argh! Help, Internets!
Apr. 27th, 2010 11:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
electriclandIt is time -- in fact, it is past time -- to buy a new computer. I have put it off longer than anyone would have thought humanly possible. I am using an ancient desktop PC with two hard drives that are 6 GB each. (It's OK, go ahead and laugh. I'll wait.) Plus my work laptop, which is fine, but not mine.
I want a laptop. Unfortunately, the world o' laptops is CONFUSING and I'm not even totally sure what I should be looking for. I need basic web functionality (including Gmail), MS Office or reasonable equivalent, Quicken, iTunes, and the ability to download and manage photos. And an optical drive, because I'm still not finished ripping my CDs to iTunes. And probably some stuff I haven't thought of. I don't download massive quantities of stuff from the Internet because we have the cheapest possible broadband connection, and I don't really watch movies on my computer. Not too huge would be nice, around a 13" or 14" screen. Doesn't have to be super portable as I am unlikely to take it with me everywhere. I will want it to last a fair amount of time (as witness my current setup) so presumably being on the high side of memory, performance etc. would make sense. And I don't want to pay a fortune. Fortunately in that respect, I prefer PC to Mac!
Dell has the pretty, and some models have media card readers which seems nice. But adding options rapidly gets expensive. I have a spreadsheet. I'm just not sure how to prioritize the various features available out of the MILLIONS of possible models. Any advice would be much appreciated!
I want a laptop. Unfortunately, the world o' laptops is CONFUSING and I'm not even totally sure what I should be looking for. I need basic web functionality (including Gmail), MS Office or reasonable equivalent, Quicken, iTunes, and the ability to download and manage photos. And an optical drive, because I'm still not finished ripping my CDs to iTunes. And probably some stuff I haven't thought of. I don't download massive quantities of stuff from the Internet because we have the cheapest possible broadband connection, and I don't really watch movies on my computer. Not too huge would be nice, around a 13" or 14" screen. Doesn't have to be super portable as I am unlikely to take it with me everywhere. I will want it to last a fair amount of time (as witness my current setup) so presumably being on the high side of memory, performance etc. would make sense. And I don't want to pay a fortune. Fortunately in that respect, I prefer PC to Mac!
Dell has the pretty, and some models have media card readers which seems nice. But adding options rapidly gets expensive. I have a spreadsheet. I'm just not sure how to prioritize the various features available out of the MILLIONS of possible models. Any advice would be much appreciated!
