laptop recommendations?

[Geoff]

i am going to europe soon, and i need to get a laptop because international charges make my phone too expensive to use. 

i don't want to spend that much money, im not looking to play tf2 or whatever on it.  im looking at these asus eee's and they look pretty swell.

what are some key things to look for in a laptop?

[Didzo]

Depends on your priorities.

What size laptop do you want? A netbook (9-12in) would offer you more portability and convenience, while a larger laptop will be harder to lug around, but you get more screen-space to work, a more comfortable keyboard, and likely a more powerful CPU, depending on how much you want to spend.

How often are you going to be carrying it around without a cord? Battery life may or may not be a huge issue depending on how much moving around you're going to be doing.

What will you be using it for? That will determine what specs you want... Though I don't think you'll be playing Crysis or rendering images in Photoshop on it.

Edit:

Yeah, the little Eee PCs should be fine.

[Geoff]

i just need it for general internet surfing, maybe occasional movie or nes game.  and yeah i probably dont want to be carrying the wire around all the time.

[Didzo]

This one looks pretty damn good. Seems like a pretty good deal too, even through it's not exactly the cheapest option out there.

Edit: The thing to keep in mind with that one is that it has no preinstalled OS, so it's cheaper and doesn't have random crapware... But you'll need an external disk drive in order to install an OS from a CD. Not an issue if you go with Linux or Ubuntu or something, just make sure you read the reviews to work out the little bugs that come with using the aforementioned OS's.

[Geoff]

i'm pretty sure you can install 7 from a pen drive now.

and what makes this one a hundred dollars more than all the 300 dollar eee's ive been seeing?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6834220712

that one is basically the only netbook you can find in stores over here.

[Didzo]

For an extra $100 (after $50 discount), you get an upgrade from:
160GB -> 250GB HD
1GB RAM -> 2GB RAM (though you can upgrade to 2GB yourself)
10.1" -> 12.1" screen
Intel GMA 3150 -> ATI Radeon HD 3200
5 hours battery life -> 6 hours battery life

The only other difference from what I can see is that you have to provide your own OS for the pricier one. You can see that as either more hassle or more freedom from crapware.