Hey all,
Looking for my first notebook and have no idea what is good or bad. Dell, Compaq, Sony, etc. Its all greek to me! This will be my REI laptop. I don’t need anything with games or any extras that I won’t be using. WIFI? I think I would need when out and about. A decent drive and modem? I’m not a computer guy so any help out there would be appreciated. I would like to stay in the 700-900 bucks range for price. Your thoughts?
Nate-WI
i have a server, 3 laptops and 3 PC’s, all Dell. Thats what I would go with. I have also heard good thinks about Toshiba products.
Just about any processor nowadays will do. Just avoid the Celerons, the general consensus is they are not good for multi-tasking such as running multiple programs. I usually keep at least 5 windows open, a couple internet windows, word, excel, outlook, etc
For REi, any hard drive (measured in Gigs) will do. you will probably never fill it up unless you take 100 pictures of 100 houses a day for a year or take 30 minute videos of each house.
RAM is the operating memory. the more memory, the better the machine will run and the quicker data will process, programs will launch, etc. get at least 256 MB, try to get 512 or more.
Modem? probably not needed unless faxing from the machine or using the “D” word (dial up)
Wireless card is nice but dont think you can run around town and have internet access. A wireless card will let you have access to a LAN (local access network) such as at your house or office if setup properly. This subject could be 10 pages long. this will probably be standard on a laptop.
To have internet access on the road, you will need a card from your cellular provider and pay a monthly fee. Its not as fast as DSL/Cable but faster than dial up. You also need to check to see how well the coverage is in your area. DOnt assume if you have cell service, your internet will work. This is probably not needed anyway. We just got PDA’s from cingular which allow us to browse the net and check email. IT also allows us to download files which we could transfer from the phone to the laptop through a USB cable if needed.
Check out Dell.com. I think for under a grand you should find what you need +some
Thanks Judd for the tips and info. Anyone else care to weigh in?
Nate-WI
I would avoid Compaq.
I have Dell and Toshiba laptops, I like both of them. I use the Dell for my real estate and I use the Toshiba for my day job. Sony is also a good laptop.
I play with a gateway, and my wife uses an acer we picked up at walmart 2 months ago for $450. While the gateway can write DVD’s and has a slightly better screen, I like the Acer. Its light, compact, runs just as well, and have some power saving features I envy. 40gigs, cdrw/dvd drive and 512M or ram, what more do you need? We also run internet connections through Tmobile, and Verizon, so we can go to the beach and stay connected. You can also hook up the microsoft streets and trips GPS program. Full screen GPS is NICE!
Who makes Acer? I don’t need all the bells and whistles. I need a quick notebook that I can use office with. Also I need to connect with my home computer and/or have Internet access. How much does it cost to run your comp thru Tmobile or Verizon? 450.00 has a nice ring to it 
Nate-WI
Acer is the brand name. The one we got is an Acer Aspire. I offered to trade my gateway with my wife, but she wouldn’t do it.
Because I have had an internet account with tmobile since the connection speeds were slow, it is $29.99/mo. For a new account it is 49.99/ mo. Verizon is more expensive at $80/mo, but in most major metro areas, the connection speed is faster, up to 400k. I was using it in Minneapolis, and it was running at those speeds, but here in honolulu verizon is only running about 120k. The tmobile is more versitile, meaning you will get close to the same speeds were ever you get a connection, but the speeds are around 200k. We are thinking about dropping the verizon account and getting dsl at home, but my tmobile will stay with me always.
At home we have a program run thru Time Warner Cable called “roadrunner” Its thru our cable and is lightning quick. I wonder if I couldn’t connect that thru to my laptop? I’ll ask them cause its great for our home PC. I have US Celllular as our carrier. I’ll look into them to see if they have any programs available. Is there a big diff between 512K MB and 562 MB? I would imagine price would be different.
Nate-WI
your “roadrunner” is a broadband internet connection… You can defiantly use the laptop with it. I recommend gettting a wireless router, so you can at least roam the house. The T-mobile internet connection is for out, and about, but I use it for everything.
Is there a Big difference between 512, and 562?.. The more ram the better.
Thinkpads were top of the line - that is until IBM sold the unit to Lenovo.
RAM is usually issued in 128 increments. I think now it may be issued in 256 increments. So you could have 256, 384,512,640,768,896, or 1024.
256,512, and 1024 are the most common
So what ‘Model’ Dell, IBM or Toshiba’s recommended