Laptop Question

[Corey0808]

My mother is looking at purchasing a laptop. I'm looking at IBM because I've had really good luck with them. She is on a extremely small budget. All she does on the computer is browse the internet, chat on AIM and do some word processing. Would a 1.3gHz Celeron processor suit her fine? Would I see a large improvement if I moved to a centrino processor? I would like to order it tonight so please let me know ASAP. Thanks!

 

[Corey0808]

Anybody? Thanks!

 

[nageov3t]

for those uses, a 1.3 CPU should be fine.

a bigger factor would probably be the amount of ram. I wouldn't build it without 512 mb.

 

[Feep]

IBM is definatley not the place to look for low prices, although there laptops are great quality. How small is the budget?

 

[Corey0808]

yea EXACTLY what I was thinking 512MB of RAM. Would I see a big difference if I went from 512 to 640? Thanks! So 1 for the Celeron M

 

[Corey0808]

Well I'm looking for quality at a small price. I'm looking at a $1000 dollar budget. The link below is to the laptop that I'm looking at. I'm going to put more RAM in there definitely. But my mother won't be doing anything except browsing internet, word processing and the occassional chat on AIM. Just looking for an opinion to see if it will serve it's purpose well.

1.5gHz Pentium M (Only 128 MB RAM)

1.3gHz Celeron M 320 (256MB of RAM)

These are the two I'm looking at. I hope both the links work. Thanks for everyones help

 

[nageov3t]

you could get a pretty decent dell or emachines for that price.

 

[Corey0808]

I've had some good experience with IBM laptops (I own one) and I would like to stay with them because of their quality, reliability and warranty. Which of the two would you get if you were to just browse internet, do word processing and a few other random things?

 

[nageov3t]

I couldn't fathom running XP with only 128 MB of RAM... I'd grow old just waiting for programs to load

 

[flexy]

been on an extremely tight budget too...and after a ot of searching one of teh cheapest (besides the walmart lappy for $600 or so) was the HP ze 4805 from bestbuy/compusa. (899 after MIR).

Sorry i would not touch a 1.3 ghz celeron with a stick..the one we have right now has a 2800+ Athlon mobile and i am sure this is much betetr than a 1.3ghz celeron.

what is your budget ? You really want might to check out that HP one, it has a nice 60gig HD, 802.11 g wireless, 15" screen etc..etc..

edit: if you really WANT to stick with IBM...and/or Intel.well ok but...you dont need 512+ MB just for surfing and AIM ?????

 

[bigal40]

i would stay away from the celeron and go with the pentium. TO get an idea of the performance of a celeron vs a pentium multiply it by 2/3's. that puts you down to something like 870mhz pentium processor. even with that you can probably run the internet and aim and word. I agree with others put some more ram in it. IBM is not really the cheapest laptop maker if you are on a tight budget though. I would recommend looking at dell before you order

 

[Corey0808]

I'm not looking for a Dell laptop. If you had to choose between those two laptops listed above. Which would you choose. With this in mind, the user will only be browsing the internet, doing word processing and using AIM. More RAM would be put into both regardless. Thanks!

 

[mindblogg]

I would focus more on getting a larger RAM so that she can run multiple apps simultaneously. Processor speed is not the criteria for her usage. Centrino has integrated wi-fi, this might be a useful feature.

 

[Corey0808]

mindblogg - yes i will be adding more RAM to which ever machine that she decides to purchase. I was thinking of putting a total of 512MB in the machine. I run that on my desktop and it seems like that is enough. So mindblogg do you think the celeron would be ok as long as I put 512 MB in there? Thanks!

 

[imported_Skorpio]

Have you tried looking at those best buy ads or retail store prices? (....insert shock here for those who stay away from retail stores)...some of these laptops that they have on sale is less than a 1000, I just saw one at FRY's electronics, hp brand for like 699 after mail in rebates and instant rebates.

1.3 celleron CPU is enough..just for word processing and surfing

 

[Mik3y]

there was an athlon 64 3000+, 256mb ram, 64mb integrated video, 30gb hard drive laptop for $869 just last week somewhere. you can really get your money's worth if you just look around. $1000 can get you a very good laptop if you look at the right place and the right time. i got my laptop for $700 over half a year ago and most places were selling it for $1100. i luckily got $400 off by rebates.

 

[Corey0808]

The laptop brand is going to be an IBM no matter what. The two laptops I have given above are the two choices. I just would like to know which one would be ok for browsing the internet, word processing and chatting on AIM. RAM will be added to both systems regardless of what happens. Basically is it worth the upgrade to the Centrino. Will the user notice? Thanks!

 

[jfall]

I would get the Pentium M w/ 512 ram if possible. The Celeron would still be fine for what your mother will be using it for.

If you ask me, the IBM is too pricy, I would look into Avertac, check out http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...01174&type=product

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Corey0808
The laptop brand is going to be an IBM no matter what. The two laptops I have given above are the two choices. I just would like to know which one would be ok for browsing the internet, word processing and chatting on AIM. RAM will be added to both systems regardless of what happens. Basically is it worth the upgrade to the Centrino. Will the user notice? Thanks!

I would think the major advantage of the Pentium M CPU (what you're calling the "Centrino" -- that's Intel's advertising name for a Pentium M packaged with their integrated 802.11 solution) would be increased battery life; for basic web surfing/AIM/word processing, both should be adequate in terms of speed. Upgrading to 512MB of RAM will help more than switching processors, especially since the hard drives in laptops generally *suck*, making your virtual memory even slower.

With the small difference in price here, I would go with the Pentium M system. It's newer, it's faster, it will probably last noticeably longer on batteries.

 

[Appledrop]

i get really annoyed by people who swear by specific rip off comercialised brands such as dell / ibm etc.. sorry just me.

 

[Abhi]

Buy minimum RAM from IBM. Buy it from crucial later.. It ll be cheaper.

 

[Corey0808]

Azzy64 - What's your point? I've had good luck with IBM and I would like to stay with them. Yes they might be a little more expensive but I would rather get a decent product then some piece of crap. I've seen cheap laptops not make it very long. I'm looking for quality too.

I definitely will not buy RAM from IBM... Costs way too much money Newegg all the way

 

[caivoma]

I heard emachines make quality lapton. they are rebranded.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

pentium m (centrino) is the way to go on laptops, the battery life alone wins the game for me

 

[FishTankX]

I'm sorry man, but the Celeron M has just as much cache as the previous generation Pentium-M. The celeron isn't that bad.