Another "Laptop for College" thread...

[Millenniumtiger]

I need some help finding a lappy for school. Basically, all I want it to do is use the internet, play movies + music, and use MS Office (Don't need to buy it, I "Found" a place to get it lol)

I found this one...Is it good enough? Never had a Toshiba computer before: Laptop Computers - Satellite L305-S5883

Also, do I need the 3 gb of ram? I know Vista hogs it (I want to use Vista) and I'm used to looking at ram for the gaming side of things lol.

 

[Naphtali14]

Looks good. Toshiba is a reputable brand. I would say yes to the three gigs of ram. Vista isn't as big of a resource hog as people make it out to be but it does know how to use all of your ram, and therefore reach its full potential ;-) The video card should be sufficient for any movies you want to watch.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

You don't even need Vista! For just Internet, movies, and music, even an ancient (well, old) laptop is capable. My ThinkPad A21p running Ubuntu Linux can do all of those and it only cost me $150 on eBay, it has a Pentium 3 850MHz and 512MB RAM.

If you're still dead set on Vista, you'll need excessive RAM. 1GB IS NOT ENOUGH!!!!! My parents have 1GB and even 32 bit Vista lags unusably slow. 2GB should be sufficient for just those things though, 3GB is good if you plan on multitasking, gaming, photo editing, etc.

 

[Millenniumtiger]

Well I found this one on newegg...leaning more towards this because of saving the extra money and looks to still be a good laptop.
Newegg.com - Fujitsu LifeBook A6110(FPCR32379) NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T5450(1.66GHz) 15.4" Wide XGA 2GB Memory DDR2 667 160GB HDD 5400rpm Dual layer DVD Burner Intel GMA X3100 - Laptops / Notebooks

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

1.66 GHz may be a bit slow, but for the stuff you're using it for, that laptop should be fine. If you're not going to do intensive gaming, the X3100 is supposed to be a good integrated solution that is at least capable of Aero and light gaming. 2GB is good for Vista and 160GB won't fill up unless you put a lot of movies and video clips on it.