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.
Question QUESTION: I'm looking into buying a laptop that I can use for editing home videos and gaming. A friend suggested MacBook. But, I'm reluctant to as I find it a bit pricey. Plus, I'm familiar with MS Office and I don't know if Mac has something similar. Also, I like the tablets as I like to draw freehand; does Mac have this capability?
ANSWER: No, Mac does not offer the tablets. I'd only go with #1 HP and #2 Gateway for a tablet PC.
However, you can buy a mouse pad looking thing that works similarly to tablet PC. What you draw on the mouse pad shows up on the screen.
Also, Macs are really really bad for gaming. My dad recently took over 50 home video tapes and put them on DVD and he also just took all the DVDs he has made of my sister playing volleyball and put them together into a recruiting tape. He easily did all this with a PC (Dell).
What do you think of these options? What were you wanting to draw freehand on the tablet? How much were you looking to spend on this laptop? Do you want a warranty? Dell has unbelievable good deals on laptops that lasts through Nov 15.
Let me know and we'll go from there.
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QUESTION: Thank you for your answers.
If there's an alternative way to drawing freehand aside from tablets, then I'd be fine with just whatever brand is best for fast video editing and gaming. I just hope that mouse pad thingy isn't expensive.
I've a strict budget of $1,000. But, I can invest into paying a bit more for those with longer warranty.
Anyway, this year is almost over. Do you think a new generation of powerful laptops will come out next year? I wouldn't mind putting a bit more if it means that the laptop won't need major upgrading for the next 3-5 years.
Greatly appreciate your feedback.
Answer There is a rumor that quad core processors will be "taking over" soon but I'm not quite sure about that. Quad core processors are available in desktops, but they actually don't perform any better than the dual core processors because programs are just now starting to even utilize the dual cores.
Regardless with how fast technology seems to improve, you'd be waiting forever if you played that game. I also don't think people will ever be able to use the quad core and other crazy things on the horizon - we simply just don't do enough.
Dell Inspiron 1520
-SYSTEM COLOR Jet Black edit
-PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7250 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache) edit
-OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition edit
-DISPLAY High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1440x900) edit
-VIDEO CARD 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GS edit
-MEMORY 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz edit
-HARD DRIVE Size: 120GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) edit
-INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive) edit
-WIRELESS NETWORK CARDS Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card edit
-INTEGRATED WEBCAM Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam edit
-BATTERY OPTIONS 85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell) edit
-SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.0 edit
My Software & Accessories
ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE No Subscription (30-day trial) edit
-OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD edit
-WARRANTY AND SERVICE Get $75 in Dell dollars with 4 yr LTD Warranty and At-Home Service edit
-DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP Free 3 GB Online Backup for 1Yr edit
-DIAL-UP INTERNET ACCESS No ISP requested edit
Use code 8XGG8GL7Q$019B to save $400 off any $1,299.00+ Dell Inspiron notebook. (valid 11/15/2007 12:00:00 AM - 11/21/2007 11:59:59 PM)
After discounts: $1,234.00 plus you get $75 in Dell dollars and a gift card ($100-$200)
