OK, there are guys out there that spend every waking minute thinking about computers. They know every brand and every model, their ups and downs and little quirks...I'm not one of them. So I come to you for help.

The wife is going to start working from home. step one: purchase notebook computer. Here's the criteria:

1. something with a decent size screen (maybe 17"?)
2. Needs to run all the typical Office programs word, excel, etc. as well as more intense programs related to her field (civil eng) like AutoCAD & Arcview.
3. basic model - no fancy extras necessary.
4. target price is around $1,000 or less.

She found one at Circuit City she liked with a 17" screen by acer... I think I've heard of them before but always had the impression they were a little "micky-mouse"

on Dell's website they're having a big sale on notebooks right now (ends tomorrow) but I'm not sure they have anything with a 17" screen that's affordable..I'll have to look some more.

I'm smart enough to figure out software system requirements and I can compare memory, processor speeds, DVD/CD, options, but that's about it.

What I really need guidance from someone who knows computers... Is acer a brand to stay away from? Is it like buying a older Toyota.. you know you'll probably get engine sludge? or the old HP's where you knew the hard drive was going to fail in a year?

next up.. routers, but we'll save that for after she buys the darn thing.

thanks!

I just bought a Dell e1505. I wouldn't want a larger notebook than a 15.4, 17" notebooks are just too big in my opinion. Make sure you are ready to deal with something that size... 15.4 screens are even nearly too big to be a good portable.

The configuration I went with has the 1.83GHz core Duo, 1GB memory, 80GB hard drive, WSXGA screen, and the ATI x1400 video card... After tax and delivered it was $1,006

The screen is more than adequate for me, and the machine is powerful enough to handle just about anything I can throw at it.

Dell sales are always going on, I happened to find a 40% off coupon that got me my price. If your company buys dells, they've likely got an EPP deal where you can get some pretty good deals as well.

When it comes to Acer, they've come a long way, and make some pretty decent notebooks.

I'd reccomend going with a Core Duo notebook over the other options. It's the best mobile chip available now, and actually rather inexpensive. You can get the base e1505 from dell for around 650-700 without much hassle.

buying a notebook with a 17" screen sort of defeats the purpose. That thing would be a pain in the arse to lug around if she's going to be doing any running around with it.

My suggestion would be to buy something thinner and lighter and you can hook it up to an external monitor at home, whatever size you like.

I have a dell now.. they're kind of hit and miss, i think. I had to buy the extended warantee later on when it became apparently that i was going to need it.

I blew the motherboard twice.. when the tech installed it, he took out my wireless modem and my cd-rw (and my take out, i mean broke) and the thing has never ran well since.

Their customer service is the worst i've ever come across ever. bar none. period. (emphatic enough there? =) but they're a decent price.

I'm not really sure the price difference between Canada and the US as far as notebooks go, but i do know my next one will probably be a Sony.

I had a thinkpad you could throw off a building and it would still work, but they're the priciest out there.. but you really did get what you paid for with those.. problem is, IBM no longer makes them and i have no idea if the current company is doing as good a job.

So if you're looking for inexpensive, i'd probably go Dell over HP or Compaq, but my first choice would be Sony.

The rest of the babble may have contained nothing informative at all =)

Another vote for Dell. However, I disagree with one thing on both posts. The fact that she's going to be using AutoCAD on it, I'd say go ahead and get the 17". I would question as to why she would be using AutoCAD on a laptop, but that's her prerogative. If she is indeed going to be using that, go with the 17" and make sure you get the best screen with the highest resolution possible. Otherwise, I agree with the other posts and would recommend the 15". I just bought the E1505 for my mother-in-law and thought it was wonderful (after removing the worthless crap they put on it). Dell also had a special with a free upgrade to the core duo and 1GB of RAM at the time we bought it. I was also able to find a coupon on the internet that saved even more money. Watch Slickdeals.net and spoofee.com as they always have great deals on Dells.

Ok guys, thanks for the replies. Maybe we need to re-think the notebook idea and instead go with another home computer. By the time we get a full size keyboard & mouse and maybe a larger external monitor??? it doesn't really make sense I guess.

Come to think of...it was I who suggested to her that she get a notebook. I thought it would be easy and convenient when she went from her home office to her boss'es home office (not to mention cool) I know she was initially thinking of just using the HP home computer we have now. Maybe we should just go that route and abandon the laptop idea.

what you think?

FWIW, Dell's come off the same asian (I forget which country) assembly line as Acer's. They're basicaly the same company. If you're satisfied with the quality of a Dell, you'll be fine with an Acer. Personally, I'd go with an HP or Thinkpad (the Lenovo ones are still pretty good quality). Alienware has historically made a good one as well, but they are now owned by Dell also. Dell quality is very hit and miss in my experience (managing a network of ~1000 desktops-Dell for now, ~50 notebooks-migrating from Dell to HP, 30 servers- previously Dell, now all HP).

Also, (again, this may be useless info) my girlfriend is an architect who lives in AutoCad daily. Her only computer is a Dell laptop (15" even) set up with external keyboard, mouse, etc... I think she's crazy for doing CAD on that screen, but it works for her. She's a contractor and works at home about 60% of the time. The laptop is pretty mobile for that.

I work on AutoCAD all day and tell her that I love my Dell 24" flat panel monitor.

BTW, don't skimp out on the hardware to save some $$$, especially the video card and RAM.

my HP laptop runs AutoCAD 2000, 2004, and 2006 just fine. as well as Solidworks. its a Pavilian model with a 3.6 P4 512memory and a 40gb HD.

edit to add: i went to CC and best buy and found the one i wanted and went on amazon.com and bought it and saved about $600. ive done that with alot of my stuff; i can usually find better deals online.

Well we still haven't quite got it figured out yet, thanks for the help especially from those running autocad (and similar) on laptops. I didn't know if it'd work very well. the notebook seems to make sense since we know she'll be coming and going but we're not sure how much yet.

I can also add that 1GB of RAM (or more) makes AutoCad users much happier. It will help significantly with ArcView as well.