If you had 3k to spend (STRICT), what laptop would you buy if you don't game? I am thinking: watching DVDs, bit-torrent, internet, etc. It's school subsidized, so it needs to be premade by a major manufacturer. I am probably going to order in the next few days. Thanks!
Help me spend 3k
- Thread starter NeezyDeezy
- Start date
School subsidized? PERFECT. Get yourself the fastest, most loaded Thinkpad T42 you can get your hooks on. It's perfect for watching DVDs, doing bit-torrent (can Macs do Bit-torrent? Not sure), and surfing (especially you can get it with 802.11g wireless built-in).
I got my T41 through a school subsidy too. Love it.
I would look at a Sager from Powernotebooks.com. Although CyberPower and ABS have better deals, Sager is a well-known laptop company, and for 3,000$ you can get one with a 7200rpm SATA-150 hard drive, 3.6 ghz Pentium 4 processor, 1GB of 533mhz DDR2, a 17" wide-angle LCD, and a 256mb X800 modular graphics card. Admittedly, I prefer the A64 line of processors, but at this time you must buy a P4 laptop to get PCI express (A.K.A. high end) graphics, and this laptop is more powerful than most gaming desktops. As an added bonus, Powernotebooks has an excellent reputation on resellerratings.
Sager NP9860:
http://www.powernotebooks.com/product.php?itemId=500
If you need portability, go with a T42. IBM is awesome, but it can't play games or do DV editing terribly well.
A word of advice: STAY AWAY FROM DELL. I own an Inspiron 9100, and it's been nothing but trouble. I'm still waiting for the box to let me ship off my laptop to get the screen defects fixed.
Sager NP9860:
http://www.powernotebooks.com/product.php?itemId=500
If you need portability, go with a T42. IBM is awesome, but it can't play games or do DV editing terribly well.
A word of advice: STAY AWAY FROM DELL. I own an Inspiron 9100, and it's been nothing but trouble. I'm still waiting for the box to let me ship off my laptop to get the screen defects fixed.
maybe a tablet pc is in order for u???? with 3k a loaded toshiba m200 is very nice
but if u just wanted to do the task mentioned above...then a dell, hp, compaq ...will suit u fine
the sager is nice too but its 3.6 p4 will get u at most 1 hour on battery
but if u just wanted to do the task mentioned above...then a dell, hp, compaq ...will suit u fine
the sager is nice too but its 3.6 p4 will get u at most 1 hour on battery
I'd consider a 17" imac. Mainly because I think it would be great for things like dvds & browsing.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-M...Store?family=PowerBook
http://store.apple.com/1-800-M...Store?family=PowerBook
How about a $1500 notebook and $1500 to spend on a vacation?
What about a $2100 notebook and a $900 iBook?
Or maybe a $2500 PC notebook and a $500 Mac Mini to play with?
What about a $2100 notebook and a $900 iBook?
Or maybe a $2500 PC notebook and a $500 Mac Mini to play with?
You get money to buy a laptop for your classes.
So, here's a breakdown of the laptops:
Sager NP9860
Pros:
-Made by sager, a brand known for high-quality machines.
-Faster than most desktops with a 3.6ghz processor
-Upgradeable x800/256 modular graphics card, which is faster than almost all cards availible for the desktop.
-Multiple SATA hard drives (RAID?) for very fast access times and lots of storage
-Insanely big screen.
Cons:
-REALLY big.
-Awful battery life.
-Did I mention big?
IBM T42:
Pros:
-IBM made, so you know it's good.
-Thin-and-light.
-VERY portable
-Very good battery life (with extended battery)
-Not likely to burn your lap off.
Cons:
-Not as fast as the Sager, but darn well fast enough.
-It uses windows. (of course, IBM supports Linux on almost all their products.)
Apple PowerBook 15.4" 1.5GHZ (w/the all-important AppleCare)
Pros:
-Thin, light, and cool-looking.
-No spyware, adware, or viruses.
-Mac OSX is pretty darn hard to crash.
-DVD burner!
-Supports S-Video out and RCA video out through adapter
-Guaranteed to run hunky-dory with an iPod.
Cons:
-Does not run many windows programs, so if you're a gamer or use windows-specific software, you're out of luck.
-G3/G4 laptops have a long history of frying motherboards, although this has been supposedly fixed on the more recent models.
Wuzup101
Platinum Member
- Feb 20, 2002
- 2,334
- 37
- 91
After personally owning a 15" powerbook 1.5ghz G4/radeon 9700 128mb/80gig @ 5400rpm/1.25gigs of pc2700 I would definitely recomend them to anyone who has the money for one. If you look around the apple site (specifically that for developers) you can sign up for a student developers connection account (ADC). This will cost you $99/year but will give you a one time hardware discount (larger than the normal EDU discount). It will also make sure that you get a copy of OSX 10.4 "tiger" when it comes out (sometime this half of the year). I know my book (I don't have the super drive) cost me about $2250 with the $99/year included. You could also buy yourself a new 40gig iPod and a pair of nice speakers (say logitech z5500s) with the rest of the money.
Also, if you're tied to windows, a friend of mine just got an IBM T42 and they are great machines. Defintely get one with one of their high res screans (as his 1024x786 doesn't cut it). But very nice.
As far as software for mac goes, torrents do work! There is plenty of software for macs (includeing some but definitely not all PC games... which is the weakest area of software). Most major PC programs are also on the mac (photoshop CS, macromedia studio, office, quark, etc... ). There are also tons of other things that can only be had on the mac (final cut pro HD, logic, etc...). This is my first mac, and I haven't found anything that it can't do yet. It works just as well if not better than all my windows boxes have in the past (put together). OSX is really a joy to use... give it a try...
Also, if you're tied to windows, a friend of mine just got an IBM T42 and they are great machines. Defintely get one with one of their high res screans (as his 1024x786 doesn't cut it). But very nice.
As far as software for mac goes, torrents do work! There is plenty of software for macs (includeing some but definitely not all PC games... which is the weakest area of software). Most major PC programs are also on the mac (photoshop CS, macromedia studio, office, quark, etc... ). There are also tons of other things that can only be had on the mac (final cut pro HD, logic, etc...). This is my first mac, and I haven't found anything that it can't do yet. It works just as well if not better than all my windows boxes have in the past (put together). OSX is really a joy to use... give it a try...
Is it free money or are there strings attached? And who gives the money?
// Pardon my curiousity, I graduated from a pretty lowly HS and never heard of these things.
Not a student anymore but have been looking at purchasing a laptop that's in the 3k range before employee discount programs and rebates etc. Any comments on a fully loaded HP's zd8000? They appear to have the fastest processor with a 17" screen AND battery life greater than 90 minutes (or did I miss something?).
Most universities have deals with major vendors like IBM, HP, Dell, Apple, etc. where they would agree to carry those brands at the university computer/book store, and sell the machines at a discount to the student. The only string attached is that the purchaser must either be a matriculated student, faculty or staff at the university in order to qualify for the discounts.
HTH.
I tried to get that through my University as an employee, they have a crappy deal with Dell so I didnt bite.
get a voodoopc laptop
I got my M:355 for under 3k shipped.
however I did send it back and spend a few hundred more about 4 months ago to get it upgraded from a radeon mobility 9000 64mb to a radeon mobility 9700 128mb
I got my M:355 for under 3k shipped.
however I did send it back and spend a few hundred more about 4 months ago to get it upgraded from a radeon mobility 9000 64mb to a radeon mobility 9700 128mb
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes + WCL Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 24K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
-
Facebook
Twitter