Laptop for College

[Puddle Jumper]

A Dell Studio 14z with the following specs would cost you $890.

Vista Home Premium 64bit
2.4ghz Core 2 duo p8600
14" 720p LED display with camera
3gb DDR3 1066mhz ram
250gb hard drive
Geforce 9400M
8 cell battery
Back-lit keyboard

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

That system weighs ~4.3lbs and should get 6+ hours of battery life with the 8 cell so it is extremely portable. Be aware that it doesn't have a built in optical drive so you might want to pick up an external one.

Newegg.com - LITE-ON 20X DVD+R 12X DVD+RW 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache USB 2.0 Black External CD/DVD Writer Model DX-20A4H-16-B - External CD / DVD Drives

 

[zmatt]

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

Sounds like you took that straight from their webpage.

I've had Vaio's. They are well built and nice. The only problem is they tend to be lacking on upgradeability and they are very expensive. You pay a lot for the name. You can also get better audio/video software that works on all windows pcs.


Although that dell is nice, I think they are cutting corners but not putting an optical drive in a 14inch. Unless he needs a netbook or ultraportable I would prefer to give him a laptop with an optical drive.

 

[patonb]

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.

What if you can't lug a desktop around? Despite it weighing a ton... it's actually very simular to my HPzv6000, its a self contained system.

Following blueprint/plant piping diagrams, and having excel open too, is very hard to do on a 15" laptop. Hel my desktop has a 19 and 22, but I could use more.

Just cause theyre not usefull to one person, doesn't mean its a perfect fit for another. If i didn't have my 18.4" my productivity would drop drastically.

As for integraded webcam... its probably harder to find one without.

 

[zmatt]

What if you can't lug a desktop around? Despite it weighing a ton... it's actually very simular to my HPzv6000, its a self contained system.

Following blueprint/plant piping diagrams, and having excel open too, is very hard to do on a 15" laptop. Hel my desktop has a 19 and 22, but I could use more.

Just cause theyre not usefull to one person, doesn't mean its a perfect fit for another. If i didn't have my 18.4" my productivity would drop drastically.

As for integraded webcam... its probably harder to find one without.

How often do college students need to look at a blueprint and a spreadsheet at the same time? In college you will be writing papers, browsing facebook, and gaming. Those are the most common things. Papers and facebook don't need a huge screen. I do it fine on 12 inches. Gaming isn't a laptop's job so its a moot point. For a professional you would have to tweak it more to their individual needs, but the vast majority of college laptops all do the same thing.

 

[cyclones]

Thanks for all the posts. Can anyone justify this as a good laptop Newegg.com - ASUS F50SV-X1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T6400(2.00GHz) 16" 4GB Memory 320GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 120M - Laptops / Notebooks for my specs and needs?

Thanks

 

[KSoD]

Well i see 3 things that it doesnt have. 2 of which you want.

1. Thumbprint reader.

I dont see any information about that.

2. Lightscribe.

It only has the DVD Burner Cd combo drive in there. Not a lightscribe.

3. Backlit keyboard.

It only has a standard keyboard.

Other than that it meets what else you are looking for.

 

[zmatt]

Asus makes good laptops. They wont fall apart on you that's for sure. The hard drive is slow though. 5400rpm will hurt your file access. Another thing people don't realize is that the new 16 inch laptops give you less screen real estate for basically the same size laptop. It's the industry's way of shortchanging customers. The best to to end it is to not buy them, but i doubt people will care.

 

[Harper]

Thanks for all the posts. Can anyone justify this as a good laptop Newegg.com - ASUS F50SV-X1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T6400(2.00GHz) 16" 4GB Memory 320GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 120M - Laptops / Notebooks for my specs and needs?

Thanks

Video Card is not much chop. Considering that the GF9600M is slightly after, i would not exspending any extra money on based on the Video Card chipset.

 

[cyclones]

After I finally did enough research and looking around; this is what I bought Customized from HP...

YOUR CUSTOMIZED HP PC





HP Pavilion dv6z Entertainment PC
• Espresso Black
• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
• AMD Turion(TM) X2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor RM-75 (2.2GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 4.0 GT's Bus Speed)
• FREE Upgrade to 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• FREE Upgrade to 320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• ATI Radeon(TM) HD 3200 Graphics
• 16.0" diagonal High Definition HP Brightview Display (1366x768)
• LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
• Webcam + Fingerprint Reader
• Wireless-N Card
• HP Color Matching Keyboard
• High Capacity 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• No Modem
• System Recovery DVD with Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit)
• Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

Was this a good choice?

 

[patonb]

Wow, good to see HPs still giving physical disks still.

As for the comp, its okay, it'll definately do the job.