I'm starting grad school this fall and I"m in the market for a laptop since my 5 year old Dell desktop is showing it's age, but has been flawless as far as reliability
I'm thinking Dell is the way to go, but Im open to all brands.

What are some features that y'all recommend I order? I'm not much of a computer guy; I simply want a fast, reliable machine with Microsoft office, wireless card, and some stationary speakers, mouse, and keyboard.

Any advice?

 

Laptops include b/g wireless internet nowadays as well as the mouse keyboard and speakers. You will have to buy Office sperately but get the Office Home and Student 2007 edition cause it has Word, Excel, and Powerpoint (the basics) and is the cheapest. About 179.99.

Get a dual core for sure, but this should be standard. based on what you do you could go for a 17" monitor but it will be a larger and heavier laptop.

1GB of ram is standard but futureproof yourself with going with 2gb. Hard-drive you will be fine with about 160GB depending on what you need to do.

Just remember, it's easy to add Ram, hard drive space, and software. But processors and screens are almost locked in.

 

Ive been shopping for laptops too and Dell is the only thing Im looking at.

I have an Inspiron 1721 all built up, pretty much just need to hit the order button and its mine.
At the moment they have a few deals goin on with it now...
Free upgrade to a 160GB hard drive and 2GB of ram. 259 bucks off. 8% off if you get a 3 or 4 year warranty and the laptop cost between 800 and 1600 bucks (ended up being 107 bucks off the one I have figured).
Dell also has a thing with certian colleges (all you need is a .edu email address and be attending one of the schools that is on the list) and you can get 250 bucks off. I was lucky enough that my sister is going to one of the colleges on the list

The laptop comes out to $1,572.00, but I will end up getting it for right around 950 bucks.


Anywho, just a few things that might turn you on to Dell a little more, although I see you were already considering them.

 

While I'm not a fan of Dell (owned one once), if advertising helps you decide then, based on the new commercial, the Dell XPS is the way to go.

Very cool spot what with DEVO's "Work It" and it being all Black, White, and Red. (Great Art Direction)

http://www.adweek.com/aw/creative/ad...id=1003616159#

If you haven't seen it it's worth a look.

Otherwise, y'all know where I stand.

 

i own a Sony Vaio and its the best laptop ive ever owned...they are a little bit more expensive but are worth the money in my opinon...hope that helps...

 

I would say sony vaio

 

went and looked at the HP and Toshiba last night, both were more expensive than the Dell.
I'm looking at the Dell Inspiron 1720 or 1721 online....good choice?

 

Take that with a grain of salt


For one you're on the wrong forums to be asking what laptop to get. You need to go to http://www.notebookreview.com/ and read up.
Good thing about going with dell is the warranty. Since you don't know jack about computers that's your best bet. If you had any experiance with laptops I'd recommend something else.

I would recommend getting the smaller screen laptops if you plan to carry it around alot though.

 

I bought my Toshiba Satellite last Febuary, after Windows Vista was released at Best Buy, the Laptop was on sale for $1000.00 & I purchased their Performance Guarantee Warrantee for $300.00, I can literally drop this unit on the floor & they will give me a new one.........I could not be any happier with it..................

 

Go for the HP, I wish I had. I bought a Dell 1705 the first of the year, all it does is give me fits, and they aren't real helpful.

Had an HP before with virtually no problems.

 

I was looking at those before I decided on a desktop. You can get a good one for about $1500.