IGB or 2GB memory for basic computing needs with Vista

So what you're saying is try to buy a new computer that's already configured with 2GB of memory rather than buy one with only 1GB of memory and purchase an additional 1GB of memory to install in the computer. Most of the pre-configured entry level laptops that I have seen advertised having Windows Vista come configured with only 1GB of memory.

My other option would be to go to a website and configure a laptop myself making sure that whatever I configure has at least 2GB of memory since it's operating system would be some form of Windows Vista but by doing so I get into higher priced laptops, something I'm trying to avoid. Thanks for the post.

Ideally you can find a system with 2GB of RAM. Failing that, you can go with your other options. But Vista really isn't the right OS for a low end laptop so just something to keep in mind. If you're looking for a low end laptop, look for one with XP on it. Vista is like XP was when it first came out, and everyone was complaining about how slow, bloated, etc. it was.

Are there manufacturers besides Dell offering Windows XP as an upgrade? There are numerous laptops with XP listed on Ebay but I consider that risky. The laptop that I had, a 2 year old Dell Inspiron 1300 had Windows Home XP but I dropped it onto my hardwood living room floors in January 2008 and killed the monitor.

Dell wanted $368.00 + tax to repair the computer back in January 2008, I said no. I was sick as a dog when I dropped it. I haven't totally ruled out having Dell fix it since I cannot decide on which way to go to select a replacement. The Inspiron 1300 was just enough computer for my basic needs but when you drop them you break them. If my floors had been carpeted I might still be able to use it today but unfortunately I can't. Thanks for the post.

Yes, several of the big name laptop makers will install XP onto at least some models. You may have to ask for it and pay a little extra, but it is possible to get XP still. Particularly on lower end models.

Personally though, if you're looking at laptops, especially on the low end... My advice would be to stay far far away from HP, Compaq, Acer, Gateway, and eMachines systems. Stick to Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, and even Apple if you don't mind using Mac OS X instead of Windows, or want to set up a dual boot. Even if you're only going to be using it for light tasks like web browsing and email, you will very likely regret the purchase of any of those mentioned brands.

A guy at Crucial.com basically said the same thing, he recommended I consider a laptop made by Toshiba because as he said Toshiba laptops are built with quality parts. As I mentioned previously I was considering another Dell but after reading all of the negative posts on the Dell community board posted by owners of new Dell laptops, owners of Inspiron 1520's, 1525's, Vostro 1500's, all were complaining about touchpad problems as well as erratic cursor movements they were having with their laptops, some as new as a few weeks old.

The problem seemed to be the AC adapters that were being shipped out with those computers but as recently as last night when I went back to Dell's board owners were still complaining of the problem. If the A.C. adapters are defective why don't they quit shipping them out with the new units. In the 2 years I used my Inspiron 1300 I never had that problem. Would you recommend an entry level Toshiba laptop I could consider? In your opinion are Lenovo laptops better than Toshiba laptops? Who makes Lenovo laptops? Is that the old IBM company? Thanks for your post.

Dell has sporadic quality control problems as a result of the way they build systems. Sometimes they get a bad batch of parts and it finds its way into systems manufactured during specific time periods.

And money is almost always the reason in answer to your question. I'm sure Dell is quite aware of the problem, and I'm sure they probably have had someone run some numbers to see what it would cost them if they did nothing, compared to what it would cost them to issue a recall on those parts. The fact that they haven't done anything yet means that they figure it will cost them more to issue a recall than to just lose those customers. Because if Dell issues a recall, then what are they going to do with all of these AC adapters they have sitting around in some warehouse? They're just taking up space, they can't sell them, testing each one individually would be cost prohibitive, and disposing of them would also cost money.

Anyway, like I said, Dell has sporadic quality control issues, but on the whole they're pretty good. How much that will change once they start doing like HP, and start using asian slave labor to build their systems on the cheap, I can't say. HP/Compaq was never known for producing quality systems, so it's not like it was damaging for their reputation when they started using asian slave labor when Dell's Wal-Mart style business model was eating everyone's lunch in the PC business. Amusingly, it finally came back around to bite Dell in the ****. Now I can't wait for the same to happen to Wal-Mart.

