In need of some help...

[Rami]

To all techno gurus,

I am starting a new gig in late January, teaching at a four year school a couple of days a week.

In order to meet their requirements, I need to get a laptop with the following specifications...

http://it.bridgew.edu/notebooks/Specs.cfm

I also don't have $950 - $1000 dollars right now to spend on a new rig, especially with two kids and another due in march. I am also not 100% fluent in techno jargon. Could someone please help me? Are there any good buys going on right now? :isadizzy:

Thanks,
A friend in need.

[The B24 Guy]

Hi Rami,

You might like this. Execpt for Office it should do the trick.

http://www.buy.com/prod/ibm-thinkpad-t43-notebook-intel-pentium-730-1-6ghz-1g-ram-80gb-hdd-14/q/loc/101/210251212.html

Regards,
B24Guy

[Jagdflieger]

Rami,

I had to buy a lap top quickly before an assignment last year. I didn't have time to research it very well so I grabbed one at the PX and flew. I got the HP Pavilion Db 291 Ous and I'm pretty satisfied with it other than for the Vista op system. I'd dump that part for XP in a minute. That being the case, if you get a used lap top, I'd recomend getting one with XP on it, a decent video card or ability and at least a gig of RAM and a DVD reader/writer. If you use it in a school setting, you might consider wifi for it for comunicating with your students if they send you homework on line.

I bought mine with an eye to someday installing a flight/combat sim on it so it has good video capability, but so far I've only used it for internet, unclassified work and to watch a movie now and then when I'm on assignment.

What courses will you be teaching?

[Rami]

I'd rather have XP as well. I am trouble-free with XP Pro, Service pack 3.

This is the "official" laptop given by BSC: http://www.dell.com/downloads/ap/products/latit/LAT_D630_1007_NEW.pdf

[The B24 Guy]

Hi Rami,

If they are including the operating system and MS Office it is just about worth it. IMO.

But, if you can use the free Office replacement by Sun Micro then you can,t beat a good used IBM. IMO.

I bought my wife a T-43 for Xmas it was 1.4 ghz and only 512mb of memory but it was only $300.00. Memory is cheep right now so I have an upgrade on order. 2 gig for $30.00 bucks. I have always liked IBM laptops, not a lot of bling, but they are built like tanks.

Good luck with the Job.
B24Guy

P.S. I bet you can deduct it from your taxes.

[Devildog73]

Rami, Buy it with minimum RAM.
I have two sticks of 1 Gig each for Dell laptops. They are DDR2 200P, 667 x 1Gig each.

I have you address and can send them to you as long as they match your new laptop. (No cost to you).

I upgraded to 4 Gigs, (with XP I only benefit from 3.37Gig), but it is faster.
Like Jagd, I dumped Vista and put XP on mine. Flawless now ever since.

Also, one of my sons-in-law just bought my daugher, a new laptop from Best Buy on sale. Last year's models are fine, just cheaper.

[Tango_Romeo]

....pretty basic laptop in today's market. You can certainly pickup an ACER or Dell in the class for about $500. :wavey:

I got an ACER in this class last year for $400 on sale. :jump:

[safn1949]

I just bought a Toshiba satellite A305 to replace my A215 for $550 at best buy,2 gig intell T 5800 dual core,3 gigs of ram and so on.I sold the other one only because I wanted an upgrade,the Toshibas have been flawless.
It will do anything you need to do.
I know you guys hate Vista but if you download the tweakguide from tweakguides.com and also do a cleanboot it runs like a champ,I have been running it for over a year with no problems.