I am going to buy a laptop for uni, my problem is that I'm quite clueless about what I should be ask the?

shop assistants for. Ideally I would like microsoft word, the internet, a dvd/cd player, and to be able to store my photos from a digital camera. Should I ask them about the laptop's memory capacity? My budget is about 拢500, I would really appreciate some advice thanks a lot.

if you go into a shop like PC World, talk to one of the assistant about what options you need for your laptop and I'm sure they'll be happy to help you.

Ask them what they recommend for a college student, and tell them your price range.

You need to understand what you want to do with it. If all you want is to be able to run Microsoft Office, and transfer/store digital pictures, you can definitely settle for a lower end laptop. You will want one with a bare minimum of 512megs of RAM. You will also probably want a recent P4 processor (intel's laptop processor preferred) that runs at 1.5GHZ or better. You will definitely want built in Wi-Fi access (Wireless Fidelity) so you can take advantage of Hotspots in cafe's, libraries, etc. Also be sure you get a 60gigabyte hard drive or better with it, and make sure you get the windows XP professional operating system. Last but not least, you will want an ethernet jack, but that will come standard on any laptop you buy new.

pop into PC world because most of their staff are very clued up and helpful and then come back home and either order or reserve it on-line because that way you save even more money lol.

Stretch your budget to 拢600, and have a look at PC World web site.

Get a machine with at least 1GB of ram.

They will want to sell you insurance cover, anti virus software and if you mention Microsoft office they will want to sell you that as well. Refuse them all.

If the university is any good they will provide AVS, you can get a student edition of Word ( or use Open Office version 2). Sorry I don't know the cost of the student version.

If you don't know how to set up your machine take it to the Uni computer centre there should be someone there to help you.

Get a decent padded case for your machine and whatever you do, do NOT leave it out of your site for 1 second. There are thieves around all universities and students with their laptops are an easy target.

M.H.

Don't go somewhere like PC World! They have bad laptops and they always try to sell you stuff that you don't really need (I knew someone who was a sales person at PC world). A better option would be to go to www.dell.co.uk and choose one of their pre-configured notebooks. It would be easiest if you could buy it online, but if you don't have a credit/debit card, then call their customer service number and quote the "e-value" code for the laptop you are interested in. Remember that memory (more is better, but for your needs, even 256MB or 512MB should be fine), the processor, and graphics card (also known as display adapter) are the more important things to look for. If you want to play DVDs, make sure you select a DVD drive and not just a CD drive.

hm, honestly, with a budget of 拢500, you won't get a good laptop from a shop, you'll get something under average. I'd recommend a refurbished laptop, which can be found online at many sellers or ebay. good luck!

Mostly all laptops are able to do what you want it for.
but do go for the higher range laptop that has more memory and storage space and wifi (they last longer before u need to replace it with a better one), if you got to shops like comet or Dixon's. there higher range laptops normally come with a word processor like Microsoft works. (similar to Microsoft office)

When I was in P.C. World on Sunday, they were able to tell me which laptops were being bought by students. and why. Pick their brains and get a print out of what they recommend and go do research to see if you can get the same thing cheaper elsewhere.