College Notebook Advice

[GoodEnough]

Don't worry about out of date. You need something to write papers and look shit up. You need a $350 laptop. It will blow away any need you can possible have. You're just getting caught up in the "upgrade" trap. Stop. You don't even know what your needs are. Trust me, there isn't a laptop being made that doesn't suit your needs 200%. Ok, I've made my point.

 

[Cheapola1]

Don't worry about out of date. You need something to write papers and look shit up. You need a $350 laptop. It will blow away any need you can possible have. You're just getting caught up in the "upgrade" trap. Stop. You don't even know what your needs are. Trust me, there isn't a laptop being made that doesn't suit your needs 200%. Ok, I've made my point.

Grrr.. I know its for school purposes but I also wanna get on there and hit up World of Warcraft or something if I am at school between classes and have an hour or so to blow or doing homework on my bed and just turn on WoW.. Thats why I am more leaning towards this.. I did not see any or know of any '$350' notebooks that will do taht, or is there? I want it 'decent'.. Its not gonna be a PURE gaming system.. but multifunctional..

 

[996GT2]

Grrr.. I know its for school purposes but I also wanna get on there and hit up World of Warcraft or something if I am at school between classes and have an hour or so to blow or doing homework on my bed and just turn on WoW.. Thats why I am more leaning towards this.. I did not see any or know of any '$350' notebooks that will do taht, or is there? I want it 'decent'.. Its not gonna be a PURE gaming system.. but multifunctional..

If you just want a computer that can handle basic tasks and last for a year or two, go ahead and get that $350 laptop.

If you actually want something that is powerful hardware-wise and will last you through 4 years or more without failure, plan on getting a Thinkapd X/T/W series or a Macbook Pro.

 

[Emulex]

i got an old macbook for $350 - that way you'll look like the rest of the college and get some p****y at least. seriously everyone has a mac at university. best way to learn your *bsd

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Don't worry about out of date. You need something to write papers and look shit up. You need a $350 laptop. It will blow away any need you can possible have. You're just getting caught up in the "upgrade" trap. Stop. You don't even know what your needs are. Trust me, there isn't a laptop being made that doesn't suit your needs 200%. Ok, I've made my point.

As someone who tried using a $300 laptop for college that plan works great until you realize you laptop is heavy, slow and has awful battery life that makes it next to useless.

For college laptops I've found it's best to buy the smallest screen size you can get away with. I have a pair of 24" 1080p monitors on my desktop but my laptop is a 12.5" Thinkpad x220 and it's predecessor was a 10.1" MSI Wind.

I'd also pass on AMD's mobile processors for the time being. Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors have better performance and are also more energy efficient.

 

[beginner99]

Battery life 'says' nearly 4 hours..
I think I will, I feel 'good' about it.. I dunno..

If it says 4 hours it probably will be more like 2 hours in real-world usage. You can divide the battery life given by the supplier by 2 to get a more reasonable result. If it says 8 hours, it's safe to say it will last 4 hours regardless what you do.

And forget AMD in notebooks. And just to repeat, 15.6" screen is IMHO max. size I would consider.

 

[996GT2]

If it says 4 hours it probably will be more like 2 hours in real-world usage. You can divide the battery life given by the supplier by 2 to get a more reasonable result. If it says 8 hours, it's safe to say it will last 4 hours regardless what you do.

And forget AMD in notebooks. And just to repeat, 15.6" screen is IMHO max. size I would consider.

Lol yeah, I'd be surprised if that Toshiba gets much over 2 hours of battery life in real-world use.

Power hungry AMD triple core + big 17" screen + tiny 48 Wh battery do not add up to a good combination in terms of battery life.

The Thinkpad X220 gets 12 hours of battery life in real-world use (as tested by Laptop magazine and several other sources), but it is much more power efficient and has a much larger 9-cell battery compared to the Toshiba.

 

[Winston Marmaduke III]

The 350 dual core is going to be fine for writing papers, but I don't see college students just writing papers. Like you said, you may want to play a little WoW or whatever, or maybe encode some video eventually. I'm not saying dish out over a grand for an Alienware or something, but I'd get something at least one step above that dual core.

JMHO. Also, find a gaming / WoW forum, post the specs of whatever lappy you are interested in, and ask them how it would run with that setup.

 

[Starcrosser]

Laptops break all the time due to poor manufacturing and ill design. Personally, I don't think spending the extra cash on a Lenovo is a half-bad idea.

 

[jae]

Well you have to decide which way to go. Most people who you see with 17"+ laptops gaming in the library have no desktop or just have money to blow (their parents at least). Since you're getting a laptop BECAUSE you're going back to school, you should be looking for 12-14" screen with good battery life. Your best bet is a netbook/laptop with E-350 imo. Thinkpad has one with 12" screen on newegg for around $480 vs 13.4" Msi for $599. Can probably catch the thinkpad on sale around mother day

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

 

[Emulex]

macbook $350-400 - i got your pleasure. macbook air $600 - you know you want the hotness and the babes will recognize