OK, somewhat to my surprise I have some spare money for luxuries, as long as I can spend it before 10:00 on January 3rd, so I'm looking for some advice from all you knowledge folks.
I have a budget of about $750-800, and I am looking for a portable computer and/or an ebook reader.
Given the time limits, it really needs to be something I can buy over the counter, as I leave the US on the evening of Jan 3rd, and won't be back for months.
In a laptop, I am looking to replace a Dell Inspiron 1000 (2.2GHz Celeron, 512Mb, 120Gb HDD). In order of importance, I want:
1. Screen resolution of 1280x800 or better
2. Battery life - 4 hours+ light usage, 2.5 hours movie playback
3. HDD space - I'd be reluctant to get less than 500Gb
4. CPU speed
5. Graphics. I don't like Intel Integrated on principle, but since the newest games I own are Quake 4 and F.E.A.R. I don't really need anything too fancy
In an ebook reader, I want:
1. Long batter life
2. Easy to add my existing DRM-free ebooks in a wide variety of formats
3. Decent PDF handling for sourcebooks
4. lots of storage space, whether internal or memory card
I'm near Frederick, MD at the moment, but don'tknow the local stores very well, so if there's a better place to go locally than Best Buy, I'm open to suggestions.
Oh, and I guess a final option would be to buy a new mobo/cpu/ram/gfx as components and rebuild my desktop PC when I get home, instead.
I await your advice eagerly....