Recommended laptop hardware stats
Question:
I’d like to buy my daughter a laptop for college….can you give me some recommendations on what I should be looking for? Speed, memory, hard disk space? I’m going to buy it on e-bay & may look to a used or refurbished one with a warranty. I’m hoping to spend less than $700 (I already spent enough on her Grad party!)
Is there anything I should steer clear of? I know there are different processors out there now…are there any I should avoid?
Answer:
First, check out my page on recommended PC hardware stats.
Note that these stats are for new PCs, not used. However, in the case of the laptop, I strongly recommend keeping close to those stats. Hard drive, video card and CPU can vary slightly, BUT make sure to have 2GB of RAM installed.
If it’s used, it’ll probably come with Windows XP or Windows 2000. Stay away from Windows 2000. Go with XP. She’ll need wireless, so make sure that it has wireless networking built-in. You’ve mentioned you’re getting it with a warranty. This is good, particularly with the more-expensive-to-repair laptops.
See the rest of the page for my opinions on if brand makes a difference. Also see this link for software and other considerations.
And see this link for a list of free equivalents of commercial software. While a college discount is great (be sure to take advantage of that!), it’s hard to beat free.
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