Notebook specs

[mjsmithz]

so within the next half year or so i am going to get myself a laptop, after too many nice days stuck inside programming.
but i am not sure what to get
heres what i intend on useing it for
music, dvds/divx,dual boot windows/red hat linux, the occasional game though for the most part i wont be using it for more than programming, movies, etc it has to have wireless
so the question is how fast a processor should i get
should i go for 512 mb RAM or will 256 be enough
and any other suggestiong as far as brand model specs that you would like to offer
i do get an 8% discount if i order from dell through my university but i dunno much abotu where the cheapest reliable place to get laptops is so that might not matter

[madcompnerd]

I'd go to Best Buy and pick up the $799 Athlon XP HP laptop with 256MB of DDR I saw today. I believe it had a 30GB HD, which should be enough since you don't play many games.
256 is enough, 512 will make a speed boost. Obviously you aren't gonna play high end 3d games on it are you? I hear they're kinda crappy on an LCD screen, but I have no personal experience.
One thing though, lap tops get really hot. I find it terribly annoying, I'd much rather have it be a half inch thicker in trade for some heat conducting away from my legs.

[bwitt]

Keep watching the weekly flyers. Last week at Best Buy I got a 1.8ghz Celeron, 30gb, 256DDR (Compaq 2135us). It was $699+tax after rebates, plus they were throwing in an extra battery and had 24month intrest free financing (hey, buy it now, figure out how to pay later).

Anyway. I thought it was one heck of a deal especially with the battery. Just watch the weekly fliers, and every now and then they will have something that is really cheap (after rebates of course).

Now I just have to get linux running on the stupid thing.