What should I look for when buying a laptop for my daughter?
filed in One Bytes on Nov.20, 2009
She is going off to college and there is just too many to choose from. I cannot spend a whole lot but I need it to be good enough for her schooling. Not sure what to look for when I am choosing one.
Thanks!
November 20th, 2009 on 3:29 pm
Maybe you have to look for this:
1. Processor (CPU) 2 GHz or more dual core 667 MHz (Intel or AMD)
2. DDR2 SD RAM 667 MHz 2 GB
3. Graphics card Nvidia od ATI Radeon no less than 256 MB better 512 MB
4. Sound 5.1 integrated is pretty well
5. Hard disk (HDD) 360 GB
6. LCD screen normally 15.4″ response time 5 ms
7. Other: bluetooth, wifi, TV out connection, USB ports minimum 4, DVD dual layer optical writer
8. Manufacturers: Dell, Toshiba, HP
9. Operating system (OS) Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2007 installed
10. Extra printer A4 format with USB connection (manufacturer: HP)
That’s all.
November 20th, 2009 on 3:29 pm
creative-get her one that she can decorate
sporty-get her a durable one
slean-get her one to match any enviorment
God bless, i hope i helped
November 20th, 2009 on 3:29 pm
Try sites like
http://www.notebookforums.com/ and http://www.notebookreview.com/
November 20th, 2009 on 3:29 pm
1.AVOID WINDOWS VISTA its slow, garbage, creates problems,
2. make sure it has all of her needs for school, Microsoft word, excel, power point, and so forth,
3. make sure its media friendly i recomend an ALIENWARE dell makes dem(look um up) dey make GREAT COMPUTERS for media and business, if your trying to spend 1k-3k on a laptop get an alienware/
4.if not a big fan of number 3, make sure da computer has a good amount of ram try to get 2 gigs or more/
5.make sure da computer has a good warranty/
November 20th, 2009 on 3:29 pm
you’re probably looking for a medium size screen: 14.4 – 15.6 inches.
you’re probably looking for a laptop with a dvd drive (some of these new small little ‘netbooks’ don’t include a dvd drive which is a real pain sometimes).
if your daughter plans to use her laptop at school then you’ll have to worry about battety life. a 6 cell battery usually provides a good 2.5-3 hours charge.
processor wise, look for something dual core (amd or intel, doesn’t matter).
2 gigabytes memory is pretty standard for laptops today and work fine with newer operating systems. (i still use 2gb on my laptop and i’m what you would call a ‘power user’).
hope this helps.
November 20th, 2009 on 3:29 pm
Although the screens on netbooks are usually 10.9"-12", they would be your best bet as far as very low retail pricing, wireless and they are very light and portable. I see them going for $199.99-$299.99 brand new and the only downside is netbooks dont usually come with a optical drive but you can buy a external travel usb cd-rw for less then $25. Netbooks are college peoples best buy for what they need it for. I like the hp 2133 minis and dell netbooks. Hope this helps get’s you started in the right direction.
November 20th, 2009 on 3:29 pm
It depends on what she wants to use a laptop for. If she want to use a laptop for blogging, chatting or for online activities you should getting a netbook. A netbook is perfect for internet users and it is also very affordable. It will only cause around USD 247 if you get a DELL Mini 10 Netbook. They are powered by a processor called Atom from intel which is very energy efficient and does not produce much heat at all. If she wants a multimedia notebook which is meant for playing HD Movies and Videos and doing some photo and video editing, you should consider buying her a notebook with a dedicated graphic card like Nvidia or ATI graphic card which is good for all this. Usually, a multimedia notebook comes with a dual core processor which is much faster than the single core Atom processor but uses up more energy and produces a lot more heat. Multimedia laptops are usually very heavy but are suitable if your daughter is going for a multimedia course that requires a fast computer to do her homework properly. I recommend that you should give a her a netbook because it is very small and light and portable. Brands like ASUS, DELL, HP and ACER sells very good netbooks at a very reasonable price.
November 20th, 2009 on 3:29 pm
I can’t say I know much about computers, but my friend bought a Toshiba (really nice, fast) for around $800 new for his Digital Arts class.
Not sure about you’re price range or if you’re willing to spend that much… But if your daughter is into art, music, photo editing or anything artsy like that, I just bought a 13×9 inch Macbook Pro for $900 and love it! It’s like my little buddy. Alot of people don’t like Macs (I forgot why, and can’t see why you’d hate something that can do everything), but in the end I think it really just depends on preferences. Macs come with great protection plans too.
The only thing I’d say to avoid would be the mini-laptops you could probly find in Wal-Mart. They’re mostly for checking E-mail on business trips and don’t hold much. Good luck on your search!