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Laptop for college student? Worth it?

S

StaplesChatRep

Member
Hello, I am 19 years old and I am a college student that lives at home.

However, I am addicted to computers like everyone else on this forum and I have never owned a notebook / laptop. I have however owned dozens of desktops. I use a 1ghz/512ram/40gb/19" flatscreen with cable modem in my bedroom to play video games/type papers, etc.

I get really envious when I see people with notebooks my age at my college, so it makes me wonder if I could benefit from one.

Questions:
*Do 3D accelerators work with laptops / LCD screens?
*Would I be able to wirelessly surf the web from a classrom?
*Upgradeable?

Thanks guys. I obviously don't have a lot of money to spend on a college budget, but the For Sale / Trade forums here on Anandtech sometime have good deals on 400-500mhz laptops, which I am looking at.
 
Laptops don't really have enough graphics power to push many games. At least not any under $2000. A similarly configured desktop would also beat a laptop without a problem. They are far from upgradeable. About the only thing that you can upgrade on most laptops is the RAM and HD. The CPU is even soldered in, so you wont be able to upgrade that. The only laptops that I would consider buying would have to have a GeForce Go, or ATI mobility Radeon.
 


<< Questions:
*Do 3D accelerators work with laptops / LCD screens? >>

Yes, but they're built in. I currently recommend the ATi mobility Radeon 7500, which is available on the Dell Inspiron 8100--it's the only decent one. Soon the GeForce 4Go (NV17M core, basically a super GF2) will be out, and many laptop makers will support it.


<< *Would I be able to wirelessly surf the web from a classrom? >>

Provided you have a wireless modem, or wireless ethernet (and the classroom supports wireless ethernet).


<< *Upgradeable? >>

Only to a limited extent, mainly the memory and the hard disks. Laptops use SODIMMs for memory and 2.5 inch or 1.8 inch hard disks.



<< Thanks guys. I obviously don't have a lot of money to spend on a college budget, but the For Sale / Trade forums here on Anandtech sometime have good deals on 400-500mhz laptops, which I am looking at. >>

If you don't have a lot of money, you won't be able to do gaming. Therefore, it would be worth it only for the portability.
 
I am currently using a Dell Inspiron 8100 (1GHz PIII, 256MB RAM, 40GB hd, 64MB ATI Radeon 7500 Mobility, 15" UXGA LCD, DVD, Wireless PC Card) and I love it. Just be sure to get 2 high capacity Li-Ion batteries cause this thing drains power like you wouldn't believe...

Unreal Tournament is pretty good at 1600 by 1200 (native LCD resolution) with 32-bit color and scales well at lower resolutions.

I am really ticked off over these small scratches that are starting to appear on the lid... I try my best to keep it in its carrying case but somehow there are now three small scratches in the lid that whenever you look at it with the light just right they appear white... arghh
 
im a college student, too, and i feel the same way sometimes. but when i think about it, i really dont think its worth it, unless you spend most of your free time outside your room. it wont game nearly as well as a pc, and movies dont play well, either. as far as networking, it depends entirely on your campus setup. some campuses have wireless networks, [most] others dont.

as a side note, i had a friend who initially bought a laptop for school, then, after freshman year, wanted to sell it and buy a desktop. in the end, i dont think laptops quite fit into the average college students lifestyle. now, if you can get both...........😀
 
I have heard that Dell actually has the ability to rip off a graphix card and put another one on. But if you have a desktop at home, a laptop is pretty useless. With your limitted budget (and it being a laptop) you won't be able to game very well. I am at college to, and I haven't found a need to carry a laptop to class with me. Unless you plan on using it as a big game boy of course.



Hope I could help,


bob
 
Laptops don't make that great of a main computer because if you want a desktop replacement, you have to go with the larger screen, heavier models. Then it becomes inconvenient to carry it around which negates its use as a portable. They are nice for doing powerpoint presentations though. The best laptop for a college student is one of the small 4 pound 12 inch screen ones since they are very thin and portable. Problem is that the screens are small on these.
 
