Looking for advice on new notebook?

Question

I already have a relatively new high performance notebook. It has a 17" screen, 1gb of memory, 80gb hard drive, 3.2 P4 processor w/HT. I am happy with it but the battery recently gave out.

Rather than fork over $150 for a new one, I thought I would just buy a new cheapie notebook which would be smaller, cooler, and easier to transport to and from classes/library/etc (college student).

If all I want to do is take notes in class, write papers, do some spreadsheeting and some basic software like that (and use my other notebook for everything else), and of course web browsing all while on the go, do you think an AMD Sempron 2.0 ghz and 256 memory is enough or do you suggest getting 512 of memory and/or a different processor?

I don't really care about updating to Windows Vista on this machine when it comes out.

Thanks for your input.

Answer 1

The notebook you propose for school work and surfing the net will be just fine. These activities do not require fancy processing and much memory. You know you are not going to play Doom 3 or COD2 on it, do movie editing, and so forth, so your expectations are realistic.

Word processing and web page rendering and other such "basic" processes won't be slow at all. My brother has a little old Aptiva with Windows 95 and woo woo 16 mb ram and 75 mHz cpu and it is amazing that it does what it does - typing and saving a document is just as fast, or nearly so, as on any computer.

But I don't think it is cost effective. One hundred fifty is a good deal less than what you would spend on a bottom shelf notebook, and you would just be duplicating what you already have, work tools wise.

Answer 2

512MB of memory should be the minimum you should have. If it is a refurbished or inexpensive (like I'm using now) computer, install the additional memory yourself.Windows XP really dogs it at 256MB. But the cheaper laptops almost always have that or less. So, installing the additional memory yourself is cheaper in the long run. AMD is fine, Intel celeron's are usually found in the less expensive laptops. I just need my laptops for a home network, so I bought 2 Toshiba Satellites @$599 on sale at Best Buy. And boosted the memory on both to 1GB myself.

Answer 3

Get a Gig of ram. My experience with Windows says that it likes memory. I would go with a gig of ram and a slower processor over anything else. It's all about memory. And get an Intel. Intel has better Mobile chips IMO. It's not going to make a difference less you get a dual core.

That's what i would recommend. But if you are looking for cheap. Dump at least a gig of ram in it.

Answer 4

well if its only web browsing, word processing or spreadsheets then yes the 2g sempron with 256 mem would be enough you won't notice a big difference just probably a few seconds slower when booting

Answer 5

Hey,
To get Doom 95 for free you can click here on the link: http://bitly.com/ZYwYFb

With this link you can get the full version completely free.
n Doom 95 you use all sorts of sophisticated weaponry and different tactics that the game gives you to successfully eliminate all of the demons devastating Mars and its moons.
You should definitely try it

Answer 6

Get the fastest one you can afford. You will be much happier. The slower speed will slow down your work.

You can always upgrade the RAM from Ebay or eCost http://www.ecost.com

Answer 7

You will not be happy. Too slow.