URGENT - Pls help...pls recommend - laptop purchase

URGENT - Pls help...pls recommend - laptop purchase
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I am in the SF Bay Area, California.

My laptop died so I am in need of a new laptop urgently - like today
if poss.
I cannot wait for more than a week or so for delivery etc.
Windows laptop preferably ( not mac)

I need your recommendations...


My main requirements are as follows:
***********************************************
- as fast as poss ( I hate it when it hangs or runs slowly)
- as lightweight as poss


The following are the main programs I use
****************************************************
- gmail, yahoo mail etc
- MS Word or Notepad
- MS Outlook

Typically I have about 6 to 7 Mozilla/ Firefox pages open and MS
Outlook and Word or Notepad open - all day - open all at once- at any
point in time.
So I use quite a bit of resources.


My Budget is as follows:
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prefer around US $1000

But could go as high as US $1300 or so


Simplicity
****************
Since I am not a techie, I would prefer a very simple plug and play
laptop.
Would like a well known branded laptop.


Do not need the following
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I do not need features for games, graphics, entertainment etc.
Just a fast, lightweight sturdy laptop.


Would any one pls recommend a laptop based on the above.
Which brand ? What model #? Approx price ? Where to buy it ?


Thanks in advance,

Irfan Smith

 

Using my favorite search engine, I entered

"laptop rental" "SF Bay Area"

and this is the first item returned. What you could do, is
arrange for a laptop rental, for a short period of time,
giving you time to shop and check reviews for your new machine.
By using a USB 2.5" disk drive enclosure, and moving the
hard drive from your old laptop, into a USB enclosure, you
would gain access to the files on it (assuming the drive
is still working at the moment).

http://www.bluemeblue.com/laptoprental.htm

Rushing a purchase, is just asking to throw good money away.

If you like instant gratification, go to a big box store and
try out the laptops there. That is the quickest way to get
one, and you can feel how flimsy the physical construction is,
or speedy the performance is.

Another place to look, would be a review site -

http://www.notebookreview.com

For example, they offer this page.

http://www.notebookreview.com/best_laptops/default.asp

Seeing as Nvidia G84 and G86 GPUs are failing, and are being
repaired under warranty, I would be careful of units that
incorporate "Geforce Go". At least until there are
definitive statements as to whether the problem is fixed
on newly shipping GPU products from Nvidia. ATI is the
competitor of Nvidia, and also makes GPUs. A laptop with
Intel graphics built into the Northbridge, is a weaker
solution for 3D gaming, but likely won't die like the
Nvidia solution. (So ATI or Intel as branding for graphics,
should be OK.) This Nvidia failure issue, complicates
the already difficult selection process for laptop shopping.

HTH,
Paul

 

Just about any laptop with a 2ghz or faster Core duo processor and 2gbs of
ram will do.
If you go the big box stores be sure to check whether the machine has Vista
64 or 32 loaded on it.
For reasons that are totally obscure manufacturers like HP and others are
selling low and mid-range notebooks with Vista 64 installed.
Vista 32 is bad enough (slow disc access routines, bloated background
processes and hobbled by a worthless system that stops you in your tracks
and asks you if you really want to do everything because it might be
dangerous but does not tell you what the danger is) but Vista 64 is even
less stable, incompatible with many common programs and has less drivers for
peripherals than even Vista 32.