Help a Computer Noobie?

[machiavelli]

Hi all ,
I am hoping this is in the right place
I am wondering if someone could give me some advice as to the computer I should purchase. I am going to need a laptop for my graduate studies and for the summer courses I'll be taking this summer (I do nothing at work!). Essentially I want a good price/quality ratio seeing as I am a poor student. So I've stumbled on this Lenovo Laptop. The Dell one I was looking at is exactly the same only 20$ less. Any suggestions?

System components
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Intel Core 2 Duo processor T6570 (2.1GHz 800MHz 2MBL2)
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Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic
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Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic - English
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15.4" WXGA AntiGlare
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Intel GMA X4500
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2 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 (2 DIMM)
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US English Keyboard
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160GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
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DVD Recordable, Fixed
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None
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ThinkPad 11b/g III Wi-Fi wireless LAN Mini-PCIe
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Yes - AMoM
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9 cell Li-Ion Battery
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65W AC Adapter; NA, LA, (2pin)
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English US Publication

[antichrist]

More RAM (you can never have enough RAM) I'd say go with 4GB if you can get it.

and stay the hell away from Vista home basic. I've come to the conclusion that this is where 90% of the vista bitching is coming from.

Lenovo is definitely better quality than Dell

[machiavelli]

Yeah I was definitely hesitant about having only 2 Gigs and on Vista. But I will definitely beef up my Ram.
I wish Lenovo had the option of keeping XP, but I am guessing Microsoft signed a deal with them so they stop selling that OS.

I might try and have dual boot, using Vista for school/gaming purposes and maybe a Linux or older MsOS for personal/banking stuff.

But thank's alot. I wasn't sure if that was a decent build. Do you know of any other sites that deal pretty good laptops? I'm really scared of Dell, Hate Acer and Compaq and HP and will never touch MDG without a 10 foot stick.

[antichrist]

I've got vista home premium (as well as an XP box, and one that will be Ubuntu once I get off my ass and actually do something with it).

Home premium is fine, there is something seriously wrong with that home basic shit. My husbands computer crashed regularly until we upgraded him. I don't know what it is.

Yeah, acers crap. I bought one because I figured Taiwanese company would mean it wasn't built in China. But I guess making a buck goes above and beyond any political differences.

I'm running an HP right now. I'm happy with it. My desktop is a store brand with bits and pieces from all over the place, including the ones I've upgraded. At Health Canada we ran Lenovo's for everyone. Other than weird breakage things (drop one out of a plane it was fine, drop one off a desk and it was screwed) we didn't have any issues with them.

If you're using it for your graduate studies, you don't need a powerhouse. But if you want to do gaming etc on it. Well ...