School laptop

[Jahira]

Sorta in the same boat as Artha, but didn't want to thread hijack.

I won't be doing any gaming on my laptop though but I refuse to buy a celeron processor. It will be completely school oriented but needs to hold my music and pictures (60 gbs would be plenty). I don't know a ton about laptops so I probably would want a 3 year warranty as well.

I have been checking out a few websites, but where can I get a basic laptop for cheap? As with Artha I am seeing Dell as the leader of the pack. If anyone has any recommendations, let me know.

[Anebriated]

For as much shit as people give Dell their laptops are pretty good. For what you need I would suggest getting a basic dell package or go with an apple notebook.

[Wezas]

Dell has some service plans, though they can be a bit pricey:

3Yr Ltd Warr,At-Home Service,and HW Warr Support plus Nights and Weekends [add $149 or $5/month1]

But I'll give the same advice I gave Artha. Check both Dell Home and Dell Small Business. Depending on what you want (or don't want) you may find a similar computer at a nicer price.

[Jahira]

If i get a small business computer and get a warranty and have to use it, are they going to be mad that I am just a college student who wanted a better deal on a laptop?

[Wezas]

I honestly don't see them being "upset" at all. For a while I thought about buying one of their inexpensive servers after I heard of people modifying the PCI slots to fit PCI-E Video Cards. All the servers come (or did) with 1 year next-day on-site service.

Besides, you may be a budding business for all they know.

I think mainly they group them to make it easier for people to find what they need. A Home PC will have more shareware/software and have printer and other options. Business PC's are more streamlined and focus more on power, features, and cost.

[Anailea]

When I bought my Dell laptop, I did not buy the warrenty at first. They later offered it to me at a discount and I bought it then. Think that I got three years of coverage for $79.

[Drew2]

Dell laptops have the best anti-theft device available.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32550

[Celephais]

Get a Discover card (if you don't already have one, I highly recommend it), and head over to Dell, Discover is giving 5% cashback on certain retailers, including Dell. (Again watch slickdeals, there was a deal/mistake earlier today on the Inspiron 6400 that was $100 lower than it is now).

The vanilla 6400 would work great for you, 80gb ram, dual core for $700... if you wanted to 3d game with it you'd likely want the graphics/monitor/ram upgrades. As it is now though, dual core is very nice for office/work applications. It means the computer can be doing one thing and not make you wait for it while you keep working.