41 replies to this topic

[chocolatemilk]

Are there any recommendations for laptops/notebooks for college? I don't care about gaming, but I do care if there is enough space to store photos, music, and of course, school-related work. I would like one that is secure and doesn't crash easily.

Also, are Macbooks overhyped or are they really worth the money?

[tycoonboy388]

While a good friend of mine will tell you that Mac's are the best, I'm not sure how right he is. He's very insistent that paying for a Mac will get you everything you could possibly want, and then some. I will tell you right now, that Macbooks come instantly enabled for wireless networking, so if your school is big on that, then a Mac might be good. Also Mac has a great college discount right now that you get a free iPod nano with a Macbook, or you can get a regular iPod for real cheap. Even if you don't want the iPod, apple still does a great discount.

Dell's are nice laptops, they can come with big screens or be light and small, and have a lot of variety and can be customized, and are about 200-500 bucks cheaper than the cheapest mac. Dell's student discount is about 10% off every laptop

I'd consult your schools technology services. This way, you can find what they reccommend or you can get a computer that is completely customized for your school, and it might be cheaper than buying from the company.

[z2z007]

I used to be an avid PC user but I switched to Macs when OS X came out. It is much more stable and powerful than Windows because it is based on UNIX, the operating system that developers use. And to say the least, it is pretty and user friendly.

My view on Macs is that they are built rock solid and will have a longer longevity than an ordinary PC would. With Boot Camp, you can run Windows and it runs much faster on a Mac too. There are several sites that are actually tested it out. You can google it and see the results.

I recently bought a 15.4" Macbook Pro (basic configuration) at around $1800 with free 2GB ipod nano and free hp all-in-one C3180. I am very satisfied with it. I am even using it right at this moment. Apple always manages to put everthing in a nice neat package while preserving the aesthetic quality of the product. The only downside I saw is that the system can get a bit hot on occasion and a lack of USB ports (two are given). I'm going to upgrade the memory myself also. Apple memory is just way too expensive.

Regarding the Macbook, my gripe about it is the video card. The Intel crap is shared memory, which isn't good for gaming. For ordinary use, it is perfectly fine but I would definitely upgrade the memory from newegg.com (the best place to get computer hardware).

If you are still very sheepish about switching to Macs, Dells are ok. They look like ugly tanks though. HP aint bad either especially with those cheaper AMD chips that have been outclassing Intel chips. You might also want to consider a tablet. This one from gateway caught my eye: http://www.gateway.com/products/gconfig/pr...ystem_id=cx210x Fujitsu has nice tablets also.

On a general note, make sure your laptop exceeds the schools recommendations. I would at least have a 1GB of RAM, 80+ GB for the hard drive, and keep an eye out for a DVD burner. Make sure it is Vista capable, preferably premium ready. For more information, check this page: http://www.microsoft...dy/capable.mspx

I'm not sure how Vista will act on laptops. Cnet tried out the public beta on Vista ready laptop and it just sapped the battery life very quickly.

To educate yourself about technology, I highly recommend http://www.cnet.com/
A nice laptop buying guide is here: http://reviews.cnet....-1.html?tag=dir and check out all their reviews. You can never go wrong by basing your decision on what they recommend.

If you have any other concerns, I would gladly try to address them.

P.S.: I know AFaust3 hates Apple because iPods dominate the market and he perfers to sit on his slowass desktop which makes his AIM client crash every 5 minutes. Another note that I forgot to mention, don't go for a windows laptop with a CELERON chip! Go for Core Duo.

[azntechguy]

Let me threadjack... what do you think is an optimum weight for a notebook that you'd use for school?

[chocolatemilk]

azntechguy, on Jul 3 2006, 07:00 PM, said:

Let me threadjack... what do you think is an optimum weight for a notebook that you'd use for school?

5 pounds or less

[z2z007]

6-7 lbs max

5.6 lbs for my 15.4" macbook pro
4.9 lbs for my iBook G4

[teknite]

just make sure not to get a celeron processor, pentium m is good as well as amd turion

[chocolatemilk]

teknite, on Jul 3 2006, 09:54 PM, said:

just make sure not to get a celeron processor, pentium m is good as well as amd turion

I do not understand what you just said, but the MacBook has a Intel Core Duo T2500 processor.

[azntechguy]

No, he was just making a generic comment about what processor your target laptop should have.

