Going to College. Need a laptop

[Freshgeardude]

Hello!

I am going to college in a month and a half and I am looking for a laptop between 800-1300.

Id like it for note taking and play some decent games on it.


I'm not too crazy on PC games since im bringing my xbox, but I play games like portal or CSS.


I currently have a eeePC 1000h which at most does note taking, any games on it sucks.

EDIT: I am not looking for anything like the eeePC, looking for a regular laptop


It also needs to be able to handle AutoCAD (Engineering major)




thanks!

 

[mnewsham]

Check out the HP envy line, the Asus G53 line and look at Sagernotebook.com for the 15" range of laptops as well.

 

[Fox5]

The HP DM1Z can do some light gaming and is cheap, if you're looking for something with the portability of the eeePC.

If you're looking for a good deal on a normal sized laptop, check the Dell Outlet website (just search for dell outlet). It's where Dell has all their refurb laptops. For instance, right now on Dell Outlet you can get the Inspiron 15R with 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD550V for $509. This graphics chip is about the same as a Radeon 4650 (http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-550v.31270.0.html) and that's a cheap price for a laptop that can play games pretty well.
There's also an Inspiron 14R. If you want to go pricier, they have the XPS 16 and XPS 15 laptops, and Studio 16 (quad core processor with 2.8GHz turbo mode for $839, with radeon 4650 graphics). Also look at Studio XPS 16.

Or if you can wait, AMD's Llano chips should create some price pressure on the low end gaming laptops, but those could still be a few months away.

 

[herm0016]

dell outlet. I just got a latitude 5410 for 700 bucks. the newer models with discrete gfx are not much more, you could even find a quadro.

 

[WackyDan]

Check with you college first to see if they have a laptop program there. They typically choose a vendor like Dell, HP, or Lenovo... You get the education discount, plus a nice bundle, and typically the college will keep spare parts, be service trained, and even provide loaner laptops should you need it.

I'd look into that before you buy anything.

 

[Freshgeardude]

im looking at the envy 14 right now. it looks pretty solid and I get a discount for being a student.

 

[Fox5]

When I went to school, I often noticed that the 'school discounts' weren't even as good as the sales Dell had regular on their business and consumer sites.

 

[drizek]

Pretty simple, I think.

Lenovo Thinkpad X1.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/16/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-review/

Makes me totally regret buying a Macbook Air for the same money.

And trust me, you want a thin, light, laptop with good battery life and a nice comfortable keyboard for college. Don't buy something tricked out on specs, I've already made that mistakes more times than I would like to admit. While I'd rather have the X1, I do not regret buying my macbook air. It has never failed me whereas my HP Envy 15 and Inspiron 9300 were constant sources of annoyance while trying to get stuff done.

You could also wait a couple of months and buy the next generation Macbook Air, which should be quite a bit lighter and have better battery life than the Thinkpad, except this time without the obsolete processor they use on the current Air.

Edit: You should consider though that while the Thinkpad will play CSS and Portal, it will actually be a bit slower at it than the current Macbook Air, and probably the same speed as the Sandy Bridge Air without dedicated graphics.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

The ThinkPad X220 is another good choice.

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/c...87218BF129CC11

I highly recommend getting the optional premium LCD screen as it is an IPS panel and the 9 cell battery also offers significantly more battery life without dramatically increasing the size or weight of the system.

 

[corkyg]

Check with you college first to see if they have a laptop program there. They typically choose a vendor like Dell, HP, or Lenovo... You get the education discount, plus a nice bundle, and typically the college will keep spare parts, be service trained, and even provide loaner laptops should you need it. I'd look into that before you buy anything.

Echo this! Many colleges have excellent notebook programs that can include academic priced OS and software.

 

[RedCOMET]

I would also suggest looking at the cost of replacement batteries for your laptop, and perhaps a docking station.

I used a Lenovo w510 this past year for Grad school, and i bought a docking station for it. For the times that I did any heavy online research for papers or any programming assignements at home, the docking station made it much more conveienent so i didn't have to plug in my monitor, speakers, etc. Additionally, the Docking station came with a regular laptop power supply so i could use it incase my regular power brick that came with my laptopy got damaged.

 

[nusyo]

Microsoft has a nice back-to-school program
http://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...e_to_back_to_school_promo_punch?taxonomyId=64

u get a free Xbox if you buy a windows 7 pc $699 or more (hp & dell) .... u do need an .edu e-mail adress (online) or student ID (in stores)

anyway you can sell the xbox for extra $
but I would check (as sugested) with the college about such programs before this.

 

[WackyDan]

When I went to school, I often noticed that the 'school discounts' weren't even as good as the sales Dell had regular on their business and consumer sites.

They can appear that way. Many of the schools bundle a bag, supply AV for the 4 years you are in college, etc... Plus, make sure you are comparing exact models.

 

[yuppiejr]

I just picked up 30 of the Sager NP8130's for our designers at work (they run a mix of Adobe, AutoDesk and some custom 3D tools that require a Geforce class GPU) from PowerNotebooks.com and couldn't be happier with both the hardware and service. If you elect to go with a gaming notebook I'd take a look at Sager... as a former Alienware/Dell buyer it took a lot of convincing to look at the brand but now that I've tried it out I won't be going back.

I've run the Alienware m11x, R2 and was really unhappy with it's performance in any sort of modern games... even the Nvidia hybrid graphics adapters are pretty lean on horsepower particularly paired with the lower powered Intel CPU's (even the i7 quad in the M11x) in most of the small/subnotebook size machines. If you really want to game and run CAD I just don't think the ultra-light notebook is a good choice but if you want to be portable a "gaming" notebook is probably a poor choice for battery and weight.

Why not keep your Asus for class/notes and pick up a midrange gaming desktop with a nice monitor (or two) for doing your CAD work and gaming? You could easily afford a very capable desktop with dual monitors for your dorm/apartment on your stated budget and have the best of both worlds. If you want to freshen up the Asus, adding a value priced 2.5" SSD hard drive should make a world of difference in day to day performance as well.

 

[Tom]

I second the Dell outlet recommendation. I have a Dell Inspiron 15r with the 550v Radeon and it plays all the games I've tried quite well. Paid less than $450 for it with an Intel i5 and a 9 cell battery.