Let me share something you here. I use a refurbished Compaq for nearly everything these days. It's been incredibly reliable for well over 2 and a half years. I rarely take it anywhere. I have an external keyboard plugged into it and I use an external monitor too. But I use the LCD at the same time. The graphics allow me to spread my desktop over the external monitor and the LCD screen. My visible desktop is over 25 inches. Depending on your graphics, you can do the same thing with a desktop computer, but it takes up a lot more room. Now I feel horribly limited when I have a little 17, 19 or 21 inch desktop. This is, hands down, the absolute best deal I've ever made in a computer buy - including all the computers I've built myself from scratch.

That was a little off subject, but I've found that very few people realize just how useful spreading your desktop over more than one monitor can be in terms of both comfort and productivity. OK, back to the pre-shopping analysis. This kind of analysis sounds tedious because it is. It's much more fun to just go out and buy on impulse. Unfortunately that's not a smart thing to do. It sets you up to be seduced by a hot sales pitch for a really neat bleeding edge high end laptop. There are very very few people who actually need that kind of technology.

The reality is that 97 to 99% of the laptop computer buyers could do at least 95% of their typical tasks with the cheapest, slowest laptop on the market. You need to be certain about how much you're willing to pay to do that remaining 5% a little faster. And if your needs aren't typical, you probably already have a good idea of just what's required. The advantage of a discount computer is that you can put some of the money you've just saved into more memory, an external hard drive for backup, an additional (big) external monitor, an extra battery, a new printer or whatever additional accessory will make your work easier. And you'll probably still come out ahead.

We all have a tendency to overestimate our needs - and to want the biggest, fastest, best, coolest whatever. Salesmen know this. After all a discount laptop computer just isn't as sexy somehow, is it? But let's be real here, a laptop is to work. It will not get you that really hot lady or that primo guy. In any case, the truly cool people have minions to carry around their stuff and wouldn't be caught dead lugging around a computer or using one in public.

A little thought, a little rationality, and you can end up with a high quality discount laptop that's more than sufficient for your needs without even spending your whole budget. Now that is cool.