Stream of Unconsciousness...

RECOMMENDATION PRE-SUMMARY:

Preferably Toshiba (personally), and avoid budget models ($300-699)

Intel Core 2 Duo processor

3GB RAM

160 GB hard drive (5400 RPM, minimum)

Trend Micro AntiVirus

Backup hard drive with 5 year warranty

I'll answer the first question that I get asked most often, which is which brand. Really, I don't like discussing brand, because in most cases, it's irrelevant. That said, I'll continue.

BRANDS:

I know that Dell BUSINESS equipment is very well supported, which will be great, if you don't want to have to worry about outsourced support (which, I'm sure, you know to be frustrating). I personally trust Toshiba above all others (in the way of PCs, I own a MacBook currently) since Toshiba specializes in notebooks, and nothing else. I hear that they also have excellent support, as well.

I particularly don't trust Gateway laptops, as I used to see a lot of them coming in at Geek Squad (but I hazard a guess that the people that buy them, the inexperienced budget buyers, GENERALLY don't take care of their laptops as well), and their build quality is shoddy, at best (I hope you didn't buy a Gateway ;o)).

PROCESSORS:

Anyways, with so many people wanting to do processor-intensive stuff on their computers (movies, pictures, music, etc.) I'd recommend nothing short of an Intel Core2Duo processor (I bought a Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz a year ago, and I love it). AMD is really out of the competition game and I haven't heard anything from them recently, right now, but their "equivalent" is the Athlon 64 X2. You may have heard that AMDs are more efficient than Intels, but that's not the case anymore.

I'd recommend staying away from Celeron, Sempron, Centrino, and Pentium M Dual-Core (as they are very much lighter duty processors). They are not fit for doing multimedia on Vista.

MEMORY:

VIsta is a very memory-intensive operating system, so the requirements are very much higher. I'd recommend a minimum of 2GB RAM to do anything with multimedia (movies, music, pictures, etc.) on Vista (and 3GB, if you plan on using Norton or McAfee antivirus, as they are memory hogs, as well). I say these as MINIMUM performance requirements. It's more expensive to upgrade the RAM later, than to have it to begin with.

VIDEO CARDS:

Video cards are what make your computer display complex and fast-moving graphics. Most computers nowadays will have a sufficient ability to play movies with no performance issues, but there are still things to consider.

Obviously, if you're a gamer, the preference is for a desktop computer with a beefy video card (with 512MB video RAM or more).

The really important thing to look for in video cards is the word, "Integrated". Integrated video memory is memory that is shared with main system memory (the 2 or 3GB that I mentioned above). For example, if you have 1GB of RAM, and you have 128MB of Shared Memory, then you really only have 768MB of memory to run your programs. Many new computers take even more than 128 for Shared Memory (some up to 1 GB).

Shared memory isn't bad. It's simply a more cost-effective way to equip a computer that doesn't need a great deal of graphics capability. So, if performance is what you demand, make sure that you don't buy a laptop or desktop with an integrated video card (most people probably won't need it, if they only do basic computer tasks, like e-mail, web, and word processing).

HARD DRIVE SPACE:

Most notebooks have a minimum of 120GB hard drive space. I have 160GB in mine, and I use it for everything I do, and I'm getting ready to upgrade to a 250 or a 320, because I'm cutting it close, as I do a lot with movies, music, and pictures. Your average digital camera memory card is 1 or 2 GB, so if the card is full, you can fill up your hard drive pretty quick (my 4 year old 5megapixel camera makes 2.5MB picture files).

Also pay attention to the rotational speed of the hard drive. 4200 RPM drives are usually pretty sluggish and hardly adequate, most laptops are at least 5400 RPMs, and some are a full 7200 RPM (which is what desktop hard drives are).

ANTIVIRUS:

Nearly everyone knows that Norton is the standard in antivirus protection (it's extremely reliable). They also know that Norton is a memory hog that will slow down your computer, (which is why I recommended increasing memory to a minimum of 3GB, above). McAfee isn't much better. Trend Micro, from Best Buy, is a wonderful alternative, and is much better at doing it's job efficiently, without bogging your computer down.

BACKUP DRIVES:

With people's dependance on their information, I recommend backup external hard drives for EVERYONE, regardless of being laptops or desktops. Most people don't have negatives anymore, because they don't shoot film pictures. Many people buy music online, so they don't have CDs anymore. And people are starting to buy hard drive camcorders, so they don't have video tapes anymore. All of their data is on their hard drive, and is usually irreplaceable.

The average desktop hard drive lasts about 5 years. Laptops usually last less, about 3 years, because the get jostled around more and, despite what people think, laptops are just as fragile as desktops (most people would agree that you don't move a desktop computer while it's on, and they don't realize that laptops are the same.

Sometimes, hard drives crash for no good reason at all. Even my MacBook hard drive crashed after 5 months. That's not Apple's fault, that's the hard manufacturer defects, and since no computer maker makes their own hard drives, all brands of computers are susceptible to failure.

All that being said, I generally recommend Seagate as the brand for an external hard drive, since Seagate used to be the only manufacturer of drives with a 5 year warranty (most have 1 year only). More manufacturers are increasing their warranties, as hard drive technology gets more reliable, so check the box for warranty information.

EXTENDED WARRANTY:

If you're at any risk of dropping your laptop, or spilling something on it (or cracking the screen, as can happen if you leave it in a hot car), then I would suggest getting the extended warranty, and maybe the accidental damage plan. They're not cheap, but they're cheaper than a new laptop.

I think I pretty much covered all the necessities, if you have any questions, my phone number is on my Facebook profile.

Good luck, and happy shopping!

Scott

RECOMMENDATION SUMMARY:

Preferably Toshiba (personally), and avoid budget models ($300-699)

Intel Core 2 Duo processor

3GB RAM

160 GB hard drive (5400 RPM, minimum)

Trend Micro AntiVirus

Backup hard drive with 5 year warranty