Laptop Reccomendations ?

I am looking to buy a laptop for my girls aged 10 and 13 - they will use it for school work of course (mainly internet and Powerpoint work), playing DVDs, photo storage (not editing) and for games (not graphic intensive currently). What spec should I look for? For example, the HP G7096EM looks like it might fit the bill ( Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (32-bit), Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T5750 (2 GHz), 250 GB, 2048 MB, 15.4" WXGA High Definition BrightView Widescreen ) but is 2Gb sufficient memory for running Vista and should I opt for something with a seperate graphics card (not sure what this one has - it mentions Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 with Up to 358 MB Total Available Graphics Memory) ?? Looking to spend up to £450 and happy to spend less. Many thanks

Hi, As you are looking at laptops presumably its because the computers must be transportable…? If so then the case that is used for transport and the advice you provide to your daughters on safe transportation may be more important than the actual spec…..The machine(s) could be in for a hard time! Most modern computers will provide all that your daughters currently need…..although, as you know, a laptop is not generally favoured for the more resource hungry games due to limitations on the graphics performance. Windows Vista is preinstalled in a lot of machines now, but XP is still available for low spec or small lightweight machines that might be suitable for your girls. The more RAM the better as a general rule (Up to about 3 or 3.5GB on a X86 (32 bit operating system) but 2GB on a core duo should provide quite satisfactory results on Vista for your girls. For a computer that is probably going to be "knocked about a bit" one of the small lighterweight modern devices with a solid state rather than a conventional hard drive might be worth considering. If you are considering buying each of the girls a laptop of their own with a total budget of £450 or less then this does limit your choices…. however £450 each, offers lots of choice. You could pop down to a local PC World outlet and try out lots of models and see what they look like and feel like..build weight/quality etc Whatever you decide I strongly recommend that as soon as the machine(s) are set up to your liking, with all required software loaded…Including protection products (fully updated) like bi directional software firewall, anti virus/spyware with real time protection and with bloatware removed!…..everything correctly configured, all junk files deleted, and defragged, you take a disc image, verify it and keep it safe on removable media…with a spare copy hidden away somewhere (that you can easily put yhour hands on….) Then in the event of serious trouble that cannot be remedied by the usual means in a timely manner….computer won't boot, blue screen of death, serious malware infections (back door remote access trojan) etc, the computer(s) can be re imaged back to their "perfect" state in the time that it takes to walk the dog! ………No more cries of…….. Dad, I can't do my homework for tomorrow…the computer won't do what I want it to…or its' all gone funny! Dont forget that if data is kept on a separate partition (advisable) then it needs backing up as well! Best of luck Regards paws

Many thanks indeed for the tips, paws. I have ordered the laptops and plan to prep the laptops with disc image, firewalls, av etc and while I'm at it I might as well load some of their favourite photos and music. Thanks again, Regards, Mike