thin and light decision to make soon

I have been researching thin and light notebooks. I'm basically looking for a reliable computer I can keep 3-4 years that is lightweight (less than 5.5 pounds) but still powerful enough to run multiple applications simultaneously (Microsoft Office, Quicken, Turbo Tax, Palm Desktop), provide a quality presentation on Powerpoint when I project it for an audience (need S-Video), work with digital photos, and have enough memory to hold many applications and store a decent amount of presentations, pictures, and music. I would like to have a 3 year service plan. Another important feature is a quiet fan. Bonus features would be a full-size, quiet keyboard and decent speakers.

Some of my questions are:
RAM:
Will 512 MB Ram be enough? Or would it be worth spending $250 more for a 1 GB (1 DIMM) RAM that allows for another DIMM with up to 1 GB in the future if needed. The other option I thought about was getting 1 DIMM with 512, then adding another DIMM in the future when the RAM prices go down.

Processing speed:
Is it worth paying an extra $100 to go from 1.5 GHz to 1.7 Hz ? Will I notice much there?

Wireless:
I'll probably just use wireless for in-home wireless internet use (via dial up at this point), office wireless, and wireless hot spots out and about.
I don't know the differences among these choices: Do you have a recommendation?

54g(TM) 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster(TM)
Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG WLAN
54g(TM) Integ. Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN & Bluetooth

Brands and reviews:
The Compaq v2000 is one I'm leaning toward. One concern I have is a review that stated it had "average performance." It's in the article below. How important is it to get one of the top picks in the reviews out there?
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1726182,00.asp

I was looking at the HP dv1000. It emphasizes multimedia...so would that make it less successful when using other software applications?

The Acer Travelmate 4504 received a good review and has a decent price, but I've never known anyone with an Acer. Have you heard about the quality?

I wonder about the T42, but read that it's keys are loud. Don't know much else about it, besides the fact that it was a CNET editor's pick.

On this forum, I read good things about the Fujitsu S6210 and wonder if I should look at that brand?

I don't want Sony or Dell (have decided against 700m and 600m) and SOny is too proprietary and expensive.

Thanks so much for any input you might have time for.

Heather

 

Don't worry, the DV1000 can run software just as well as any other laptop out there, the multimedia is just an extra thing. It has something called QuickPlay, where you can play your DVD's or listen to MP3's without booting into Windows, saving you a bit of time and it lengthens the battery life a bit.

In fact, the DV1000 is almost identical to the V2000 except for the color of the case and it has extra multimedia buttons and the QuickPlay feature.

You are right, I wouldn't recommend the Sony, it is not a good value, too pricey.

I recommend you don't upgrade the processor, but use that money to get 1
gig of ram, the ram is more important than the processor speed. Upgrading your ram to 1 GB will be very useful in running all of those applications at one time.

Everyone I know says good things about IBM and that their laptop keyboards are some of the best out there. Hope all of this info helps, good luck on your purchase!!

 

Hi Heather
What did you ultimately go for ?
I have a v2000 and its a gem.
Unless you are a rocket scientist, v2000 should be good enough for you [ ]

"Life is too short,Live it"


1.7GHZ :: 512ram :: 8x dvd-rw :: 60GB hdd :: 12 cell battery :: 54g Broadcom+bluetooth :: BOOQ Viper-M sleeve

 

Acer builds a pretty good machine, but you'll get the best quality from IBM and Fujitsu. You could buy a machine with 256Mb of memory and add a 512Mb stick. That will probably cost around $80-100 on the internet. You'll see more of a performance gain by getting a faster hard drive than a few hundred megahertz on the CPU. If you are looking for thin and light, I'd definetly check out the Fujitsu s6231. If you buy at Portable One, it comes with a three year warranty. IBM keyboards are the best available.

http://www.laptopsinc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=S6231CTO&Category_Code=SS1








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