Fire Millen
01-03-2005, 12:23 PM
I want to buy my wife a laptop. Since i dont know a whole lot about computers (okay i'm clueless)
Basically she'll be using it for her final semeter in college starts med school next year. She wants wireless internet for both at home and at school (is that possible?) She'll pretty much be using it for writing papers, sending emails and going online. Money isn't really a problem, but like i said before i dont want to get ripped off.
thanks...
Kevin Forbes
01-03-2005, 01:01 PM
off the top of my head I would suggest the ThinkPad R51
http://pcworld.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php?masterid=2555171
A good all around laptop, offers plenty of features such as a comfortable keyboard, long battery life and light-weight (5.5 pounds). The Thinkpad is expandable, easy to put in more memory or a larger hard drive if need be.
Set you back just under 1500 judging from the quotes on the link provided. A decent price for an all-purpose notebook.
As for the question about wireless internet. The Thinkpad does come with a wireless card, and as long as she can gain access to a wireless network at school (provided it exists), then that should go fine. The same goes for setting up a wireless network in your home.
My experience has been that wireless cards will just detect the transmissions and try to tap into them, but I'm not completely sure on that. For using it at her school, talk to the tech services there to make sure she's all set up.
Kerberos*
01-03-2005, 01:53 PM
Using laptops for an extended period of time can be very hard on the neck and hands. Make sure beforehand that a desktop is not an option and if a laptop is a necessity, be sure to get a docking station, and a mouse, keyboard and extra monitor that she can use when at home.
There's a student discount for Apple iBook laptops, where you can get one for under $1000. Even if you order one with Airport wireless and extra memory, and a DVD burner, it'll still come in at less than most Windows laptops. Unless she needs something Windows-specific, you might want to check it out.
http://www.apple.com/education/hed/students/discounts.html
Rattrick
01-04-2005, 07:43 AM
CompUSA has a really good deal this week. I recommended it for someone else who bought it and it's a really nice laptop. The AMD processors are really good for laptops because they don't run as hot as an oven like the Intels do.http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=315189&pfp=BROWSE