Help me find my university-bound sister a nice, reliable laptop. Are they any brands you especially recommend? [more inside]
posted by flibbertigibbet on Jul 12, 2009 - 37 answers

Cheap, lightweight(ish) PC laptop with an optical drive? Or should I just spring for a MacBook? [more inside]
posted by lunasol on Jan 6, 2009 - 14 answers

Are there likely going to be holiday sales on budget laptops? [more inside]
posted by brett on Nov 20, 2007 - 14 answers

Shopping for a cheap used laptop: What are the minimum specs I should be looking for with respect to CPU, RAM, HD? I'm planning to use WinXP (maybe I'll settle for 2K), Open Office, and FireFox (including some AJAX-heavy web sites such as gmail, Google Docs, del.icio.us), with a wifi card. And not much else. I want to avoid "I'm always waiting for this stupid slow computer!" but not spend much more than the minimum needed to avoid that.
posted by Leonard of Vince on Dec 18, 2006 - 24 answers

First, a follow-up. I'm going back to school this spring! Thanks for the words of wisdom and encouragement, guys! I'm probably going to be studying either history (with the goal of teaching) or photojournalism, but I haven't decided for sure yet.

Secondly, I'm contemplating getting a laptop for my return to collegiate life. Are they as useful and omnipresent in college life as they seem to be? If so, what laptop do you recommend? I must admit, I have become iCurious. Will I have problems networking with my XP machine if I go the Mac route? If I don't, what manufacturer do you recommend? My budget is $1000 or below, but I could go up to $1500 if you give me a really compelling reason.
posted by keswick on Nov 11, 2004 - 20 answers