Please help a noobie choose a laptop

H

howie

New Member
'm not really that tech savvy at all, so maybe some of you guys who are can help me out. I'm looking for a basic laptop for internet and watching movies that runs fast. Which of these is the best bang for my buck? I've listed a few I'm looking at. Also, how would you rank HP, Toshiba, Acer, Gateway, and Dell as laptop brands in general?

1. Acer Aspire AS4530-5627. $449
Windows Vista Home Premium
AMD Athlon X2 QL-60(1.9GHz)
14.1" WXGA
2GB DDR2
160GB
DVD Super Multi
NVIDIA GeForce 9100M G
Communication Modem, Gigabit LAN and WLAN
Card slot 1 x Express Card
13.3" x 9.6" x 1.1-1.5"
5.3 lbs.

2. Toshiba A355D-S6889. $599, but I think i get get something similar during Black Friday for $379
AMD Turion™ X2 RM-72 dual-core mobile processor,
4GB DDR2 SDRAM,
320GB hard drive and high-speed wireless LAN (802.11b/g/n)
#Double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with Labelflash support
16" TruBrite widescreen,
ATI RADEON 3100 graphics

3. Dell Inspiron 1525. $599.

Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T3200 (2.0GHz/667Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch display (1280x800)
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
Size: 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
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There all good companies, I prefer hp because I like there quality plus if you order through there site you can get a lot of free upgrades on there laptops. like I was just on there and cause of the upgrades they will match the acer you listed in price for performance but the hp will have 3 GB of memory. Plus from friends I have spoke to and post I have read on here I would say hp has a better customer service than acer. I will say Dell customer service sucks, have the time the person doesn't understand what you saying cause it's over in India.
 
Is this laptop worth the price, or is it a ripoff?

Customized HP dv5t: $933

• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
• Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T5800 (2.0GHz)
• 15.4" diagonal WSXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1680 x 1050)
• 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
• 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• High Capacity 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
 
howie said:
Is this laptop worth the price, or is it a ripoff?

Customized HP dv5t: $933

• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
• Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T5800 (2.0GHz)
• 15.4" diagonal WSXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1680 x 1050)
• 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
• 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• High Capacity 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Click to expand...

that's fine if you have the option choose a lower resoultion screen whenever possible because it kills the games, unless you have an amazing card.
 
Thanks.

Also, probably a dumb question, but does movie quality/performance depend on the video card at all, or can i just stick with an "integrated card?" I doubt I'd be gaming much on a laptop. This would save me about $200. Same goes with the screen: I'd like to get a lower resolution screen but would that affect movie viewing quality?
 
howie said:
Thanks.

Also, probably a dumb question, but does movie quality/performance depend on the video card at all, or can i just stick with an "integrated card?" I doubt I'd be gaming much on a laptop. This would save me about $200. Same goes with the screen: I'd like to get a lower resolution screen but would that affect movie viewing quality?
Click to expand...

Regular television is 720×480 resolution so your answer is NO. It's nice to have a decent video card in your laptop but if your not going to play video games you don't really need it, A decent integrated card should have no problem playing movies. BUT if you plan on watching HD movies then that's a whole other story you need high resolution+good graphic card.
 
How bout this one? Is it a good choice or am I just paying for the brand name?

SONY VAIO NS Series VGN-NS130E: $599

Genuine Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit with SP1
CPU Type Intel Pentium dual-core T3200(2.0GHz)
Screen 15.4" WXGA
Memory Size 3GB DDR2
Hard Disk 160GB
Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Graphics Card Intel GMA 4500MHD
Video Memory shared memory
Communication Modem, Gigabit LAN and WLAN
Card slot One ExpressCard /34 slot
Dimensions 14.18" x 10.63" x 1.24-1.5"
Weight 6.4 lbs. (with standard battery)
 
howie said:
How bout this one? Is it a good choice or am I just paying for the brand name?

SONY VAIO NS Series VGN-NS130E: $599

Genuine Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit with SP1
CPU Type Intel Pentium dual-core T3200(2.0GHz)
Screen 15.4" WXGA
Memory Size 3GB DDR2
Hard Disk 160GB
Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Graphics Card Intel GMA 4500MHD
Video Memory shared memory
Communication Modem, Gigabit LAN and WLAN
Card slot One ExpressCard /34 slot
Dimensions 14.18" x 10.63" x 1.24-1.5"
Weight 6.4 lbs. (with standard battery)
Click to expand...

That's fine check out walmart and stuff there having some sales, but the ones I have seen are crap if you ask me.
 
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