Laptop help
 

I'm going off to college and I'm in need of a VERY CHEAP laptop. $1000 or less. Obviously it will be used for school work. But I need a laptop that can handle Call of Duty 1.

So I found this no-name laptop at newegg:
Newegg.com - ZT Element S1002i-74 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T7100(1.80GHz) 15.4" Wide XGA 1GB DDR2 667 120GB DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 8400M G - Retail

I think it is a pretty good deal
Core 2 Duo at 1.8GHz
1GB of RAM
GeForce 8400M G
Vista Home Premium

All for only $899.

One thing is, will I be able to trust some no-name brand and go on to buy this laptop?

And will I be able to upgrade the RAM to 2GB in the future?

Any other suggestions for laptops that meet my requirements above would be nice, but not needed.

Thanks.

EDIT: Also, no Dells. This is because I am looking at sites with the "Bill Me Later" feature.
A list of stores with that feature is here: powershopping | categories | computers & electronics

Well Call of Duty 1 doesnt take much power at all...use to play it with a Geforce MX400 fine WAY long ago.

I really wouldnt trust a company that can't put a picture of there own products on Newegg. Plus it has no reviews at all.

Also yes, you will be able to put 2GB in later on if you wish. I would reccomend doing that soon if you choose to get a laptop with only 1GB and Vista. Vista runs very poorly on only 1GB of RAM.

I surpisingly found this at walmart website

HP 15.4" Pavilion dv6409wm Laptop PC w/ AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TL-56 - Wal-Mart

Seems to be a nice little package. And if your planning on upgrading to another 1GB of RAM

Newegg.com - Kingston 1GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Notebook Memory - Retail

No Dells? Oh, because I would've recommended the Vostro's or the Inspirons, as their pretty cheap and can be configured with the 8600m GT.

You might want to go on Newegg and look at the cheaper Asus notebooks or the Everex ones.

I believe Everex has one with a 1.8 ghz AMD Turion 64 X2 Proc, 1 gb of RAM (can be expanded to 4 gb's), and a nVidia 7600 gpu (256 Mb VRAM). The price tag is only around 800 USD I believe.

I found the Everex.
Newegg.com - EVEREX XT5000T NoteBook AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-50(1.60GHz) 17.0" Wide XGA+ 1GB DDR2 533 100GB 5400rpm Dual layer DVD Burner NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 - Retail

It's a 1.6ghz processor. Would I notice a difference between the 1.8ghz that is included in the HP?

Also, how does the AMD compare to Intel in notebooks?

EDIT: If I were to get the Everex, would this be the compatible stick of RAM?
Newegg.com - Kingston 1GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Notebook Memory - Retail

If you look for gaming, Getting a Intel Core 2 Duo is a better choice then a Turion (Or was it only when Athlon vs Core 2 Duo?)
and installing RAM is up to the motherboard of the lappy

I was going to point out the Everex..but didn't really think you would want to carry a bulky 17" Laptop around campus.

And in Turion vs. Intel Core Duo of course Intel wins, but if you plan to do only school work and play old games like Call of Duty then the AMD will suite you fine.

And yes, the RAM you picked is compatible

Price vs Performance, Rather go for a Core Duo for the same price then.

Cheapest Core 2 Duo is a ASUS costing $1000. Cheaper ones have intergrated graphics. If your reffering to the ZT he posted it seems iffy...

How so?
It looks pretty okay to me

Theres no image of the laptop and no customer reviews...probably a brand new product on Newegg.

You can take a chance and buy it, I found there website, it looks pretty nice ZT Systems Home You can also configure you own laptop at the site.

Let's say, out of nowhere I decide to install Steam and play games like HL2 and CSS. Or maybe even a newer game (nothing comes to mind).

If I had chosen the Everex, and upgraded the RAM to be 2GB. What will the performance be?

Obviously I won't be playing the game with high settings and all the fancy HDR stuff on.

Will the game still be playable on medium to low settings?

A 7600 GO should run HL2 and CSS. But I really wouldnt go anything beyond that.

So, the processor on the Everex wouldn't hurt gaming that much?

I'm deciding between the Everex and the ZT.

I would get Everex because it is a little more than a hundred dollars cheaper.
I would get the ZT for because it is faster.

I saw ZT's other laptops on Newegg. They seem to be getting good ratings. But I'm still not sure..

If you were going to get one of these laptops which would you get?

It's basically price vs performance as DeepAlexander mentioned earlier.

I myself, after reading over ZT a bit would go for it. They seem like a nice company. And for only $100 more than the Everex you get Core 2 Duo.