Why you should *NOT* buy a cheap laptop this Christmas

A friend of mine tried to just buy a cheapie computer. This is why you SHOULDN'T do it:

1. Windows 7 (the NEXT version of Windows scheduled for release next year) "will have the same hardware requirements as Vista". Don't believe this statement, it has never happened with Microsoft. If this is true, then you will probably be running an extremely crippled version of Windows 7.

2. Vista requires a LOT of disk space compared to XP, and Windows 7 will probably also. Be prepared to upgrade your hard drive, but the good thing is that hard disk space is cheap. 1TB drives are now under $100..

3. In Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced some great features via Windows Aero to become more user-friendly like the Mac. The problem is that Aero requires more system resources, and a higher-grade 3D video card. During the initial release of Vista, "Vista-capable" hardware only included hardware that could support Aero. The requirements for "Vista-capable" computers were later lightened to not include the Aero interface.

4. If you purchase a computer with Windows-XP INSTEAD of Windows Vista, your support was scheduled to end 4/2009. Microsoft extended support for XP, but you can bet that this will probably end soon.


What does this mean?

If the computer you are looking at cannot run Aero at acceptable performance, then you can probably bet that Windows 7 will be a dog. The MINIMUM Windows Aero requirements follow. Generally, minimum requirements from Microsoft do not equate to a fast computer:

* a 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
* 1 GB of system memory
* a DirectX 9 compatible graphics processor with a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver, Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware, and a minimum of 128 MB of Video RAM
* 40 GB hard drive with 15 GB free space
* DVD-ROM Drive
* audio output and Internet access

Also, a minimum of Vista Home Premium is required to run Aero. Dell recommends more power than the above minimum requirements for Vista. Using Dell as an example, Dell recommends an Intel T-8 or T-9 processor for:

"The ability to run simultaneous bandwidth-intensive applications and background tasks like virus scans and file downloads at high speeds."

Dell recommends at least 2GB dual channel memory and a 256MB video card to "optimize the Aero user experience".

Buy a computer with Vista included and make sure Vista Aero will run with acceptable performance. Just because Microsoft lightened their Aero requirements now, does not mean they will in the future.

Following is a configuration for a mid-level laptop I configured from the Dell website starting with their basic $500 laptop model and applying the above recommendations:

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz, 3MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium, Service Pack 1 edit
PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE No Productivity Software edit
WARRANTY & SERVICE 1 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 1 Year NBD On-Site Service edit
LCD PANEL 15.4 inch Widescreen WXGA LCD Anti-Glare Display edit
MEMORY 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R write capability, with Roxio Creator edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS edit
HARD DRIVE 320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive edit
WI-FI WIRELESS CARD Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Internal card edit
BLUETOOTH WIRELESS Dell Wireless 360 Bluetooth Internal for Vista edit
WEBCAM Integrated 1.3 mega pixel Web Camera and Digital Microphone edit

Total cost for this is $1087.

Apple's entry-level macbook is exactly the same price (from amazon.com) with the following specs:

* 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3 MB shared L2 Cache
* 2 GB (two SO-DIMM) 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 250 GB 5400 rpm Serial ATA hard drive; 8x Double-Layer SuperDrive
* One FireWire 400, two USB 2.0 ports, DVI, VGA, S-video, and composite video (requires adapters, sold separately)
* Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) Ethernet; Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n); built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) module
* 13.3-inch (diagonal) glossy TFT widescreen display, 1280 x 800 resolution; Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard
* Built-in microphone and camera

The bottom line is, if you want to buy a laptop good for 1-2 years, get a bargain-basement $400/$500 model. It is acceptable right now for light use. For the Aero interface, real-time virus scanning, HD movies, upgrading next year to Windows 7, etc, I would recommend looking to a mid-range Windows model or a switch to a base model Mac and not worry about Windows issues.



References
http://vista.blorge.com/2008/05/27/windows-7-to-have-same-hardware-requirements-as-vista/
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/experiences/aero.mspx
http://www.lockergnome.com/windows/2007/02/13/enable-aero-glass-in-vista/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10104976-64.html
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Aero
http://kickasswebdesign.com/wordpress/2008/03/windows-xp-end-of-life-announcement-from-microsoft/
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080424-ballmer-raises-hopes-with-comments-on-xp-end-of-life.html
http://www1.la.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/solutions/en/winvista_aero?c=pr&cs=prbsdt1&l=en&s=bsd
http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html