Laptop for College

[cyclones]

Hello,

Im in the process of getting a laptop for college this fall.

This is what my uses will be for the laptop:

*Word Processing,
*Email
*Music
*Watching HD Movies
*Internet
*Light Video Editing
*Picture Editing

I want some or all of these features:

*Fingerprint Reader (need)
*Integreated Webcam (need)
*16 to 18 Inch Display Screen (the bigger, the better.. HD?)
*4gb of Ram (need/want)
*Backlit Keyboard (really looking for this feature)
*Wireless N Card (need)
*Lightscribe Burner (want)

Im looking to spend around $900 or under that.. I was browsing HP's website and saw a couple of nice PC's on there and like the HP brand.

Could anyone else send me recommendations on if this is a good build/buy or not???


Thanks!

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Do you plan on carrying the laptop around with you or will it just sit on a desk?

 

[cyclones]

It will be carried from room to room mostly and Ill bring it home all the time.. I will probably want to bring it other places that I go too.

 

[patonb]

I LOVE my aspire 8930.

18.5" 1080p screen

320G drive, 4G RAM..

I paid 1100cdn, but retails 1200cdn

Newegg.com - PCs & Laptops,Laptops, Notebooks & Netbooks,Laptops / Notebooks,Acer America,18.4"

$900Us starting... very nice

 

[zmatt]

I LOVE my aspire 8930.

18.5" 1080p screen

320G drive, 4G RAM..

I paid 1100cdn, but retails 1200cdn

Newegg.com - PCs & Laptops,Laptops, Notebooks & Netbooks,Laptops / Notebooks,Acer America,18.4"

$900Us starting... very nice

dear god. You guys must have titanium shoulders. Just carry my little old power book along with my regular classwork made my shoulders sore at the end of the day.

IMO big laptops are stupid. Its like a car with a flatbed. If you need to carry stuff get a freaking truck. Desktops should be the heavy movers. If you are expecting a laptop to do it you are looking in the wrong pace.

 

[patonb]

Its great if you need a huge screen.. Its deffinately not a saunter to starbucks and be cool setup.

 

[zmatt]

Its great if you need a huge screen.. Its deffinately not a saunter to starbucks and be cool setup.

I needed a big screen, so a bought a 22inch display for my desktop. It's cheaper than that laptop, bigger, nicer and I can swap it out later. If people need big screens they should have 2 computers.

 

[snowsurfer]

Anything over 4lb is totally unacceptable by my stadards of what a laptop should be. Try the new CULV processor based low weights, somehing like the Acer Timeline, etc.

 

[zmatt]

Hello,

Im in the process of getting a laptop for college this fall.

This is what my uses will be for the laptop:

*Word Processing,
*Email
*Music
*Watching HD Movies
*Internet
*Light Video Editing
*Picture Editing

I want some or all of these features:

*Fingerprint Reader (need)
*Integreated Webcam (need)
*16 to 18 Inch Display Screen (the bigger, the better.. HD?)
*4gb of Ram (need/want)
*Backlit Keyboard (really looking for this feature)
*Wireless N Card (need)
*Lightscribe Burner (want)

Im looking to spend around $900 or under that.. I was browsing HP's website and saw a couple of nice PC's on there and like the HP brand.

Could anyone else send me recommendations on if this is a good build/buy or not???


Thanks!

Just to get into specifics for you. Fingerprint readers are easily fooled. It's easier to beat that then cracking a password. Laptops with webcams can cost enough more than others to make it a bad deal. You can buy webcams for pretty cheap, so don't let that tie you down.

Lightscribe looks terrible. I have a lightscribe burner, and I used lightscribe once, I don't know if you can even find dvds for that anymore. They also only come with HPs/Compaqs.

You don't need wireless N, because it isn't ratified yet. Any wireless stuff around now is draft N and when it is ratified that stuff may not comply. Just stuck with A/G/B radios.

As said before, those 16 inch and 18 inch laptops are heavy. Take form someone in college. You want small and light. One thing you don't want to do is try and fit that huge laptop on those tiny arm rests in the lecture hall. Especially when the primary function of most college laptops is notes and facebook.

Backlit keyboards are nice, and I would go as far to say as invaluable on desktops. laptops are a tad harder because few have them. The upside is, because the screen is so close to the keyboard it tends to illuminate it anyways.

 

[indyeah]

How about a Sony Vaio?

Vaios combine high-end audio/video tech with exclusive software, making them ideal for recording music, photo editing, and all round multimedia use. They are invariably fast machines boasting cutting edge performance and stylish build quality. Sony are not renowned for releasing cheap laptops, but rather for pushing the boundaries of multimedia technology