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advice on purchasing a notebook

PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 12:49 pm
by blue elf
Hi,
I'd like to get a notebook PC, but I'm not sure which ones to look into. The main 2 I've been looking at I found on the Best Buy website. The first one is a Toshiba with an Intel Celeron M processor and the second one is a Compaq with an AMD Turion 64 processor. They both have 512 MB of RAM , but the Toshiba has a 60GB hard drive, while the Compaq has an 80GB one. This is my first notebook, so I'm not sure which one would be the best. It'll be for schoolwork, plus probably games and movies. If anyone has any other PCs they'd like to recommend that's cool too. I'd like to keep it in the $1,000 or less price range though.

PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 2:20 pm
by Arnobius
Personally I prefer the college ruled notebook with the metal spiral binding over the other kinds. Singls subject notebooks are better than the three or five sections.

PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 2:29 pm
by Mr. Rogers
i really liked the IMB ThinkPad series of notebooks. I don't know if I'd recommend any of the celeron processors if you're planning on watching games and movies. if you were just surfing the web and doing word processing that'd be fine, but try to get a good AMD or Pentium one if you can. http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=10000001&catalogId=-840&langId=-1&categoryId=2035724

PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 2:49 pm
by blue elf
AnimeHeretic wrote:Personally I prefer the college ruled notebook with the metal spiral binding over the other kinds. Singls subject notebooks are better than the three or five sections.


Yes, those are definitely more affordable and very portable, but not really good for surfing the net, and the only game you can really play on one is Tic-tac-toe.....or Hangman. ^^ Plus, there's no DVD drive.



Update: I bought the Compaq.

PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 1:12 pm
by rinoa_heartilly
i work at a sony store and i spend a lot of time working on the Vaio section. they are fairly popular as far as notebooks go. that being said, i would recommend a vaio FS series notebook. they're relatively cheap (look under outlet at sonystyle.com for really good deals, or visit a sony outlet near you). they do tend to be costly as far getting them repaired, but if you get an extended warranty (like from an outlet) you can get a 3 yr for 99 dollars. so yeah, they've been really popular as far as students go.

PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 5:54 pm
by Steeltemplar
I would say stay away from Compaq. They are middle of the road quality at best.

Sony and Toshiba are probably the best way to go. Whichever you get, buy the extended warranty. Laptops do cost a fair bit, as has been mentioned, and they also break down a lot more than desktops.

PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 3:51 pm
by Mr. SmartyPants
Steeltemplar wrote:I would say stay away from Compaq. They are middle of the road quality at best.

Sony and Toshiba are probably the best way to go. Whichever you get, buy the extended warranty. Laptops do cost a fair bit, as has been mentioned, and they also break down a lot more than desktops.


not in this case.... celeron processor = baaaaaaaaaaad

PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 5:17 pm
by Steeltemplar
Mr. SmartyPants wrote:not in this case.... celeron processor = baaaaaaaaaaad

Heh. Well, I was speaking in a general sense.

Let me say I agree with MSP that you should not get a Celeron.

PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 6:55 pm
by Yojimbo
blue elf wrote:Yes, those are definitely more affordable and very portable, but not really good for surfing the net, and the only game you can really play on one is Tic-tac-toe.....or Hangman. ^^ Plus, there's no DVD drive.



Update: I bought the Compaq.


You could play Tetris...but you'd have to animate it page by page. My cousin recently got a nice HP with an AMD 64 3200 processor in it, 60 gigs, 512mb of RAM, and a DVDRW/CDRW drive in it for something like $800.