Choosing a Laptop

[DREDIOCK]

Ok So as some of you know my son was recently accpeted to Rutgers U

In any event he will be needing a Laptop as it is now a requirement in many of not most colleges these days.
And yes while I know its a ways off I figure its not to early to start shopping around.

Finances being what they are we cant afford to get him a $3,000 laptop.
Not to sure I would do that even if I could afford it.

So whats a good way to choose a laptop?
I know when people ask me what kind of desktop they should buy my first answer is "build one yourself"

When they insist on buying one from a store like say "Best Buy" I just tell them to "Buy the most expencive one they can afford" as a quick answer.

Does the same hold true for Laptops?

[Delirium]

If he is only going to be doing term papers, power point presentations, and surfing the web, you can really skimp on the machine you give him.

It is the games that really hunger for power PCs... I'd recommend something with a Centrino chip and something WiFi capable, it should be ok.

[Tarmac]

Yep, games are what differentiate between expensive and cheap laptops.  I have my desktop for games, and a $900 laptop for portability.

I bought my laptop around october or november.  It's a compaq v2000 series with a Turion 64, 512 mb ram, DVD burner, wireless internet (essential in any laptop).  It's a widescreen (love it), it's the perfect size, and it's got plenty of horsepower to do everything but demanding 3d games.  Cost about 900 bucks.  You can go even cheaper now, but I pretty much got the cheapest thing I could find with a DVD burner.  Battery life is my only complaint -- it's only about 2 hours, 2.5 if you're lucky, on a single charge.  

It's a good laptop, I'd buy it again.

[x0847Marine]

Originally posted by DREDIOCK
Ok So as some of you know my son was recently accpeted to Rutgers U

In any event he will be needing a Laptop as it is now a requirement in many of not most colleges these days.
And yes while I know its a ways off I figure its not to early to start shopping around.

Finances being what they are we cant afford to get him a $3,000 laptop.
Not to sure I would do that even if I could afford it.

So whats a good way to choose a laptop?
I know when people ask me what kind of desktop they should buy my first answer is "build one yourself"

When they insist on buying one from a store like say "Best Buy" I just tell them to "Buy the most expencive one they can afford" as a quick answer.

Does the same hold true for Laptops?

I cant sing the praises of my notebook enough:
http://www.pcclub.com/product_system_details.cfm?itemno=ENP61104

Starts at $1249 for a PM 1.8, 128M 6600go, 15.4" WXGA wide screen, CD/DVD burner, 4 USB 2.0, mini 1394, Ird.. I got the 1G RAM, comes with 512.

This place will sell you one with no HD, RAM, OS... nada starting at $700
http://www.istnc.com/

My biggest reason for liking this particular one; the nVidia MXM graphics and CPU are fully upgradable.

At the moment I have the PM 2.2 / 128M 6600go... next year PCClub will upgrade it to whatever is available, I'll likely opt for the 2.6 PM and the 256M 7800... as long as the screen lasts, I figure even 1 upgrade will extend the life of this notebook several years.

With all the power saving on, 3 hours 30 min of regular use is what I've got. While gaming, 90 min at best, but it games like a dream on med to high settings.

Everything is simple to access, its a so called "vanilla book" and made to be easily configured... it came with zero bloatware or timed out trials, all I wanted was XP Pro... that's all I got.

The one thing I don't care for is the 2 ch sound, but there are a few decent 5.1 usb solutions out there.... and the front speakers are fine for Windows "dings", "dongs" and "pings", but unless its quite-ish, hearing is a bit distorted.

Oh yea, "so what brand is it?", its a Quanta KN1... Quanta is an ODM, they manufacture Macs, HP's and a few others, but they sell these vanilla books to folks who can re-brand them.. PCClub calls it an "nPower", whatever the F that is... so you're getting the same parts as a "major" brand name, but not paying for the name.

My wife has my 2nd choice, the HP "Livestrong", it's smaller (14"), easily just as fast CPU wise... the x700 lags a bit behind the 6600go in some games, IMO because the video memory is shared... but I was still able to play AH quite well on it and I do like that its more portable... but less of a desktop replacement.

[eagl]

For general college use, why not just go with a bargain Dell?  They keep putting up specials for well under $1000.  I saw a clearance model for around $650 that includes most of the stuff that would be "required" for a school computer...

It depends on your budget and what the purpose of the computer will be.  Your son will hate me for saying it, but if the computer can run games it'll be used to play games.

[LePaul]

Dell Inspirons (E1705 's) are awesome, we just bought 4 here at the MIS department of the bank.  The 1920 x 1200 pixels screens for a bit more are simply gorgeous.  You can have a nicely equipped one for a low as $1200 or peak it out with faster hard drives, ram, etc for more.

I was a diehard Thinkpad person, but since IBM went overseas and downhill, I've really taken a liking to the Dells.

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by eagl


It depends on your budget and what the purpose of the computer will be.  Your son will hate me for saying it, but if the computer can run games it'll be used to play games.

LOL Im really not worried if he plays games on it or not.
We're talking about a kid whom I havent had to tell him to do his homework since the 4th grade.

My rules for him in college will be the same as they have always been
" Do pretty much what you want within reason, Just bring me the grades"

"Exellence is standard, Standard is substandard and substandard will NOT be tolerated"

And on top of my being able to do a damn good impression of R. Lee Ermey (with improvments) He also knows I can appeal to his sence of greed and very easily arrange for him to have to pay for the whole shebang himself.

As his grades drop. So will his financial contribution rise.

But knowing him I doubt there will be much of a need for any of that.
Damn good kid. Gonna make a hell of a man.
Very proud of him thusfar



Oh and thank you one and all for your input

[acetnt367th]

for laptops dell isn't  that bad. l have an m60, my wife has a d600 and the sister an inspiron. all pentium m.

an inspiron would be a good choice for your son. ok performance, ok price.   acetnt

p.s. with laptops i like the longer warranties. not easy to replace proprietary parts

[acetnt367th]

for laptops dell isn't  that bad. l have an m60, my wife has a d600 and the sister an inspiron. all pentium m.

an inspiron would be a good choice for your son. ok performance, ok price.   acetnt

p.s. with laptops i like the longer warranties. not easy to replace proprietary parts