LF a laptop for college work

[Voodoorabbit]

Hi all,
I am in need of a labtop, and kinda broke.
First year college student majoring in computer science, so lots of programming are expected in the years to come.

I don't think I will use the labtop to play games like CS, or WOW, since my desktop is simply good enough for them.

So any recommendations?

which brand shall I go for?

I prefer light-weight laptops, and a big HDD would be ideal. My price range is below $800.

Thx!

 

[Gibson486]

Just get what you can afford. If you are just coding, and nothing else, there is nothing you can't to to improve performance (more RAM). heck, even a Celeron laptop can do.

 

[Treripica]

Assuming you want a non Vista system, this is how I'd prioritize it.

1. It's under budget, not right at it.
2. A good manufacturer warranty(not a store warranty). 3 years parts and labor, plus accidental if they offer. Make sure it's all manufacturer issued. It might prevent you from having a big drive or an ultralight, but if you spill vodka all over it while snogging with your girl, you don't have to explain why you need $600+ to replace the motherboard.
3. comfortable key size
4. 7200 rpm drive(no matter the size), if you can afford it.
5. 1GB ram, but 512mb is doable for the sake of higher priority items(unless it's stock for the package).

See if your college has a laptop program. We just started ours up last year and they usually have a pretty good machine prebuilt with software and sometimes an upgraded warranty to boot. If you can afford it, the extended manufacturer warranty that covers accidentals, you'll be golden.(not store warranty, I cannot emphasize that enough). For some reason, our freshman keypads attract vodka, pineapple juice, Kool-Aid and tennis balls.

Next I'd hit sites like Dealnews.com. They tend to have deals for laptops in that range.
http://dealnews.com/categories/Computer/PC-Computers/PC-Laptop/49.html


Let us know what you settle on.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Look for a laptop with alot of screen resolution, such as a WSXGA screen(1650 x 1080 res). It will help you wonders when your programming long series of code. Other than that any baseline Core 2 Duo and a gig of RAM should be still within your price range. As for the HD I have to disagree with Treripica; I notice no lag with my 5400prm HD. I can't see why anyone would give up extra space for a faster drive, my laptop is plenty fast for Photoshop, etc.

For companies, Dell or HP are good places to start with. You can configure a nice machine for $800 that will well meet your needs, plus give you good tech support to back up your purchase.

 

[alimoalem]

go with this. core 2 duo is better but you're not gonna find one with these specs at the same price. you won't be stressing your cpu too much so basically think of it as a core 2 duo with a little less battery life.

you don't need 7200rpm
you do not need 3 years accidental coverage. it'll run you ~$300
1gb should be fine. any dual core should be fine.
if you want to look for a 1440x900 resolution screen (you're not gonna find 1650x1080 at that price), go look for it but i haven't seen any at that price range.

other places to look are hp and dell, as rockinacoustic mentioned and deal sites like treripica stated. be on the lookout, good deals go by quick. a macbook pro with a 2GHz Core duo, 1gb ram, 120gb hdd (i think), dvd burner, all that stuff for $700 a couple days ago at compusa. the blackbook was $800 (cheapest usually is $1500)