Laptop / Notebook stories

[Jassi]

I posted here a few days ago about my acceptance to grad school. My prize for this was a laptop paid for by my parents. My question is, it it worth buying a really good laptop for grad school? Anyone have horror stories about their lappies in college?

My options are to get the Gateway (old Emachines series but not the current model), Dell XPS2 or wait even more for a G5 PB (always wanted to give Apple a shot). The Dell and the PB will turn heads so I am conflicted about its safety vs. my enjoyment. I am a mild gamer, mostly older games (Halo, RTS), maybe even WoW someday.

 

[Gibson486]

As long as you do not leave it unattended, you are fine.

 

[Hyperblaze]

laptops are not recommended for games.

at this point in time, pretty much any new laptop is good for school. They are overkill for what you would basically need.

 

[sniperruff]

get a portable one and get a laptop backpack

friend had a small one with a program that he almost finished, it was left in the car in a shopping mall parking lot. his car's window was smashed and the laptop stolen. don't make the same mistake.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
get a portable one and get a laptop backpack

friend had a small one with a program that he almost finished, it was left in the car in a shopping mall parking lot. his car's window was smashed and the laptop stolen. don't make the same mistake.

yeah, do not leave anything on yoru car seat that people would want. Put it in the trunk if you have to or even under the seat.

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: Gibson486
As long as you do not leave it unattended, you are fine.

Yeah people aren't going to beat you up and steal your laptop under most circumstaces lol. Is this going to be your main rig? My parents bought me a 3.0ghz dell with a gig of RAM for college and all I use it for is browsing and typing notes (gaming on my desktop) so its really really overkill. If you will be taking it to class I recommend getting something with good battery life and lightweight. I bought a dell backpack to carry mine around because 7lbs is just too much to lug around any other way. As for gaming, there is going to be a trade off. I recommend getting a faster hard drive because 4200rpm is just slow, this of course will reduce battery life. I think they are also making decent video cards for laptops (128meg range if I'm not mistaken)

 

[Jassi]

Originally posted by: DaiShan

Originally posted by: Gibson486
As long as you do not leave it unattended, you are fine.

Yeah people aren't going to beat you up and steal your laptop under most circumstaces lol. Is this going to be your main rig? My parents bought me a 3.0ghz dell with a gig of RAM for college and all I use it for is browsing and typing notes (gaming on my desktop) so its really really overkill. If you will be taking it to class I recommend getting something with good battery life and lightweight. I bought a dell backpack to carry mine around because 7lbs is just too much to lug around any other way. As for gaming, there is going to be a trade off. I recommend getting a faster hard drive because 4200rpm is just slow, this of course will reduce battery life. I think they are also making decent video cards for laptops (128meg range if I'm not mistaken)

Well, if I buy the XPS2 or PB, they will be my main rigs. If I buy a cheaper lappie (~1500) I will build a gaming rig for myself. So, should I go for portability over game performance for a lappy and get a desktop for gaming?