Need advise on buying a laptop?

Question

I'm a grad student in technical field, but I know nothing about laptops. I need to buy one, my friend is selling one. I want to find out if it's a good deal. How do I compare it to other brands that are out there? What makes a good laptop? He's selling DURABOOK N14RI with following charachtereistics: Battery: L1-10N (is it good?), Communication: WL-802.11BG (what does this mean?),
OS: WIN XP-PRO (yeah, I want that), CPU speed: C-PS 1.6 GHz (is it slow or OK by today's standards?), Memory: 512 MB, HDD: 40 GB (why are there 2 memories? How important are they?) Display: 14.1" XGA This compareable to what I have on my old and tried desktop, so it should probably be enough. But does it mean my laptop would be outdated?

The asking price is $750

If you can answer any of those questions or provide any advise I'd greatly appreciate it.

It is not used, in the box. He claims that tech support is available.

Answer 1

Hey...well I'm sorry to say that this laptop is already outdated. The fact is the laptop that you're going to buy is outdated no matter what you do in about less than a year. Microsoft will be coming out with windows vista, and computer companies are making innovations that are completely NUTS. 14.1'' screen is very average, if not a little small. 1.6GHz is fair, but since it's not a dual core, you're going to experience a little slow down time when you run three or four programs together. The first memory, the smaller one, at 512 MB, that's for how fast the computer runs. It doesn't really matter that it's at 512MB, what matters is how much RAM you can max it out to. The other memory, the one that you should care more about since you don't play games on your laptop, is 40GB, which is extremely small for a modern laptop. The one that I am writing on is 120GB, but it's more than twice that price.
The communication hardware is EXTREMELY important, you have wi-fi. This is good. It means that you can use wireless internet. I am a first year at UBC and the wireless internet runs throughout our entire campus and is extremely useful for a laptop.

The asking price should be cut in half.

Go to a retail store like futureshop or bestbuy and look at some deal they have. If you want cheap, go with a Dell, even though their computers are known for trouble. However, if you want fair prices and fair service, but with the reputation of being the least returned computers, choose gateway. Personally I love HP and my favorite, Toshiba, but they're a bit more expensive, usually above a grand.

Like I said, Duo2 (processor) is coming out and new innovations like a screen on the outside of the laptop for pda purposes and all that stuff is making even the most expensive laptops quickly obsolete. So don't worry about that, just worry about how long YOU can use it for without complaining about how slow it is.

These are the things you need to think about:
CPU GHz - 1.6 is very good. 2.0 is extremely good
60 GB - hard drive should be enough space for your music and files
512-1G - DDR (speed)
14.1 size screen is fine, but most are 15.4 now.
And of course you need to 802.11G router for wireless internet.
Battery? ask someone how long it lasts - if it's anywhere between 2-4 hours, it's fine. Learn how to optimize your battery by turning off useless things on your laptop.
Ok hope that helps.
Bye.

Answer 2

No No No, do not buy that, I am sure he is a good friend, however, you can go to Best Buy and get a brand new one with all those features and more for half the price. The down side is you will have to put out 700.00, but you get a rebate for 400.00 cash back. Now has never been a better time to buy a lap top. I seen one the other Day at Wal-Mart for 300.00 after rebate. I am self taught, but I do know a lot about computers. You are welcome to email me and I will help you if you want. I hope this helps. My two cents worth. All new lap tops have tech support, just remember if you use it at home while plugged into a receptacle, take the battery out, I learned that the hard way.

Answer 3

first, lemme give you my suggestion

dell inspirion e1405
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/entnb_e1405?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Intel® Core™ Proc Solo T1350 (1.86GHz/533MHz/1 X 2MB L2 Cache)
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition with re-installation CD
14.1 inch Wide Screen XGA Display
512MB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHZ, 1 DIMM
80GB Sata Hard Drive
24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Integrated Audio
53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Wireless Card Only: Dell Wireless 1390b/g (54Mbps)
Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
Starter pack- Basic and trial products from Corel and Yahoo
1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support
6 Months America Online Internet Access Included
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Award Winning Service, Support
Windows Vista™ CapableCompatibility Alert

>> $ 674

firstly, lots of changes in notebook technology underway presently.
The dell inspirion e1405 is much superior in almost all aspects & costs much less.

if i were u i'd straight away buy the inspirion & not even try & bargain for a price reduction on the durebook.

could cause mis-understandings & souring of relations !

believe me, go in for the inspirion & yes i would like to add a few more items to make it a great system
by the way, u do not need win xp-pro, xp-home is good enuf 4 u & best part is the os in the inspirion is win xp media centre 2005, which is simply great

lemme know u'r views & we can configure accordingly !
___________________

now 6 days on, the above is no longer valid !

the inspirion e1405 no longer ships with a solo core
duo cores ONLY !

>> see technology change . . .
am sure the core 2 duo's gonna become cheaper & affordable
i mean the t7x00 processors
& here u are, still stuck with a pile of junk ...
r u returning a favour or somethin, dear ?

Answer 4

This is too much!! This is used equipment and it has to have the latest Windows OS and if so this is a slow machine !! If you are using it for any sort of technical or engineering task Perhaps a 625 price is more reasonable!
Obviously price is a concern for a student so ask for a discount! After all it is a machine with no warranty and obsolete!
If you are smart and think ahead get a MAC that can RUN 3 Operating systems simultaneously! OSX, WINDOWS XP and LINUX! and comes with preloaded software and warranty! Check the 1099 price here!
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wo/0.RSLID?mco=A4791B5D&nclm=MacBook

Answer 5

Well snowflake, let's not dance around your questions: I'll lead you through the steps to a greater understanding of laptops and this one in particular. As always, you may contact me independently for clarification.

