I looked at the msi link, looks a reasonable endeavor for what u want, but I bet u`r in a situation where u`r looking at them, with ranging prices of ~€150 and thinking .... !???!?!!?!
Sounds pretty straight forward, lol, however:
Biggest issue is connectivity, do u have wifi in the house via u`r router ? The newer laptops are going to ge atleast wireless-G (54mps), with wireless-G+(108mps) becoming more and more popular. G is really good tho. If u`r router is B (11mps??) only, I believe only some G cards will goto B in the settings, so check for that.
Do u want to be sure to have a gigabit ethernet connection for when u`r not roaming about ?
Do u want the laptop to be `dockable`; alot of peoples like to be able to bring them home and put them on a dock that already has their monitor, key/mouse, network connected - without having to play with wires each time. Not all laptops are dockable.
Memory; u may see a laptop with 512m - and think it`s not an issue, u can upgrade it later - but just be aware that most laptops I`ve seen, regular ones, have 2 memory slots. When the unit is sold as 512m, it means 2x256m, so if u want to go to a gig later - u will need to replace both slots. i.e. buy a full new gig to replace the 512m.
Optical; having a DVD/cdrw sounds great (infact I got one myself), but bare in mind that if u want to burn DVDs in the future, u will need to buy a new one - and here`s the thing, they aint as cheap to buy as pc ones >.< Cheapest option usually is to get a USB/firewire one later. (personally I hate having to get things to add to the laptop and have them sprouting off the usb ports etc, but thats me)
Mentioning USB/firewire - how many can u see u`ll need ?
The pointer system ? Mostly they use a touchpad thing these days. Personally I hate them, if I have to work on a laptop I prefer to plug atleast a mouse in the usb. But out of all the systems used it`s probably the best (other than the very rare trackball). Some have a horrible stick-like thing that juts up between the keys on the keyboard >.< ewch. But then some have a nice trackball on them - but be sure the trackball`s ball is able to be cleaned from the surface!
Drive space; 60g?/80g ? 100g+ prehaps a year+ ago I would have suggested to make sure u get a nice size with the unit coz the prices of 2.5" drives is quite expensive.. well these days the prices aren`t ~too~ bad, IDE wize that is. I`ve not seen a sata one yet so I can`t comment on them. Although powerwize u r supposed to be carefull. I`ve stuck an 80g faster drive in mine without really checking anything, and tbh I should have my hands slapped. When the unit is on, u can feel the heat above the drive >.< not a good sign. lol but it works great >.<
Screensizes less than 15/15.4 are very hard to get along with, imo. Sure u get used to them after a while, but why should u have to ? 15 is kinda the base size of them, moving forward. 17 and widescreen is lovely. But then again, do u want to have one of those deluxey screens that have glossy colors `n stuff, or a regular lcd type. Same consideration as with u`r pc tbh. If u want to watch loads of DVDs on it, u may consider the deluxe-professional ones. Bit more expensive tho I think. It`s like the difference between a Dell 207W and a 2007W monitor - prehaps.
.. talking about DVDs, do u `need` a tv out?sound out?headphones ?
Things to bare in mind.
- Screensize
- Connectivity [Wifi(b,g,g+), USB(number of), Firewire(do u want it), Ethernet(speed) - and where on the unit they are situated.
- Drive size
- Memory
- Battery Life (how long u can stay not plugged into the wall)
- DVDrw or DVDcdrw ??
- Type of pointer
- Memory size
- TV/svhs/headphones output ??
The processor and gfx engine, if u`r not looking to play heavy games on it, isn`t totally important. A new laptop in the sections u`r looking at are mostly c2d/x2 of some kind, and the gfx set is going to be like a pc`s onboard gfx engine. For working it`ll be great, for games... u got the cpu to an extent, but the gfx will be, in most cases, minimal.
There are other considerations, but most of them, like the pcmcia slot, u`ll only find important if u haven`t got the above connectivity things.
The make/manufacturer is up for debate. I have a 2 Acers, they`re great. I work around Toshiba, HP and Dell, and tbh for what they are, they work well - I don`t see too many of them in the repair section, outside of user inflicted things
I`ve always thought about buying *something* from Dell, just to see if I can get a cheap upgrade to a 20+" monitor
lol fat chance.
1 thing I can guarantee u, whatever u`r plans for the use of the laptop, u will always try and atleast see if it can do more
I can`t recall all the silly things I`ve installed on mine, that I had no reason to think they`d work well, with mixed results
Be aware tho, in-depth games on a work suited laptop, will drain the power reeeeeally quick!
) but I use friends a lot and they're lush :worship:
