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Recommend a good laptop for a college student

A

AppleTalking

Golden Member
I'm looking for a good laptop to complement my current desktop machine (a 1200MHz. Tbird). As a college student, I'd mainly be using the laptop for going to library to do research or write papers, making presentations in class, taking home on vacations, and that sort of thing. I'm really not interested in playing UT or Quake III on this thing, so graphics performance is not a big deal. I'm interested in it being fairly portable, but some of the superslim laptops (e.g. the Sony SR33) don't look like they have enough screen real estate to do much of anything. Anything around 6 or 7 pounds or less would be fine.

As I said before, I already have a desktop computer at college that I use for playing games, music, storing files, editing digital video, etc., so I'm really just looking for a computer I could carry around with me whenever I needed to. Since I'm the stereotypically poor college student, I'd like to keep this under $1200-1300 if possible.

So, what do you guys suggest? Perhaps I'm just spoiled by being able to build exactly what I want in a desktop computer, but I'm having trouble choosing from all the laptops out there. The Dell Inspirons sound nice (especially with those massive mail-in rebates they've got going), but are they really that portable? Does anyone that has one of those SR33's want to weigh in on how useful they really are? I guess I'm just looking for experienced opinions, considering how I've never bought a laptop before.

Thanks guys,
Nick
 
The Insprion 4100 is the best combination of performance and size. The 8100 has more features, but the 8100's I've seen aren't exactly the most portable.
 
Yeah, get the 4100. You are limited to a 14" screen though. But its not that big a deal.
I've got the 8100 and find it just fine for running around with, but then again everyone has their own opinions.
Mine comes in at about 7.5 lbs.

I recommend getting what you think you will need or want right up front.
Some things you can't change, and what you can will cost you a fortune after the fact.

For instance, get the dvd/cdrw combo drive up front if you think you will ever watch dvd's or burn cd's
I also recommend getting the SXGA screen. IMO it makes a world of difference over the standard screen.

The only exception is ram. Unless they have a free ram upgrade don't get it. It's much cheaper buying a stick from crucial.

The only other thing to think of is you could go all out and get an 8100 with the Radeon 7500, 15"UXGA screen, 16x combo drive, etc.
and get rid of your desktop all together.

 
So right now the consensus seems to be to go with the Dell Inspiron 4100. Any other opinions?

Also, I'm not really interested in giving up my desktop because I'd like to keep a machine on which I could upgrade the graphics, sound, processor, etc.
to keep with current technology.

How much of a difference is the SXGA+ screen over the "plain vanilla" XGA one? Is it worth the $80 upgrade?

Thanks!
Nick
 


<< SXGA+ screen over the "plain vanilla" XGA one? Is it worth the $80 upgrade? >>


Yep. You are getting smaller pixels by going up in resolution.
Almost to the point that you don't see any pixels.

If you were to place both side by side you can really see a big difference.
That alone would be my #1 upgrade before anything else like faster processor and such.

 
I'd suggest you go as far as UXGA, but that alone would push up the screen cost significantly (and the notebook price). SXGA is a good comprimise. XGA is far too limiting at least for my uses.

Fast processor speeds on notebooks that have things like "SpeedStep" enabled would be a bit useless. My 1 GHz Inspiron 4100 almost never runs at that speed (Usually 727MHz on battery power, 996MHz when I do some truely stressful stuff). How it actually decides, I don't know.
 
Bump for any other opinions.

Here's what I'm currently looking at:

Dell Inspiron 4100

Pentium III-M 866MHz.
14.1" SXGA screen with 16MB ATI Mobility Radeon graphics
128MB RAM
20GB Hard Drive
24X CD-ROM
56K Modem and 10/100 Ethernet
Modular floppy drive

Price: $1289 ($1139 after mail-in rebate)

Anyone else have another suggestion or a better deal? Thanks to all those who have responded!

Nick
 
The best laptop for a college student is one that can't be stolen or left somewhere on accident....Ummmm on second thought...........

Thorin
 
If you want to be able to use it all through college, get a laptop that is fast enough to still be decent in 4 (or more if you plan on doing graduate work) years. That means a 15" TFT screen, at minimum a 700+Mhz processor (1GHz should be affordable by now), at least 128MB memory (256 is better, or at least make sure you can upgrade later), and a keyboard that you REALLY like. The last part is the most important, as you will be using it mostly for typing. I would look for a system with a good video card such as the mobile Radeon, and at least 32MB of video memory. That way if you get bored in class and decide to play a little quake, you will be able to do so, at least for the next couple of years.

As for brands, I recommend the IBM A-series. T-series if you can live with a 14.1" screen. 14.1 is the absolute smallest I would go for a screen. The Dell 8100s are also nice, but the housing feels cheap. Check out outlet.dell.com for some deals on refurbished lappies in the middle of the night. Don't buy the first one you like. Watch it for a few nights, get an idea of what is common, and then buy. There are also a few IBM employees who hang around this board that might be able to get you into the IBM employee purchase program that is for IBM employees and their "friends". You can save $300-$700 on a nice Thinkpad that way.

