Internet capabilities/Cards: Gigabit Lan is nice. Can be an onboard card. USB Connections: Yes. And Firewire. USB 2.0 is standard now. Service contract: Most offer one between 2 and 3 years. anything else that you think is important. Go with one of the big-name companies. I've had good luck with Dell. I've had a hard time with Gateway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 Operating System - Winodws XP Professional Chip RAM - at least 512M Video Card/Memory Hard Drive - at least 30 Gig CD/DVD Drive - combo DVD/CDRW Wireless and/or High-Speed Internet capabilities/Cards - 802.11g USB Connections - two Service contract - 3 years all inclusive. Will cost more, but if your LCD breaks after 1.2 years, it'll be worth it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICE Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 www.dell.com Specials around $499.00 including monitor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corp000085 Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 CPU: At least 2.5ghz p4 or AMD RAM: 512mb or greater. Video: ATI or NVidia 64 or 128mb card. nothing fancy OS: XP pro, unless your work calls for a certain Linux version. HDD: 80gb or higher, SATA CDrom: DVDrw/cdrw drive LAN: if you buy from dell or gateway, etc, they will have an onboard LAN right on the motherboard. I'd stick with wired, unless you get a laptop, then get a centrino chip that has wireless built into it. sound: Whatever the basic sound card option is, should work. If you're going to upgrade in the future, get a whole lot of ram, top of the line sound card ($200 or so), most expensive ati or nvidia card ($400), fast sata HDD, and whatever the top of the line processor is. For a basic computer that you've described, you'll spend about $500 with a cheapo monitor. If you get into heavy duty gaming, $4,000 is a good budget to get into. You can "build" your computer at one of the retailer's websites to meet your price and performance needs. good luck and let us know what you ended up with. I personally build my computers, so they don't have a service plan. I think its a waste of money to buy a service plan. just my $2000/100000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 Uhhmmm, he said laptop in his first post everyone. Keep that in mind when giving specs. Udonkey works for Dell if I remember right. Send him a PM and see what he can do for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wacka Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 Buy an iBook and Virtual PC (have work pay for the program). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VABills Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 Buy a really fast computer that you connect to Kazaa and get a DVD burner on it so you can download and record all the movies you want. Just ask Tracylee and BF which siftware to use. I am sure it's legal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dib Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 Udonkey works for Dell if I remember right. Dell, rhymes with hell. no Dell. Dell bad. PooPoo Dell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 Buy a really fast computer that you connect to Kazaa and get a DVD burner on it so you can download and record all the movies you want. Just ask Tracylee and BF which siftware to use. I am sure it's legal. 142900[/snapback] C'mon, it's the same thing as taping them off television. Really it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gross Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 C'mon, it's the same thing as taping them off television. Really it is. 142982[/snapback] All right, guys, let's reduce the "spillover" from the thrown cup in the other thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 I need to buy a new laptop for a combination of home use and “work from home” use. The only “necessities” are: runs Windows (it gets connected to the system at work once a week) runs the standard Office software. runs a desktop scanner downloads digital photos no gaming or photo editing I’m interested in what you techies out think I should look for and go with in terms of: Operating System Chip RAM Video Card/Memory Hard Drive CD/DVD Drive Wireless and/or High-Speed Internet capabilities/Cards USB Connections Service contract anything else that you think is important. Also, I’d like to hear any horror stories that you may have, as well as any mistakes that you may have made (ex. Not buying a certain type of CD/DVD drive, inability to upgrade, etc.). Thanks! 142586[/snapback] If you're getting a laptop, I HIGHLY recommend wireless networking. I never realized until I got a wireless router just how little sense it made to make a mobile computer immobile by sticking a network cable into it. USB ports are very necessary as well, very useful things in a laptop. Firewire is nice, but not truly necessary (I have one, it's fast as hell, but I don't use it all that much.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 All right, guys, let's reduce the "spillover" from the thrown cup in the other thread. 142984[/snapback] Sorry. I actually gave quite a summary to GBID via PM. Hence the reason I'm hijacking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corp000085 Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 oops... i guess i didn't see the laptop mentioned in the original post. It was like i pretended to skim over fake fat sunny's posts! As for my specs, they will pretty much be the same for a laptop. for the wireless portion, just make sure its 802.11g. My dad has a sony vaio laptop with a widescreen display. That thing rocks the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VABills Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 Sorry. I actually gave quite a summary to GBID via PM. Hence the reason I'm hijacking. 142990[/snapback] I was hijacking, because I am an azz-hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
\GoBillsInDallas/ Posted December 2, 2004 Author Share Posted December 2, 2004 (have work pay for the program). 142878[/snapback] I own the company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussiew Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 I own the company. Ha - that explains it. I was wondering how his "no gaming" and "no photo editing" were so positive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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