Mac guy needs PC help

plaster8 · #1 12-01-2005, 01:49 PM

I'm thinking about buying a PC laptop just for poker, as I'm getting tired of playing just the few sites that are Mac compatible.

But having been a Mac user for all of my life, I really have no clue what I need to look for in a PC. Can someone tell me the basics of what I would need in terms of memory, processor, antivirus, firewall, etc.?

This would be a poker/Web surfing/word-processing machine only. No gaming or anything.

Thanks in advance for any help. I really have no idea what the hell would be adequate for these needs.

Meech · #2 12-01-2005, 02:57 PM

Pretty much any new modern laptop will suffice for those needs. Current processor speeds are waaaay ahead of software these days. I'd get a min of 512KB of memory though.

There are free solutions out there for Anti-virus (AVG, Avast). Microsoft's Anti-Spyware (free) isn't half bad. And the built-in Windows XP firewall is good enough.

Common sense will prevent well over 50% of virus/spyware attacks.

plaster8 · #3 12-01-2005, 03:08 PM

Thanks, Meech. Sounds like I can't really screw this up, as long as I don't buy a laptop from 1997.

I appreciate the help.

cwsiggy · #4 12-01-2005, 07:03 PM

Please get a Pentium M chip as your processor. Your battery will thank you. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

wonderwes · #5 12-02-2005, 01:43 AM

Make sure it has a Pentium M chip, which uses a lot less power on the battery.

The more ram the better, I highly recommend 512mb minimum.

The weight of a laptop will have an affect. You want it to weigh at maximum 6lbs.

Make sure you check the specs of the screen resolution. You want the higest res you can get.

Make sure it has one hell of a warranty.

I bought a dell 600m. It works out very well. When buying a laptop, look for really good coupon codes. I bought my dell when they were running a promo that was posted on gotapex.com. It was $750 off a $1500+ laptop. So I got mine fully loaded with a 4 year warranty, and with the code, a $1600 laptop was only $800. Those codes (most are for Dell's) only come around a few times, so you just have to wait for the right time to get one.