Laptop Advice

brendo.

brendo.

Active member
So I'm going off to college soon and I really want to pick up a laptop before I go because they are very useful. I know very little about what ones are good and bad so I was wondering what you guys think? I WANT A MAC BUT THEY ARE NOT COMPATABLE WHERE IM GOING so don't say macs.

So I'm wondering:

-What kind you have and if you like it

-What would be the best for a college kid

-if you want to sell me one I'm open to offers

+K for help!
 
How isn't a Mac compatible? But anyway I have a alienware, I like it but I spent waay too much for it
 
What do you want to use it for? Basic school needs, gaming and school, NS and other intraweb.. Thats important. How big/heavy do you want it? Are you looking for something thin or an actual computer with a CD drive and things like that...

Either way, I have an HP Pavilion. Love it. It has lasted me for 3 years so far and still going strong. I have had HP's before and they all last me 4+ years. Great laptops, long lasting in terms of a computer. Decent for basic gaming, but not advanced enough for Diablo III. Depends what your into. I got the 15" screen, no need for a giant 17" with a full keyboard.

IMO, get an HP.
 
sorry, but this is just a bad idea. HP's aren't built well at all, have various issues, and cannot be relied upon.

OP, what programs do you need to run?
 
I'd like to run Vimeo smoothly and just basic sites like ns and stuff. No games. And +K to most
 
A good graphics card and some ram should be what your looking for!

processor for just doing that (and word documents for classes i'd assume) won't have to be too powerful, but it's always nice to have a bit more umph if needed. I'd suggest either a high dual or low quad core.

 
How so. I really have never had a problem at all with mine, I've owned 3 and have never had a problem that I couldn't easily fix personally. I'm no tech genius and the problems I got were simple fixes.

Mine have been reliable until I determined they were dated and needed to be replaced. Which was around the 4 year mark.
 
Overheating issues mostly. Mom had an old one that would shut down within 30 minutes of power on and not doing anything

A lot of their components are gimmicks and they cut a whole bunch of corners in regards to quality hardware pieces
 
I got an asus last year as a gift from my parents and i love it! perfect for school, browsing ns, etc I don't do gaming. full keyboard and i believe 17" screen. runs vimeo smoothly, 4gb of ram. Its a pretty decent computer for what i do with it.
 
Interesting stuff.. Like I said I have never had a problem. I have heard that fan work pretty hard sometimes, but it has never just shit off on me.
 
have you looked at anything by Sony? I think they would have some stuff right up your alley. If not by them I imagine a Macbook Air would do what you want BUT it is a fair bit more than you probably want to pay.
 
I would advise against gateway. I've had two. the first one lasted three years before the power connection to the motherboard got shot. then I had another one that lasted a year before the transformer blew (may be due to the europe trip I took with it) but the power button also broke so I had to solder on my own switch and it was just a nightmare. I bought an HP last year and I love it currently. I have been playing D3 for hours on end in the summer heat in a non ac house and I haven't had any over heating issues yet. I have heard good things about sony as well. they tend to be a little spendy though.
 
I've had a ton of problems with my Dell so can't really recommend them.

Some good brands would be Asus, Toshiba, Lenovo and Sony.
 
Get a macbook air.

They will too all of that smoothly, they're super fast, amazing battery life, ultra lightweight and portable, and very ergonomic at the same time.

also, you're going to school? k well then once again get a macbook air. everyone at school has MacBooks. so its actually convenient to have one since chances are if you ever need it. you'll be compatible with other people if you need a charger or something.

I see a lot of people who get PCs for school

- The PCs are heavy as fuck and always need to be plugged in

- They are slow as shit to open up and use, whereas with a macbook you just open it up and its ready

- PCs are loud and the people who have them usually ditch them and get a macbook.
 
i have a dell and for the most part it has been a very pleasent experience. if i had to do it again i would probably look into an ultrabook because they are more portable and faster plus i rarely use my disc drive at all. look into a ssd you can save a bunch of money by getting a small 128 gb one and then purchasing an external hard drive to keep in your backpack to store all your shit on. if possible i would recomend a backlit keyboard i love mine and it has been surprsisingly useful.
 
Don't get a big laptop its fucking annoying, and they drain batteries quicker. I have a " do it all laptop" and I really wish I had a smaller more convenient one.
 
Lenovo. Get a thinkpad. They're a good deal and they last forever. I'm going to an engineering school where they force your to buy a really nice ThinkPad, and I love it.
 
"I WANT A MAC BUT THEY ARE NOT COMPATABLE WHERE IM GOING so don't say macs" - OP

Read damnit. Dont just say, "Oh laptop advice thread? Let me suggest a Mac"

And I have an HP laptop and use a Dell charger for it a friend gave me. PC's are getting better about having similar chargers.
 
