Maybe. But I read the ads, and realize I have no idea what any of the terminology means, and then I don't know whether what I'm looking at is what I want. Or need. And then I get paralyzed, and don't buy anything.
I read that I can buy a 13" Macbook, 2.0 ghz intel Core 2 Duo; 2 GB memory; 160GB hard drive; superdrive; NVIDIA Geforce 9400M for $1389. I know the arguments for the Mac -- the elegance, lack of viruses, etc, but as I am staring at layoff shortly, a Mac is kinda outside my budget right now. (That said, the "NVIDIA Geforce 9400M" bit sounds very impressive.)
So, moving on. I read the ads from the local bigbox office supply store...
I can buy a 16" hp notebook; AMD Turion RM-75 Dual-Core processor with 3GB memory; 250GB hard drive; wireless "G" for $500.
I can buy a 17" hp notebook; Intel Pentium Processor T4300; 4GB memory; 320GB hard drive; wireless "N" for $700. (I like the idea of that, because I think it might be a good idea to have the extra inch.)
But then I see that I can get 16" hp notebook; Intel Pentium Processor T4300; 4GB memory; 250 GB hard drive; wireless "N" for $600. I wonder why I would want to have an Intel Pentium Processor T4300 rather than an AMD Turion RM-75 Dual-Core processor.
And then I see there is a Gateway NV Series 15.6" notebook with an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T6500; 4 GB memory; 320 GB hard drive and that "N" wireless stuff for $700, and I wonder why Gateway charges the same price for a computer that is 1.4" smaller than the hp notebook.
I use a computer to email, surf the web, occasionally edit photos (using GNU or Irfanview); use a word processor, occasionally a spreadsheet and maybe a database. Also iTunes. I want to get KnitVisualizer 2.1 running, but in the past, it has balked on my existing machine.
Now when I say surf the web, it is not uncommon for me to have firefox open with 3 tabs. One tab could have this, and another this, and the last one, this. My existing machine c-r-a-w-l-s. I'm guessing it's all the imbedded youtube videos. It's worse if I have eudora open for emailing at the same time. Usually I do.
The idea is that I want to replace my desktop with a laptop (or a notebook: and is a laptop different from/to a notebook?). I'm not sure a smaller sized laptop/notebook is necessarily a problem, since I'd like to have a full sized keyboard and a monitor of at least 19". (My existing 15" CRT monitor is nearly 10 years old, so could die at any time.) That way, at home I have full monitor, mouse, keyboard. On the few occasions I have the machine away from home I can make do with the smaller size of the notebook/laptop, which would be fine for all I'd be using it. (Since I don't expect to be travelling for business or anything.)
But I guess the real questions are, if I have a 16" laptop with 4GB memory and 320 GB Hard drive, do I want an Intel Pentium Processor T4300, or an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T6500, or an AMD Turion RM-75 Dual-Core processor? And why? Or does it matter?
And do I want wireless "N" or "G"? And why?
Anybody?????
Thank you.
