Which Laptop?

[Spacehonkey]

The wife wants to buy a new laptop. I'm not sure what laptop to get so I thought I would post the question up here so you guys can help me decide.

What laptop should I buy?

Features she would like:
Reasonable $$$
Lightweight
Wireless Internet
Used mainly for Surfing & MicroSoft Works programs for her home business.

By the way we have no loyalty to any brand out there. I just want a reliable laptop that does cost an arm and a leg but still gets the job done.

[Zephik]

Well whats a reasonable price range to you? Sorry, I can't read minds. :)

Look into the 15" laptops, they are almost always light weight and usually a couple hundred cheaper than their bigger brothers (17"). My 17 inch (http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/dell-inspiron-9200-for/4507-3121_7-31200978.html?tag=sub) isn't too heavy, its around 8 pounds. But then again, I'm a male, 8 pounds seems like nothing to me. Do you have an idea of what your weight range is?

Wireless internet... on a laptop? UNHEARD OF! lol only kidding. It would have to be one old ass laptop to not have wireless internet. You don't really have to worry about something like this. Unless you plan to buy a laptop from before 2001, they all have wireless capabilities. My guess is, if you plan to buy used, you'll be hard pressed to find a laptop that doesn't have wireless.

My first suggestion is the Dell XPS M1210 (http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/dell-inspiron-9200-for/4507-3121_7-31200978.html?tag=sub). Although a tad bit pricey, its cheap for all the power and awesome features its packin! I would LOVE to buy one of these and I probably will eventually. It's just sort of hard to pull a grand out of thin air unless you have a magic hat these days. :p

My second suggestion is the Dell Inspiron series of notebooks. Great value! The Inspiron 1501 (http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_1501?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs) being the cheapest of the group at $499USD.

As for other companies, I have a little experience with some older HP's... and I hate them. They have probably improved since 2003 though. lol

[Spacehonkey]

Well whats a reasonable price range to you?

Well the one we have now is the Inspiron 8200. It cost about $2100 when it was new. I would like to keep the price for the new one down to $1000.


Do you have an idea of what your weight range is?

Well she plans on using it around the house a lot, getting a little work done here then over there and so on. I would like to keep the weight down to the lowest I can get since she'll be moving around. Oh yeah she does home daycare if they helps out at all and does a lot of updates on her contacts with parents since the rules and regulations change all the time.


Unless you plan to buy a laptop from before 2001, they all have wireless capabilities.

We bought it back in 2000-2001. I've used a wireless card for my current laptop in the past before but I've had problems with it recognizing it a lot. So all this built-in wireless stuff would be great.



My first suggestion is the Dell XPS M1210 (http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/dell-inspiron-9200-for/4507-3121_7-31200978.html?tag=sub).
My second suggestion is the ... Inspiron 1501 (http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_1501?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs) being the cheapest of the group at $499USD.

I'll take a look at your suggestions and talk with my wife and she which one she likes better.

[Zephik]

Ooops, I listed the wrong link for the "Dell XPS M1210"!

THIS (http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1210?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19) is the "Dell XPS M1210". Its a bit small for my taste, but the performance is better than any computer I have ever owned. PC and Laptop alike. It's also very thin and lightweight, which almost makes up for the 5 inches of screen loss if I personally were to upgrade to that. Which I probably will, because like I said, the performance is great. Then you have the thinness and light weightedness of it as a bonus. ...I think I just made up two new words there. lol

**
although, looking at the picture, I wouldn't say that looks very thin to me. But they list it as one of its features, hmmm.