need help picking a family's laptop ...

[pam123]

This won't be a desktop replacement but it will see varied use.

Portable enough for occasional trips to the coffee house (Starbucks) or the college/ local library but that's about it except for in-house wireless moving around.
It may be called upon for some light business work from time to time or the occasional trip to class but Power Point uses would be few and far between.
Photoshop use unlikely but not impossible.
Someone will probably put iTunes on it at some point and one of the kids may try a game or two but this is not going to be used to play Crysis.
The kids are old enough not to wreck a laptop when they use it and the family grandparents will use it for email/web surfing when they're there.

Win7 is a must so that eliminates any XP/Vista laptops (My suggestion of a Macbook was turned down. I'd have no problems upgrading it but I can't see any reason for them to lay out an extra hundred. A free upgrade to Win7 option would be OK but I don't see any of those still out there.).


The budget tops out at $1000.

I'm considering this one : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834117963

and this : Dell 1555 Studio : http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/noteb...55&cs=19&s=dhs

but other suggestions are definitely welcome.

[12twelve12]

Look at ASUS. Their laptops are as nice and dependable as their motherboards. We bought 2 of them for our teenage daughters and they have held up very well. Newegg has some and as much as I hate Best Buy...they have some as well.

[Force Flow]

I'd shy away from the Sony. Sometimes they're decent, sometimes not.

I usually recommend Dell laptops for full-size laptops, but from the sound of it, it may not get that much use.

In that case, possibly an Asus netbook?

[glc]

If you are looking at Dells, go to the small business site and look at the Latitude E series. Those are the road warriors, similar to Lenovo Thinkpads. Dell business support is also a lot better than their home user support.

They have a sweet deal going right now - a Latitude E5500 *AND* a Vostro A90 netbook for $838.

[pam123]

Thanks guys.

That Vostro A90 won't work for this family but I know a few others who might be interested so it goes on my watch list. The Dell Latitude is a definite possibility though.

I hadn't checked out Asus but I"ll do that later today.

[pam123]

Originally Posted by glc If you are looking at Dells, go to the small business site and look at the Latitude E series. Those are the road warriors, similar to Lenovo Thinkpads. Dell business support is also a lot better than their home user support. They have a sweet deal going right now - a Latitude E5500 *AND* a Vostro A90 netbook for $838.

Did you mean the Dell Vostro 1720 ?

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...=bqcwd3z&s=bsd

[glc]

Nope.

http://www.dell.com/us/en/business/n..._e5500_anav4~~

When you hit Customize, there's a link on the right to add the A90 for $79 and to customize that.

[pam123]

Originally Posted by glc Nope. http://www.dell.com/us/en/business/n..._e5500_anav4~~ When you hit Customize, there's a link on the right to add the A90 for $79 and to customize that.

Oh my, my. my.
Just the sort of thing I like!

[pam123]

Just an update.

glc's A90 did for 3 families.
HP was insisted upon by 1 and Sony by another ( If it's what you have to have it's what you have to have.)

I, finally, broke down and bought an Asus and I'll let everyone know how things go.