Laptop advice
 

Anybody got a good suggestion where to get a good price on a laptop. NO offence to MAC but I'm not going to buy one. I will use it for 2D AutoCAD and I can't stand the way CAD is, on a MAC. I've been doing CAD for 8 years on a PC and that’s what I want to stick with. It doesn’t have to be some monster of a computer the desk top I used now is only 2GB of memory and a 250 GB hard drive and it does fine. It just needs to have a descent size screen 15" or bigger and I would like to have an integrated number pad so I don't have to plug one in.

If you want a PC that will work well, itll be expensive or you need to build it yourself.

I know you dont want a mac.... but I love my mac. Cant even imagine going back to a PC. So dont get one if you ever want to use a PC again without going absolutely insane.

Also is there a way to hook up the lap top to my desk top and use it as my second monitor even if my desk top dosen't have a second monitor output.

Check out the weekly specials at best buy. Almost anything they have will have higher specs than your current setup.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...rs-_-Spot%2002

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...CODE=WEM2718BY

Keep an eye on fatwallet for what people are posting as the best available current deals:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/computer/

Might try Costco or Sam's Club, too.

also look out on
www.woot.com - every day at 12:00 midnight they have a new product up and run it for 24 hrs or til sold out - great computer deals when you can catch them

or

www.newegg.com

I use Dell almost exclusively at work. We do both AutoCAD and SolidWorks.For our R&D guys I get them Dell Precision notebooks. I have several guys happy with the M4400 and just got a couple M4600 that seem nice so far and have a better case design than the M4400 but are similar spec inside. I've been using a M4400 for about two years, though I'm not a draftsman or engineer. I do like it and it suits my needs well. Dell sticker prices are quite high, if you can order through a business with a Dell account you get much better pricing. If you go Dell, don't go with their cheapy Vostro or other home notebook lines. They are poorly built, low spec, have low res glossy screens, have greater failure/breakage rates, and in general and not great machines. Stick with a Precision preferably, or at least a Latitude if you go with Dell.

Aside from that, there are plenty of cheapy HP and other mainstream notebooks you can get in the $500-$700 range that may do what you want, but likely won't be exactly what you want or need. Figure out the specs you need and what your budget is, work from there.