Laptop

[micah1104]

Does anyone know if this laptop is any good? Or do you know of any others that would be at or around this price that would match that speed? I am wanting a good fast laptop, but not wanting to spend over 450$...

[Rubberman]

Uh... What is it? You can get good netbooks w/ 250GB hard drives for under $400 USD. Most of the cost of a laptop goes into the display, so smaller is cheaper, generally. If you want a bigger one, then you should be able to find a decent used Dell or similar for your price range.

[micah1104]

I want a screen between 14" and 16" I dont want it bigger than that, and I also want a CD/DVD drive built in to it, I just want to know if the link I posted, if some one has that laptop and if it is a good one...

[Rubberman]

There is no link there. Can you repost the URL please?

[micah1104]

oops, sorry: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Compaq+-...&skuId=9755446

[Rubberman]

Pretty decently configured for the price. Remember though that the Intel graphics on this system doesn't have dedicated video RAM, requiring that it share RAM with the rest of the operating system. As a result, you won't get full use out of the RAM installed. How much depends upon how you use it and configure it.

[micah1104]

#
Graphics
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M
#
Video Memory
Up to 1309MB total available

This is what it says in the specifications section, will it still have to share the RAM with the rest of the OS?

[Rubberman]

That means it can use up to 1309MB (1.3GB) of the 3GB available RAM. You can easily use only about 128MB of RAM for video, which would leave most of the 3GB for OS and applications. 2GB is good for most Linux systems.

[micah1104]

Ok, I am wanting to dual-boot 7 and Fedora, and the computer I am using now is 7, and has a Intel Celeron 3.33 GHZ Processor, and 2 GB of RAM, and it runs kinda sluggish, and my laptop is Intel Pentium 900 MHZ Processor and 256 MB RAM, but that dying of old age, so I am wanting to get a new one, and don't want it to run sluggish like the desktop, and I know anything will run faster than my laptop, would waiting for them to go onsale like at Black Friday or Christmas (or any other time they go onsale) be better than buying now? I don't want to buy one and be disappointed in what I buy...

[Rubberman]

First rule of buying tech gear - if you can buy it, it is obsolete, or at least it will be by the time you unpack the boxes it came in. Second, as soon as the purchase goes thru, you will find a faster system, cheaper than the one you bought, with more bells and whistles. Third, don't worry, be happy that you are able to buy new gear!

Anyway, my advise is to purchase as much RAM as the system will take and that you can afford. Then, get one with a good video accelerator w/ onboard RAM so it doesn't have to "borrow" from system resources. For Linux systems, nVidia video is generally good and has good drivers (usually).

Don't worry too much about a webcam or bluetooth, unless you just HAVE to be able to make Skype video calls.

Get as much disc as you can - it isn't too expensive. These days, at least 160-250GB is good. You can definitely live w/ 160GB and if it saves you a bunch, don't worry about it.

Finally, the display, as I mentioned previously, is the single most expensive component on a system. Get as high of resolution as you can afford for a good viewing experience, but remember that it comes at a price. If you are willing to live with a lesser unit display-wise, you can save a lot of $$, but you might not be happy with it.

And really finally. If you can try the system out in the store, take in a live Linux CD/DVD and boot that with the system you want to be sure that all the built-in stuff works for you.