Hello all!

We are looking into buying a new computer and possibility a laptop.

Can all of you chime in and suggest what would be a MUST have for a VA and what would be really nice to have for a computer & a laptop?

Does it really matter what size monitor is for the computer/laptop? I do know that battery life for laptop is important and as well as connectivity. But how can I tell which ones has good long living battery and which ones has the best connectivity - considering we'll be living in the rural area soon. What do we look for?

We found one last night for under $1,000 and it includes Quad Core 2.4GHz, 500GB hard drive, 4GB Dual Channel - I know this gotta be waaayy more than what we need, am I right?

Also which operating system is best? Window XP or Window Vista??

What is bluetooth? Do we need it?

What about back up data - what do we need to get? What is it called? Is it external hard drive - can that be used as a back up? (I use USB - but I perfer something that I can sort all unto one place, rather than several USBs)

What is wireless network card, exactly? It says it is a modem, not sure if I understand that.

Thank you for your time! Looking forward to your replies!! :0)

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Yvonne
Office Savvy Assistant

Hi Yvonne, honestly I would get the biggest storage system (hard drive) you can afford - every time we upgrade a laptop we get the most GB storage possible.

As to Bluetooth - it's a good thing to have and is pretty standard these days - it allows you to wirelessly work with or sync any other Bluetooth devices with your computer (like cel phone, PDA, Blackberry, wireless head phones, wireless mouse - etc.)

A good current laptop will already have a wireless modem in it (you shouldn't need to purchase a wireless adapter card sep.) - and I couldn't tell by your post if you were asking if you needed it as a bought accessory or if it was included in the computer you were looking at. A wireless card will allow you to connect to the internet without a cable (assuming you have purchased and installed a wireless router - or requested one from your hosting company)

Even with a huge hard drive, back up storage is still important (just in case) and you should be looking at 'external hard drives' - ours is about 120 GB I think and I believe we paid about $90 for it.

As to screen size on the laptop - that's up to your preference. I had and loved a smaller, traditional screen at about 13 inches for ages and really got grumpy when I realized the model of laptop I wanted only came in widescreen. But now that I'm on it I love it and wouldn't go back - it's just more comfortable for me now and I don't even notice anymore that I'm on a 'widescreen'.

I also made the switch from XP to Vista on my current laptop and grouched about that (Can you tell I don't initially always appreciate change?) but again, I am loving Vista. I'd recommend if you can get a computer that comes with Vista Business to go for that.

If you want to post a link to the laptop you're thinking of buying I'd be happy to ask Hamid to take a look and see if you're getting your money's worth - he's our tech expert in the house and I am always happy that he makes the technology decisions (although I usually whine about which color and size I want.)

Check out www.newegg.com for laptops - that's where we bought our most recent two these past few months (as well as our external hard drive, wireless modem, and a stereo to boot!) and have found great prices on the most decked out modern models plus there are reviews from users who've purchased the items so you can see what other people like and didn't like.

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I have a HP Pavilion dv9000 and I love it. It has 4 USB ports so I can plug in my Sprint data card, my printer and portable mouse. I never even use my desk up anymore. On a rare occasion.

I gave just over a $1,000 for it.

I use Carbonite for my back up service. They are an online service and very inexpensive. It backs up 24/7. I love it.

I purchased an external hard drive and it's sitting on the top shelf of my office closet. I have never used it.

Good luck on your search!

All the best,

You can check site like epinions.com for user ratings on different products. We use that before we make any major purchase to see what regular people think of products. For example, we were recently looking to buy a tent. A large family sized one. We found a few that we liked but wanted to know how they held up. We used epinions to see what other people's experiences were in real world actually using these tents in camping situations. We narrowed it down to 1 or two that rated high. We also have a subscription to consumer reports. The magazine and the website will have many ratings on reliability, user ease and features.

I second Tess in external back up. Very omportant especially if you do any kind of non-web based work for your clients like book keeping and such.

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Administrative Support Group
Jenifer D

Yvonne:

Tess is right!!! Get the biggest hard drive that you can afford along with built in wireless and bluetooth. I was going to suggest an external hard drive for back up as well. Also watch for computers that come with the most software that will benefit your business so that you are not having to purchase additional business software any more than necessary.

Also, with your laptop, pick up an additional power cord to keep in your bag. I was always grabbing my laptop and running and then realizing I forgot to grab my power cord, so then I was limited to my battery life which is usually just about 2 hours. If you want, these days they are now selling additional batteries with chargers, so you can have an extra charged battery with you as well.

My only concern with using the internet for backup is if you have to do a complete backup and can't access the internet to get to your backup because your computer is down. (Of course, at this point, I would probably have my computer guru taking care of things anyway)

Aww, thank you, Tess!, for the offer, off I go to find that direct link to the computer we are looking at now...

http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/...C=D530S2V_F_1E

Be sure to thank Hamid for his time too!! :0)

I will be checking out the website link you sent me...

Be back soon to read others...

Oh PS! I could get up yo 750 GB if you guys suggest I do...That seems like a lot! LoL

Here's the link for the laptop (the previous link was for computer)

http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/prod...bsd&cs=cabsdt1

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Yvonne
Office Savvy Assistant

Yvonne, I'll definitely have Hamid take a look (he's still sleeping ) BUT I just went through the initial choosing of components for this laptop model you linked to and if I add in all the things my VAIO already has I'm already up to over $2,000 (and I didn't even finish!!)! Dell has kind of a funky way of selling stuff which I don't like - where you go through one component at a time and add it (adding to the price as well).

We'll post back later with the Codehead's own impressions

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Really?? When we added to what we wanted...it came up to like 1200 and that is with 2.2GHz 500 GB hard drive and 4 GB of dual channel...

I wonder if Im missing something?

How much did you pay for yours? Maybe we'll get it from where you got yours if it is cheaper.

Oh and there is one more link on that post...on the bottom...its a link for the laptop..what did you think of that one?

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Yvonne
Office Savvy Assistant

Actually, it was the laptop I was referring to, I didn't look at the desktop....

I paid about $1300 for mine, but we just ordered another VAIO (different model) for less and it has way more space than mine...

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