Question:
Girlfriend wants to buy a laptop (College)
1) What is your budget? Around $1300-$1400 total
2) What size notebook would you prefer?
c. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
3) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?
- Typing papers, listening to music, going on facebook, and viewing photos.
4) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?
- mostly will stay on her desk but she will be taking it to the library and home and such.
5) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?
- none
6) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
- looking at HP or Dell (leaning towards HP)
7) How many hours of battery life do you need?
- 2 - 3 seems like the general range with a 6 cell
8) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?
- That is one of the options
9) Please select your country's flag as a post icon and tell us what country are you buying this in.
- United States
Screen Specifics
10) Would you prefer standard or widescreen?
- Widescreen
11) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?
Widescreen
d. WXGA or WXGA+ - 1280x768/800 or 1440x900; Wider viewing version of XGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
12) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
- Yes
Build Quality and Design
13) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
- Somewhat
14) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?
- As soon as possible and roughly last 5 years
Notebook Components
15) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 200GB?
- 120gb seems good
16) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD-ROM, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-RW drive?
- Dvd-RW but light scribe is not needed.
I was looking at the HP White SE laptops at Best Buy and they look good but I do not know what CPU speed she needs in sense of the Turion or Core 2 Duo. I have also been pricing out dv6000t/z with APP discount. I also do not know if I should get a warranty or not. I am real tech savvy so I can go without one but I do not know if she needs one. Any input would be good.
Answer:
Re: Girlfriend wants to buy a laptop (College)
For what is planned, any dual core processor is going to be fine. Also, you do not have to worry about your graphics card selection either...integrated graphics will do well for her.
As far as a warranty goes...you may be tech savant but if hardware goes bad you'll need parts. I'd say get the longest warranty possible within your budget...nothing like spending $1500 on a computer to have it break a week after a one year warranty ends!
While I would check out the dv6000t and dv6000z (z is cheaper but still great), I'd also check out the business notebooks from HP and Dell. The nx7400 would be a solid 15.4" business notebook that should last 5 years without trouble...just get a long warranty just in case. I'd prefer the nx7400 over a Dell D820, but you might want to compare whatever deals you can get for them both.
Answer:
Re: Girlfriend wants to buy a laptop (College)
The HP dv6000t is a good option.
The Core 2 Duo processor is the best processor on the market right now. But for the things she's going to do you won't notice much of a difference if you take something like a Core Duo.
As for the warranty the standard warranty that comes with the laptop is good enough for me. But if you want to be safe pay a little extra for a longer warranty.
Answer:
Re: Girlfriend wants to buy a laptop (College)
is there a significant difference in the Turion TL50 and TL56, or the C2D 5200 and 5600? Also does anyone have any experience with
or with
Anyone have experience with the BB warranty. Am I better off building one on HPShopping and APP discount?
Answer:
Re: Girlfriend wants to buy a laptop (College)
is there a significant difference in the Turion TL50 and TL56, or the C2D 5200 and 5600?
As long as you get a dual core processor (whether Turion or Core duo or Core 2 duo) you should be fine for the basic tasks that your girlfriend will be doing with this laptop. Just be sure not to get the single core processors as they do run slower, especially when trying to run more than one program at a time. Nowadays this really helps even if you are not running more than one program at a time because there are usually programs running in the background that you are not really aware of that can slow you down. Dual core helps prevent this slow down even when doing basic tasks but the Ghz speed really is not going to be noticeable for these basic tasks. Good luck and happy computing!
Answer:
Re: Girlfriend wants to buy a laptop (College)
I'll second the HP nx7400 recommendation above.
Answer:
Re: Girlfriend wants to buy a laptop (College)
I am going to make sure the laptop has 2gb in ram so does the cpu speed matter that much? Will there be a noticeable difference in the TL50,TL56, C2D 5200, C2D 5600?
Answer:
Re: Girlfriend wants to buy a laptop (College)
In general, Intel's C2D processors are faster than the AMD Turion X2's. However, for the tasks you mention, the performance increase/decrease will be hardly perceptible.