I want to buy a notebook computer for my daughter. She is going to start college and I want to get something?
I’m looking for something that isn’t huge and bulky. I would also like it to be able to utilize wi-fi so she can study with her friends at coffee houses and such. I was looking at refurbished computers on the Dell site, but I don’t know enough to sort through all the tech stuff. Please provide me with all the specs I should be looking for in the computer.
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Tagged with: coffee houses • Dell • fi
Filed under: Notebook Computer Discussions
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dell laptops are fairly good and you can get an extended warranty with them that is honored elsewhere
There are cheap new laptops that are made for idiot women to place on a desk and never move ( they are so cute)
drop them an inch and they are finished
An older high qualtiy laptop would be a better idea than a new piece of junk that was not durable
Secondly a major component of the price of a laptop is the battery.
Batteries are rated by the amount of chargesthey can take - an avearage of 200 charges of use and the battery is toast ( a years use for many)
You may find one of those desk bound laptops in apparently great shape - but then again that idiot who bought the laptop as it was "so cute" plugged in the laptop to the wall where it sat and the battery is now fried
Laptop batteries are generally $ 100 - $ 150
If you get a refurb laptop they generally put in a new battery as a matter of course.
Laptops are intricate and very hard to work and expensive to repair .
Refurbs may have a name that is not as desireable as " new"
However each laptop is checked out throroughly.
The laptops are checked and if the level is not throrough it comes back to haunt any future sales of the tech vendor.
In addition you will get some type of warranty.
I have heard different stories from techs as to who makes dell laptops- I thought it was sony as the exploding dell batteries were sony .
I am told by a tech who works in major drop off / repair facility and works on laptops on a nunber of brands that the dell were very similar to the ibms
lastly there are dell models where the cd / dvds were externa . They are attached when needed.
Less weight and size.
More durability as it is not been carried around all the time.
With usb flash drives a cd / dvd is not as essential and used as much as previously.
Lastly in terms of wireless - if there is a built in wireless in the lid that is better.
Better recepton and less chance of breakage than an add on pcmcia
however a pcmcia credit card one can be added and are fine
also usefull to have a built in network card but most would anyways.
Any laptop she would get from dell now would be more than powerful enough
Stay away from Celeron M models if you can
processor: dual core 1.6GHz
RAM: 1gb - 2gb is much better
Video card: 128mb (better if the memory is NOT shared)
hard drive 100gb
Nice Dell:
http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ca&CS=cadhs1&l=en&OC=9400DP_F_3E
Whatever you get, STAY AWAY FROM COMPAQ!
Every laptop released now will meet your requirements. You certainly don’t need a dual core machine and they tend to be heavy. Depending on your daughters computer literacy, what you probably want more than anything is good support. The Apple machines are rock solid and very easy to use, but they do cost more.
what ever you get watch out for dell my neighbor bought one brand new and now there is something wrong with it and they dont want to do anything for her.
A refurbished unit from any ‘reputable’ company is usually a pretty good deal for general usage as they are mostly lease returns from major companies that have been cleaned and tested.
You want a screen size of at least 14".
A CD-burner/DVD drive is definitely needed.
It also needs at least 2 USB ports, preferably USB2.0
The Hard Drive should be at least 20GB.
The CPU should be at least 1Ghz, with a minimum of 512MB RAM, 1GB RAM is better.
The video should have at least 128MB non-shared memory.
For Wi-Fi, (which I don’t like), it should be built-in; with ALSO an ethernet, and possibly a modem.
I suggest Windows XP SP2 (32 bit) for the OS.
I suggest she wait on a ‘word processor’ set, unless it comes pre-installed, and buy it at the school bookstore, (students usually get a discount off the retail price), so she gets the same as what they are using. (NOT everybody uses Microsoft Word!!)
ALSO a printer would be nice, (so she can print her ‘papers’, etc.), a B&W laser should be good enough and they are very reasonable.
You might also want to get her a regular monitor for use in the dorms, etc. (Easier on the eyes than the little screen on the laptop!)
AND DON’T forget a ’spare’ battery, and a carrying case.
What I listed are ‘middle value’ minimums you should look for. It won’t be ‘blazing fast’ like some new ones, but it WILL do the job.
i think you should give her the best as technolgy is changing very fast and when you buy a notebook or pc it becomes outdated in 2-3 months.i would say that you should buy your daughter a touch screen notebook wid
1.6ghz processor
2 gb ram
180 gb harddisk
wi-fi
512 mb graphics card
dat will do her best
if u like i can help u out at my email id
a_nice_kool_guy@yahoo.com