I think what you need to ask yourself is would you actually use it in class? I have an old laptop that I cart to class with me, but I only do it because I can load the VB, C, C++ compilers I use in class on it. This way, I can work on my projects in class and then take them with me at the end of the day without having to burn everthing to a CD or something. For that reason, I've found it very useful. Although, most people do seem to get by just fine without doing that. For me, it's just easier. However, once I'm home, I transfer the files to my desktop to work on them. I guess you could say the laptop is just an expensive temporary storage device.

I can tell you, as most others have, that they are not very expandable. I certainly can not run may games on mine (just too old/slow). But I still get use out of it, and am happy I bought it. With that said, if I had $2000 to spend on a new system, I would probably not get another laptop to replace the one I have. I would spend the money on another desktop system that I could upgrade as things change/improve.
 
I've got both a laptop and a desktop.

The laptop stays at home, except during finals week, at which point, the desktop goes home and the laptop comes here (can't game on the laptop, its a p166). When I'm home on break, the laptop moves down to the family room where I surf from my lazy boy.

Stick with the desktop. Taking notes on a laptop is difficult, especially in engineering where you've got complicated formulas all the time. If you really want to get a laptop, go the route I did and buy a nice cheap 200mhz one (166 is a little slow at times, but it's fine for surfing, mp3s, and email). Don't sell your desktop, you'll regret it in the long run.
 
i started college with a desktop. because laptops were too expensive, and i played games a lot. Laptops are cheap now (a lot of very fast ones are $1000 or less) not to mention even "slow" laptops are fast now since CPU speeds have climbed so much. So i have subnotebooks now. they are light, stylish and i can move them around in a backpack with a slipcase instead of a big laptop case. I go back home every other week or so , and i wouldnt want to bring a desktop with me. Plus some laptops are fast enough to play games anyways (though they are heavy and i'm subnotebook freak , that what my friends say so my notebook's graphics arent that great). Laptops are just very convenient, and if you dont game, then they are just as good as desktops albeit a little more expensive (my new laptop cost $1000 with dvd and 12.1 " tft. its 700mhz , so i figure a desktop with dvd and that stuff my laptop has would cost around $500 with a tft monitor and not be portable or sleek)
 
If you buy a notebook as a replacement for your desktop and you game, then make sure to buy one with a good graphics card and un-shared video memory. That said, I just got a sony superslim R505 with the DVD?Floppy docking station included. It is a 650 celeron with 128MB and a 15Gb harddrive that weighs a little under 4 pounds. I can take it anywhere, but I probably won't be playing many games on its 11Mb of shared memory for the intel graphics card (it handles my dvds and divx just fine though). My brother has a dell inspiron 8k (1Ghz PIII, 256MB, 20Gb) that i am typing on now that has the M4 32MB graphics chip...but the thing feels like it glued to the desk (8 or 9 lbs). In a perfect world, I would have a nice desktop system to do the dirty work and a slim notebook to surf the web, email, write, etc. (all wireless of course).
 
ElDiabloRojo


Yes, the Dell Inspiron 8000/8100 laptops have upgradeable video... of course they don't reccomend a non Dell certified person do the work, but it is pretty easy to do. Dell Spare Parts Dept even sells the chips. As long as they have a Bios that supports it, it will work. A I8000 with the old ATI chip can go to a GeForce2Go, and a 8100 can go to a ATI 7500 with BIOS A07 and above. Price for the GeForce2Go is $129 (I think) and the price for the ATI 7500 is $170.

I have a P3 1 Gig 8100 with the 32MB GeForce2Go (basically a GeForce2 MX 400) and 256MB CL2 from Crucial. As far as the original poster on what kind of 3d ability... my laptop currently outplays my desktop.. which for now is a slow P3 600 and a Voodoo 5 5500. I just recently bought Nascar 2002 season, and get about 40fps with everything turned up.

My 3dmark 2001 score is around 2200 (my desktop is 1200).



Tom at Tom's hardware just did a comparison of the ATI and Nvidia mobil chips, and he did it by swapping cards in a Inspiron 8100.. he includes pictures.

FYI, people have also upgraded their processors in the Dell laptops as well.
 
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