Posted: 12/3/2006 5:16:22 AM EDT
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In the market for a nice laptop. I can sort of get around a home PC, but I know basically nothing about laptops. I am looking to use the laptop as my main computer and give my PC to my son. I KNOW I want DVD writeable capability, at least 1GB of Ram, at least a 80GB hard drive, a 15" screen, yadah, yadah... I need to be able to do my web browsing, Word, Pictres, etc. from the laptop. I would also need to be able to hook it up to my printer so I can get stuff on paper. I also need it to be able to hook up to my 26" TV in my BR via RCA jacks so I can use the big screen when in the house. I have cable right now for my computer. How do I go about keeping my PC hooked up and running and use my laptop at the same time? I know I have heard great things about Toshiba. I also have heard that the Core 2 Duo is what will keep me in the "current" version for a while. I am looking to stay as far under $1K as possible. Thoughts? |
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I'm far from an expert but you can get a lot of laptop for just under $1000. You can easily hook up an ethernet cable to your laptop and have a secure high speed connection to both your computers and the internet. If you want mobility around the house you will want to go wireless. You have to know what you are doing as others can steal your wireless and or have access to your computers if you do not set it up correctly. I plan on doing this in the near future and would be interested in other replies regarding setting up a secure wireless network. Good luck |
Get a Linksys wireless-G broadband router. It still has the cat-5 jacks for network cables along with wireless. Get a laptop with built in wireless or a wireless card. |
Use a randomly generated 128 bit key, better yet set it to rotate between four different ones. Do that, and use a MAC address filter and you will be secure enough. A very dedicated hacker may still be able to crack it, but nobody really wants to. |
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Go ith a www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_e1705?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs its $969 and it does not use shared memory for the video card. Get dedicated video memory. IE a video card. example of shared video memory: start with 1gig system memory with a 256 shared video memory = 756meg memory for system to use. You lose the 256 to the video card. |
Which is why I suggested the E1505... Same computer with a 15in screen and MUCH lighter. |
Yea... I got an E1505 a couple of months ago and really like it… I had seen several E1705s and would only recommend them if you don't want to move it around much.The E1705 does offer a much faster video card that the E1505. |
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I recently bought an E1505 (it should be arriving next week). I got it with the fastest CPU available for it, and the good graphics card, as well as an 80gb drive, for less than a grand, including shipping and taxes. That's right; to my door, for less than a grand. The only option I didn't get on it was the DVDRW drive; that would have pushed the price over a grand. Stick with just 1gb of memory; it's cheaper to buy it and put it in yourself than it is to order it installed from Dell. I'm talking half the price cheaper. The specs: 2.0ghz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU 1gb ram (I'll upgrade that later manually) 256mb Radeon X1400 video card 15.4" TrueLife panel (everyone who has one, highly recommended getting the better panel) 80gb hard drive (if necessary, I'll upgrade it to a 7200rpm or 10krpm drive later, but for now, it should be just fine) Intel wireless card Bluetooth module Built-in 10/100 Ethernet and modem 24x CDRW and DVD player Sub-Total : $935.25 Shipping : Tax : $60.79 Order Total : $996.04 One thing to do - Get a coupon! Google for "dell coupon"! Here's a current one:
You plug that coupon code in and it knocks that %20 right off. When I ordered mine, they had a %25 off coupon going on, as well as a promotion for another %10 or so off on selected Inspiron notebooks. If you bide your time you can stack up discounts like pickles on a burger and get yourself one hell of a deal. |
No, actually I wanted to know if I could hook up the laptop to the TV and use the laptops keyboard but see the stuff on my bigger TV screen. Can this be done? I know Dell is good (current PC and previous ones too), but how do they compare to Toshiba? |
Don't like Toshiba, not reliable. Unless you have a HDTV with a computer input the laptops output on your TV will look bad. High resolution computer screen output to low resolution conventional TV always equal crap. May work for a PowerPoint presentation but not a lot else. |
Baloney I work on computers for a living I have a Dell laptop as do a hell of a lot of other people I know who work on the computers for a living. Dells is not what it was a few years ago but it is certainly as good as HP/Compaq and a hell of a lot better that the bulk of the rest. You are going to see more Dell (and HP/Compaq) computers in for repair because the sell far more computers than anyone else. Dell sells 30+% of the PCs sold in the US, HP 20+%... Those 2 brands account for over HALF of all PCs sold in the US so you are going to see these brands for repair quite often. You will also hear more Dell and HP “horror stories” and there is little wonder as to why considering they sell 10+ computers for each 1 sold of most other brands. Go to a PC event/conference or MS event and you are going to predominantly see Dell, HP, and IBM laptops with a few others mixed in. |
when you handles warranty service for all the major companies and 90% of the major failures and customer complaints are from one comapny that pretty much tells you they are crap. There is no GOOD laptop in the sub 1k price range. everyone has cut corners on thin component boards, poor case design <airflow and structural support> and cheap componentls. Dell is known for broken displays and keyboards as well as failed system planars and processors in their laptops as a direct result of this. HP and low end lenovo/ibm aren't much better. if you want a laptop and intend to use it as a primary machine... DO NOT BUY CHEAP. if you buy the dell make damn sure you get the extended warranty. you will be using it within 12 months and for certain after. yep alot of those folks are running them becuase their COMPANY bought them and got a price break through a corporate account. Ask them about how many failures they have had and the mean time between failures. Number you see in a room means nothing. |