Need computer advice.

[TNDemo]

We are buying a low end laptop for our daughter to take to college. We don't want to put a lot of money into it as it has the potential to be left in the library or kicked in the dorm or whatever. We don't want to spend a lot of money but it needs to be adequate for her to do school work on and her internet stuff. We are looking at a computer that has an Intel Celeron processor but have been told for another $100 we can upgrade to the dual core processor. Is that worth the $100? What will the dual do that the other won't?

[rcrush]

1. For just writing papers and surfing the net.

The Celeron should be fine.

[TNDemo]

2. Bumping in case there are any other opinions.

nt

[Renew Deal]

3. The celeron is old and slow.

And it was even going back to when it was first released. The machine has to be decent enough for her to do her work, have IM running, and surf a few websites at the same time. That's what she's going to be reallistically doing. Another way to look at this is that you don't want to have to replace the machine in 2-3 years. Also, make sure it runs XP and NOT Vista. Vista is a pig. I doubt it will run well on a machine with a Celeron and less than 2-3GB of memory.

For a few more dollars you can buy a computer lock and lock the computer to a desk, cabinet, etc. so it doesn't walk away in her dorm room. Of course, she has to choose to use it.

http://us.kensington.com/html/12343.html

[mainegreen]

4. Really depends on her usage.

If it's for primarily web/email/note taking/papers then resoundingly no. Upgrading the CPU to dual core frankly will reduce the charge life between charges, maybe 10-15 minutes. Not nearly as much as screen size (which is about 40%-%60 of battery draw) but significant if your in class taking notes on it.

Agreed though, if you go with the celeron, go with XP, not Vista.

The dual will just make it peppier, but if she's not playing games, it's really no big deal.