Hi, Guest
01-28-2006, 12:06 AM
512MB RAM is a minimum, especially with the lower Dell models that still use integrated video and a portion of the system RAM.
Celeron-Ms are great for basic users who don't need a lot of horsepower, and the battery life is great! Speed... anything over 1.1GHz for a Pentium-M / Celeron-M is fine. These things don't need a lot of clockspeed to do good work.
Nothing smaller than a 40GB drive is technically available these days, but you don't need anything bigger than a 60GB for her either.
What kind of gaming does she do? Anything 3D-accelerated on a laptop requires, in my books, 1GB RAM and a dedicated Nvidia / ATi video card - PERIOD. I can game quite well on my latest work laptop:
Pentium-M 1.73GHz
1GB DDR2-533 RAM (dual-channel)
ATi Mobility Radeon X600 128MB
80GB 7200RPM laptop HDD
Also, a decent way to save a few bucks is to NOT get a widescreen laptop. Widescreen can be cool, but for most computing tasks it's completely unnecessary.
Also, Compaq and Emachines have Athlon64-based laptops. I'm an AMD guy, so I always consider those for home users. Dells have superior warranties by far, however, and are always worth one last look.
Celeron-Ms are great for basic users who don't need a lot of horsepower, and the battery life is great! Speed... anything over 1.1GHz for a Pentium-M / Celeron-M is fine. These things don't need a lot of clockspeed to do good work.
Nothing smaller than a 40GB drive is technically available these days, but you don't need anything bigger than a 60GB for her either.
What kind of gaming does she do? Anything 3D-accelerated on a laptop requires, in my books, 1GB RAM and a dedicated Nvidia / ATi video card - PERIOD. I can game quite well on my latest work laptop:
Pentium-M 1.73GHz
1GB DDR2-533 RAM (dual-channel)
ATi Mobility Radeon X600 128MB
80GB 7200RPM laptop HDD
Also, a decent way to save a few bucks is to NOT get a widescreen laptop. Widescreen can be cool, but for most computing tasks it's completely unnecessary.
Also, Compaq and Emachines have Athlon64-based laptops. I'm an AMD guy, so I always consider those for home users. Dells have superior warranties by far, however, and are always worth one last look.
Daily driver 1: 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport "S"
33" BFG Mud-Terrain KM2s, lots of Rough Country gear - bumper, 2.5" lift, swaybar disconnects, Superwinch 10,000lb winch, Detroit Locker in rear D44 axle, custom exhaust, K+N filtercharger, Superchips-tuned.
Daily driver 2: 2006 Subaru Legacy GT
COBB Stage 1+ package - AccessPort tuner, COBB intake and airbox. Stage 2 coming shortly - COBB 3" AT stainless DP and race cat, custom 3" Magnaflow-based exhaust and Stage 2 COBB tune.
33" BFG Mud-Terrain KM2s, lots of Rough Country gear - bumper, 2.5" lift, swaybar disconnects, Superwinch 10,000lb winch, Detroit Locker in rear D44 axle, custom exhaust, K+N filtercharger, Superchips-tuned.
Daily driver 2: 2006 Subaru Legacy GT
COBB Stage 1+ package - AccessPort tuner, COBB intake and airbox. Stage 2 coming shortly - COBB 3" AT stainless DP and race cat, custom 3" Magnaflow-based exhaust and Stage 2 COBB tune.