i am just about to start an OU course and need to update my laptop.

i will have about 400 to spend and want to know whats the best sort for the money,

i was looking at:
Dell Inspiron 1545 T4500 4GB 320GB Windows 7 15.6" Laptop

advice much appreciated, cause i know nothing about computer specs

 

Loubie,

That is fine for word processing, emailing, browsing the web, wtaching dvd's etc. Good amount of RAM (4GB)

 

cheers my darling!
they do it in pink as well


Hope your well!

 

Looks like an ideal spec for your needs, proccessor depending, it should handle more or less anything you throw at it.

Dell make nice machines too.

 

what does processor mean

 

Make sure the Windows 7 is 64bit, if it's 32bit you will only see 3gb ram, not the whole 4gb, or you will only be able to use3gb i should say

 

Ade, that's not technically correct. 32bit Windows can address up to 4GB of RAM, but considerations such as AGP graphics cards mean some is shared with that subsystem and O/S RAM drops to around 3.4 - 3.5GB.

 

Really ? In my Dell i have 4gb Ram, but it says in properties 4gb (2.96 useable) and this is on a desktop with a seperate graphics card, when i asked some geeks they said 32bit windows only supports 3gb ram

 

Have a read of this

http://www.w7forums.com/windows-7-64...-bit-t484.html

Its been a while since I did binary maths, but maximum address space wth a 32 bit number is 4GB as far as I can recall.

AGP graphics cards can be separate, but they do still use some shared memory. Lots of laptops do this nowadays. Use something like Belarc Advisor and it will show you the amount of dedicated video RAM and the shared video RAM taken from main memory.

 

Thanks mate, will have a read

 

No worries, Christ I can be a geek somedays

I'm off to bed, I've bored myself stupid!!

 

i'm confused..........................

 

it says:

Operating SystemMicrosoft Windows® 7 Home Premium 64 bit

is that ok?

 

Loubie, that's fine. For what you want to use it for (I'm guessing) home office work, web surfing etc, it will be fine.

 

Know the feeling, read about 2 lines of that link and now i'm tired

 

Lou,

dont worry about the nerd off that is going on in this thread. The dell laptop you are looking at is FINE for your needs. Get it bought and enjoy it

 

Processor is the chip that executes commands and is at the heart of computing. It gets very in depth but generally the faster the core the faster it will be able to process instructions as I say there are so many more variables/manufactures than that I.E FSB speed etc.

Think of it as a car engine, a larger capacity will be able to displace a higher capacity of air/fuel and hence will be more powerful than an equivalent smaller capacity, however a smaller capacity forced induction engine may be able to displace more than the larger N/A engine. Thinking the same principle two cores for example in the computing world with a slower clock speed can be faster than a single core with a higher speed if you can think of it that way.

As said ANY Windows 32 bit OS can not address more than 4GB memory, however the architecture of most general system boards don't allow for more than this anyway.

Martin

 

I've been insulted yet I'm laughing too

 

win7 runs much much faster than xp or vista. Im running 7 on a prehistoric lappy that isnt meant for 7, but run "comp mode" when installing drivers, when 7drivers are unavailable, like for mine. Bobs yer uncle. Specs are fine.