Laptop help.

[chargirlgenius]

I’m in the market for a new laptop, for work and for play. It’ll be my personal laptop (purchased by me), but it has to perform well enough to handle being a work laptop twice a week as well. I get a bit of a deal on Dell systems from work, so I’ve been looking in that directions. Don’t know exactly what kind of discount yet.

All of the cheaper, home-use Dells have glossy screens, and after using the glossy on the Vaio, I’ve realized that I hate it. I’d like to be able to work outside or at the kitchen table, and glare is a big problem there.

We don’t do a lot of heavy gaming, really, Jeff just plays a lot of Mafia Wars and the like, but that’s about it. I don’t game at all. I know myself and don’t want to get addicted. :-D

Some video editing capabilities would be nice, but it doesn’t have to be high end. We’re talking home movies stuff.

I tend to have lots of windows open at once. Our current laptop acts like a dinosaur in that regard, though it’s only a couple of years old. I’m thinking I want 4GB of RAM. What kind of performance difference am I going to see between, say, 2.26GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB, and 2.53GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB? If I’m not gaming, does that matter more, or memory matter more?

Can you tell I’m a computer moron?

Integrated mobile wireless with Verizon is a nice-to-have, but not necessary. If it’s not included, I’ll probably just tether my crackberry to it.

I won’t be carrying it back and forth to work, but I don’t want a brick either. Can’t afford a Macbook Air. :-D I want a decent sized screen, though I’ll eventually get a second monitor and dock it. Needs to be able to dock. Can all laptops dock?

So, recommendations? I'm open to Mac, but price is a consideration. I’ve been leaning towards a Dell Latitude E6500, with XP instead of Vista, upgraded to 4GB RAM, and the Verizon built-in Mobile Broadband (they have a rebate so it’s free).

ETA: For that matter, is Vista really that bad?

Comments

[karolines.livejournal.com]

Re: Can you tell I’m a computer moron?

you can tell i'm not. when looking for a new laptop (last year?) ryan asked me what i wanted. apart from the lack of technical terms, i told him something good that when he took it to play with his bros & sister's laptop that ours would go "zot" and their's would respond with a pitiful "we surrender"...

however, get a big enough screen that you can get a # pad. ryan IS frustrated trying to work at home from this thing because the screen is too small, and a number pad is something I REALLY miss.

[teffan.livejournal.com]

You can get USB number pads, if you don't mind them not being part of the built-in keyboard.

[karolines.livejournal.com]

Thanks! i've thought about that option, but it would be another set of cords...

[teffan.livejournal.com]

The one I have has a retractable cord built into it, so that helps quite a bit on that. I think if I were using it a lot again (like when I was in accounting class), I'd design some sort of means of keeping it in place alongside the keyboard rather than it just sitting wherever it landed.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

We haven't had a number pad for a few years now, and I find I'm not really missing it much. I was annoyed at first, but now it's no biggie.