I'm not sure if this counts as computer help but I didn't think that it warranted its own thread. Let me know if I would receive better advice by doing that.
I recently received a recommended student PC specifications sheet for a desktop and laptop from my future college. I was hoping for some recommendations on anything extra that I would need. I'd much rather have a laptop for convenience, so here is what they listed for that:
Processor: Intel Core2Duo T5450 or AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62
Memory: 2 GB of RAM appropriate for the processor type
Video: AMD Radeon Mobility x300 or nVidia GeForce Go 6000
Peripherals: Dual-Layer DVD multi-format optical writer
10/100 ethernet port
Built in wireless support for 802.11 b/g
Intel and AMD have actually been neck and neck in the processor game, although due to a common perception that Intel is superior AMD tends to be cheaper. I think that depending on your configuration you may be able to get a larger processor cache with the Intel processor, but if the AMD processor is cheaper I'd go for it.
Both video cards you mention are low-end and should be able to do most of your work and play back videos and such without difficultly. I'd recommend going with whatever is cheapest. I guess quantity of video RAM is a consideration, but if you're not playing games all you should really care about is whether the card is going to be using system memory (which neither will).
The one major thing for laptops to consider is the screen, whether you want it glossy or matte. Matte is probably recommended unless you're only going to be using the machine in dark settings, but if you're going to be using it outdoors at all the glare on a glossy screen would be pretty terrible.
You may also have other options for display. Generally, I consider anything designed to enhance brightness to be a waste of money; brightness is relative and I don't even use the highest brightness setting on my laptop. Screen resolution is up to you, although I will tell you that unless you're using a 17-inch notebook, you shouldn't need anything above 1440x900 (and 1280x800 will probably suffice for anything smaller than 15.4 inches).
One factor to consider is RAM clock speed; I believe that 667 MHz is the most common but OEM 800 MHz isn't significantly more expensive bought OEM (although distributors might charge significantly more for it). If your chipset can support 800 MHz RAM and it's not too expensive, I'd go for it.
Actually, economically the best way to go about RAM is to purchase it separately and install it yourself. I'd recommend purchasing the laptop with the minimum memory configuration and then adding a 2 GB stick yourself (which should cost $35-50 off some site like newegg.com). However, this only works if the minimum memory configuration comes in the form of a single stick and the laptop has two slots for memory. I'm pretty sure that this is the case for most major distributors, although you may want to double-check to be sure before you try it.
Dell's Vosotro seems to be pretty economical (Dell seems to be mostly concered with penetrating the notebook market), although I've never bought or used one. I've always bought and used HP's hardware, and one of their 15.4-inch notebooks should be able to meet your minimum specs without difficulty (probably in the range of $600-800).
The one trap that a lot of people fall into is springing for a large laptop hard drive. Generally, this is a bad idea. Laptop hard drives are significantly more expensive than hard drives that are physically larger. I'd go with the mimimum hard drive configuration and purchase an external drive. If you're willing to use an external drive that runs off an external power source (plugged into a wall, meaning that it would be limited to use at a single workstation), you can get a 500 GB external USB drive for under $120. If your laptop has a 80 GB internal drive, that should be enough to store all of your school-related material while you use an external drive to keep all of your media (assuming that you accumulate large amounts of HD movies and lossless music).
The laptop's internal drive should probably be 5400 RPM if you're concerned about battery life. If battery life isn't an issue, you may wish to spring for a 7600 RPM hard drive, although I wouldn't bother if it's tremendously expensive since the difference is marginal.
Probably the best thing to do would be to order the laptop you'd like to purchase from the manufacturer's website so that you can have the option to leave off extraneous features while meeting your minimum specs.
If you have to purchase it separately, Windows XP can be bought OEM for about $100.
I guess i'll post my problem here.
My com has a very strange problem. Sometimes, when i on firefox, it'll immediately show that there's an illegal operation, which forces me to close it and reboot firefox.
Internet explorer will get it no matter what, i have no idea why. I normally just drag it to the side, and when i finish, i click it.
When i try to play flash games, it will have an illegal operation after a while, which forces me to close it. I can't even play games on neopets.
Is there any reason why it behaves like this?
But the worst part is when i try to play anything. Even if i play something as old as caesar III, or even my VBA emulator, my com will shut down automatically after a while, without warning. Strangely, Shoddy works, maybe because it's a Java program. It this a hardware problem, or an internal software problem?
Thanks for the help.
You might want to open task manager to check to see if there are any processes which could be sapping your performance.