I went with an IBM A-series through the IBM EPP a little under a year ago. It has a 15" TFT screen, a reasonably fast Celeron processor, and 192MB of SDRAM. I like it very much overall. Keyboard is wonderful. I also like the trackpoint pointing device, but different people have different opinions about that. In fact, between IBM and Dell, I view that as the main difference. The Dells come equipped with a trackpad, and the Thinkpads come with a pointing stick. I like the pointing stick, but buy whichever one YOU like.

Hope this helped some.

Nack
 
My Tecra 9000 is great, very thin + light, 1 GHz PIII-M (Tualatin), i830MP, 256/20, WiFi, 100 MBps / 56 K etc., looks damn cool too. Much, much more aesthetically pleasing than the Dells (although only 14" panel though).

Apple G4 Titanium?
 
Nack: Thanks for the recommendations. For some reason I've never really liked the design on the Thinkpads that much; I'm not really sure why. I do prefer a touchpad to a pointing stick, which is why I'm kind of leaning towards Dell/Sony/HP/Compaq instead of IBM/Toshiba. I don't really want to have to carry an external mouse around with me while I use my laptop. I will definitely keep my eye on the Dell refurbished website. Do you have any experience buying refurbished laptops? I'd hate to spend my money and wind up with a dud. Thanks again!

RolyL: While the Tecra 9000's are certainly excellent machines, at $2000+ they're a bit out of my price range. I was fortunate enough to have a Tecra 8000 at my summer job a couple years ago: that was a sweet machine! I wish I could have kept it, even though it was only a P2/400.

Okay, so I found another laptop that sounds good that I'd like your opinions on please. This one a Sony from Outpost.com:

Sony FXA32 laptop
Duron 900MHz. processor
15" XGA TFT screen with ATI M6 8MB graphics
128MB RAM (with a coupon for 128MB more for free by mail)
15GB hard drive
DVD-ROM
56K modem and 10/100 ethernet
i.Link S400
Windows XP Home

Price: $1029 shipped

What do you all think of this one? It's about $170 less than the Dell and appears to have at least somewhat comparable specs. Is there any reason not to go with a Sony?

Thanks again, you guys have been a great help!
Nick

edit: Here's a direct link to the Outpost product page.
 
Not really much help here. But Dell makes some nice laptops. Granted some of the models have a wimpy feeling casing. But any laptop you drop is going to be broken in one way or another anyways.
 
Honestly, I'd say avoid a laptop. I know two people who have dropped their laptops, and another person who has had it stolen. Since you already have a pc, just use it. I go to a low funded state school and there are 3 computer labs in the library for research, and a computer;s available for presentations. Unless you go to a similar low funded state school, computers should be abundant. To do work at home, use a zip disk. I'd say save the 1200-1300 you're willing to spend, and be less of the stereotypically poor student.
 
I would recommend what others have said either the Dell Inspiron 4100 or IBM ThinkPad T or R series. This may be a moot point but the IBM only has an eraser head cursor with NO TOUCHPAD where as the Dell keyboard offers both the eraser head cursor and touchpad.

If you can wait 2-3 weeks Dell should be having another HUGE SALE offering 3-4 specials at once instead of only 1-2. I've seen specs for your same laptop with 8x CD-RW instead of CD-ROM, free shipping and free Palm PDA for around $1,100 shipped, this was about a month ago. Check out Dell.com every week or even better our own Hot Deals forum, once a HOT Dell Inspiron deal is offered you'll see a thread balloon from 1 to 100 posts within days.

If you don't mind IBM's only eraser head cursor and don't mind something prebuilt then consider buying a "new but old" IBM ThinkPad from IBM's eBay store. These are all brand new laptops which are last years top of the line models, inventory varies all the time, the best deals seem to be the ThinkPad T22 for around $1300 shipped. You'll probably get either Win98:SE or W2K as opposed to Win XP Home on the Dell.

Both are top rated machines but I've had nothing but phenomenal success with Dell Inspiron 4100's so that's what I would go with. Plus if you time it just right you can get a killer deal for well under $1,200 on a LOADED laptop.
 
Appletalking,

Last I checked, they were bringing out the new stuff late at night at the Dell refurbished website. As far as the danger of buying a laptop refurb, you can probably forget about most of that with Dell, since all of the refurbs come with the same 1-year warranty the new ones do, OR you can pay a little extra (recommended) and buy a 3-year warranty on it from Dell. Most of the time these are just machines people have sent back under Dell's very liberal return policy after playing with them for a week or two. Of course, Dell can't sell them as new anymore, so they sell them to people who want to save $400+ by getting a refurb with warranty. I hear you about the pointing stick. I wasn't crazy about it the first time I saw it either. I tried one for a week on loan from a friend's work, and I never went back. The trackpoint sort of becomes addictive after you use it for awhile. 🙂 If you want a touchpad, I would definatly look into a refurb Dell. Most of the people I know who have bought refurb Dells have been happy. If you are not happy, I think you can even return it (check that out before ordering).

PS: The very best thing about a laptop is taking it to class to take down notes. You will quickly learn to type fast. I used it in undergrad a little, and in law school a LOT. When you finally figure out what higher education is all about (regurgitating EXACTLY what the professors say in class back to them on an exam on in a paper in your own words, without adding any individual thought or argument), you will learn what the true value of a laptop is. 🙂

Good luck,

Nack

 
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