Expert: Bobbert - 1/5/2010

Question
QUESTION: Hi,
I am looking to buy a laptop/notebook/netbook. It will be used primarily for internet browsing (email, facebook, youtube, streaming audio/video and atmost light gaming - NO graphics intensive 3D games) by my wife and son. My wife may also want to use it to listen to lectures she records at her school.
Now my question, what are the MINIMUM specs that I should keep:

Single core, dual core, core 2 duo (I like Intel)
RAM
HDD
VRAM
Anyother important spec to look for?

I am not a brand-name lover; will go for anything that suits my budget and requirements.
Thanks for your help.

ANSWER: For the requirements you've listed, most any modern product should be suitable, however to answer your question regarding minimum specifications, ideally a system would have:

- At least a dual core processor, be it Pentium or Celeron Dual Core, or the more powerful Core 2 Duo, however Atom or Single Core Celeron are good alternatives for longer battery life/portability, such as you would find on a netbook
- At least 2GB of memory, I wouldn't suggest more than 3-4GB to be honest, but less than 2GB is generally not recommended
- As much hard-disk storage as you need, most modern notebooks/laptops will have at least 160GB of storage installed, and most netbooks will have between 80 and 120GB, the more information you need to store, the more storage you need, if the system is only storing text documents and audio data, I doubt you'll ever actually use more than around 60GB, I wouldn't shy away from larger capacity drives though (as they generally have somewhat better performance, and more storage is never a bad thing)
- VRAM is more or less unimportant, you aren't working with anything that requires 3D rendering, and are very likely to purchase a solution with integrated graphics (such as Intel GMA or nVidia GeForce IGP), which means memory is allocated from main memory for the graphics hardware, even the largest screens can be driven by adapters with as little as 16 to 32MB of memory (which is nearly impossible to find on modern systems), most integrated solutions will by default allocate 128-256MB of memory

Other specs I would look for:
If buying a Windows system, I would suggest buying a system with either Windows XP Home or Professional edition, or Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional edition, there is no need to pay more for Windows 7 Ultimate, and Windows Vista has no advantages over either Windows XP or Windows 7.

Based on the usage you've outlined, most offerings from Asus, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard should be quite suitable for your needs, you may also consider offerings from Apple, as nothing you've listed is likely to be Windows exclusive (excepting any requirements imposed by your wife's school on what kind of software environment is needed for studies, check with the department regarding any questions here).

If you have any further questions or need clarification, feel free to post a follow-up.

-bob


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the detailed reply. I really appreciate it!

I have a quick follow-up question.
What exactly is the difference between Dual-core and Core 2 Duo? For my intended use, can I benefit from the extra power of Core 2 Duo? Is there any diference other than computational power?

Thanks

Answer
Core 2 Duo is a market name for one of Intel's Dual Core products, it is a variety of dual-core processor available from Intel (other marketed names include Pentium Dual-Core and Xeon Dual-Core, AMD's equivalent offerings are the Athlon II and Phenom II).

-bob