Looking at laptops and could use some guidance...?

Question

i've pretty much been looking at Dells and would like to know the pros and cons of the processors like celeron, pentuim dual core, core 2 duo, and others. if you have a link that explains them or can just give me some tips i would appreciate it.

Answer 1

You can be happy w/ a Dell if you do plenty of homework.  I got their 24x7 technical support for 3 years and have used it and am thankful I got it.  I use it for business and wireless stuff is too tedious to take chances in having it get locked up at the wrong time.  Duel core is probably the way to go (though almost nothing uses both processors) & get 2 GB RAM, 120GB HDD+, 17" screen.  I got an Inspiron 1501 for about $1300 and enjoy it.  Important!: the wireless broadband modem cards are only compatible with Cingular, AT&T and one other (don't remember) service - I couldn't use my US Cellular SIM card for phone access, which is a bummer.  It'll take a 3rd party supplier for this.  Be advised they'll nickel & dime you to death, so don't expect to pay the advertised $400 or so.  Otherwise, its a good system.

For more info. you might go to www.pcworld.com and search for best laptops.

I hope it goes well....

Regards.

Answer 2

Celeron is the bottom line processor.

Dual core processors, regardless of the name, are more powerful than single core processors.  We've reached about the limit of frequency with current technology, so to get more power in a single chip they put 2 cores on it - 2 CPUs.  Or 4 CPUs in a quad core.

Most programs can't take advantage of the extra cores, but Windows Vista can, so you get more power with more cores, because you're running more than 1 program at a time.  (Windows itself is a "program".)

I've been in this business a long time, I'm working in a building full of Dells, but I've been very impressed with Gateway recently (which is why I've bought two of their notebooks in the last 2 months).