Lenovo is a Chinese (I believe) company that bought IBM's computer business a few years ago. Just like Hitachi bought IBM's hard drive business a few years before that. So far as I know, Lenovo has done a remarkable job of keeping up the quality levels that IBM was known for. You will pay a bit more, and maybe not get as many optional features, but Lenovo laptops should take a pretty considerable amount of abuse before giving up the ghost. Toshiba would not be as good as Lenovo, but they are still a good solid choice.

In the end though, always remember that quality costs money. You buy something cheap, odds are it's made of cheap parts. Companies like Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, etc, are in business to make money. You don't make money by buying top range products and selling them at cheap knockoff prices. So keep that in mind. Everyone along the retail chain wants to make a profit. So if you buy something from a big box retailer, they are going to want to make a profit on the sale, the company that made the laptop will want to make a profit, along with every company that supplied any number of parts for that laptop. So if you factor all that in, and you see some laptop that's under $500, you've got to start wondering exactly where the corners were cut to get that price.

And one final tip... Buy direct, and oh so rarely does anyone who works at a Best Buy or Circuit City type store have any clue what they're talking about. Radio Shack seems to do a pretty good job training their employees, but I consider them an exception. You go in looking for a 10ohm resistor, they know what it is, and exactly where to find them. You ask someone at Best Buy or Circuit City something simple, like if they have any y-splitters for headphones, you tend to get a blank stare like a deer in headlights. If you're real lucky, they'll take you to some aisle where they have ipod accessories. Put another way, some of them are so incredibly inept, it's enough to make you question the validity of evolution, because you'd swear there is no way these people should have been able to survive the natural selection process for this long short of divine intervention.

So what are you trying to say? Are Dell units built if ordered directly from Dell built from a different source that Dell units sold in Wal-Mart stores? Would you rate the laptops as far as quality built in this order: Toshiba being the best, Lenovo being the next best, Dell then HP?

As far as those defective Dell AC adadpters, according to what I've read on Dell's board if someone posts a problem on the board they have been instructed to P.M. a Dell MOD, some guy who goes by the name of "Super Secret Agent Bill", owners of Dell laptops having problems have been instructed to P.M. "Bill" with their computer's Dell service tag ID number and "Bill" sees to it that another A.C. adapter is sent out.

Some have posted that the new A.C. adapters solved their problems while quite a few owners have posted that the new A.C. adapters did not solve the problems and yet Dell apparently is still shipping out brand new laptops still today with those apparently defective A.C. adapters. I read a post on the Dell board last night of an owner of a new Inspiron 1525, the owner has had the computer for less than 2 weeks and he or she is having touchpad and cursor problems on his or her 2 week old Dell Inspiron 1525 so it seems that Dell is still shipping out defective A.C. adapters with their laptops.

It depends, since Dell has long been the poster child for an American company using a very Japanese style of building things. I forget the specific name for it, but basically it's keeping as little inventory on hand as possible and building things only as there is a demand.

Ever since Dell started selling through traditional retail channels, things have changed a little. Though for the most part, the only real difference between a Dell bought in a Walmart and a Dell bought online from Dell, is that you have some configuration options online.

And I would be a bit suspicious about this mystery person at Dell who can send you a new AC adapter. That just seems a little strange if you ask me. I also don't see how an AC adapter would have anything to do with a touchpad issue. The only thing I can think up is that the power converter in the AC adapter brick is defective and sending voltage spikes or something, but that's a bit of a stretch to think it would ONLY affect the touch pad. You don't need to be an electrical engineer to question that one.

Anyway, I would rate laptop makers in the following order in terms of quality: Apple, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba. Dell and Toshiba are really probably tied for third. Toshiba may have fewer production issues than Dell, but they don't really spend a lot of time and effort focusing on selling units in the US and European markets, so their support probably won't be quite as comprehensive in those markets.

Apple is by far and away the best there is out there, though somewhat less so with the shift to Intel CPUs and more commodity parts. Some of the old Mac systems from the 80s and 90s you'd swear could survive a direct nuclear strike. They were just built that tough. You DO pay for this with Apple, and then there are a few other potential issues. Apple's Mac OS X isn't for everyone, and while you can put Windows on an Intel based Mac, you have to go out and buy a retail copy at full retail price. Then there's the fact that the success of the iPod and iPhone have really gone to Apple's head as a company, and now they're more of an MP3 player and cell phone company than a computer company. They've also been exhibiting some of the same arrogance that lead to their near fatal downfall the last time around. That doesn't mean if you buy a Mac laptop tomorrow, and Apple goes out of business next week, that your laptop will suddenly stop working, but warranty repairs and the like might be a concern.

