ok so i sold my civic and my truck and i now have enough money to get me a good laptop for overseas. the problem is i am sorta out of the loop on laptops and was wondering what you guys would reccomend on a 2000 dollar budget. the things i must have are.... at least 120 gb hd, at least 1gb ram, built in webcam and mic, and i would like a 17 inch screen if possible. also what have you guys heard about vista? i know alot about xp and down being a tech support guy but i have never used vista and ive heard some bad things about it. thanx guys. btw i have found one laptop i like but whats your opinions on it?
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/...FQQvYQodizYvew

 

thats a realnice laptop man. Vista is cool but alot people are complaining about driver compatability. I havent run into any problems myself, and i record music as well as edit video on mine. That being said, XP runs quicker, and with less problems as Vista is so new.

 

Eh its alright, i have seen better. But why go for straight top of the line and save some cash unless ur willing to just go all out on the lappy. Its an alright setup. Idk wut type of hardware ur gunna need overseas, like if u have a camera or camcorder and gunna be putting pics/vids on. But IMO its aight. I have an HP Pavilion dv4000 and i love it. I got it for 1600 and it suits me for everything. Vid, just a laptop, hacking, and its also pretty light. Idk if ur gunna be having to carry it around so i would look at the weight too. Battery power is also another thing to look at. What cell, how long it lasts, how much another battery would cost.

 

for taking a laptop overseas, i'd suggest smaller being better

also, if you can deal with it, learn to use OS X, a macbook will fit all of your needs, and cost less

 

OS X is nice if ur willing to break away from windows. I say DO NOT go with Vista just yet and stay with one of the XP's. Macs are nice i wont lie, but idk how comfortable u are with em

 

The one you posted is nice. However, I would never spend that kind of money on a laptop. I just bought a laptop myself. I spent $650 and got a Toshiba with core 2 duo centrino, 1gig of ram, CD/DVD writer (i think those are pretty much standard on all laptops) and 120gig HDD. The only thing I dislike about it is vista.

 

well it looks as thought the 15" ones are going to be better, and it will be used for photoshop, online games, pics, vids, music, etc. thats why i need a quick one with alot of storage. and i dont really feel like startin over with a mac, thanx though. any problems with the processor it has in the toshiba i listed? if not im going to go pick it up in a few minutes

 

ur good

 

macbook. and you CAN run windows on it, but I wouldn't know why. lol.

you can actually triple boot, mac osx, windows and linux if you wanted to.

 

The laptop will work just fine. Make sure to get several batteries for it as each country has it's own plugs and voltages. In some places adapters will work, in others you will need a different charger. Stick with WinXP, you will have much less grief.

The unit comes with trial versions of Office. Make sure to download OpenOffice (free) before you go so your trial version doesn't run out on you. For photo editing I recommend PhotoFiltre. It is free and well suported.

If you are in public make sure to observe local mores regarding computer use. What is normal to you may be offensive to the locals. Especially in Islamic countries.

Make sure your computer is well protected. Other countries may not have ISPs that filter for spam and other malware as well as ISPs here in the States do. Enjoy your trip.