Info about this computer my daughter wants for Xmas? (DVD, laptops, hard drive)

[loves2read]

HP G72 Notebook 2.0GHz, 320GB, 17.3" - Sam's Club

she lives in FL--teaches in elementary school--has a laptop from school for her school-related business but needs a new personal laptop...

she will use it mainly for Internet-ing and photos and will take it when she travels to watch DVDs on plane...

she wanted a Mac when she called last night and I told her that for what she would use it for she really did not need a Mac and that high a price tag...
so she was nice about reducing her budget...

says that her husband has bought the past few laptops he has used for business at Sam's--company requires him to buy it--and he works his laptops hard--is Lean 6 project manager and travels every week--and that his laptops from there have held out very well under the useage he gives them
but I know this is not the same type of machine he would be looking for...

have looked online and because it is Sam's product could not find reviews--
know that is is pretty basic processor--
any other comments about the audio/web cam or the DVD player
has a 6 cell battery so battery life should be decent
she is not type of person to linger at Starbucks chatting online
she is not a hard core gamer but might use something like a casino game to pass time when she flies...

told her to go to cnet.com and look at some reviews but she is not much of quantatative shopper--
probably just went to Sam's site and looked at what was there fairly inexpensively...

so any insight/comments would be appreciated--
as well as any other models in same price range that would be as good or better

[proudmommy]

Originally Posted by loves2read

HP G72 Notebook 2.0GHz, 320GB, 17.3" - Sam's Club

she lives in FL--teaches in elementary school--has a laptop from school for her school-related business but needs a new personal laptop...

she will use it mainly for Internet-ing and photos and will take it when she travels to watch DVDs on plane...

she wanted a Mac when she called last night and I told her that for what she would use it for she really did not need a Mac and that high a price tag...
so she was nice about reducing her budget...

says that her husband has bought the past few laptops he has used for business at Sam's--company requires him to buy it--and he works his laptops hard--is Lean 6 project manager and travels every week--and that his laptops from there have held out very well under the useage he gives them
but I know this is not the same type of machine he would be looking for...

have looked online and because it is Sam's product could not find reviews--
know that is is pretty basic processor--
any other comments about the audio/web cam or the DVD player
has a 6 cell battery so battery life should be decent
she is not type of person to linger at Starbucks chatting online
she is not a hard core gamer but might use something like a casino game to pass time when she flies...

told her to go to cnet.com and look at some reviews but she is not much of quantatative shopper--
probably just went to Sam's site and looked at what was there fairly inexpensively...

so any insight/comments would be appreciated--
as well as any other models in same price range that would be as good or better

At first glance it doesn't look so bad, 4 gigs, 17inch, brand new(?) for $600.

Other place to check out is Dell Outlet for refurbished, scratch and dent and returns. Significant savings and a really nice filterable interface.
Dell Outlet Home & Home Office - Refurbished Laptops - Refurbished Laptop - Refurbished Laptop Computer - Refurbished Notebook | Dell

[skel1977]

newegg.com or tigerdirect.com

I personally would never buy from a retail store like that.

And I cant commend on the laptop as I cant open the link from work

[NJGOAT]

That laptop is pretty standard stuff these days. I wouldn't worry about it doing what she needs it to do. The only question I would ask is whether or not they are Bluray folks. If they are buying most of their current movies on Bluray to watch at home, you may want to upgrade to or find a laptop with a built in Bluray drive. You can pick up a Bluray drive for a laptop pretty cheap at about $100, so it really doesn't matter either way.

[loves2read]

that was one of the questions I asked her when I sent a reply--about the Blu-ray vs older format DVDs-

and I asked about the touch pad area--this machine seems to have a smaller, horizontal pad vs a square area for the touch pad
the touch pad is just integral part of using a laptop I think she really should try one in use before deciding...
I think WalMart has the same machine so there might be one at WalMart close to her house--
don't know where the closest Sam's would be for her...
I know lots of people with computer knowledge won't buy from big box store--
I would prefer to order one from tigerdirect because I get more airmile points via my AA advantage buyer site--
she is the one who said Sam's...
and I would not want her to buy refurbished one--
this is Christmas and we can afford to spend more than this--just don't want it to be all her Christmas and even if she says she would be ok with that now--at Christmas I don't think she would...

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by loves2read

-
she is the one who said Sam's...
and I would not want her to buy refurbished one--
this is Christmas and we can afford to spend more than this--just don't want it to be all her Christmas and even if she says she would be ok with that now--at Christmas I don't think she would...

If you want to spend a few dollars more, buy this laptop and get her a wireless mouse.
Solves the touchpad issue.

[NY Annie]

We buy our computers from TigerDirect dot com and the prices are so much better than what you are looking at - there's more computer for the dollar. And we've never once had a problem.

Today's deal at Tiger is a Toshiba Intel dual core 4 gb for $499.

And I ALWAYS use a mini-mouse with the laptop - if we go for a week, I take the roll-up keyboard.

For what she wants to use it for, I'd go with a netbook. We took our little one for a 2 week cruise in the Med and it did exactly what we needed it to do. Especially downloading all the cameras/pictures - every day at least once. Uploaded pics from cameras, deleted dupes or fuzzy, twisted 'em, whatever, then dl to finger drive. Ready for next day. We played games, etc.

The nice thing is the weight - and it fits in a medium sized purse.

[Peregrine]

Big drawback to Netbooks is no internal disc drive. The OP said watching movies is important.
Yea, you can connect an external one but that is a PITA, frankly.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Big drawback to Netbooks is no internal disc drive. The OP said watching movies is important.
Yea, you can connect an external one but that is a PITA, frankly.

I am sorry but you are mistaken. Most netbooks today in fact have a standard hard drive. Capacity is often 160 Gb or more.

A few netbooks have small SSDs instead, but these are not nearly as practical because of limited storage space.

Newegg shows 38 netbooks between $200-$300 and EVERY one of them has a hard drive, ranging from 160Gb to 250 Gb.

Newegg.com - PCs & Laptops,Netbooks,$200 - $300

[cowboyxjon]

If she wants a Mac, why not offer to split the cost with her? MicroCenter had a deal last year right around Christmas and my sister bought herself a brand new white MacBook for $800 ($799). Sure, the laptop you linked to at Sam's Club is $600, but if your daughter really wants the Mac, she probably won't be satisfied with the Windows machine.

Not trying to start an Apple war here, but just trying to point out that deals on Macs are out there if you look for them. Apple's prices at their stores aren't the be all, end all of pricing.