Tracy, I have the same limited budget issues as you do (I'm working at startup).
1. I purchase from BestBuy so I can see and feel what I'm going to purchase. I'm always glad for the hands-on experience because what I go in to purchase based on research is almost never what I end up purchasing. 2. Another benefit of purchasing from a BestBuy type retailer is that you can often negotiate an open-box discount of $100-$300 if you don't mind going with a display unit. 3. My latest purchase is the consumer version of the Sony Vaio (typing on different workstation so I don't have model number). Nov 2009 purchase price was $800 for 5 pound unit with LED display, 500M drive, 4G and a bunch of other goodies. Yeah, I paid a premium for the Sony name, but this computer is built like a tank, has a keyboard/mousepad/display that rock, and it looks beautiful (like an Apple laptop). some cons/tradeoffs to watch for: 1. Going from 4gb to 8gb can cost as much as your initial laptop. 2. If you buy a consumer vs. pro laptop you may not be able to run 64-bit VM's. This is a drawback to my Sony Vaio. Note that my Sony Vaio supports all 32-bit VM's fine. 3. I paid an additional $100 to purchase the Windows 7 Pro upgrade. Well worth it. Good luck and let us know what machine you finally end up purchasing. Malcolm _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
