Help on finding a good laptop....?

catina, i do not wish to ask personal questions

but u will appreciate, i will need some info to give you correct solution

what is this visual impairment, colour blind or .....

how do you operate your computer presently

mean, do u use lower resolution, bold fonts ... etc

or if i'm not making sense to you, plz do not hesitate to ask

u can post in details section or mail me > whichever suits u, i will sure try my best

good u mentioned 17" > sure u should be aware it's tuff to cart around ... size & weight

what's preference ... windows or mac

the more the details u give me, the better i can narrow down

best wishes & have a great day !

___________

thanx 4 info

i personally see nothin wrong with dell, added to fact that u'r getting a good discount

i am just posting a rough config 4 now & expect u to comment on it, meantime maybe i can scan for other options

infact dell has a premium notebook, xps m1710 , but its way too expensive cause it's flashy & it's more for gaming, but yet let me have a second look

dell inspirion e1705

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx...

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB)

FREE Upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with 1GB of memory

17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™

2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz

120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability

256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory

Integrated Audio

53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Dell Wireless 1390b/g (54Mbps)

Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD

No security subscription (McAfee 30-day trial)

Trial pack- Basic and trial products from Corel and Yahoo

My Service

1Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service

6 Months of America Online Membership Included

Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem

Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0

Inspiron 1705 Dual Core

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor

Windows Vista™ PremiumCompatibility Alert

$ 1662

# expect your comments, besides this is just done in haste & hope to refine in few hours

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Satellite P200-ST2071 - Toshiba Laptop

PSPBGUTC8M4E

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cdetland.to?po...

CPU: Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB)

Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium 32-Bit

Office Software: Microsoft® Office Ready Suite 2007 (60-day trial)

Memory: 2048MB PC5300 DDR2 667MHz SDRAM (1024MBx2)

LCD: 17.0" Diagonal Widescreen XGA+ TruBrite® display

Graphics Controller: nVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7600 with 256MB dedicated graphics memory

HDD: 120GB HDD (5400rpm, Serial-ATA)

Optical Media: DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive

Mini-PCI/WiFi: Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965 AGN (802.11a/g/n)

Bluetooth: Bluetooth® v.2.0 + EDR

Speaker: harmon/kardon® stereo speakers

Battery: Li-Ion Battery (6-cell, 4000mAH)

$ 1524

__ ____ _____ _____

** please take note that a 6 cell battery is too small for the 17" fella, but same time a 9 cell battery will make system just too heavy. 6 cell will last 1 1/2 to 2 hrs of normal usage.

i dunno if u have to operate on batteries for long periods

if that is so, u may consider buying an additional 9 cell battery & use it only when u absolutely need to, keep it fully pre-charged. will tell u hints & intricasies later., budget permitting **

os: xp is pretty tuff to get now pre-built / pre-installed

hence vista. now that u will be using special tools like zoomtext, i will not advise u on vista home basic ... many features may not work & vista ultimate is too much of a resource hog,, hence my choive would be vista home premium

processor: intel core 2 duo t7200 > among the top performers, only t7400 & t7600 outdo it but much too steeply priced & not worth the extra cash

ram: 2 gb i thought best to feed vista plus u'r applications & special tooling

>> plz do feel free to mail me any querries u may have !

____ _____ _____

my privilage if i could help u in any way, catina

no worry, i will grab the points alright, lol

a new experience for me this & i gotta give u points for making me learn something new

lemme know if u use internet messenger ... a short chat would be enuf to satisfy both u & me

________________

HP Pavilion dv9000t series

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/compute...

Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)

Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo T7200 (2.0GHz/4MB L2Cache)

17.0" WSXGA+ BrightView Widescreen (1680x1050)

256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7600

HP Imprint Finish/Microphone/Webcam

2GB (2 Dimm)

120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

Super Multi 8X DVD+/-R/RW w/Double Layer Support

Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network w/Bluetooth

8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

Microsoft(R) Works 8.0

System Recovery DVD w/Windows Vista Home Premium

$ 1534

_____ ______ ______

Gateway® NX860XL

http://www.gateway.com/configurator.php?cart_recid...

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7200 (2.00GHz, 667MHz FSB, 4MB L2 Cache)

Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium (32-bit)

2048MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2-1024MB modules)

100GB 7200rpm Serial ATA hard drive

17.1" WUXGA TFT Active Matrix (1920 x 1200 max. resolution) (requires Intel 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N wireless)

8x Multi-Format Double Layer DVD Writer (DVD±R/±RW/CD-RW)

Integrated Intel® 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N Wireless Networking (for Genuine Windows® Vista™)

Features Intel® Centrino® Duo Mobile Technology

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS Graphics w/ 256MB DDR Video Memory

Three years accidental damage plan [$99.00]

120 Watt AC Adapter

Microsoft® Works 8.5

Cyberlink Power2Go (Download only)

Primary 8-Cell Lithium Ion Battery w/ 1 Yr. limited battery warranty

Bluetooth Wireless Networking Module

Intel WLAN to Bluetooth Cabling

Chassis w/ Intel® 945PM Chipset (Dark Tungsten)

One type II PC card slot

External Ports (4) USB 2.0, VGA, IEEE 1394 (FireWire), S-Video (TV-Out)

90-day America Online® Internet access

Full-size keyboard w/ integrated 10-key pad and EZ Pad® Pointing Device

6-in-1 media card reader (MemoryStick®, MemoryStick Pro®, MultiMedia Card™, Secure Digital™, Mini Secure Digital®, RS-MultiMedia Card™)

Integrated V.92 56K modem

Integrated Intel® 10/100/1000 Ethernet Adapter

Operating System Backup Media Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium Media (32-bit)

McAfee® 90-day Internet Security Suite Complimentary Subscription with VirusScan, Personal Firewall Plus, SpamKiller & Privacy Service v. 1.2 (for Genuine Windows Vista™)

End User License Agreement for Non-Microsoft Software

Standard Software Adobe® Acrobat Reader® 7.0 and Google Toolbar

Warranty 3 Year Value Plan [$159.99]

$ 1889

but ^ is with 3 year coverage, including accidental coverage

but i'm not sure about brand: gateway , not available in india / asia

else $ 1889 - 159 - 99 = $ 1631 > for 1 yr coverage

the reason i posted gateway was that only gateway is offering choice of win xp

indirectly > u need to chat to sales person & clarify

http://www.gateway.com/configurator.php?product_re...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

brand: toshiba i trust the most & gateway the least

features: the hp has built-in mike & webcam

besides the default battery is 8 cell & not 6 cell

Might I suggest going on ebay and searching for an I.B.M. thinkpad. I recently bought a Thinkpad on ebay for $156.00 and it works great.

dell XPS 1210 (light, portable, good for school,has a 12.1 in. screen but in HD)

Get a Mac. http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/A... you can get an educational discount.