Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

First time buyer.

by cosmic_bri2004 Nov 10, 2004 9:25PM PST

I'm looking for some good advice in making my first notebook purchase. The following is what I'm looking for in performance...

Excellent internet connection. Speed and performance to enjoy all of the internet. Email, on line games, music, video streams etc.

Good pre-loaded software for all the daily basics. Word, research, basic money etc..

The ability, speed and space to dload stored digi cam pic's and videos. DVD playback as well. Burning CD's as well. ( size of screen is not important.) performance is the key. Excellent CD playback with a good sound as well. Enough room and speed to play games on as well.

Wireless Internet ability.

AFFORDABILITY and RELIABILITY as well! This means a descent price with the backing of a good reliable company.

Please also include what accessories I would need as well.

To those that respond: Please DO NOT use big computer words or jargon. It really is impressive that you have all that great techo knowledge, but it would be of no use to me. I simply want suggestions as to which notebooks would fit my needs as described above. my cut off price would be around 1200 to 1500. Anything lower than that and still fits my needs would be awesome.

I've been looking at some IBM's Dells and Gateways. I just want to make sure I'm purchasing something that fulfills my personal needs.

Thank you in advance for your replys.

Discussion is locked

2 Posts

- Collapse + Expand Details

- Collapse -

Re: First time buyer.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Nov 10, 2004 9:29PM PST

In short, read the ongoing discussions about the DV1000 below. No need to duplicate it in this post.

Let me comment that many are peeved at "support". Sadly with all the SPYWARE and such out there, people only find out after they buy the machine that support is for the machine and basic setup and does not include support for battling SPYWARE, TROJANS, WORMS and such.

If I discount that issue, support is rather good from HP, Dell, IBM and many others. Sony, however still ranks a black scorch mark in my book and needs to exit the playing field.

bob

- Collapse -

Re: First time buyer.

by KenSanramon Nov 11, 2004 3:16AM PST

The HP DV1000 he refers to is outstanding and it is better to custom order it at hpshopping.com (14" widescreen, Pentium M Centrino, 5.3 pounds -- only negative is no dedicated video memory).

You can buy this also at Best buy, etc but you may have a hard time getting the specs you want at the price you want. I would not get one without the new Briteview XGA LCD and they only put that on higher priced models retail ($1400 range) that also have a DVD burner. Lower priced models (near $1,000) don't that.

If you order it custom you can get exaclty what you want, get a $100 custom order rebate and other discounts -- see X1000forums.com and do a search to find the dedicated website for DV1000 users.

This model has DVD/CD functions with the operating system off and a built in remote control (and 2 headphone jacks in the front).

This model is brand new and was meant to emulate the Apple Ibook as that has been so popular withe people willing to get an Apple.

Back to Laptops forum