In the market for a laptop.

[Jarrett]

I'm in the market for a new laptop. I don't really mind if it's refurbished either. I've tried Circuit City, Best Buy, Dell.com, Fry's Electronics, Pricegrabber.com and eBay. I've looked around quite a bit. I still know that there's more of them out there. I basically want to express what I'm looking for and have someone knowledgeable tell me if there's anything I should steer clear of or something I should look for.

I want a small-screen like a 12.1 or 14.1" screen. Mainly to save weight for lugging it around and I have a 22" monitor if I need something big.
I want an Intel-brand processor, specifically the Core 2 Duo series above 1.6GHz with a 533Mhz FSB.
1GB DDR2 RAM. I'll upgrade to 2GB later. It just seems to expensive to upgrade from the retailer when I'm buying.
It also needs to have Windows Vista Home Premium.
And I definitely don't want a Toshiba. I don't want a penny of my money supporting HD DVD directly. I realize some avenues such as Windows already do and I pay for those but still, it would make me feel better.

If I look into refurbs it seems like I'll be spending around $700 for a 14.1" and about $1000 for a 12.1". Does anyone know something cheaper possibly? I'd like to save a little bit of money so I can upgrade my desktop while I'm at it.

[bigjoegood1]

try Tiger Direct or Micro Center. Micro Center won't even rape you on the s&h. I like them better

[Gemini]

try Tiger Direct or Micro Center. Micro Center won't even rape you on the s&h. I like them better

or pricewatch.com

[slick]

you could get a dell refurb for cheap I got there refurb website since its really hard for you to find. If you want ill give it to you

[Jarrett]

Micro Center had some good deals on Acers that's for sure. I think I even found one I might get for my girlfriend there.

As far as Dell refurbs, directly off the site stuff is still pretty dang expensive. In my family's experience, Dells are great options for ordering bare bones systems but it proved more cost effective to do our own upgrades. I have been looking at the 12.1 XPS Dell though. It might prove to be a little more than I want to spend though.

If you know anymore, keep them coming.

[slick]

actually it all depends on how picky you are. The computer I want from dell was a whopping 17" with all the upgrades and everything for only $999 shipped for free

[head4life]

Sent you a PM

[verothacamaro]

Acers are awesome value

I like HP's and Toshibas.

or you can sell your soul and buy a Mac.

[npor]

get an imac

[Jarrett]

My school's network won't recognize Macs for some reason. They even have trouble with Vista but I was going to run dual operating systems so I could fix that. I just want Vista for my own personal use. I have an extra copy of XP to do this with.

[Jarrett]

actually it all depends on how picky you are. The computer I want from dell was a whopping 17" with all the upgrades and everything for only $999 shipped for free

17" laptops are cheaper because they don't have to make the motherboard and other components inside so much smaller to be able to fit inside the case not to mention accomodate stuff like memory and the processor that is the same size in all of them.

[wrichards2005]

17" laptops are cheaper because they don't have to make the motherboard and other components inside so much smaller to be able to fit inside the case not to mention accomodate stuff like memory and the processor that is the same size in all of them.

I got my Toshiba about 2 months ago, on sale at Circuit City. The model number is A215-S4807. I have no complaints, I think I got a good deal on it. Its pretty fast the only thing that could be better is the video card, and the battery life. It has vista, office, and a bunch of other free software (most of which I deleted).

$700 bucks on sale...

EDIT: http://cgi.ebay.com/Toshiba-Satellit...QQcmdZViewItem

This is an awesome deal, I can't find a laptop like this on the web for under 800.

[NAiL05]

I have a Dell Inspiron 6400. Its not bad for what it is. The only diff is that its a 15.1" screen as I recall.

[ACC0RD22]

I had a Dell Inspiron 2200 for a while, and I loved it. it was a bit heavy, considering it only had a 15" screen, but everything else was great. Eventually the cord started to go bad, and fail, and since it was already 2 years old (and the technology inside was even older) I decided to upgrade.

I got a 15" macbook pro, and I couldnt love it more.

[Jarrett]

I really wouldn't mind having the Macbook but I'm buying a laptop just for school so it would be foolish if the one I bought didn't work on the network. I won't buy for another month because that's when I get my big check from work so I have another month to watch eBay and to await Circuit City's weekly e-mail ad.