Laptop for college

[infiltrator7]

I'm going to college in September of '08 so I need a laptop. My parents want me to buy it in the next 8 months or so for a couple of reasons that I won't get into. I'm looking to spend around $2200 or so, and I'd like to get top of the line stuff so that it will last me for a while. I know a good amount about computers/desktops, but I'm not that familiar with laptops so if you guys could answer me some questions that'd be great.

1.) What are the best brands? I've looked around at some stores and I think that I like HPs the most, followed by gateways.

2.) When will mobile DX10 cards come out, and when will they be affordable?

3.) Do you think that the price of blu-ray or HD-DVD drives for notebooks will drop in the next 6 months.

I would use this computer mostly for school work and taking notes in college, but I would also game on it. Thanks a lot.

 

[asus7300gs]

Well, for $2200 you can get a nice laptop for the games and word processing that you need for college, plus other things like IM'ing the girls in the college

1. Toshiba, HP, or Acer would be good brands. If you want an Apple, go ahead, but I think they're a waste of money.

2. Give them about a half year to make mobile DX10 cards. The best cards they make for notebooks are 7600GT's, which are good, but not great. Give them a while to put the 8800GTS's in the notebooks

3. I think the price of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players will drop. They just introduced the first dual BR/HDDVD player by LG for $1500 CDN, so $1200 USD approx. Give them a few years and Toshiba will price match that.

4. As for the laptop, I can't recommend something from Newegg as I'm on slow internet
But I recommend something with a Centrino processor, 1GB of RAM, and at least 160GB HD space.

 

[iamchel]

Top brands imo: Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo, and HP

I have no clue when they plan to get dx10 cards out but gaming on a laptop is a waste in my opinion but thats just me. Also have no idea when prices are going to fall for Blue Ray or HDDVD but I imagine it wont take that long..might drop a bit at the end of six months but dont expect to get them for pennies.

 

[Jrod]

I personally wouldn't get a Toshiba, mine died right after the warranty expired.

 

[andrus]

Best brands imo: Asus, HP, Lenovo, and if you want the most bang for the buck, Dell.

 

[Sora]

Asus make incredible laptops for the money...

 

[infiltrator7]

Yeah, I was looking at Toshiba's at the store, and they didn't seem as nice to me as some of the other ones. I think right now it's down to dell, hp, and maybe gateway, but i'll definitely check out Asus.

Another question: how hard is it to change out graphics cards in laptops? is it easy enough for me to just buy a laptop soon then upgrade later, or should I wait?

thanks for all the replies guys.

 

[zmatt]

about changing the cards in laptops.....you don't. they are built into the motherboard, awhile back i saw some laptops with an interesting upgradable graphics module that used nvidia chipsets, but that was back when we were drooling over 6800GTs....... Laptops arent meant for gaming, the entire premise for them is for the road warrior to have the word processing power of a desktop on his lap, and since the suits dont play games then graphics for laptops arent at the top of the list.

having said that i would go over to www.ibuypower.com they have great machines for the price and their laptops are meant for gaming, they look nice and run fast so you can show up those chumps at the lan party.

as for specs go with an Intel Core2 processor (around here we call em conroes) 2gigs of ram at least a 160gig hard drive and for graphics a Radeon 1K series of Geforce 7 series. also if you care about battery life get a 6 cell at the least, a 9 cell will give you uber life but they cost $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

hope that was helpful.

 

[infiltrator7]

so do you guys think it's best to wait a few months (like summertime) or buy in the next couple of months? Also, i think i've narrowed it down to HP and dell, which one do you guys think?

**edit** - one more thing, do you guys think that 17" is too big and heavy to carry for everyday college use? I'd like to get a 17" screen but if it's too heavy and bulky should I switch to 15 inch?

 

[andrus]

Yes it is too bulky. Even a 15" isn't too fun carrying around all the time. You should check out www.notebookreview.com; people there will give you some good suggestions..