I have a satellite pro and I think it's pretty good for the money, as it can handle video editing pretty well even with the integrated graphics, 3d doesn't work too quickly but you can manage, I think he could probably get what he wants cheaper, but im not sure how different the satellite pro and satellite are.
 
yes please advise me to buy two expensive operating systems when realistically buying one would work just fine.
 
I have a Sony Vaio S series. Treated me pretty well and the magnesium case is similar to that of a mbp so its nice and light/good looking.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/31/sony-vaio-s-series-review-15-inch/

80mko.jpg
 
i was in a hurry and iddnt explain myself. he said he wants to just broswe the web and use vimeo and shit.

for doing that stuff macbook airs are faster than other computers for the most part. they have solid parts and shit. not to mention the resolution on macbook airs is killer. and the battery life is great.

either way OP doesn't want a MBA, i didn't read all of it. oops
 
I'm in this market too. Going off to college next year and need a laptop. Definitely not going to buy a mac,I spent two summers interning as a desktop and remote support analyst, and i'm now a desktop engineering intern this summer. Basically i have way too much pc knowledge to get a mac

anyways i'm looking for a laptop with the following specs at $1000 or less...

Decent battery (hopefully 4+ hours of battery)

7200 rpm hard drive (size doesnt matter as long as 200+gb)

15.6"+ screen with 1366x768 resolution or greater

Core i5 or higher

1+ GB dedicated graphics memory

4+ GB ram

As little pre installed software as possible, and an OS is not needed either

Dont care about weight or thickness. Just performance
 
would recommend:

lenovo

asus

toshiba

would avoid:

dell

hp

compaq

sony (generally overpriced for what it is)

 
Programs designed to run on PCs? I know that it is quickly changing to include mac in almost everything but why would he spend extra money for a mac then spend more money to get windows OS for that mac when he could just buy a PC and not deal with two OS's? its logic man. also, before someone says I am a PC fan boy, I own and use Apple computers almost exclusively and I dont see why someone would pay the extra money for one unless they are going to use it for something a more affordable alternative is incapable of.
 
Could you be more specific? But you really should spend more time working on your grammar/spelling than worrying about a laptop.
 
He never said what programs, so don't get all technical with me. Some people would rather fork out the extra money for a computer that is going to LAST. No one ever said he had to put windows OS on it.
 
The fact he said "I WANT A MAC BUT THEY ARE NOT COMPATABLE WHERE IM GOING so don't say macs." makes me think windows is needed. Any good computer will last its jsut with mac you have so few options you dont need to do the research into what exact model you want, you just choose Macbook air, Macbook, or Macbook pro (assuming lap tops are what you're buying)
 
Are you going into freshman year? I am assuming you are and have no idea about college. I have been heavily researching into laptops as well (It's a lot of money!). I don't know what major you are, but for most students the most important factor is durability.

Basically anything with plastic wont cut it. The white macbooks were one of the most durable plastic computers and even they fall apart eventually. If you pick it up by one corner and it has any flex then don't buy it. I can't stress this enough, you might baby your computer for the first month, but soon enough you will be jamming it into your pack without a laptop sleve because it's lost in the mess of your room and you are late for class. This is university afterall.

exception to the plastic rule: lenovo thinkpad

I guess the next important thing is screen size

If you mostly will study at home, the best screen size is probably a 13" computer since they are very portable, but still big enough to get work done without an extra monitor. Of course you will want an extra moniter at home for getting serious work done.

If you mostly will study on campus, get at least a 14" screen, probably 15" is better. This is the minimum size to really have two windows open side by side and trust me you will do this a lot.

Now as for performance, for most students you will not it to be top of the line. I mean if you are doing multimedia type stuff you might, but then you will also probably just have a macbook. Get at least an i5 and preferably a modest GPU and that's more than good enough. If you do go and buy a crazy fast gaming laptop make sure the battery life is decent (it usually wont be).

Finally, even if you have been told that a mac won't work I would still really consider buying one and just installing windows. Apple is completely dominant in academics except for in engineering and computer science and some (outdated?) buisiness programs. I am a science student and every single one of my profs has a macbook.

Here is a pic of the conference last week at CERN

Screen-Shot-2012-07-04-at-3.08.15-PM.png


It's not the greatest picture, but I noticed while watching it that there were like 3 computers in the entire room that were not macbooks and there is a good chance that those ones are running linux. Take the same picture in any lecture hall and you will see the same thing.

In summary: Get the mosty portable computer you can find that has the correct screen size for you, get decent specs but don't bother overdoing it especially at the expense of battery life, and above all make sure it's bombproof.

 
Mac for architecture? don't make me laugh.

Just because Autodesk released AutoCAD for MAC doesn't mean you should get one for architecture work. The industry is moving to more powerful and complex programs such as Revit. Until you can get Revit or something similar made for a MAC its a wast of time. I've witnessed Multiple classmates with their Macbook Pros spend 20+ hours trying to get their computers to run any Autodesk program correctly. For architecture get a PC, if you want to be a trendwhore get a MAC.
 
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