Gateway Parts

Looking at buying a new laptop, help me narrow it down?

Ok, I need a new laptop. The price range I’m looking for is as low as possible with the ability to perform a variety of tasks well while be extremely reliable. Mostly this is for school and general internet stuff but I also enjoy the occasional computer game and do the whole music and picture thing too. My biggest thing is I want something that will last me for a while with reliability and capability(I have a Compaq now that lasted me 4 years which I thought was pretty good) Anyway, I’ve found a few laptops that seem to fit the bill rather well. I think there are many people that want exactly what I’m looking for in a computer so hopefully any answers you give will help many people. I’ve been looking at bestbuy and these are several I am considering, Specifically my price range is around 500 dollars. This seems to be able to get me 3 GB Ram and 250 GB with a few machines and its what I’m shooting for. Acer-intel Pentium dual-core T3200- I never even heard of ACER before but on paper it has the specs. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9097121&type=product&id=1218021916305 Gateway-AMD Turion X2 RM-72 Dual-core ATI Radeon 3200)- They tell me the Turion was specifically made for laptops and that it’s the best processor for them, also out of these it’s the most powerful I think, just slightly better then the Toshiba.(549 Dollars) http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9173191&type=product&id=1218044029373 Toshiba- AMD Turion X2 RM-70 Dual-core( ATI radeon 3100)-I see a lot of good reviews on Toshiba (529 Dollars) http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9163772&type=product&id=1218040476935 I’m thinking the gateway or Toshiba. Gateway is slightly more powerful in the processor and video card but I’ve heard good things about Toshiba. Any thoughts or opinions would be awesome! Also if you know of something in the 500 dollar price range that you highly recomend let us know.

Public Comments

1. I would go with the Gateway if you plan on playing any games. The Acer will probably be faster for overall performance, but it has an integrated Intel graphics adapter which is for the most part a pile of horse manure. The Radeon 3000 series, which both the Gateway and the Toshiba have are decent onboard adapters. But don't expect them to play the latest games.
2. A basic modern laptop will accomplish most of what you want to do. You may need extra CPU horsepower for games and also beefed up video depending on the types of games you are interested in. This article provides the guidelines for what to look for in the various components of the computer http://www.ask-the-computer-doc.com/buy-a-personal-computer.html I've found the Lenovo line to be powerful at a reasonable price and they are known to provide good support also. They have laptops in the price range that you are looking at.
3. Myself personally i would go with the Toshiba. The biggest problem with the acer is the Dual core series for processors is quite slow in comparison to the remaining two. As for hearing of Acer they have been around for quite some time. The gateway is the most powerful PC out of the ones that you have given us but the problem with their company is there great lack of customer service in the event of a problem. The Toshiba is a nice solid machine with lots of power that should last you another 4 years to come.