Laptop for college?

[Atty]

By the end of this summer I need to have a laptop for college but I have no idea what brand to go with. I'm not looking for something to play games with, I could care less about that, really all I want is something that will work. I want something that looks nice, performs well (high processing power) and preferably runs Windows, even if it means boot camping but I'm just not sure on what brand to go with. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[alpineranger]

ThinkPad. They'll take a lot of abuse and keep on going. They aren't super expensive either. Granted if you really like MacOS your choice is also set.

 

[ther00kie16]

Lenovo deal ending tonight
If you miss out on this, wait for the next one.

 

[Brainonska511]

Look at Asus. They have some very nice laptops from 12" to 17" and almost all of them are available with some form of dedicated graphics.

 

[onlyCOpunk]

Ask again when you are ready to purchase. Laptops change so frequently.

 

[Rottie]

Notebook sales will be cheaper start at the end of summer so you will have a lot of notebook research

 

[Atty]

I guess I'll just do a lot of research from now then, right now my plan is to buy it at the start of august or so.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Lenovo is good, Dell is good for the XPS lines only. HP is good for the business line although expensive. I just got a laptop and it's a Macbook Pro. I swear this thing would rock if I were going to college. Too bad I just got out of college. And I'm just about ready to install Windows on it too.

 

[Rottie]

Originally posted by: DLeRium
Lenovo is good, Dell is good for the XPS lines only. HP is good for the business line although expensive. I just got a laptop and it's a Macbook Pro. I swear this thing would rock if I were going to college. Too bad I just got out of college. And I'm just about ready to install Windows on it too.

You are going to make thestu proud of you when you install windows on your macbook pro

 

[Atty]

Alright so my parents/family told me today that my graduation present is a new laptop from them and they'd prefer to purchase it sooner rather than later.

So I still don't know what to get, I want something that looks good (love minimalistic vs something really flashy), really good processing power and a lot of ram, dedicated graphics aren't all that important but are nice, prefer bigger display with high resolution, and would like a webcam built in.

 

[Brainonska511]

Being a current college student with a 14" notebook, I'd say, try to stay on the small side of notebooks. It makes it much nicer when you want to take it somewhere, especially when you're carrying other things like textbooks.

I'd probably go for one of these two notebooks myself:
12" with a dedicated card (low-end): http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16834220312
A 14" with a good midrange card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16834220303

 

[Parasitic]

Maybe you should go ahead and do the Apple education deal... get a free iPod while you're at it.

 

[preslove]

If I were entering a program this fall I would probably take my desktop and just get one of those netbooks that are coming out, maybe an MSI Wind. Carrying around a full sized laptop sucks & it's nice to have a desktop with a big screen at home.

 

[Atty]

I've already got a great home PC to use, I just need a decent laptop for class.

 

[preslove]

Then convince your parents to get you an MSI Wind and a new video card .

 

[NaOH]

I'm typing on my Thinkpad T60 right now. I would suggest this or a macbook (since there is an education deal going on) because both are built really solid. I used to have a dell and although that thing helped me make it through 75% of college. It was just ugly, heavy, and cheap feeling (wobbly screen anyone). Also, the thinkpads are a superb deal if you find them onsale. I got mine with the highest vid card and 14" screen, 2.0ghz c2d, 1gb ram, 60gb hdd for $1100.

 

[Atty]

I think the Thinkpad's are hideous to be quite honest. Macbook's are eh, an option, but I prefer the Dell I'm looking at.

Inspiron 1525, 2.4GHz, 3GB RAM, X3100 (only down side but I can live with it), and a 1680x1050 screen.

 

[preslove]

Originally posted by: iAtticus
I think the Thinkpad's are hideous to be quite honest. Macbook's are eh, an option, but I prefer the Dell I'm looking at.

Inspiron 1525, 2.4GHz, 3GB RAM, X3100 (only down side but I can live with it), and a 1680x1050 screen.

Why are you getting a desktop replacement if you already have a desktop?

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: preslove

Originally posted by: iAtticus
I think the Thinkpad's are hideous to be quite honest. Macbook's are eh, an option, but I prefer the Dell I'm looking at.

Inspiron 1525, 2.4GHz, 3GB RAM, X3100 (only down side but I can live with it), and a 1680x1050 screen.

Why are you getting a desktop replacement if you already have a desktop?

why is he getting a desktop replacement with shitty video?

meh, id get either a very nice 14" notebook thats well configured and easy to move around, or a Wind/Eee 1000 and an external monitor/keyboard/mouse/hard drive to keep at the dorm when you want real estate.

 

[Atty]

I'm just going to get a Macbook Pro and dual boot with Vista. >_<

 

[Rottie]

In my opinion any 14 or 15 inches notebook is not consider as desktop replacement but 17 inches notebook is.

 

[boomhower]

+1 with Dell. I carried one through college, new circa 2001 for four years and never had a problem with it. I beat the crap out of it and never had a single issue until it suffered a beer bath while performing jukebox duties at a party. A trip to ebay and a keyboard and motherboard later it was back up and running. It was going strong, albeit a little slow when I sold it to a friend when I graduated. I also just bought my wife an XPS 1530 to carry to her nursing classes. So far it was been very nice. I was very impressed with the speed it offered. Granted we haven't had but for a couple weeks, so no way to judge durability yet.

 

[punchkin]

I don't know how anyone could think a Thinkpad is hideous. Understated, yes. Have you seen the X300?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: iAtticus
I'm just going to get a Macbook Pro and dual boot with Vista. >_<

That is what I'm using right now. Oh wait I'm on my Dell 600m at the moment, but if I walk outside my MBP is sitting on the living room table.

Originally posted by: punchkin
I don't know how anyone could think a Thinkpad is hideous. Understated, yes. Have you seen the X300?

Have you seen the Thinkpad screens? Dell's screens will blow them away but that might be because of glossiness, but damn my Macbook Pro definitely kills the Thinkpad's screens. My uncle's T61p has no chance. I'm glad I bought a MBP instead of a Thinkpad T61p now.

Edit, if you look on Slickdeals, the xps1530 is a steal. It kills my macbook pro in every aspect and it's far cheaper. Still, I like my 5.4lbs macbook pro though. I also like OSX. I'm a sworn PC user and up until a month ago I thought it was stupid to use OSX, but after I gave it a good try I realized that at worst I could just reformat and install Vista/XP. Instead I dualbooted, and I'm almost NEVER on Vista but rather on OSX 99.9% of the time.

 

[Atty]

My only thing stopping me from getting a M1530 vs the MBP is the fact that I trust the MBP to not die within a year. I'm also quite certain it will be a much more durable laptop.