Techies- what are the new basic minimums for a laptop

Parent Cafe
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<p>With the new below $500 laptops, what are the risks of outgrowing them too soon.</p>

<p>What minimums should one look for? </p>

<p>My current laptop is nearly 4 years old and is so slow to open a new application. I use a lot of browser windows/tabs open at the same time and just switching from one tab to another or one program to another has a significant lag time. Is that a function of RAM or what? It is also very slow to start up.</p>

<p>What do I need to make sure I have in a laptop to make it a good deal that will work forseveral years for office type functions?</p>

2

<p>computers do slow down after use- but there are things you can do to speed it up.
( I would go for four GB of ram)
[Smart</a> Computing Article - Defrag Your Hard Drive](<a href=“Welcome | Sandhills Global | Gather, Process, Distribute”>http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?guid=&bJumpto=true&Isfrm=IN&article=articles/webonly/techsupport/25w10/25w10.asp&ArticleID=31194)</p>