Looking for a new computer
 

A friend is looking for some guidance... Here is what I got from her.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

I'm in the Apple camp. With the warranty, I've had the battery replaced, two hard drives replaced and a couple of check ups in the last three years no questions asked. It runs everything. I'm a happy camper. I now own an iMac, a thirteen inch macbook for the wife and my 15 inch. (heh).

I like C/Net's Reviews as a starting point.

My 4 year old Toshiba still runs like a champ.

Sams club , HP , get as Much Processer , memory , Video , and hd as you can afford
new egg generly has good prices to

think in the $700 ish range , yes you can go cheper and LOTS More expencive , but $700ish is a decent range and will generly last for 5-10 years befor it is Soo out of date that its time to make a quantum leap

just my opinion , im shure it will be picked apart by the Puter Wizzes on here

Thanks guys. Lookin for more specifics. Oh and the $5- 600 range was just added in as some more. I dunno anything about laptops. I hate the ones I've used so far.
But I know some people love 'em and thats what she is looking for so ...

Sony Vios are suposed to be Pretty good from what i hear

Yeah, you need very specific information about what a laptop should or shouldn't have and such.

I'm not a laptopper eitiher (probably never used one enough to get used to it) and I wouldn't have a clue about what levels of each hardware thingys are best, nominal, or worst.

I love laptops, and I've been saving my pennies to buy myself one sometime around Christmas. Once I have my new laptop, the crummy e-machine PC I now use is going to spend most of its time stored under my desk.

For specifics, I am currently lusting after the Toshiba Portege R835 with a price starting around $749 - $799. Your friend might like its custom Toshiba software utilities: ReelTime displays recent documents and Web pages in thumbnail form along the bottom of the screen, and Bulletin Board combines photos and notes in a single work space.

The OS is Windows 7 Home Premium and the size is 13 inch.

Lots of other info on different configurations, various specs, etc. can be found here.

For the stated purposes, your friend needs a big hard drive, but only average processor speed and RAM.

Hard drive and RAM are pretty straightforward, more is better. It is good to have RAM with upgradable capacity which gives you an option for improving your machine as it ages.

This site http://www.cpubenchmark.net/index.php assesses CPUs. Nerds all around the world log their new systems onto it to see how fast they can go. The site runs them through some standard tests and records and shares the results. It has over 1,200 CPUs rated, most of them obsolete, but all current ones are there.

It is worth studying the list before you visit a shop to get an idea of the level of detail of information you would need. Most mass-market stores (well, here, anyway) will just write "Intel core i3" and expect you to be impressed.

Turns out the choices are more like
The processing speed scores for these models vary from 1650 to 4478, around 2.5 times faster.

Your friend doesn't need a really wizz-bang processor. An i3 or maybe an i5 would probably be suitable. An i7 would be overkill.

I bought a Samsung R780 last year and I'm very happy with it. Enough power for work (programming - C#, SQL Server, etc. ) and fun (even games).

Mine is as follows:

Core i5-460M@2.66GHz
4GB DDR3
500 MB Hard Disk (SATA II)
nVidia GeForce GT 330M with 1GB
Screen 17,3" HD
Double Layer DVD

4 USB 2.0 sockets (1 doubling as eSata)
VGA
HDMI
Ethernet 1Gb/s
WiFi 802.11 n/b.g
Card Slot 4-in-1 (SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC)

Price at that time was around 820 €. I got it through a special offer at 720 €.

newegg.com and tigerdirect.com both have some great deals on laptops right now. Many well within your price range and more than enough specs for the kind of use it is destined for. Check them out

I like my Vaio, but I don't like the keyboard. It doubles letters all the time on me. I have not been able to figure out how to make the keys less sensitive. Other than that, it's slick as owl shit and for only $635 a year ago.

She just missed a QVC TSV of a really nice looking Dell.

I've gotten my last three computers from them (over a period of about 10 years, one of them is a netbook and wasn't intended to replace an older computer, but to be more convenient for travelling.

I've had a hand in 5 or 6 laptop purchases over the last few years.

Mantras have been ( with some advice from the cellar and other places)
-go low, unless you need gaming or some other high eprformance application, buy the cheapest laptop that's good enough they don't last more than a few years anyway
-lowest priced brands that are not cheap crap are Dell and HP. generally HP are cheaper unless you snag a deal. Nearly all the laptops have been HP's, I think Monsters is a Dell because she wanted it yestreday and there was a good deal at Best Buy.

I think the last two were sub $500, and plenty decent.