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About Lauren Bennett
Expertise
I am a computer science major and my dad is an Electric Engineering, so my life has revolved around computers. For as long as I can remember, I have been buying and selling computers. I tend to travel a lot, so I have always had a laptop. I have bought 5 of them for myself, and bought around 30-40 for friends and family. I have dealt with the good and the bad of various version and brand names. If you are in need of buying a laptop, feel free to contact me and I'm sure I will be able to guide you into purchasing the laptop that will be the best fit for you. I will custom build you computers for you to choose from so you can get an exact idea of what to go and buy when you do it yourself and so that you have an exact price. However, I am in the USA and am only knowledgeable about computers here in the US. I do not know about foreign currency or the quality of computer brand names outside the US.
Experience
B.S. in Computer Science. Buying and selling for years. Assisting friends/family.
Education/Credentials
B.S. in Computer Science
Past/Present clients
many friends & family
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You are here: Experts > Shopping > Computer Reviews > Laptops > best lap top for a chess player
Laptops - best lap top for a chess player
Expert: Lauren Bennett - 12/24/2007
Question
QUESTION: Hi Mr. Bennett and thank you in advance for your time and
expertise.
I am a serious chess player and have been considering purchasing a laptop which would probably be used 85% for that purpose only.
I have looked at Dell and Toshiba laptops but I am not sure of minimum requirements such as memory and hard drive space.Some friends tell me 1 GB of memory others 2 GB minimum ,very confusing.One thing I know for a fact is that it must play DVD Chess programs so that is one requirement.
I hope you are familiar with this subject(chess).And I will greatly appreciate any suggestions.
Thank you,
Ed.
ANSWER: I looked up a ton of Chess games for PCs on the Internet and didn't find any with heavy requirements so it shouldn't be too hard to find you a laptop that will do what you want it to do.
What is your budget looking like? What do you plan to do with the computer the other 15% of the time?
You would be perfectly fine with 1GB of RAM. With Vista, it is recommended to have a 2GB. However, I would recommend doing the upgrade yourself has it would save you about $80 and it is a very simple procedure.
Let me know your budget and a few more details and I can get back to you with a more specific customization.
---Lauren
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thank you Mr. Bennett for getting back to me so quickly.
Other non chess activities might be writing letters,calendar planning,and very light household record keeping etc.,and I doubt I would ever connect it to the internet since I own a desktop for that purpose.
As far as a budget is concerned I was hoping for around
$500.
Thank you.
Ed.
ANSWER: I only found one notebook (including refurbished) that had a starting price of under $500 and that system did not include a graphics card of any sort so you would be unable to play your chess game.
I would suggest browsing eBay as that is probably your best bet to find a notebook for that price.
Let me know what you want to do....
--Lauren
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Lauren,
Its just now that my daughter pointed out that Lauren is a woman's name and I've called you Mr. Bennet several times. Sorry!
Ok, how about if we go up to a maximum of $700 for a new laptop that I could get at a retail store? (I would prefer to stay away from ebay.)
Thank you & Merry Christmas,
Ed
Answer
It's okay - I get called 'sir' quite often too :-)
Stores definitely have computer sales often. Here is what you want to look for.
-Vista Home Premium or Ultimate
-1GB of RAM minimum
-Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD x2
-NOT Intel Graphics Media Accelerator [[look for any nVidia or ATI graphics card]]
-preferably a 9 or 12 cell battery if you won't be hooked up to AC power on a regular basis
The downfall to purchasing through retail is that you don't get the extended warranty which I think is very important for a notebook - if they break you can't fix them yourselves and it costs a ton to get them repaired. It costs a lot up front but I just got a brand new computer for free because a small noise was coming from my notebook :-). However, if you aren't as super picky about the functionality of notebooks, it wouldn't be a huge deal to not have it.
I'd recommend a Dell or HP over anything else. They definitely make the best laptops and have the best customer service. I have owned both and have been very happy with both.
If you find a specific one and would like my input, feel free to shoot me a message. I'd be more than happy to help in any way I can!
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