i need a laptop. my price range is $1200.-1300 ,i dont need a gaming rig but i do need speed and something that isnt going to be outdated next year. would prefer an intel processor.has to brand new.

If you won't be gaming, you should easily be able to find one in your price range.

A few things to keep in mind.
Buying new means it will come with Vista, so be sure to have a minimum of 2gb of ram.
Don't forget to figure in money for an extra or bigger battery, case and wireless mouse.

Here is a very nice deal on a dell laptop
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.as...keyword1=laptop
Configured with extra's like
2gb ram
Better Video Card
9 cell batter
160 gb hard drive
addon webcam

the total is only $750
This is from the stand point of best bang for the buck.
If interested in more speed you coud upgrade the CPU to the 2.0ghz Core 2 Duo for a total price of $900

I'll hijack the thread if you don't mind since its 'solved'.

What specs do you recommend for an average up-to-date gaming desktop;

I'm looking at getting one this summer.

I want to use XP and an ATI card.....
So not top of line, but minimal best ATI card.....?
What's a good amount of RAM ie, no more/no less range?
.....mghz?
Brand of half decent flatscreen monitor......?

We've bought a few laptops via Costco. They have decent prices and if you use American Express, it provides an automatic 2 year warranty. The other cool thing with Costco is they don't hassle you on going to third party companies to get the pc fixed.... they'll just give you a full refund or exchange, even after 3 years. I know people who buy digital cameras and return them after a few years to upgrade. Also, if you have an Executive Membership ($100 me thinks), a percentage of your purchases comes back to you at the end of the year.

All and all, I think it's a decent option for a non-gaming laptop.

Costco Notebook Store

You could always consider a trip to the dark side:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebO...?nplm=FB062LL/B

NOOOOO dont do it ,the force is NOT strong in this one.......





@Hellfighter..

I got a new pc last year which has the following ...





SLI moterboard

Q6600 quad core 2.4

500gb hadrdrive

3 megs ram

8800GTS Nvidia 768 mb Grapics card with 4.0 shader

Creative labs gaming fx sound card





and a LG 24" TFT flat screen with 70 hz refresh rate..



The good thing about the vid card is I can have 2 monitors pluged into it ,and if I was really foolish they could be the o`l mac ones to...



I found that I will be good for aleast 18 months before I need to "upgrade" again ,but then the games I play need a good card and processer....I.E Arma 2 and OPF 2......



Anyways hope this helps yer o`l chap

Cheers!

Seeing those specs makes me feel ancient -years ago I used to be savvy in specs- and now that I see your outline I feel like a geico caveman -> 3 GB ram-!!!! lol now I will be able to buy my first non-ancient game in years!!! [-1st one I bought since that time was CIV 3 -a few months ago ..... bwahaha- pretty sad eh].

Do you know anything about a half decent current ATI card?Also-if you have vista do you wish you'd stayed with XP? taah

once again a wealth of info guys! thank you very much.

I had Vista on the machine to start ,but took it off as I found that most of my games didn`t support it...

as for an ATI card try these....http://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonhd3600/index.html

Right-o >-thanx

In our speed trials, however, Leopard OS trounced Vista in all-important tasks such as boot-up, shutdown and program-launch times. We even tested Vista on the Macs using Apple’s platform-switching Boot Camp software—and found that both Apple computers ran Vista faster than our PCs did. - Popular Mechanics


http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology...ws/4258725.html

I'm willing to admit Apple has been the original innovator of many improvements in computing over the years but the doesn't mean I would buy a Mac when they have less then 10% of the marker share.
I will stick to PC's to ensure the widest availability in range of software.

Not a very fair comparison in the article.
In both test the Mac had the better processor.
I'm sure the mac would have won regardless, just don't see why they didn't use more compatible systems for the test.

Something else to consider...

How portable do you need/want to be?
If portability is a strong requirement, that would mean 15.4" screen
If it's not, then I would strongly look at some 17" laptops.
Especially if you're use to a larger monitor on your desktop.

I love my cheapo laptop, it's come in very handy.
I just know if I was going to buy another one I would get a 17" screen.

I actually loved my 12" Powerbook, but Apple decided to abandon that form factor when they made the move to Intel chips. It was a one of the lightest,most enjoyable books I've had. A joy to use on a plane or in cramped boarding areas.

I agree that the 17-inchers are very impressive and I'd certainly go for one of those as a replacement for a desktop if true portability wasn't much of a factor. Some of the newer 17 laptops have very impressive specs for use as a gaming platform, that certainly something that was never a possibility even three years ago.

Concerning Mac's
They have one of the most entertaining, original, an effective advertising campaigns I've seen in a long time.