Questions on laptop

[Flash06]

I have been looking to buy a laptop for a month or two and it has come time to actually buy one in the next two weeks after I graduate. Let me start off by saying I do not know much at all about computers but do have some basic knowledge. What I am looking for is just to see if the laptop I am looking at will suit my needs.

First what I will use it for:
Photos
Music
School Work
Videos.

Really I want to do all my school work and everything else other then games. I do not play computer games at all so getting a laptop for that is not needed. I have around 10 gigs of music that I will put on it.

My Price range is around $800 but if I need to I will spend up to $1000.

So far the specs on the computer I looked at are
A Dell Ispiron Core Duo Processor 2MB Cache
Windows XP
512 Shared Single Channel DDr2
80 GIG 5400 rpm SATA Hard Drive
24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
Dell WIreless 1390 802 11b/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
My Battery is
53 WHr 6-Cell lithium Ion Primary Battery
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem


I have tried to do get some information by myself but I have found I just do not know enough.

My specific questions are
Is the 512 MB ram enough?
Is the 80 GiG hard drive overkill for what I want to do? Should I go for a 60?
I need to connect both wirelessly in school and via phone line at home will this computer suit both needs well?
Anything you would recomend? Either that I should get or that I dont need.

I am pretty set on a dell but if there is something that would be a lot better please let me know.

The computer online is http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&fb=1&l=en&oc=E1505S2&s=dhs

I know it is a lot but if someone can help me out with this it would be greatly apprieciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[celsdogg]

ok, your not doing anything too intensive, and you are getting a dual core cpu, so your pretty much ok. in fact, everything that you want to do could be done with a computer thats a little older.

512 is good, but a gig wont hurt. if you are interested in using the laptop for the next few years with ease, then get 1024, but you can get by with 512.

i would go with the 80GB hdd, more storage wont hurt. if the laptop has a modem then you can dialup, and this laptop comes with a choice of three wireless options, any of which would work well for you.

as for anything else, i do see that you put videos down. do you mean watch videos or edit videos? if watching, then this is fine, if editiing you will want to go a completly different route. . .

 

[Flash06]

Just watching and downloading not editing videos. Thanks a lot for your help I might as well go for the 1 gig ram if it helps I am already spending $800 so another $75 wont hurt too much. Again thanks for the help.