Laptop for school help ASAP please

disneyjoe7

Hi all, need help for a nephew for school college. His mom is looking at this for Christmas ok for school she trying to keep it low $$ what would you change if anything?

Steve

Compaq Presario V6500Z with the following.


Operating system Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit) edit
Processor AMD Athlon(TM) 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TK-55 (1.8 GHz, 512KB L2 Cache) edit
Display 15.4" WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800) edit
Memory 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) edit
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M edit
Personalization Imprint Finish (Trace) + Microphone + QuickPlay edit
Networking Wireless LAN 802.11a/b/g/n edit
Hard Drive FREE Upgrade to 120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive from 80GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive!! edit
Primary CD/DVD Drive LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support edit
TV & Entertainment Experience No TV Tuner w/remote control edit
Primary Battery High Capacity 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery edit
OS and Recovery Media System Recovery DVD with Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit) edit
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Office Home and Student 2007 edit

Pablo

I have no personal experience, but I have not heard good things about vista. It's said to be a bit of memory hog, and a little buggy. Also, you can probably get rid of the double layer dvd writter to save a couple of bucks. And the hard drive can never be big enought, but 120 should be enough. Otherwise, sounds ok to me.

disneyjoe7

Well this model doesn't give you the option for XP but vista options are all 32bit version Home, Premium Home, and Business.

Pablo

I had the same problem finding something new for my daughter. I went with a dell. They actually have button that for XP machines. I may have gone with vista if they offered a 64 bit version, but they didn't for the lower end machines.

mantis

Not a bad idea to look into Mac books. they are powerful and work excellent. No known problems or any other reason not to take a look.

www.apple.com

Dan

PhantomOG

trying to keep $$ low and Apple don't mix.

My HP laptop pre-loaded with Vista and 2GB ran just fine. XP is great too, I just don't understand all the fear of Vista.

avguytx

Wal Mart is running a Gateway that will be $398 tomorrow morning for one of their "Secret in-store Sales". I use a Gateway that I bought back in February for work/general use that I recently put 2gb worth of memory in it and it works great. Not sure which model they are selling, though, as I'm sure it varies per location (maybe) but it's still a Gateway.

Not everyone needs some crazy fast PC with a DVD burner, etc, etc, etc. Hell, I don't think I've ever even messed with burning a disc on my laptop. Come to think if it, I've never even played a CD in it! YYMV of course.

disneyjoe7

Well I think Vista ok for now a bit of a POS but so I can't wait for the SE version from MS. I trying to stay away from Vista 64 bit for now, as there's to many driver issues at this time.

vlam

There is nothing wrong with Vista if you are a basic Windows user. Some of the features are actually nice but for development or if you have to put a lot of 3rd party software, Vista is a POS. I wouldn't put it in the same category of ME but it's close.

PhantomOG

My HP laptop actually came with 32-bit Vista Home Premium, I re-installed 64-bit Vista and it runs like a champ. Since HP actually sells that model with 64-bit Vista (for more money) drivers were no problem.

I wouldn't bother to upgrade any existing system with Vista, however, OEM systems with Vista pre-loaded should be just fine.

disneyjoe7

vlam wrote: »

There is nothing wrong with Vista if you are a basic Windows user. Some of the features are actually nice but for development or if you have to put a lot of 3rd party software, Vista is a POS. I wouldn't put it in the same category of ME but it's close.

This statement scared the dickens out of me, one of the reason I have 4 computers was due to a chip programmer which I couldn't get to run with a laptop using an usb serial adapter. This program worked fine using a PC based port but not a virtual port. I'm just talking serial port issues not even the OE software :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:


And being the personnel neighborhood greek to help my neighbor his networked printer and his new HP Vista 64 Pro I keep to 32 bit for now or just XP. If needed no laptop at all

Demiurge

PhantomOG wrote: »

My HP laptop actually came with 32-bit Vista Home Premium, I re-installed 64-bit Vista and it runs like a champ. Since HP actually sells that model with 64-bit Vista (for more money) drivers were no problem.

I wouldn't bother to upgrade any existing system with Vista, however, OEM systems with Vista pre-loaded should be just fine.

Yep, it's exactly true.

I run....

Dell Laptop XP
Dell Desktop Vista
17" MacBook Pro Leopard