Laptop question

[HuskerGuy]

The wife and I are thinking about replacing our old desktop with a laptop and had considered purchasing one as a joint christmas gift. I just found out about this laptop that will be available in a limited sale at Wal-Mart.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...ct_id=12347224

The specs according to the website are:

HP 15.6" Pavilion G60-519WM Entertainment Laptop PC:
15.6" diagonal BrightView widescreen display
Presents 1366 x 768 resolution (WXGA)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M (shared) with up to 1309MB of total available graphics memory
Intel Celeron Processor 900
Provides 2.2GHz speed, an 800MB frontside bus, and 1MB L2 cache
3GB of DDR2 system memory
Furnishes enough memory for today's demanding applications and can be expanded to 4GB
250GB SATA hard drive, 7200 rpm
Stores up to 71,000 photos, or up to 62,000 songs, or up to 30 hours of HD video, and more
LightScribe SuperMulti DVD optical drive with double-layer support
Plays and creates CDs and DVDs with support for 11 different formats
LightScribe technology etches custom labels right onto LightScribe-ready discs
Wireless Wi-Fi and wired Ethernet
Connect to a broadband modem (cable or DSL) wirelessly or using the wired 10/100 Ethernet port
Also wirelessly connects to a Wi-Fi signal/hotspot with 802.11b/g wireless LAN
Built-in 56k modem for dial-up connections

HP 15.6" Pavilion G60-519WM Entertainment Laptop PC Specifications
HP Imprint finish in black and silver
Three USB 2.0 ports
VGA video output
Microphone and headphone ports
6-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Altec Lansing audio

HP 15.6" Pavilion G60-519WM Entertainment Laptop PC Software
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit edition. To learn more about the features of Windows 7, Click here.
Microsoft Works 9
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 Edition, 60-day trial version
Symantec Norton Internet Security 2009, trial version including 60 days of complimentary live updates
HP Software: HP Help & Support, HP Advisor, HP DVD Play, and HP Set Up
Cyberlink DVD Suite
Muvee Reveal
Adobe Acrobat Reader
HP Games Powered by Wild Tangent

HP 15.6" Pavilion G60-519WM Entertainment Laptop PC Support and Warranty
1-year limited hardware warranty with toll-free support>
30-day free limited software support with 1-year (from date of purchase) free limited software support with product registration

The only thing we generally use our pc for is Itunes, web surfing, MS Word/Excel, and photo editing.

Any thoughts on this particular laptop compared to what our expected uses are? $300 seems like an awfully sweet deal to me, but thought I'd get some other folks' opinions as well.

The only thing I'd prefer to have is an hdmi-out, but for the price I could forgo that.

[Snadinator]

If you want to game with the thing, I'd recommend a minimum of a dual core processor and get something with an Nvidia card or ATI.

If all you want to use it for is what you listed above, I don't think you can go wrong with that though. I like laptops quite a bit more than desktops. Portable and take up considerably less room. You may want one with a 17" monitor though.

[ulyssessthgreat]

I thought about getting a netbook for all the reasons you stated but the lack of a DVD killed my intrest. That is a awesome deal however....I might bite.

[Blinx123]

Seems a bit weak, considering they bundle Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) with it.

And 1309MB shared memory? Ouch. That means there's less than 2GB of RAM left for everything else.

[onavarr8]

I guess it depends on how old your desktop is and how it compares to the specs of the laptop. The laptop seems like good deal so if its better then go for it.

I personally would try and find something a bit bigger if I was replacing a desktop.

[Onslaught X]

64 bit Windows 7? You want at least 4 gigs of RAM for that really.

[andrew markworthy]

64 bit Windows 7? You want at least 4 gigs of RAM for that really.

I've been using 64 bit Windows 7 on my Mac using Parallels and allocated it 2GB, and it's worked fine. If you read what HuskerGuy wants to use his machine for, I doubt if he'll be stretching the machine's resources. However, it might be worthwhile finding out if the RAM can be easily upgraded in case this becomes an issue in the future.

The only warning I would give is a general one about moving from a desktop to a laptop. A lot of folks find the laptop keyboard hard to use and the trackpad irritating. If you are going to do a serious amount of typing, you may find yourself getting a peripheral 'proper' keyboard and mouse. They're not particularly expensive, but it's something to bear in mind.

[hatih]

The single core Celeron worries me a bit but I don't think you can expect too much from a laptop that cheap. It probably works fine in your intented use, if you can find an alternative that has dual core Intel processor then it may be better but otherwise that HP is ok. (In my opinion Intel has such a lead at the moment that I wouldn't buy a laptop with AMD, I have such and I barely use it because my older work computer that has an Intel is better. That is ofcourse anecdotal but not only time I've noticed same thing.)

[edit] Forgot to remind, be sure that your valuable stuff (photos etc) is also somewhere else than only in the HD of the laptop, for example on an external USB-disk. It's dangerous with desktop and it's even little more dangerous with laptop because it's easier to drop a laptop for example, so remember to backup regulary if you don't do so already.

[hatih]

Originally Posted by Onslaught X

64 bit Windows 7? You want at least 4 gigs of RAM for that really.

No you don't, as andrew already mentioned Windows 7 works fine with 2 gigs of ram.

[Onslaught X]

Originally Posted by hatih

No you don't, as andrew already mentioned Windows 7 works fine with 2 gigs of ram.

I didn't say it won't work with less than 4 gigs of RAM, but I'd rather just run 32 bit at that point, because it'll probably be more efficient and it'll have better compatibility with software. Will 64 bit work fine? I'm sure. Depending on what you do. But having 64 bit doesn't mean he'll have a better experience just because it's a bigger number.