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Need help buying a laptop!

19 years ago

I need to buy a laptop. I have never used one. I haven't the faintest idea what to get on the computer. I know I want a wireless and that I want to be able to check my emails and to use the Paint Shop Pro Program. I think I would be happy with a 14.5" screen. I have a Dell PC and have Norton Antivirus, Windows XP, Word for Windows I can use????? Help please. Thanks, Charlene

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Comments (5)

floorman67
19 years ago
I have been using, building, and buying computers since the mid 80's and have found that you just cant beat Dell Computers for the price, support, and customer service combination. I dont even build them anymore because Dells prices are so low that it makes building them not worth the time and effort when I can buy one prebuilt and software preinstalled for a few hundred price difference.

I have had terrible experiences with Hewlett Packard and Gateway. I wouldnt even recommend them to my enemies, so I advise against buying from those companies. Deplorable customer service, and very glitchy hardware that needed to be replaced frequently. I had a gateway like 7 years ago that went through 2 motherboards, 4 hard drives, 2 cd drives, and 2 monitors. Supports, while polite, was time consuming, as was the patrs replacement scheduling and delivery. My experience with HP was bad customer service. They didnt know much and all they seemed to do was regurgitate from a manual. Dell reps, the one or two times i have used thenm, seemed to know their stuff and work with me knowledgably to solve issues I was incapable of solving on my own, plus they have an excellent online resource for issues.

I do not recommend norton products ... almost all of their products are huge system resource hogs.

McAfee is my choice in that area for email, virus, firewall, and enviroment protection. Very low on system resource consumption and complete protection. We get the whole McAfee Protection Suite free with our Comcast Internet Service, so I also recommend comcast cable internet if available to you.

Dell still offers Windows XP over glitchy Vista.
genes
19 years ago
I have owned nothing but laptops and have dealt exclusively with Toshiba and IBM (before they were bought out by Lenovo. Have not had any problems with any of them that I didnt create myself...lol.
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I have the HP a1130n which may be an older model than yours, but I have no problem at all working with photos. I did upgrade my RAM to 3GB, and I use CCleaner to get rid of temporary files and clean cache before I run defrag about once a month. You might also want to check your startup to see what's running and using resources as mk suggested. I use the free version of WinPatrol to alert me whenever a new program wants to run in startup. I also agree that if you want to stay within the amount you mentioned, you don't want a laptop because one in that price range will not have the "guts" for lots of photo editing.
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Using the virtual machine for running older xp programs is a very good idea, however you have to understand how to set it up and you might want to have someone help you with that if you choose to get a newer version of windows. The 2 gigs is the amount of RAM memory it has and for xp that should be workable. As to why it is so slow, lots of things can contribute to that from infection, malware, number of programs, and possibly it needs a defrag and disc cleanup. If you are buying it from a business ask for them to do the cleanups before you buy it. Check out the websites for the software you are using they often times offer an updated driver etc to have the program work on the newer version of windows. For a business I would really recommend moving to at least windows 7 for security reasons since very soon Microsoft will not be providing any type of updates including security related ones. I also just read an article about some of the antivirus companies moving away from supporting xp. It really is going to be fairly obsolete after the end of life date. So for the safety of your files etc you will want to be looking to move forward.
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mikie_gw
19 years ago
Get a lightweight if you're not going to set it at your desk and leave it. Laptops are heavy to cart around.

Get one with a long battery life if its going to set on your lap alot as those will run a bit cooler. )laptops get hot on your lap!)

You probably want some extra memory with Photoshop, get as much as you can afford. Memory speeds up photoshop, it works ok but really is a bit slow with basic amounts of memory.

I'm a toshiba user,, never a problem.
Buy any extended warranttee you want directly from the laptop maker. Look to see whats available pretty soon after purchase, you may only have 30 days more or less to buy it.
Dont buy that warrantee from mr retailer at bestbuy, circuit city, sears, online etailer, etc.

Under six pounds and otherwise the cheapest Toshiba or IBM with added memory and longish battery life,,, I need one too.
grandms
19 years ago
I've had two desktops and my current laptop from HP. I have NEVER had a problem with any of them. I also own a Dell laptop that is so bare-bones (yes, it came with "upgraded" 256MB of RAM), it is no longer usable. I cannot add more RAM myself. I have upgraded RAM on both my HP desktops with no problem, and I consulted with the online tech help before the latest upgrade just to make sure I was doing it right. In a couple of months I will be adding another GB of RAM to the laptop. When I was considering buying the new laptop last fall, I compared Dell and HP, and I got lots more bang for my buck with HP.

There HAS to be a reason why HP has overtaken Dell in sales this year. Dells are good, but so is HP. Just one person's experience as is floorman's comments.
roseluver
Original Author
19 years ago
I never thought of a lightweight, great feature to have. Also it never crossed my mind to ask about long battery life..thanks for that tip!! Floorman67 I sent you an email. Thanks ya'll keep those tips coming. Charlene

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