My tax return is coming back pretty nice and I'm looking to get a laptop. Anyone have any recomendations? My wife and I are going to share it. She's going to use it for internet stuff, education, and maybe some music. My main uses will be logging, flashing, and some internet. What kind of memeory sould I be looking for? Screen size? Any help will be appreciated.
I'd say a decent Dell Inspiron. The E1505 is pretty nice. I've been out of the computer game for awhile, so I'm lost these days when it comes to memory. I'd say maybe an 80gb HD and 1gb of ram should do fine for what you need from it.
I've only done some basic searching and from what I've read processor speeds are fairly good. Don't pay for top of the line because they will work faster, but eat up more battery and get hot quicker. Any comments anyone?
Thanks emd645e3, the Dell has some that I'm looking at. Mainly because they have a refurbished outlet on their site.
Any suggestions on screen sizes?
I'd recommend at least 1Gb of RAM. Given the machine's intended application, pretty much any modern CPU will do. If you were to do graphics work, video processing, played games, etc a faster CPU would make a more substantial difference in performance. Screen size, in itself, is not a viable determinate. Meaning, the quality of the screen isn't necessarily directly correlated to its size. Generally speaking, the smaller screens have better visual quality (all things being equal). A good video card goes a long way in improving the machine's performance as well as allowing for better picture quality. As you're leaning toward Dell, I'd suggest opting for a screen upgrade if offered.
Check out edealinfo.com
I have no vested interest in the site, but use it to find some nice deals on some electronics. They routinely have Dell laptops on there with tons of bang for the buck.
I use a dell inspiron 600m specifically because it has a serial port. Not many modern laptops have a serial port, and for the AEM EMS (for EVO), and for the Cobb Accessport (for WRX) I needed a serial port. Not sure about the loggers or flashing software available for the EVO and what port it needs.
Keith
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EVO 11.53 @ 123.37, Black WRX Wagon 13.62 @ 99.24
Not sure about the loggers or flashing software available for the EVO and what port it needs.
Keith
I'm just looking to play around with ecuflash and the tactrix cable. It should just use a USB port. I've read a few articles saying finding a laptop with two USB ports is nice if your going to run some auxilary stuff but...?
I hate Dell laptops, they suck and always break. The customer service is junky!
That being said.. you have a lot of options, including Dell. You can get Dual core laptops cheap enough at around $600-$700 for good names like Toshiba and even Compaq. All laptops unless you get some tiny sub-notebook will have at least 2 USB if not 4 on them. Tactrix uses the USB and you'll be fine.
Next choice is how big of a screen you want. You don't really need super widescreen, it makes it really heavy and a pain. 14-15" screens are fine, will weigh in around 6-7lbs
More ram the better, but internet surfing doesn't require much.
More ram the better, but internet surfing doesn't require much.
The Athlon/9800Pro machine I built for my kids taps its 512MB capacity with just two open graphic-intensive (web) windows and a mail client. My own dual-core Opteron uses more than a gig of RAM with about a dozen open windows of (mostly text-driven) web content. Keep in mind that these machines were configured not to launch any unnecessary applications while booting and both run XP Pro.
Has anyone heard of Acer? Best Buy had a sale on these last weekend, but I missed out. 512mb memory, 80gb hard drive, dvd/cd-rw, 14.1 inch display for $399. Just so I have some kind of reference; did I miss out on a good deal?
turbolarry, honestly don't go with anything less than 1gb of ram. The new Vista OS hurts with anything less than 1gb. Acer is a not so well-known company however, they do make good stuff. I wouldn't shy away from any one brand but more shy away from ram size. I know there are deals to be had for around $700-$800, we have them all the time.
Has anyone heard of Acer? Best Buy had a sale on these last weekend, but I missed out. 512mb memory, 80gb hard drive, dvd/cd-rw, 14.1 inch display for $399. Just so I have some kind of reference; did I miss out on a good deal?
Here's another question in my quest for cheapness...
I've come across some factory refurbished laptops, but they don't come with operating systems. Can I use my Windows 2000 that came from another computer?
Well I would say stay away from acer, gateway, and I'm not much of a fan of dells but there not as bad as everyone makes them out to be hp's used to have a static problem where you could shock them and fry the mobo in there older dv series not sure about there newer models. But really the brands are kinda up to the user most people are bias towards one brand then the other.
If your going to be running vista a core 2 duo is your best bet at least 1gb or ram I would suggest 2gb of ram though. if you want better battery life don't get one with dedicated video unless you plan on doing computer games and still most integrated ones do most games fine.
But for what you said running internet music and logging/flashing wont take much from a computer at all so I'm sure you can find an older computer that would suite your needs just fine... be careful though some of the less expensive new computers can cost the same as a used older one in that case go with a newer one
and yes you could put your copy of 2000 on a refurbished one shouldn't have any problems doing that
hope this helps and that I'm not just rambling (kinda tired)
Don't trip. I need all the advice I can get. I definately won't be running Windows Vista, any music, movies, probably no internet either. After bouncing around ideas with the wifey, we're starting to lean towards his and hers. She'll get the nice one, while I get a beater dedicated to flashing and logging.
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