BleepingComputer.com: Purchase Template:

My budget for the new computer is: about $550

What are the primary uses for this computer: Genealogy

What software do you intend on using on the computer?: Genealogy program, Windows OS, Publishing program.

Do you play games? If so, what type of games? NO

Do you tend to have a lot of programs running at the same time, or do you close every program when you are done using it? Probably several.

Do you store a lot of pictures or music on the computer? Possibly pictures of relatives.

Might consider a desktop instead. My old desktop with Genealogy programs is on its last legs.

Still comparing new genealogy programs, as my old one is out of date.

This post has been edited by Egad Elaine: 26 May 2011 - 01:30 AM

Hold on a sec, in your description it says a a laptop for genealogy and you also said you might consider a desktop. So which one is it do you want?

I think the laptop would be what i want, if I can find an affordable one. Is Lenovo a good brand? I see one in Costco sales circular with Intel core i5-480 2.66GHz, 6 GB memory, 640 GB hard drive for $599.99.

Or an Acer with Intel core i3-2310 M processor with 4 GB DDR3 memory, 500 GB hard drive DVD RW USB 3.0 for $499.99.

There's also an HP with Intel core i5-2410M processor, 6GB DDR3 memory, 640 GB hard drive DVD RW USB 3.0 for $699.99.

The Tosheba one with 8 GB memory, 640 GB hard drive and blu-ray costs $899.99, which is really more than I could afford.

I'm just starting to look.

Let's confirm this here, your budget is $550 and you want to purchase a laptop for genealogy,right?

Yes, I might be able to go to $600. I have another computer for other things, but I thought it would be good to have a second computer just for the genealogy program, pictures, possibly to make a book of family history, and that kind of thing.

I have used an old computer with Ultimate Family Tree, but that program is no longer available, and that computer is not working well any more. It would be good to have a laptop, in case I wanted to travel to do more research. I just wondered which laptops would be a good investment, or which I should avoid.

Also, what is a good source. Costco, Buy.com, or some other online place. I am in USA, west coast.

This post has been edited by Egad Elaine: 26 May 2011 - 10:05 AM

TOSHIBA Satellite L655-S5144

Also, what is a good source. Costco, Buy.com, or some other online place. I am in USA, west coast.

Hi Egad Elaine,

In your post you asked:

"Also, what is a good source. Costco, Buy.com, or some other online place. I am in USA, west coast."


I would like to recommend checking HP.com go to the link for Shop for Products and Services and be sure to check the
deals tab

Lots of choices

SoMeAm/Cheron

tigerdirect.com is a good place to start, also NewEgg is good too.

Tiger Direct is ok, but you need to be VERY CAREFUL when purchasing equipment from them. Often it is a refurbished item, and it may not be clearly stated that it is not new but refurbished.
Newegg has industry leading customer service. Often you can find good deals on most things there. Also, you may want to consider some of the deal a day sites like fat wallet

they have members around the country, and you will often know about deals as fast as they occur.

Me personally, I own a Lenovo laptop, and an Acer. Lenovo used to be an IBM subsidiary, but is now independent. They make reasonable laptops in the 500-1500 range.
Acer has really stepped up their game in the last 3 years as well. Once relegated to the bargain basement of computer hardware they have really emerged as a top of the business company.

Laptops, however are pretty much divided into simple catagories

1. intel vs AMD
2. Gaming or business
3. storage space needed

I think you will find most any NEW laptop today will be able to handle any thing your needs seem to dictate. Genealogy is not a tasking chore for a computer. You are using websites to trace family roots and ties to the past. It's not likely you will need massive graphics power for gaming. JPEG images are not huge but a laptop will come with at least 250 gigabytes of storage on the built in hard drive. You can consider a external hard drive as well so you can move from one PC to the next easily. Typical pricing on an external drive is under 100 dollars for a 1tb hard drive, and I have seen 2tb drives on sale for 99 recently.

On my current desktop computer I am copying lots of music, running online stores, etc. I don't want to put the genealogy work on there.

The main job of the genealogy programs is storing information and publishing books. With my old computer, running Windows 98, I have already published one book with about 600 pages (aproximately 5200 people), and several others with a few less pages. The storage on the genealogy programs can get quite large, which is why I wanted a second computer for genealogy, separate from other tasks. It's not the research so much as the storage and reproduction of the information that has been gathered. I need to make publishing pages, ebooks, PDF files, etc. I'll also have to include a good printer for that computer.

TOSHIBA Satellite L655D-S5164
This laptop has a 640GB hard drive and it is a quad core CPU with 4GB of ram.

That Toshiba looks good. It has AMD rather than INTEL. What is the difference if any between the two processors?

The main difference is the architect and it has 1.8GHz. So pretty much this processor should do the task that you want it to do without a problem.