Also, I would personally advise against buying a Pentium-4 based laptop, as the P-4 chip (even the mobile version) isn’t designed to be truly portable. These often get really hot and tend to come in bulky packages. P-4 machines are good for gaming, though, since they offer sheer processing power and usually come with large screens.
    * Memory - RAM is usually cheap these days. Whether it’s SDRAM or DDR SDRAM, you’re sure to find laptop memory selling for cheap. Do check how much RAM the laptop already has, and whether it can upgraded easily. Most laptops have slots at the bottom or underneath the keyboard that are easily accessible and user-upgradeable. Some laptops, however, have only one slot for RAM, while most have two. I would suggest putting in at least 512 megabytes of RAM, regardless of your OS. Having more RAM would speed up operations, regardless of your processor’s speed.
    * Storage - New laptops come with at least 40 GB of hard disc space, and this is the barest minimum today. The standard is in the 60 to 80 GB range. Older laptops, though, might come with 20, 10, or even 6 GB drives. These are easily upgradeable, but you might have to spend about $100 for a decent 80 to 100 GB drive for storing all your MP3s, photos and videos. Regardless of capacity, though, do check the drive for strange sounds like clicking or abnormal screeching sounds. These are signs that the drive is bound to fail soon. Also, try to check the hard disc’s model (usually under the OS’s dev