Just for internet surfing, viewing movies, music downloads. Not real hardcore geeking. Primarily for 11 year old kid to use at home.

Thanks!

If its just for the home - then you might want to look at a desktop. They are cheaper than laptops and you can always up-grade them as your needs change.

Anyway, look for Sunday sales papers - especially those from Staples and Best buy. They had some pretty good laptop deals in the paper last Sunday.

If movies are going to be viewed - then you probably want to look for at least 512mb of ram and maybe a dual core processor. If you are going to keep movies on the hard drive (hd) than you need more gigabytes. The bigger the hd the more money you spend. You could also probably get away with Vista home or XP home as the operating system.

Personally, I say go with the names you know like Dell, HP, Compaq, and Gateway. Acer (Korean I believe) has been coming on strong in sales but I don't know too many people who have their product. Avoid emachine like the plague. (I don't think that they make laptops anyway.) Apple is GREAT for media stuff but Apple will also cost you around $900 at the low end of the scale.

Good luck

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tonystark,

quote:

Dell, HP, Compaq, and Gateway

Thanks TS. I've been looking at those above and also Toshiba. We have 4 desktops so I need a laptop for the kids to be mobile with. Best Buy seems to have the best extended warranty/service/return policy so far. Compaq Presarios 15.4 screens have the nice picture with the "Brightview" technology.

I have bought a laptop from both the Gateway and Dell Outlet websites that were in the $600-$700 range. I have been very happy with my purchases and I have had no problems (that I did not cause ).

You have to moniter constantly and go ahead and buy when you see something you want beacuse it shows real time inventory.

Thanks G. I just bought a Gateway that has good specs but I hear their customer service sucks. I may take it back (unopened) b/c of that and keep investigating. Thanks peeps, I appreciate the good intel.