“I’m telling you again  don’t get her a laptop.”

My son had dropped by for his occasional visit to our home.

His sister was getting ready to enter her first year at the university. She’d be moving into her dorm room in a few weeks.

And her older brother was giving me the wizened advice of a 20-year-old who had been there and done that.

But, like most parents, I preferred to make my own mistakes. So I decided to continue looking at laptops that would best serve her needs and not break my checkbook.

Wants vs. needs

My daughter has been a little different than my son in terms of computer uses.

He’s more of a power user, using his computer for everything from making movies to burning DVDs.

To her, it’s primarily a communications device, sort of a step up from the telephone where she can Instant Message her friends or check e-mail.

Her primary needs this academic year will be to write papers, to search the Internet, to get e-mail and to listen to music. I decided to see what barebones laptop and printer combination I could find to help her out.

I knew going in that barebones desktop models run $300 to $500 less in price than the comparable laptop/notebooks.

Dude, you’re getting a deal

Now that Steven, the Dell TV commercial’s computer savvy kid, seems to be in college, I thought it might be logical to see what Dell offers the incoming freshman.

I took a look at the Dell’s Inspiron 2650 laptop at $1,199. It sounded fast  it has a Mobile Pentium 4 processor with 1.6GHz speed. It also has a 14-inch flat panel display and 128 MB of synchronous dynamic RAM memory.

It comes with a 20 GB Ultra ATA hard drive and an 8X DVD-ROM drive. It has an internal 56K modem. It has a Windows XP Home operating system. And the software bundle includes Microsoft Works Suite 2002 with Money 2002, plus six months of America Online membership.

It also weighs seven pounds, has two USB ports, Ethernet and modem connections. If you want to access a wireless 802.11b network, you have to buy a PC card. It has no FireWire or S-video ports.

I never have quite figured out the relationship between cows and computers. But I decided to check what Gateway was offering.

Gateway has notebook computers starting at $1,399. The featured back-to-school special is the Gateway 400 notebook.

The 400L has an Intel Pentium 4 processor with 2.0 GHz speed, a 14.1-inch display, 256 MB of synchronous dynamic RAM (memory), a 20 GB Ultra ATA hard drive, 8X DVD-ROM drive and a v.92 56K modem. It also comes bundled with Microsoft Office XP Student/Teacher Edition.

Making the switch

OK, I felt like I had done my parental duty in looking at Windows computers.

But in my heart I knew I wanted her to get a Mac. So I checked out the configurations available for Apple’s iBook, which starts at $1,199.

That model has a 600 MHz PowerPC G3 processor, with 128 MB memory and a 12.1-inch screen. It also had a FireWire port, two USB ports, VGA, S-video and composite video outputs. And it was ready for Apple’s wireless (Wi-Fi) 802.11b Airport network card.

It also has a 20 GB Ultra ATA hard drive and a CD-ROM drive. To get the 14.1-inch screen, burn music CDs and watch DVD movies, you need the $1,799 model.

That’s a lot more than I intended to spend. But, after all, it is a Mac.

Cents and sensibility

My quest had shown me what I thought I’d find: You pay a few hundred dollars more for the portability of a laptop.

Matt and Katy were both sitting in the kitchen, so I raised the question again  why a laptop?

“To save space. I want to have mobility, so I can sit at my desk or have it in bed  just use your imagination,” Katy said.

I looked at Matt and raised my eyebrows.

“Trust me, you don’t want a laptop. You’re in and out of that room,” Matt told her. “They get stolen easier. They get broken easier. They get lost easier.”

I looked back at Katy. She gave me a sideways glance.

“I want the mobility,” she said, getting up to go to bed. “Good night. Bu-bye.”

Matt was just getting warmed up.

“Look, of course she wants a laptop. They’re cooler. It’s like, do you want a stationwagon or a convertible? But think about what she’s going to use it for. You shouldn’t get her anything that cost more than a few hundred dollars.”

The auto comparison gave me an idea. After all, I didn’t get her a new car, either.

I’m checking out eBay tomorrow.