Howdy,

I've been considering purchasing a notebook within the next few months. I'm by no means a "power user", so I have a few questions.

Would a 1.66 Core 2 Duo perform well enough to do a little gaming, on top of general surfing/movie usage?
I'm planning on 1GB of RAM, will that be sufficient?
I read in a previous post about the screen, I want something with a +, correct? (IE: SXGA+ or WXGA+)
Are there any competitively priced whitebooks that I could custom-tailor?


I know those are vague questions, but I'm just looking for some basic info right now. I'd like to see a benchmark comparison between the regular processors and the core 2 duo processors, but haven't found much of anything online, (perhaps my search string is too vague or specific), could you steer me in the right direction?

I'm leaning hard towards Dell right now, but I'd like to spend 1k or less. That seems near impossible ordering directly through them, I would assume there are online retailers that could get me a better deal?

Sorry for the long post and numerous questions, I'm just trying to test the waters here.

Thanks for any response.

The new Core 2 Duo chips are exceptional, and yes, they are well suited for gaming. What you ask about is more than enough CPU to game with - your main worry these days with gaming is whether or not your graphics card is suited for gaming. More often than not, it won't be "killer" for gaming, even if you spend an extra $100 to get the nicer card, but it will be more than suitable for most of the addictive online games like Everquest and World of Warcraft. Should hold up fairly well for titles like Quake 4, but a lot of the latest titles out like F.E.A.R. and DoomIII probably won't do well with your average laptop video card.

1GB of RAM is excellent choice. 512MB won't cut it. A lot of people don't know this, but Windows XP can only handle actually use 2.7GB of RAM - so anything over 2GB is really unnecessary for XP. This will change with Vista (only if Vista is run in 64-bit mode), and Windows XP 64-bit edition can use a full 4GB of RAM.

Yes on the + in the screen name. The + usually designates a better resolution. Also, things like "Wide angles" or "true life" are bonuses for a brighter, more vivid screen or one that is viewable from almost anywhere in the room. cheap displays usually do a color-inverse or go black when viewed from the side or top. You really want the display to have an "S" in it (to designate 'super', I believe) or the + or both. So, rather than XGA, get SXGA or SXGA+. I rarely ever see anything that says "WSXGA" (the W stands for 'widescreen'), it seems that WSXGA = WGXA+, I believe.

I can't answer your whitebooks question, because, honestly, notebooks are still at a point where it's more cost effective (and aggravation-free) to buy one from a major name brand like Dell with a warranty and be secure in knowing if it ever breaks, you're good to go with your warranty. I still don't know any places to find out more info on compatiblity for barebones notebooks...I have always heard that compatiblity with notebook components is NOT as great as with desktop PC's because the manufacturer usually hashes out all of hte incompatibilities before putting the unit out to market. My advice: If you want a challenge or to build a hot custom rig, go for it. If you just want balls with money as no option, get a killer XPS system from Dell, something like the new 19" monitor verison. It's not very portable, but ... yeah.

Want a better deal on Dell laptops? Go to dealnews.net - click this link for laptop deals: http://dealnews.com/categories/Computer/PC-Computers/PC-Laptop/49.html

NOTE: Don't forget to add a 3yr warranty to that! And also - be very careful to look at what monitor is offered with the laptops here, you may need to change it when you add to your cart. Also, be very careful to look at what video card is offered ;)

Deals update at Dealnews.net almost daily, so check back frequently. You can usually pickup a pretty kickass laptop shipped to your door for right around $1k after tax and all.