[SnowWhiteTxn]

I am not very tech savy and would like to get the opinion / advice / or direction of those who are.

I would like to purchase a device that I can carry with me most of the time.

Something that has a keyboard, I want to do typing (journaling, writing) on it primarily with MS Word or something like that.

I won't be using it for video's or music but would like to be able to use a jump drive and save my docs.

I would also like to be able to surf the net (nothing in depth just basic...check email, etc)

Since I am a big reader and haven't gotten an E-Reader yet I would like to be able to use it as one also, although I'm not even sure how that would work since it wouldn't be a Kindle or Nook.

Those are my primary desires. I have looked online and found the Dell Inspirion Duo but I get lost in the verbage and tech info.

Not sure about the type of computer I need and what the memory, speed, need to be to do the typing and the book reading.

ANY advice / direction / opinion would be greatly appreciated! THANK YOU !!

[snorg]

All you need is a cheap laptop or note book that can be had for about 350 bucks, it will do all and more than you want. Make sure it has at least 1 gig of memory.

Stay away from Mac and iJunk its overpriced crap.

[waldojim]

While a typical notebook will probably do quite well, there are a few questions left to answer.

Do you have any size or weight preferences? Brand preferences? How about price as well? My first thought would be to suggest the Lenovo X100e dual core, with 2GB of ram. Those are very nice machines that are built well, they are fairly light (3.5lbs) are easy to read, and average between 4 and 5 hours on the battery (at least mine does). It has a VERY nice keyboard which most sub $500 machines don't have. There are other thoughts as well, but first let us know about those other questions up there.

[LiveBrianD]

waldojim, on 02 December 2010 - 03:31 PM, said:

While a typical notebook will probably do quite well, there are a few questions left to answer.

Do you have any size or weight preferences? Brand preferences? How about price as well? My first thought would be to suggest the Lenovo X100e dual core, with 2GB of ram. Those are very nice machines that are built well, they are fairly light (3.5lbs) are easy to read, and average between 4 and 5 hours on the battery (at least mine does). It has a VERY nice keyboard which most sub $500 machines don't have. There are other thoughts as well, but first let us know about those other questions up there.

If all he's doing is web surfing and word documents, the single-core version might be OK. Heck, maybe even a netbook (I don't recommend them though). The Lenovo is one of the only systems (ultraportables) under $500 that I'd recommend - all the others are either too big, cost too much, or are too slow (Intel Atom netbook, anyone?).


Snorg: Remember he wants something like a netbook, $350 either gets you a slow, crappy Atom netbook, or a full sized (likely too big for him) 15.6" laptop. I do agree, however, don't get overpriced iCrap.