Laptop- new buyer info, help

[tinfoil]

My wife wants a Laptop or notebook as i guess thats what they are called nowfor christmas. I dont know much about laptops but she need it for work "4th grade teacher", and to go on the internet "we have dsl at home", also to view digital pictures. Can u suggest a laptop that i should look into? No gaming will be played on the laptop. Thanks

 

[Jonitus]

You're bound to get a ton of responses. Most of them will be to avoid certain brands, or whatnot.

I'm currently using an IBM Thinkpad X30. PIII 1Ghz, 512MB RAM, 20GB HD...I love it. Regardless of what people will say, the IBM's, IMHO, have the best keyboard out there...smooth stroke, and laid out well.

If you're not gaming on it, the Thinkpad would serve well, as it isn't intended to do games (other than the basic Solitaire). It's light, and very portable. You could get the newest model, the X31, but the price difference between the X30 and the X31 is nearly $1000.


...just my suggestion.

 

[tinfoil]

Thanks i'll look at the IBM's.

 

[manko]

Originally posted by: tinfoil
My wife wants a Laptop or notebook as i guess thats what they are called nowfor christmas. I dont know much about laptops but she need it for work "4th grade teacher", and to go on the internet "we have dsl at home", also to view digital pictures. Can u suggest a laptop that i should look into? No gaming will be played on the laptop. Thanks

IBMs have a great reputation for quality, but what are your other requirements, if any? From what you've listed above, just about any machine these days will fit the bill. Is cost an issue, do you have a price range in mind? Is size important, does she want something light with a small screen or would she not mind a heavier model with a bigger screen? Does she need a built-in CD or DVD optical drive?

Also try visiting the SFF/Notebook forum.

 

[squirrel dog]

Toshiba/IBM/Compaq all have laptops in your 'zone'.I would do some research,lurk in some forums,do some googling.My wife is in real estate and I am going to be in the same boat.I will want to do a wifi network at home,but still be able to use a dial up if needed.I am tempted to buy local,as laptops seem to have a higher occurrance of trouble/and I will want to be able to drop it off,instead of mail it off.

 

[cheapherk]

I picked up a used IBM Thinkpad 600E (366MHz). It does great for my teaching. I have a grading program and Microsoft Office installed. If that's all your wife needs to do, you won't need anything powerful. You might want to ceck out the For Sale forum. You could probably pick up a used one relatively cheap. The IBM Thinkpad's are nice. There thin and relatively light. It's funny to see that they all have the same look.

 

[drag]

Get a apple IBook, 950 bucks or so with a educational student discount, maybe more for teachers.

A little slim on the mhz side, but the 9200 Mobility Radeon more then makes up for it. Blows away the on-board IBM i835-style aviable on most other laptops of that price range.

Plus you get OS X, which is wonderfull to use.

It's small, light, quiet and user-freindly as all get a out. Much better IMHO then the loud, big, heavy, battery-sucking celeron-based laptops that make up it's competition. (XP=blah)

 

[HasteInferno]

Im selling my laptop in the For Sale forum, you can check it out here

 

[dnuggett]

.I am tempted to buy local,as laptops seem to have a higher occurrance of trouble/and I will want to be able to drop it off,instead of mail it off.

Unless you buy an extended service plan from the place you are buying it from, you will still be sending it off w/ most manufacturers.

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: HasteInferno
Im selling my laptop in the For Sale forum, you can check it out here

Im selling my laptop in the For Sale forum, you can check it out here

Is this laptop still under a warranty with at least one year left? That's what he will be getting if he buys new, and since he hasn't mentioned price as an issue I wouldn't think he would want one w/o a warranty.

 

[Abhi]

How much are you looking to spend on the notebook?

 

[Budmantom]

If you not looking for anything fancy look at the Dell1100's, they just had a special 15" cdrw/dv, 256mb, 40gb, 2.2ghz for $550AR.

 

[alexruiz]

I have a Presario 2100Z and works fantastic! (Athlon XP 2000+)

You can get her a Preasrio 2172 or 2195 for almost $1000

 

[Hottie]

For me laptop should be light and easy to user. Thats why I recently got a HP tablet PC to replace my aging Fujitsu E laptop. Dam the tablet is what a moible PC suppost to be, light, long battery life, easy to use, easy to connect to any network(XP tablet edit rock), easy to print of others network printer, hand writing, wireless...etc. It is not a powerfull unit but it get the job done, anything heavy I will let me powerful AMD system to handle it.

Again it is just my 2cents

 

[MrRobercik]

I have recently shopped for a laptop and HP/Compaq had the best price with the same features. What I love in my new HP laptop is the scrolling on the touchpad( vertical and horizontal) . At the time they had $100 mail in rebate on customizable laptops and $50 rebate on $49.99 external FDD, no tax ,free shipping and 6 months same as cash interest free !. TV out can be a big deal- you can use your laptop as a DVD player in any room that doesn't have one. Going with mobile Athlon will cost you less too.

 

[Grizybaer]

remember that the intel centrino gets crazy battery life. i'm also shopping around but i hear reports of 5-6 hrs with intel's centrino pentium - m

hp/compaq have the x1000 for ~1050 after rebates for a 1.4Ghz, 15" widescreen.

you gotta love the widescreen, look at the apple widescreen lappys ~ wow.