The Battery is Lithium Ion Technology. This is opposed to the older Nickel-Metal Hydride which had the bad habit of remembering its levels when it was recharged and losing its ability to become fully charged, requiring periodic reconditioning.
That doesn't apply to Litihium Ion Technology. Some Laptop owners want more batteries so they can spend more hours away from the electrical grid, that's a lifestyle decision for you to ponder.

The Communications 802.11BG is wireless networking under the B and G wireless fidelity (wifi) standards. I'll give you a wikipedia link for more on wireless networking standards. This means the laptop is already set up for and includes wireless networking on the 802.11B and 802.11G standards, which are up to 11 and 54 megabits maximum speeds, respectively.

Metaphorically, memory is like your desktop space, it's the amount of space you can use at one time, to spread out a project while you are working on it. If you have a really big project, instead of using your desk, you go down the hall and use the conference table. To me 512 MB is a small amount, and I'd be asking what is the maximum amount that the laptop can be expanded to hold. 512MB is perhaps the amount it comes with, but how much can you add to it, and for what additional cost?

Continuing the metaphor, the other kind of memory, is storage, and for that I'll talk about a filing cabinet or a closet. You can store a lot of files or projects in a cabinet or a closet, but you can't really work with them while they're in there. So to work with a file, you copy it out of the filing cabinet, into memory (onto the tabletop) and work with it there, then when you are done, you write it back into the filing cabinet.

It's important to remember that storage is designed to hold its contents without power being maintained, and memory generally is not, so memory is considered "volatile" or temporary. If you have any more questions about the two kinds of memory, please let me know, I'd be happy to clarify it further.

If you've ever listened to music, the number of beats per minute will determine the pace at which the piece progresses. a Pianist with a metronome will pace themselves to play according to the pace of the beat of the metronome, and in a computer, the metronome is the system clock. A system clock of 1.6 GHz is just a number... fast or slow is relative to your budget and what else is out there. As a grad student, you have the ability to borrow oodles of money, but do you want oodles of debt? Just because you can get your hands on more money and can get a faster machine do you need to? The newer machines are faster, but they cost more. There may be better deals out there. I haven't looked yet. My two laptops are older, and 500 and 633 MHz, so roughly 1/3 the speed of this one. I also got mine used last year for $150.00.

You should know that laptops cost more than the same specs in a desktop, and the same specs in a desktop the desktop will be faster than the laptop every time. That's because the methods they use to make a laptop consume less power involves tradeoffs against speed for lower heat output or lower power consumption.

The video sounds comparable to your desktop, in fact it sounds large for a laptop. One tends to sit closer to a laptop than to a desktop, and one tends to get all of the space on a LCD display useable, as opposed to having some of a CRT display hidden behind a bezel.

When considering a laptop, there are traditional laptops (with keyboards), tablets (without keyboards, and you write on them with a stylus) and convertibles (they have both). Also, you can attach a keyboard to most tablets. Software like Microsoft OneNote lets you take notes in a lecture and convert it directly to text, or search your handwriting... pretty neat stuff, but to fully use that you'll need to be able to input with a stylus, so a convertible or tablet (or a digitizing pad with a traditional laptop) would be the way to go) for that.

I hope this either helps set your mind at ease, or sparks more questions.

Experienced Newbie is an I.T. Professional that became a Hardware Technician in 1980, and A Network Specialiast in 1983, and holds multiple Industry Networking Certifications, then went back to University to persue their own education.

-EN-

Answer 6

it's descent and yes depends on your standards it is outdated already but depends on what you use it for it might just serve you well through your grad years

A good laptop is one that'll last for at least 4 years without any problems

You can have the best litium battery but if your laptop draws a lot of power, it an't going to last very long
WL 802.11BG just means you have wireless in 2 modes built in

you can easily get a new laptop for less than $600

Answer 7

Battery: L1-10N lithium ion battery only kind they make
WL-802.11BG is wireless..wifi
1.6 ghz is the speed, that's an average speed for a new laptop
Memory: 512 MB that is your ram. ram is memory that is faster than what's stored on the hard drive, but is wiped clean when you turn your computer off. the more you have the better it runs. 512 mb is common for a new laptop.
HDD 40 gb that's your hard drive. where you store your information. files photos, music, what ever..

newegg.com has that computer listed at $1140
ttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834226022

amazon.com has it at $1049
http://www.amazon.com/Twinhead-Durabook-Resistant-Notebook-Processor/dp/B000FI6WG8

you do the math.

my opinion though:
this one from dell is the better value:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/entnb_e1705?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs at $850

Answer 8

you should check http://www.tigerdirect.com they have very good deals for low prices and delivery is very fast.Right now they have a Gateway 6518GZ Notebook PC
Gateway 6518GZ Intel Pentium M 1.7GHz / 802.11g Wireless / 15.4-Inch WXGA / 512MB DDR / 60GB HDD / DVDRW / Windows XP Home for only $579.97 and many other offers. hope this helps.

Answer 9

For that price you'd be better off buying a brand new one.

Answer 10

I agree. Buy something new where you can get very reliable tech support.