Lenovo is almost as good as Apple. One might say they're nipping at Apple's heels on quality. You may not get as much RAM, hard drive space, or as fast a CPU with Lenovo systems, but you can be pretty sure your laptop won't start falling apart after 6 months of light use.

I already covered Dell and Toshiba... Good compromise between price, performance, and durability. You still probably don't get as many frills as if you went with an HP/Compaq, Acer/Gateway/eMachines laptop, but you're less likely to encounter significant problems due to poor hardware quality.

Well I'll take a look at some Lenovo laptops. Are they sold at retailers like Office Depot or do you buy Lenovo directly from Lenovo? I did check out Dell's Home Office store's outlet center and they had tons of Inspiron 1525's "newly ordered", the cheapest one I saw was $599.00, the most expensive one I saw was $999.00 but none had sound cards listed. I didn't bother calling Dell's Outlet store to check but I was surprised to see that everyone listed had a 56k modem which is now almost unheard of and most if not all came with at least 2GB of memory and Windows Home Vista Premium OS.

Hello there;please pardon me if I'm butting in. Just in case it helps, here's my two cents. This thread's title grabbed my attention, and a closer look took me back to late July, when I was at same point. Here 'tis: I was flying out on vacation next day. My usual light-duty road laptop had been an old ThinkPad (pre-China, pre-Lenovo), which was no longer practical due to slow CPU and dialup connection. A friend loaned me an overhauled Compaq with enough power and ports to work at motel/airport/friend's house. Problem solved! Except, at my first stop, it powered on but couldn't run, due to multiple problems. I had been looking at new ones and trying to sort out all the 1GB/2GB choices, and had Best Buy & Off Dep flyers with me, just in case. I found both in that area, and went to both and picked out best choice.
The condensed version:I'm right with you on unintentional humor from the BB gang, and most of same choices about which vendors to avoid in low end market. However, one of the choices at BB was a Gateway T-6836. It has Intel Centrino and 4(four)GB RAM. I've seen tech reports and forum threads that essentially say RAM over 2(two)GB won't cure Vista ills. And, I've heard (from one of the BB sages) that low end Gateways are built by Acer. But, the clincher was, for whatever reason, this thing ran much faster than expected. I think I paid $600-$650. Only think I don't link is minor issue of the finish on keyboard keys. Seems to be for traction, and it feels paperish, instead slick plastic. No real problems of any sort. Sorta like the time Alamo didn't have the 4-cylinder economy model I'd reserved and gave me a convertible with V-6 and their apologies.
You may have solved your prob by now, but that's how my solution appeared.
And just want to add that Macs are sleek and pretty cool as gadgets go, except if user is in warm environment, like a place with hot weather or near heater or other heat source. They don't mention it in their ads, but in those situations, you can also cook eggs on them. Not cool, in any sense of the word. That feature will even outlast the computing function, which gets cooked away in months or weeks.
Anyway, that's how it worked out for me.

Since you seem to have had a lot of experience dealing with notebooks from numerous brands can you recommend a good replacement for a 2 year old damaged Dell Inspiron 1300 which I dropped in January 2008 and crashed it's monitor?

All I did with the laptop was surf the web, send and receive emails and some Quicken, that's it. It had a 40GB HD, a CDRW/DVD ROM combo drive, a wireless card, broadband connection, several USB ports, 14.1" anti-glare screen, a 56k modem, 512 memory, integrated video and audio, a pretty basic machine. If I wanted to replace it with another Dell which model would you recommend?

I bought a Lenovo Y710 laptop at the end of March;it was the first new one I purchased (I have an old ThinkPad that was gifted to me,and although it served the purposes I needed it for,it was time for an upgrade). I did a lot of research when I purchased this,as I wanted to get the most features for the money,as well as a good to great level of quality. This is the link to the website/some models:

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=C46D71ACFD7C4475B8E490358F8CA8C3

I really like the construction,look,features and price of the one I bought,and I really don't have any regrets that I can think of,7 months later. Hope this helps!