what to buy?

[EasyMoney]

I know very little about computers but am looking to buy a laptop.

Do brands make a differance or is it just about what is in it? Also what do I need. All I really do is surf the net, e-mail, and maybe a little porn. I see all these new duo processing things with tons of memory, and big hard drives. What would I need to surf the net as far as Hard drive size, memory and stuff like that?

 

[TTinCO]

I'm a big fan of Sony Vaio's, but they aren't the cheapest thing on the market. If you can still get Windows XP(NOT Vista!), get it with 1 or 1.5gb of memory. The standard drive will likely be bigger than you'll ever need.


That's really the only concern besides size\weight-lighter=more $$$$, and often in a big way.

 

[Data]

Brands make a difference to the extent of warranty and service, that is all.

What you need computer-wise you can find in a used Windows 98 laptop that you can get for $200. If the money is not an issue then get Dell Latitude 420 with next-day-at-home service. This will cost closer to $2000.

While choosing anything in between think in terms of cost/warranty/service/screen resolution. Any new computer you buy is going to be an overkill for the task, so no need to worry about the components you mentioned.

 

[whalewager]

HP has been very very good to me