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Help buying 1st laptop please

Where to start? OK, I'm going to be getting a laptop in the not too distant future but what form it takes I don't know. I've never owned a laptop so this would be my first and I'm not up to spec. on laptops, I don't know whether to buy a Windows based laptop or a Mac variant. It wouldn't be used for gaming, I have my desktop PC for that, so mainly on the go away from home things. I have a rough budget between £500 - 700 and I'd rather not spend more than that if I can help it which sorta puts the Mac on the unlikely list but I have a friend who swears by them and he used to be a PC Linux user and work in a hardware environment so he knows what he's talking about when it comes to Mac's and PCs. I don't, I only know desktop PCs.

The 'ideal' Mac would probably be a G4 iBook with 14" screen but that's about £900 and I don't really fancy a 12" screen for £800. Windows based laptops for £500+ seem to have a lot more to offer than a Mac variant but again I'm not a Mac user and I'd appreciate opinions from anyone who is or who has a Mac laptop.

I'll list a Windows based laptop spec. that I'd prefer and if someone can tell me what a Mac spec. similar to it would be I'd appreciate that as I know you can't compare them like for like.

CPU - 2Ghz~
RAM - 512Mb preferred
HD - 40Gb
Screen - 14" minimum
Optical - DVD/CD-RW preferred but any would do, I have my desktop to burn DVDs/CDs

That's the basics, anything else would be a bonus. As I said, that's my Windows based spec. for all I know a Mac of 1Ghz and 256Mb RAM might be pretty close in performance or better!
 
You could check out novatech they have a good supply of Laptops remember the prices quoted are before tax. I have seen somewhere else that has a decent laptop for around that price when I find it I will post it here.
 
I think the most important factor is how and where you are going to use it.
At one end of the scale you have machines that are desktop replacements, with similar specs to a fullsize PC but weighing a ton and having poor or non-exsistent battery life.
At the other there are sub-books with mobile version CPU/GPU offering much less power but a lot lighter and capable of running on battery for several hours.
If you dont intend to play games and dont (like me) have big fingers then that would be the range to look at, however they also tend to be the more expensive models as the larger machines use standard,off the shelf components
 
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