Laptop Assistance

I need help choosing a laptop to buy. Through a lot of surfing, I think that the Dell Insprion 6000 is a good pick. I can customize to my needs. I'm looking for these minimum guidlines while I'm looking for a comptuter. I also want to know when the best time is to buy this computer, whether it is right before or right after Christmas. I plan on using this in college, I have been there for a year now and think that geting a laptop would make things easier. I plan on using it to bring to class and playing games like runescape, not high-end gaming like Halo 2 or Socom 3. Here are the minimum guidlines I think I will need.
- 1Gb RAM (512 OK)
- 1-2 GHz Processor (Intel Pentium M)
- 60 Gb harddrive
- 4-5 Hours battery life
- Metal body or carbon fiber
- Price less than $2000

So what do you think, guys? Is Dell a good pick for cost-efficiency?

Also, I don't know anything about video cards, which one do you guys think is the best in terms of usage and cost-efficiency?

Probably something ATI or Nvidia are good.

what kind of processor is good to get?

The Inspiron 6000 is a decent notebook, but if you're not going to game on the unit, consider the lighter 700m, which even when equipped with the extended life battery, is still lighter than the 6000.  With the 5.5 hour extended battery, I'd often just leave the charger at home.

If on the other hand you intend to do any gaming at all, you've made a good choice with the Inspiron 6000.  Just be sure to purchase the ATI Radeon Mobility graphics adapter when you're configuring the notebook.  Speaking from experience, the integrated intel graphics chipset won't cut it.

As far as when is best to purchase the unit, I'd reccomend keeping your eyes on some of the discount sites.  Thier coupons can often save several hundred dollars.  Make sure you have your money, check daily, and be prepared to purchase as soon as you see a price you're happy with.  Often the price changes daily, or is limited to a certain number of customers.

http://www.gotapex.com u sually lists the latest dell coupons and deals.

(Oh, and if you're on a budget, and you're willing to purchase a used notebook, contact me here.  I've got a 700m for sale.  HAte to let it go actually, but I recently purchased a tablet, and I don't need TWO notebooks.)

Yeah, I was interested in getting a computer that would do some gaming but not high end gaming of course, so I don't think I want a 700m. Thanks for the offer, though.

http://www.m-techlaptops.com/specifications/mtechd470k.htm

That would keep you pretty decently covered if you're talking about gaming on this machine. As far as the Dell is concerned, the video card options that come with it are a little lacking. It really, *really* depends on what types of games you're putting on this machine. The laptop I mention could run a game like Unreal Tournament 2k3 (possibly 2k4??) and might pull off Counter-Strike: Source in low specs, just to give you an idea. The Dell, however, could possibly run Counter-Strike 1.6 at high specs...hopefully that gives you an idea of the graphic difference, but if not they're all easily found through Google Images.

Once you decide on the level of gaming you'll actually do on this, customization should build off of that. High end graphics (CS:S, UT2k3&4, etc.) would require more RAM and a "better-than-stock" processor, while lower-tier gaming would only require a bit more ram at most.

If all that up there is (tl;dr), the M-Tech laptop I dug up for you would easily meet most gaming expectations and is still under $1500.

Get a Pentium M instead of a Celeron M.  The difference in performance for you is probably negligable (and the physical difference is little), but the Celeron M doesn't have SpeedStep, which means a laptop with a Celeron M has a potentially shorter battery life than an equivalent Pentium M.

The Intel 915GM is probably the first Intel integrated graphics chip that DOESN'T suck a lot.  However, if possible, go for the ATi chip.

Counter-Strike 1.6 would be a breeze for the 6000.

My Inspiron 6000 happens to have the Celeron M and Intel 915GM.