At this point, I'm still deciding if I am to buy a laptop, should I wait for the Core 2 Duo or just go for one with Core Duo. Right now, even though I don't really need one nor do I exactly have the money, I'm eyeing the Thinkpad T60 (since only portability is an issue atm), but it's soo damn expensive and less feature packed than other laptops.

[ScottSchubert]

Get a good lock, and use it. Use it often. You may also want to go for a further step in security, such as a fingerprint indentifier, but at worst, make sure you use the lock and make sure you put a password on the system. Also, if you're paranoid, like me, get a USB drive on your keychain or something.

A good place for laptop accessories like the fingerprint reader and USB drive is ThinkGeek -

http://www.thinkgeek.com

[ScottSchubert]

Hmm, since I can't seem to edit my post anymore, here's an update. I checked ThinkGeek and they were sold out of the fingerprint reader, but J&R has one from Microsoft -

http://www.jr.com/JR...Product=4007137

[Alpha2005]

ScottSchubert, on Jul 3 2006, 10:14 PM, said:

Hmm, since I can't seem to edit my post anymore, here's an update. I checked ThinkGeek and they were sold out of the fingerprint reader, but J&R has one from Microsoft -

http://www.jr.com/JR...Product=4007137

The ms one sends the checksum unencrypted to your pc, so I wouldn't recommend it, if your scared of some mit geek getting access to your pc.

Also, z made a comment about how xp is faster on a mac: that is a complete lie...pc's and the new macs use intel motherboards. Mac osx is faster on intel chips than the powerpc chips, but xp is not faster on a mac than on a similar laptop with a core duo...

[z2z007]

I beg to differ.

http://www.appleinsi...cle.php?id=1617
http://www.macworld.com/2006/04/firstlooks...marks/index.php

[Josh]

GEEK FIGHT!

[wretched]

Most schools nowadays support both platforms so it's really up to you. Go to an Apple store and see if you can live with it as your computer. Don't get caught up in the Mac on Windows, why have a Mac when you're going to run Windows most of the time?

[z2z007]

The whole philosophy is that you will use Mac OS X 90% of the time and whenever needed, you can switch back to Windows.

[Alpha2005]

z2z007, on Jul 4 2006, 12:35 PM, said:

I beg to differ.

http://www.appleinsi...cle.php?id=1617
http://www.macworld.com/2006/04/firstlooks...marks/index.php

Ummm....

http://gearlog.com/blogs/gearlog/archive/2...03/21/8212.aspx
http://www.pcmag.com/image_popup/0,1871,s=...d=127601,00.asp

If you compare the imac core duo to the acer core duo (both are 2.0), then the winner for the photoshop scripts is the acer. 1:11 compared to 1:25 for scripts. And acer wins in windows media encode. As for the other 2.0 laptops, well they suck for photoshop but destroy all the macs in terms of wm encode, and graphics tests. Keep in mind these links were obtained from the site links you provided.

Saying that xp is faster on a mac is plain out undeniably wrong. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, yet you cant declare anyone the winner. When the mac laptops start getting good graphics cards, consider me a mac person.

PS: for the dell e1705, you can tell that they arent even using optimized drivers, they use the bundled ones which keep the gpu core underclocked by 50%...(which means they have no uniform way of testing the systems) I don't view any of these site links findings being conclusive of anything.

[z2z007]

That's true but you claimed what I said was a "complete" lie. I was just trying to debunk that statement.

[shesoledout]

Most schools tell you what kind of computer is best. My school has a checklist and then there were further requirements for my major so they also gave examples of the best laptops for my major. I got a Mac and it fits perfectly with their criteria and it works really well - no complaints. It's expensive and yes, most Dells are cheaper but you're going to have this for the next 4ish years (most of us, anyway) so spending an extra 200$ for something more updated will be better in the long run. Always think ahead!

[chocolatemilk]

shesoledout, on Jul 4 2006, 11:08 PM, said:

Most schools tell you what kind of computer is best. My school has a checklist and then there were further requirements for my major so they also gave examples of the best laptops for my major. I got a Mac and it fits perfectly with their criteria and it works really well - no complaints. It's expensive and yes, most Dells are cheaper but you're going to have this for the next 4ish years (most of us, anyway) so spending an extra 200$ for something more updated will be better in the long run. Always think ahead!

Wow. Thank you. Finally, something I understand.