Whats up, need help when to buy the correct pc for my family.

[Tercel_driver]

Right now, I am in college, doing my Graphic Design AS degree. Anyways, I am pretty sure, I am going to need a computer to do all my homework. My mom says she wants something small like a notebook, because she wants to take it everywhere. That means wireless technology. So we decided on getting a notebook.

The problem is she knows very little about computers, and I know my share, but still she is not convinced. So I am posting here, to know which brands are the best choices to buy a computer. One that has a nice vid card.

We visited Dell, and they have some really nice ones. Same as Gateway, well... what do you think are the best notebook choices?

 

[Solid Fro]

Check CNET: http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-1026.html?tag=st.cn.1.notebooks.1026

Notebooks do not have video cards like the ones you can buy at a computer store. Notebooks have integrated video chipsets. Both nVidia and ATi make chipsets for notebooks. GeForce 4 GO from nVidia and Mobility Radeon 9000 from ATi. If you want these chipsets, you need to buy a notebook that has these chipsets, since you can't buy them separately.

 

[Race Idiot]

http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/s...reId=1&catalogId=-840&langId=-1&dualCurrId=73

Blah, why do you need a Geforce or radeon chipset for graphic design?
Unless your going to do 3D rendering/modeling, I could see a use for them. But if your just going to do stuff like photoshop, flash etc a standard graphics card should do.

I'd reccomend an IBM T30, with integrated wireless lan option if that is what you meant when you said wireless?

 

[Tercel_driver]

Alright, thanks for the info. I am checking.

 

[rjensen11]

If you're gun-ho on the imaging, I would recommend getting another monitor, but have it be a CRT, not LCD. CRT's have much better image quality and accurate colours. I'm not sure which to get, 802.11a or 802.11b. 802.11a is faster, and probabliy will take over sooner or later, but 802.11b is cheaper and has a longer range. Since it would most likely stay in the house, I'd probably go with 802.11a because you could position your wireless router in the middle of your house or so, then not have any worries unless you live in some gigantic mansion. 802.11a is also better because less items use its frequency right now. 802.11b shares its ranges with wireless phones(not cellphones), and I've also had bad experiences with 802.11b. My experience with it was that my computer would connect to my router for about 10 minutes, then would get cut off. Then I'd have to have my dad change the channel on the router and the card, because only he knows the password for accessing the router. Also, you'll want to look into wireless encription very seriously. Otherwise others can easily listen in to your network or just listen to what your notebook is doing over the internet very easily.

 

[Solid Fro]

Good luck on your AS degree, Tercel_driver. 👍

 

[Tercel_driver]

Originally posted by Viper Zero
Good luck on your AS degree, Tercel_driver. 👍

Thanks.