[fastandfuzzy]

Im not very good with computers so I thought I would ask some people who know what they're doing. Im about to order a comp from cyberpower.com and I asked a few friends and this is what we came up with. http://www.cyberpowe...x647500.asp?v=d
I wanted a second opinion because I am going to be spending $1000 dollars on this so I came here. Im going to outline what I need it for so that I can help you get a better feel for what kind of specifacations it needs.

First and foremost it needs a wireless network card or a port where I can put one. We have a microsoft wireless network router that the dsl is connected to so it gives my computer now the ability to go on the internet because my computer now has a network card.

Secondly I need to be able to store a good ammount of music around 500 songs with room for growth. I will also probaly use it for pictures from my camera. Im thinking 40 GB will be enough but im not sure if I will need 60.

Other than those two things the only other thing I need it for is school work which entails installing Microsoft Office.

Lastly the budget issue. One of the reasons I picked one of Cyberpowers pre-built models is I dont feel like waiting two months for them to build it because something or another gets back ordered and they take their sweet little time. Id like to keep it around $1000 - $1100 but if I really need to upgrade something I think I can find the money somewhere or another. Thanks for all the help ahead of time.

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I am also looking for something like that but if you want my opinion I would stick with a cheaper dell maybe the Inspiron 6000 it is really cheap and will work well with all the stuff you need it to do.

[Cloud Striffe]

I am also looking for something like that but if you want my opinion I would stick with a cheaper dell maybe the Inspiron 6000 it is really cheap and will work well with all the stuff you need it to do.

[fastandfuzzy]

Iv dealt with dell before, it took them two months to get a Mp3 player to me. I've also heard they are expensive.

[Cloud Striffe]

Wow that sucks but the 6000 is under $1000 with its 25% off thing right now

[warriorscot]

Dell generally have a good rep especially with laptops. 80 GB for an HD is the current low to mid end laptop standard at the mo so expect to get 80 gigs for your money no less.
Also open office is free and is as good if not better than microsoft office try it see if you like it, the GUI isnt as polished as the new office, its more like 2000 but it has all the features of the latest office.

[OneCool]

Ive had my Dell lapper for about a 2 years now and its been great


I had one problem and they fixed it with no questions.


Inspiron 5100

[bmc2k7]

DO NOT ORDER FROM Cyber Power...They are sneaky and unfriendly to their customers regarding service of there computers. I am still in the midst of a deal I made with them back in May. They took the full 10 buiseness days (2 weeks) to ship it and then it took 6 days for ups to get it here. Their tech support is no good and they take over a month to repair a damaged computer. Your best bet is to order from someone else or go to a local store. The time is not worth the money.

Also this is the best deal I have seen http://www.bestbuy.c...d=1118839463450
The IGP 200 motherboard is based on the x300 graphics and is very decent + the AMD 64 3500+ is a very exceptional processor. Plus its from BestBuy and Compaq. They are among the easiest to deal with.

Edited by bmc2k7, 11 July 2005 - 05:12 PM.

[fastandfuzzy]

Iv heard good things about cyberpower and Iv ordered from them myself once. I need to know if this setup is right for me so keep the opinions coming. I was thinking about getting the 60 GB 7200 RPM hard drive or maybe 1024 RAM I can't decide.

[fastandfuzzy]

I don't mean to double post but, I really need help with this and I have a few questions.

DISPLAY LCD : 15.0" WXGA WIDE-SCREEN TFT LCD DISPLAY Max: 1280x800 PIXELS
CPU : AMD MOBILE ATHLON™64 3400+ CPU w/ Hyper Transport Technology
MOTHERBOARD : NV Crush K8M Chipset Mainboard
MEMORY : 1024 MB PC3200 400MHz DDR MEMORY (Standard Major Brand)
HARD DRIVE : 60GB 7200RPM ULTRA ATA 100 HARD DRIVE
VIDEO CARD : ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 128MB Video
OPTICAL DRIVE : 8X DVD & 24/16/24 CDRW COMBO DRIVE
SOUND : BUILT-IN AC 97 SOUND

Those are the current specs of the laptop Im considering I was wondering if It would get to hot and overheat. The other thing I was concerned about was how long of a battery life will it have? It has a Li-Ion 8-Cell PACK, 14.4V x4400 mAh but Im not a laptop expert so I really dont know.

[Cloud Striffe]

That sounds like a pretty nice computer. I am pretty sure that you would be alright with your heat issue. I don't think that it would overheat because you aren't using anything that gets too terribly hot. Are you gettin this from ibuypower.com? If you really want a system that uses low power and has a high battery life look at the systems with the Mobile M processor from Intel. I myself am getting an XPS from dell and I have looked at alot of the benchs done with the pentium M and they can stand there own with some of the top mid level desktop processors and they use less power.

[fastandfuzzy]

I got prices from Ibuypower and Cyberpowersystems and it seems to me like Cyberpowersystems is going to be cheaper. This isn't a desktop processor its a AMD Athlon 64 Mobile processor. If I were to change something to get more battery time what would it be? Im seriously considering going to down to 512 RAM instead of 1024. Anyone have any expierence with Ibuypower.com ?

Edited by fastandfuzzy, 14 July 2005 - 12:51 PM.

[Cloud Striffe]

If you want my advice I would go with a Dell and just upgrade your ram. That is a cheap way out. And the systems can possibly have a very high battery life.

[warriorscot]

You cant really expect much battery life from a laptop like that an hour, two at the most if you are careful. There are basically two types of laptops: desktop replacements(like what you are looking at) and proper laptops lightweight low power usage machines built for people on the move that dont want to play games on it.
Although for battery life, the batteries themselves are continously improving nano batteries will be available in a couple of years that should have several times the battery life and charge in minutes, so its not the biggest factor when buying a laptop like that, they are meant to run on mains most of the time.

[Tornel]

I'm looking into buying a laptop, but I'm a little confused on video cards. I've been to many sites where you can customize your own laptop(Toshiba, cyberpowersystem,ibuypower, and others), and I've seen a few different ones on the higher end choices. I've seen the Mobile Radeon 9700 128Mb&256Mb, the ATI X600 256Mb, and the Nvidia 6800 Go. I was wondering which one is better for gaming. The Nvidia seems to be more expensive, so if I could get by with the ATI ones it would be great.

[warriorscot]

None of them are good for gaming per say but the x600 and 6800Go will give you the best performance.