Best Bang for the buck Laptop for under $900.00 shipped?

[HumbleFish]

Hi All,

My wife is looking to buy my son a laptop for his birthday, and was wondering if you could give me some advice on what laptop to buy?... He likes to play games and run cds and dvds and has an Ipod that it will need to be compatable with; just normal stuff I think... So any help you could give me as to what size screen, kind of cpu, videocard, memory, drive, battery and features I should be looking for would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I don't mind staying of the bleading edge a little, so if we could find one for around $500.00 that would be even better.

Thanks for Your help and time.

Love You,
HumbleFish

 

[ShellGuy]

Humble what kind of games does he like to play are we talkin like Nickaloden games or BF2 type stuff.


Will G.

 

[HumbleFish]

Hi ShellGuy and thanks.

He'll be 18 on his birthday so he likes the "somewhat new" big boy stuff.

 

[ShellGuy]

Are we lookin for portability with this or more of a DTR type book? Would he prefer 15.4" or 17" or maybe even something smaller? Im trying toget a feel for what type of games he is looking at as it will tellme where to point you.


Will G.

 

[HumbleFish]

If the 15.4" is just off the bleeding edge that would be fine... He likes to play like war games and not really sure what their names are because he's left the nest and now lives with his uncle... I seem to remember Socom Warrior or something like that about Navy Seals?

 

[HumbleFish]

Hi, me again... I also believe that it's going to be hooked up to cable for the internet... What would I need to be looking for to accommodate that?

 

[ShellGuy]

Just did a search and they turned up PS2 games. Can you call him and see what he is playing on PC as the games will tell what kind hardware you will need. Using cable is easy if the Uncle wishes to also use the internet connection i would suggest a wireless router to be placed at the Cable Modem the uncle can hardwire to his computer and then ur boy can run wireless through the house with the laptop. Almost all lappys now come with wireless built in.

Will G.

 

[HumbleFish]

I was thinking that might be PS2, I'll have my wife call him to night... So I should be looking for a laptop with wireless and use a wireless router?... Do they come cable modem equipped?

 

[ShellGuy]

I don't think so. The cable modem will plug in to the Wireless router via RJ45 or CAT5 cable.



Will G.

 

[HumbleFish]

Hi, got some game titles: Battlefield II, Halflife II, and Halo.

 

[ChiPCGuy]

Originally posted by: HumbleFish
Hi, got some game titles: Battlefield II, Halflife II, and Halo.

Titles like these are going to require more of a desktop replacement (DTR) notebook. This puts you into a more expensive league. Intel Extreme Graphics2 (not so extreme) and SiS760GX Mirage2 are not going to cut it. You might want to check out www.cyberpower.com or even one of the ABS notebooks on NewEgg (Mayhem series) for this kind of notebook at a reasonable price. $900 is not doable. More like $1,300 and above.

Don't worry about wireless--DTR notebooks (just about any notebook in fact these days) comes with 802.11 b/g wireless capability. You can also hook the notebook directly into a wired router via the RJ-45 network port that will also be on the notebook, but this is obviously going to tether you to the router. The best wireless router I know of is the Buffalo AirStation TurboG HP (High Power) as found on NewEgg for $70.

 

[ShellGuy]

As chip stated those games will require some nice parts you will be looking above your 900 dollar price range. If you want him to be able to play them. Here is the min i would suggest as the graphics is what would hold it back if you could afford it then go with go with the 5720.


Will G.

 

[HumbleFish]

Thanks ChiPCGuy, and ShellGuy,

Got some new info now... Sorry to misslead you, but after talking to my son for awhile he said that he really doesn't need a laptop for games as he has the latest X-Box and PS2 for that... He say he just needs it for surfing the net, AIM, and downloading and loading music into his iPod... So what do you think would be the best one for that?

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

that'll depend alot on the size and portability he wants. Just about any modern laptop will do fine for surfing the net, AIM, etc. It just depends if you want to be able to do those tasks on a big screen and be tied mostly to a desk, if you want to be able to move it around with ease, but deal with a tiny screen, or something in between.

 

[HumbleFish]

unfalliblekrutch,

I would say that it needs to be portible... I was thinking that I'd go with either the 15" or 15.4"; are those good portible sizes? Also, would you to know the differences between the 15" and 15.4" and any thoughts on which is better and why?

 

[ShellGuy]

the 15" is a square size and the 15.4 widescreen modle. You can find some decent ones at Sams and such if all he is looking for is webserfing and such. Search samsclub site for tm4062wlc that model looks kidna good for the price.


Will G>

 

[HumbleFish]

Thanks ShellGuy, that's a nice one, I'll put a link incase anyone else wants to check it out here at: Sam's Club .

I had to make a quick decision so I settled on this one here at NewEgg.com ... Hopefully it will get the job done.

Thanks everyone for the help, and Love You,
HumbleFish

 

[Shenkoa]

I just picked up this baby

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834115328

People in the reviews are saying it has a GB of RAM and a 100 GB HDD.

 

[Tenshodo]

Im looking for a laptop under 900 too. I want the screen to be 15.4" and have 512 mb of Ram. Any suggestions?

 

[Tarrant64]

If he's familiar with anything other than windows, Apple computers are pretty simple for what he'd want to do. And I believe right around the price your looking for. Portable, and cheap for the 12" iBook. We're talking great wireless reception and some of the longest lasting batteries they got out there. 3+ hours in most cases.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/W...U2WJU8c/0.SLID?nclm=iBook&mco=6DF57917

Unfortunately, it's just a little bit more than you wanted to spend, but it will do everything he needs.

 

[Dacalo]

If your son is just going to do those things, I would recommend an iBook from Apple. Right now, there is $100 rebate on these things, make them $900 after rebate. No tax and free shipping from Amazon. Go here.. The only thing is if he can wait a couple more months, iBook replacement is coming out (one with Intel chip) some time in March.

 

[A5]

Yeah...I'm waiting on the intel iBooks as well - hopefully they'll be a little cheaper too

 

[HumbleFish]

Hi All, and thanks... I got one, if you back up to my last post before this one you'll see a link to it.

Thanks again everyone, and Love You,
HumbleFish