Scoping out Laptops

[Pixie]

Hey all,

Once again I need my smart savy tech friend's help. As you know by now I am not all that competent with computer whatnot, but I am looking at getting myself a laptop. I was hoping y'all could help me understand some basic things I need to know in order to shop for one, as well as any reviews/commentary in your experiences. Also, I am looking at a tight tight student budget, so I am going to be picky but as inexpensive as I can be.

What do I start with? I need a laptop that has the basics: internet, Microsoft office, ability to play music, movies, maybe store some music, photography, etc. Other than, it doesn't need to be all that fancy. I wouldn't mind being able to game on it, but I know that steps up the price quite a bit, so maybe some basic guidelines on what will get me what for what cost would be helpful. In a year or two I plan on/hope, with help (cough cough - Mack) to build a good PC desktop.

I would love to only spend a couple hundred, but I am not sure if that will get me something I will be happy with. (Although with y'all's help I know I can find great deals if you show me where to look and what to look for maybe?). I can/will be patient till there is a good deal. If it is too much money right now, I will just wait. I just sorta "need" the portablility of the laptop now for school.

Thanks for reading this, and thanks in advance for your help!

[Majik]

Sorry Pixie,but your "basic" machine is really a pretty high end one. Why? Once you start adding the ability to play things like movies your bringing the cost up. But on the bright side, a machine that can decently play movies should also be able to game fairly well too.
You want MS Office, but if you don't HAVE to have it, you might want to consider getting Open Office. It's free and I hear good things about it all the time. Course the downside to that is that almost everyone grew up with MS Office and word etc etc, so you'd basically be learning a new program.
Another plus is that laptops are indeed getting cheaper and cheaper nowadays. You should be able to get something for around $500 that would have been a couple of grand a few years ago.

[Pixie]

Wow, I figured watching movies was a basic function of laptops now days. Ok, so say I save up for a while and look at a higher price range. What should I be looking for in the future?

[Pixie]

Perhaps I should ask what kind of websites do you trust the reviews on for this sort of thing. Also, I am willing to look at Netbooks, which I noticed drops the price down dramatically as well.

[Your Hero Jed]

Steam is supposed to work on Macs soon so i hear.

[Pixie]

I have had a lot of recent experience with a MacBook Pro and am not a fan. It does the job, but I will not personally buy one anytime soon.

[pesetas]

Be sure to A) check the upgradeability, ie-installing additonal ram slots, graphics card if needed at a later date and,

B) BATTERY LIFE. This is a must!

[*FDB*Hakko]

I just heard that the larger the screen, the shorter the battery life.

[StrongMAD]

This: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834107044 should be more than enough for what you'd want a school-ish laptop for. Don't know about the battery life though. Getting down to 2-300 dollars is tough if you want something bigger than a netbook, though some CAN play movies quite nicely, they don't come with a DVD drive, so you have to crossload differently.

[Pixie]

Well, I gave in and purchased myself a laptop. It is a MSi A600 I believe. Mack helped me find a deal on it at $399. The weakest link of it is the graphics card which is still good enough to TF2 with. (Yahoo!)

It's awesome to finally have my own! Thanks for your help y'all (Especially Mack!)