Laptop for University...

[288gto]

Got a fair amount of money (I'd guess around $3K american, $4.5K canadian) for a decent laptop that I plan to get VERY soon. So the first limitation right off the bat is that it should be something that can be found in major stores (think www.futureshop.ca , www.staples.ca ). Now, I guess the real question is what kind of features are important or essential for a nice university laptop? Small size and long battery would be nice, probably, but nothing too important, I'd think more about other hardware aspects to look out for.

Oh, and it won't be used too much for games, so no need to get a Radeon 9000... or is there

I'm basically a complete newbie to the laptop scene, so just throw out some suggestions and helpful words.

Thanks.

 

[288gto]

Hmmm, forgot to say that it'll be something of an MP3 player, so a good or great sound card as well as capability for a nice sound system set up would be quite appreciated.

 

[hdeck]

just get the most expensive powerbook and enjoy it

 

[everman]

nooo you don't need to spend that much at all, $2000 US Tops since you don't plan on gaming. Check out Dell and Toshiba, and IBM. They all make nice laptops, make sure what you get has a Mobile processor like the Pentium4 m. Having a regular desktop cpu will drain your battery fast.

 

[288gto]

I haven't had much (cough... any) experience with Apple products. Hence, I've gotta ask, can it co-exist on a network with a Win98 and Win2000 machine (transferring files back and forth, basically) and will it be able to run all of my sweet, sweet applications that seem to specifically made for Windows? I'm not asking about Photoshop or anything here, but smaller apps - basically, if it will run on Windows, will it run on a Mac?

 

[Spicedaddy]

I just got the one in my sig from dell.ca for 2400$ CDN. (including taxes, shipping, everything)

Honestly, I wouldn't spend 4500$ on a laptop... 3000$ should be more than enough. If you can only get it a big store like Future Shop, look at Toshibas or Compaqs. I got mine from Dell because they had the best prices... It took about a week to get here.

 

[everman]

Originally posted by: 288gto
I haven't had much (cough... any) experience with Apple products. Hence, I've gotta ask, can it co-exist on a network with a Win98 and Win2000 machine (transferring files back and forth, basically) and will it be able to run all of my sweet, sweet applications that seem to specifically made for Windows? I'm not asking about Photoshop or anything here, but smaller apps - basically, if it will run on Windows, will it run on a Mac?

No, not one of those windows apps will run on a Mac, totally different operating system.

 

[hdeck]

i suggested the powerbook because saying it's for college basically tells me you need it for:

-internet/e-mail
-word processing
-light applications

sure, there aren't as many choices if you are running a mac, but the choices you do have are usually better than their pc counterparts. oh, and some programs that run on windows do run on macs, contrary to what some people would like you to believe.

for <3k, you get:

1GHz PowerPC G4
1MB L3 & 256K L2 cache
133MHz system bus
512MB SDRAM memory
60GB Ultra ATA hard drive
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000
w/64MB DDR video memory
Gigabit Ethernet
56K internal modem
1 FireWire & 2 USB Ports
AirPort Card Included

not to mention it's got 15.2" display with 1280x854 resolution, only 1" thin and ~5.4 lbs.

show me a x86 based system with a dvd burner, radeon 9000, sharp 15" display, and less than 6 pounds for that price. please. but, since you are probably going to go with a x86 based anyway, here are a few options. *note* i just quickly configured these.

Dell Inspirion 8200 ~$2,665
P4 2.2 GHz
15" Dell Ultra Sharp Display
40 GB Hard drive
256MB DDR
Radeon 9000 64 MB DDR
No Floppy Drive
Windows XP Home, Office XP Small Business
24x cd-rw/dvd combo
Internal TrueMobile 1180 miniPCI card (Wi-Fi Certified)
weight ~ 8 lbs

Gateway 600XL ~$2558
P4 2.2 GHz
512 DDR (2x256)
60 GB Hard Drive
Floopy Drive Included
24x cdrw/dvd combo
Radeon 7500 64 MB DDR
15.7" Screen
Windows XP Proffesional, Microsoft Works
Integrated wireless networking
weight ~8.6 lbs

those are just 2 examples. i'm tired. i'm sure someone else could do better by including other brands (toshiba, etc.) and i'll let them do so. if you aren't going to be doing any gaming, you might want to look at the dell latitude or the smaller gateway notebooks. they come with p3's, but are a lot smaller and good for what you will be needing.

 

[astroview]

I'm a big fan of light laptops, if you get anything more than 4 pounds it gets to be annoying to lug around. I personally try for 3 pounds, and I got the Dell C400. The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't have an internal CD drive or Firewire/USB2.

Whatever you buy, remember its hard to upgrade. I'd buy a laptop with USB 2.0/Firewire that is about 2-3 pounds or so.
The screen is 12.1 inches but seriously that is fine. The keyboard on mine is fine to type on, took one day to get used to it. It has built in wireless which is a pretty nice feature to have. Happy hunting.