Laptop

[quartet-man]

I am thinking of getting my first laptop to replace a WIN98SE desktop until I eventually have a desktop built or build it myself. As far as the laptop is concerned I would foresee using it to surf, watch online videos, burn CD's (mostly audio) and DVD's, some basic word processing and listening to CD's or watching DVD's. I want the portability of a laptop for at least some of these functions. I will probably use CDTrustee on it and have been told that although it can be installed on 64 Bit, it can be difficult. I am awaiting directions to see how involved it is. The programmer also told me that installation on the 32 bit of Windows 7 is possible, but due to changes with it and Vista, the program files folder is not used as in previous versions and we have to work around that.

As far as the laptop is concerned, I would like something to do the things above and have several years (hopefully) of use for these options. Some basic games would be nice perhaps, but not necessarily a priority (although I might want to check out Second Life that a friend of mine plays.)

Here is something I am looking at. It is a bit more money than I would like like to get by with, but I am willing since I want a new one, Lenovo (or equal or better quality) Windows 7 (or XP although not really possible I suppose). Hard Drive space will be nice, but I don't mind using an external with it. I am looking for the sweet spot in specs but want it to last.

This is the basic config, but I am considering certain upgrades (besides the possible 64 bit if that is the way to go), and possibly upgrading the hard drive and memory at least. I am not dead set on this model, it was my starting point. Thanks,

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/c...D1A42981E9AFA8

P.S. I realize that the productivity software is a "trial." I would likely use a good freebie if buying Works or Office is too price and could hopefully cut and paste the data into Microsoft on my work computer if needed. I would need some sort of pop3 email I presume too, but could do a good freebie as well.

[quartet-man]

Another option might be Thinkpads. I want something durable with decent battery life too.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/landing...x_en|t16A34|s&

I noticed after my preceding post that there are promo codes for 10% - 15% off which will help too.

I forgot that I also might want to use the laptop for web design (Dreamweaver maybe.) So, I don't know which will work better. I might also want to do some audio manipulation (with Goldwave, Audacity etc.)

[glc]

I would need some sort of pop3 email I presume too,

That is no problem - Windows comes with Outlook Express or Live Mail, and there are several freebies such as Thunderbird out there.

If you would like a quality laptop with XP, go to Dell's small business site - on the left side you can choose "Windows 7 with downgrade to XP". Pick one of the Latitude "E" series machines. That's Dell's answer to Thinkpads. Quality and support are both very good.

EDIT: Open Office is free, and it can read and write Microsoft-compatible files.

[quartet-man]

I couldn't remember if Express was part of Windows or Works. I might go with Thunderbird if starting from scratch. I would have to see if Express still saves as DBX. I hate that. I am not sure whether to go with XP or 7. I might be willing to do Dell even with 7 if the prices are better and quality still good.

[glc]

If you get the Dell with the XP downgrade, it does come with a Windows 7 DVD which you can use at a later date on it.