Pretty much the only thing I'm going to do is surf the net at sports/news type sites and play text sims.

I'm leaning towards something that is easy to order from Dell, anyone have any advice as to what would be best - maybe in the 1k range or so?

Pretty much the only thing I'm going to do is surf the net at sports/news type sites and play text sims.

I'm leaning towards something that is easy to order from Dell, anyone have any advice as to what would be best - maybe in the 1k range or so?

Wow, I was about to start my own thread on buying a laptop. I am also looking for a simple laptop in the $1,000 price range which can be used for typical writing/photography/music tasks while also playing text sims. I've been looking at both the Dell Inspiron 6000 and the Apple iBook G4, fwiw. Have you looked at either of these? Any thoughts on them?

Wow, I was about to start my own thread on buying a laptop. I am also looking for a simple laptop in the $1,000 price range which can be used for typical writing/photography/music tasks while also playing text sims. I've been looking at both the Dell Inspiron 6000 and the Apple iBook G4, fwiw. Have you looked at either of these? Any thoughts on them?

I saw a Dell notebook that nets out at about $950. It had a Pentium M and looked pretty good. I don't know if XP Home is something I should avoid though. That price is without Office, but I can add that pretty easily through work.

I guess I'm wondering what the best specs are for games like OOTP and FM.

I saw a Dell notebook that nets out at about $950. It had a Pentium M and looked pretty good. I don't know if XP Home is something I should avoid though. That price is without Office, but I can add that pretty easily through work.

I guess I'm wondering what the best specs are for games like OOTP and FM.

The Inspiron 6000 looks like it has a pretty good setup and you can upgrade the memory, hard drive and video card and still keep the system under $1,000 using coupons found at Fat Wallet. Yes, the system does not include Office but it sounds like that won't be a problem for you.

The trick for running text sims is basically the more memory, the better, right? That's been the approach which I've been taking when doing research because I know I won't be playing Doom 3 on any laptop I buy.

I saw a Dell notebook that nets out at about $950. It had a Pentium M and looked pretty good. I don't know if XP Home is something I should avoid though. That price is without Office, but I can add that pretty easily through work.

I guess I'm wondering what the best specs are for games like OOTP and FM.

I'd just load heavily on RAM with a moderate processor if money's a concern.

I'd just load heavily on RAM with a moderate processor if money's a concern.

It's not really, if $1,500 would get me something significantly better then that's fine. Is there a big difference in the M processors?

It's not really, if $1,500 would get me something significantly better then that's fine. Is there a big difference in the M processors?

I don't have enough money to find out. :D I've run all text sim games, and FM with a 1.8 ghz and 1 gig of ram on my desktop and have had absolutely no problems. Today I bought my first laptop for $500, it has a 1.5 ghz, and only 256 mb of ram. I'm going to be hitting the next ram sale pretty hard.

I bought a Dell 700m a few weeks back. No problems thus far. If you'll be moving it around alot, there isn't a comparable machine in the price range.

Don't forget about T&L. This should almost be one of the first things you ask about in a discounted laptop.

i would have to suggest looking on ebay. there are many a good deals on new computers there.

It's not really, if $1,500 would get me something significantly better then that's fine. Is there a big difference in the M processors?

for a laptop, i would stay away from a p4 machine. i have a p4 gateway and a toshiba m65 that i just bought with a pentium m. the m is much quieter, and it seems to be handling ehm better than my old 2.1p4.

This is what I just ordered from Sam's Club, before I read "Hurst2112" had to say. It is going for $1650 before tax.

Features



Processor and Memory:
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 630 with HT Technology (3.0GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache)
2048MB 533MHz System Memory (2 Dimm)
Maximum Memory 2048MB
Accessible Memory Slots: 2
ATI Mobility Radeon® X600 with 128MB DDR (dedicated)
Hard Drive and Multimedia Drives:

100GB (4200RPM) Hard Drive
DVD±R/RW and CD-RW Combo Drive with Double Layer Support
6-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Sticks, Memory Stick Pro, SmartMedia or xD Picture cards
Integrated USB Digital Bay for USB Digital Drive
Audio, Video, and Graphics:

Altec Lansing Audio
17.0" WXGA+ High-Definition BrightView Widescreen wide viewing resolution (1440 x 900)
ATI Mobility Radeon® PCI Express x 600 graphics and 128MB (dedicated)
Volume control button and mute button
Data, Fax, and Modem:

Integrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)
6-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader* for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Sticks, Memory Stick Pro, SmartMedia or xD Picture cards
54g™ 802.11b/g WLAN with 125HSM/SpeedBooster™ support
High speed 56k modem
Ports:

4 Universal Serial Bus USB 2.0
1 VGA (15-pin)
1 RJ-11 (modem)
1 TV-Out (S-video)
1 RJ -45 (LAN)
1 Expansion Port 2 connector
1 headphone-out
1 microphone-in
1 IEEE 1394 (4-pin)
1 Consumer IR (Remote Receiver)
Keyboard and Pointing Device:

Notebook keyboard with scroll bar and integrated numeric keypad and 2 quick launch buttons
Touch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical Scroll Up/Down pad
Power:

135W AC adapter
12-Cell Lithium-Ion (95Whr)
Dimensions and Weight:

Dimensions: 11.43"L x 15.70"W x 1.96"H
Weight: 9.38 lbs.

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Product Specifications



Operating System:
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition + Service Pack 2
Multimedia Software:

Sonic Digital Media Plus
InterVideo WinDVD
Music Zones.com
Apple iTunes and Apple iTunes Music Store
InterVideo Home Theater
Muvee autoProducer DVD Edition with Burning
MicroSoft® Windows® Movie Maker MicroSoft® Windows Media Player
HP Image Zone Plus photo and imaging software
Productivity and Finance Software:

Microsoft® Works
Microsoft® Money
MSN® Encarta® Plus
Microsoft® Office 2003 Student and Teacher Edition:60 day trial version MS Zones.com
Security & Support Software:

Symantec™ Norton Antivirus 2005™ (including 60 days complimentary live update)
HP Total Care Help & Support Center
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Internet Solutions:

Easy Internet Sign-up plans include:
Microsoft® Internet Explorer
AOL® Dial-Up

Don't forget about T&L. This should almost be one of the first things you ask about in a discounted laptop.

I think the first thing I have to ask is what is T&L?

I think the first thing I have to ask is what is T&L?
I know it is the future of 3D everything.

I know it has made my $2,000 HP laptop with it's intel graphics chipset become obsolete overnight.



Hopefully some someone around here can tell you how to stay clear of Laptop's without T&L support. What are the Pre-Buying warning signs that the Laptop you are looking at in the store does not have T&L?

FYI- Notebookreviews.com has a list of so-called "Cyber Monday" deals including up to $750 off of a Dell Inspiron laptop.

I think the first thing I have to ask is what is T&L?

tits and labia.

or not