NotebookForums.com › Forums › General Notebook Discussions › Notebook Forums - General › Need notebook for daughter by Monday!!!!
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Need notebook for daughter by Monday!!!!

post #1 of 18
8/21/05 at 4:43pm
Thread Starter 
Here's a good one. My daughter's school supplied notebook will not arrive for another month and I need to buy one for her tomorrow the 22nd. Which of the chain stores should I go to and what should I get. Want to be under $1000 with a 15" screen (15.4 ok too), cd/dvd burner, centrino (amd 64 ok), 512 ram and wireless networking. I have never purchased a laptop from a chain and would appreciate any advice. Figure she will use it to surf the web, get email, download music and every once and awhile do some homework!!!
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 18
8/21/05 at 4:57pm
How much in terms of mobility and battery power is she looking for; or would she rather have a more peppy machine that runs all the apps faster?
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 18
8/21/05 at 5:03pm
Thread Starter 
She will be taking this to class as well as traveling around to other cities as she is a student athlete. So figure something that will travel well, good battery life for flights and 2-3 classes per day. That's why I was thinking Centrino or AMD for a processor. Not really sure which video processor will be best, but she is not a video gamer.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 18
8/21/05 at 5:24pm
Then these would be pretty reasonable choices:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115310
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115303

The performances and battery life should be very similar; the Turion64 will have a better upgrade path in terms of software in the future.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 18
8/21/05 at 5:29pm
Thread Starter 
Looks good except I have to have it by tomorrow. So I am looking at buying from a Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, PC Club or Fry's. I am kind of hoping that someone out there has some information on something that fits my parameters that may be a good value. Figure she will use this for about 4-6 weeks and then I will get it back and give it to her younger brother.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 18
8/21/05 at 5:32pm
looks like CompUSA is having some decent sales, on HP3160 ($999) and Compaq 2310 ($849), go check them out, they should have a few models under 1000 for you to look at.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 18
8/21/05 at 5:35pm
If she's not a gamer and does not do any 3-d work and you're worried about battery life, then an integrated gpu is the way to go.

You mentioned you want a 15 or 15.4 inch screen. Some people would shrug at ligguing those around all day around classes (but then she's an athlete and the training may do her good) and complain that they take up alot of space on the desks in class and space in flight. Have you looked into the 14" wide screen size class? There are several decent options out there that are very portable (small & lightweight), affordable, and get very good battery life.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 18
8/21/05 at 5:54pm
Thread Starter 
The laptop she is getting will be a 15.4 so I want to get the same thing for now. Also, do any of these chain stores offer accidental damage insurance?
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 18
8/21/05 at 6:09pm
Circuit City also has a gateway 6520gz with some good stats for $949.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 18
8/21/05 at 6:13pm
I believe Best Buy has one, I remember them offering some good warranties. I would recommend Best Buy over any of the other chains you mentioned. But, this is just me considering I had the best experiences from them computer wise. CompUSA, at least around my area, is very overpriced and doesn't provide any extra services. If you have to have it by tomrrow, I would suggest going down there now and seeing their selection, getting information from us is all good, but we can't tell you if they have the items we recommend in stock or not. GO!
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 18
8/21/05 at 6:14pm
This acer at cicruit city looks pretty hot too:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Acer-...oductDetail.do
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 18
8/21/05 at 6:28pm
Thread Starter 
Can someone fill me in on the AMD Turion processor. I know I should search, but how about a quick list of pointers.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 18
8/21/05 at 7:07pm
Turion is AMD's low power consumption processor. It's speed matches that of the Intel Pentium M and it's battery life is very slightly less. the number after the MT or ML in the processor # corresponds to it's speed - a ML-30 processor will be equal to an Athlon 64 3000+, a ML-40 equal to the 4000+, etc. MT and ML refer to power consumption - the MT will use maximum 25 watts while the ML will use maximum 35 W. For comparison, the pentium M uses maximum 27 W. Basically, I equate the Turion with the Pentium M (centrino).
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 18
8/21/05 at 7:13pm
What Hooga said, and turion's 64bit.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 18
8/21/05 at 9:25pm
...and generally cheaper
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 18
8/21/05 at 9:40pm
Also about the Turion. Even though it uses 25W and the Centrino uses 27W, the Centrino is still better on battery. The reason Centrino is more efficient is that Intel has tuned the CPU, the motherboard, the wireless, and sometimes even the graphics for maximum battery life. AMD isn't big enough to be able to make their own chipset and wireless card, so they can't tune it quite as finely.

And also, if you're daughter is getting a laptop in a month, why does she need one Monday?
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 18
8/22/05 at 1:11am
Thread Starter 
Main reason is that she has already started needing to download course files, rotations, game plans, schedules and training material. I figured I would get her started now and then she could transfer information to the school supplied laptop later.

Anyway, I have sourced a few units and included their URLs below. If everyone would take a peek and give me an idea of which one would accomplish my goal maybe with the added feature of being upgradable in some way in the future, I would sincerely appreciate it!! Oh....durability would be nice too.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Gateway-Notebook-PC-6520GZ-/sem/rpsm/oid/127601/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Toshiba-Satellite-Notebook-PC-M45-S265-/sem/rpsm/oid/125535/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Acer-TravelMate-Notebook-PC-4011WLCI-/sem/rpsm/oid/130931/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1115365776413&type=product&skuId=7247669&tab=6&productCategoryId=pc mcat64400050003

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7262516&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01174&id=1118839115082

All of these with the exception of the Acer can be had for $1000 after rebates.
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 18
8/22/05 at 12:54pm
Thread Starter 
ttt
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Notebook Forums - General
NotebookForums.com › Forums › General Notebook Discussions › Notebook Forums - General › Need notebook for daughter by Monday!!!!