best way to get the most bang for your buck on a laptop?

New or used? Any website recommendations, or ways to go about it recommendations? I'm thinking I want a decent processor, built in wireless, and as much RAM as possible, but really, I'm just talking out of my computer barely literate ass.

 

as always, you should start with what you're going to use it for.

i'd hesitate to buy a used laptop. they're not really upgradable at all beyond maybe throwing in some memory. this means if you buy one that's a year or two old, it's gonna feel that much older in 2 or 3 years. of course, if it does what you want, then no biggie i suppose.

for a laptop, you should probably think about how portable you need it to be. like if you carry it around a lot and set up in weird places, then you'll want something light with good battery life. but if you'll be using it as a desktop replacement that moves from desktop to desktop, you don't need to pay as much attention to those things.

i'd probably start by looking at screen sizes to see what you are comfortable with then start figuring out what else you need in terms of processing and graphics.

 

Dell.com have great deals actually, and sometimes there are coupon codes you can find online...

you can also work it to get the student discount