College Laptop

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Dowd11

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Hey all,
heading to college this Aug for a major in Aviation Tech. I was wondering what type, make, model laptop should i buy for school? Please make sure you break down the differences between each type (netbook notebook etc), model and make as Im new to laptops (desktop guy myself). I will use the 'top to take notes in class, write reports and surf internet, therefore I need a rig thats comfortable to type on, portable and tough, long battery life and would love one with a snappy response and quick wakeup. I doubt I will use it as anything very CPU intensive but would like to be able to multi-task efficiently. I do have an older HP DV6000 and was wondering how much it might cost and what i would do to make it work on par with the laptops being released now.
(If you can give me 2 choices that would be great, one where money is no object and a budget choice that would be awesome!)
Thanks for all the help,
Dowd
 
As far as upgrading your current laptop, generally its the best idea to just buy a new own. Unlike desktops, laptops are pretty pricy to upgrade due to their small size. You mentioned multitasking so your going to want some RAM probably 3+ GB as far as processing power, if your not going to do anything too crazy, a dual core should work fine.
Money- Newegg.com - TOSHIBA Qosmio X505-Q888 NoteBook Intel Core i7 740QM(1.73GHz) 18.4" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 7200rpm BD Combo NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M
^^^Not for the style so much as the large screen size, i7 processor, optical drive(supports blu-ray)
Cons- not long battery life, pricey, heavy.

Bang for buck -Newegg.com - Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3820T-6480 Notebook Intel Core i3 380M(2.53GHz) 13.3" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 5400rpm Intel HD Graphics

Let me know if you have any more questions- Hope this helped!
-Roar-

P.S. I am currently using an hp probook 4525s I got off newegg and I'm in IT. As far as the typical user is concerned, this would be fine, from the IT standpoint, it's ok, little low on RAM, and the touchpad is center-left which takes some getting used to. Here's the link to mine if your at all interested-Newegg.com - HP ProBook 4525s (XT950UT#ABA) NoteBook AMD Athlon II Dual-Core P340(2.20GHz) 15.6" 2GB Memory DDR3 1066 320GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Radeon HD 4250
 
Not exactly sure what the size of a laptop has to do with price. Laptops are difficult to upgrade because they are pretty much one fits one and there really isn't an upgrade beyond ram and disk space. His laptop he has currently is more than sufficient in its current condition for what he requires so I'm trying to save him a bit of money by getting the parts that are easily upgraded and that'll prep him a bit more.


ANYWAY. OP, You could upgrade the RAM and the hardrive. How much memory and disk space do you have currently? If it's still stock...

HDD
Newegg.com - Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD3200BEVT 320GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive

RAM
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Laptop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBSA

Those would be a good upgrade. NOW REMEMBER THIS. If you install a new HDD you will have to reinstall windows. Hopefully you have the disc/software?
 
Well if he would replace it with a Seagate or the old one was a Seagate or Maxtor he could just use Maxblast from Seagate to clone it if he doesn't have a disc. Or any other programs that can clone HDs (Maxblast was just what I have used before).
 
@Abstract Hero- I was just pointing the pros and cons and yes, laptops are hard to upgrade do to their "one-fits-one".
Dowd11- Agree with Abstract I didn't notice you said you already had a laptop, go with a RAM upgrade. Core 2 Duo should run your programs just fine, and if storage is an issue, fairfieldfalconsfan makes a good point, you can clone your drive, or just buy an external.
 
Personally I would stay far away from gaming laptops, they are heavy, hot, and have horrible battery life that will have you constantly searching for outlets

Based on the needs you listed I would look at the Lenovo ThinkPad X220. It is supposed to launch sometime later this month and offers dual core Core i5 and i3 Sandy Bridge processors in a very portable 12.5" system that weighs under 4lbs. It's primarily intended for business users which means it has an awesome keyboard and great battery life, the 6 cell battery is good for 7 hour while the 9 cell battery combined with the slice external battery will last nearly 24 hours. I would also recommend getting the optional IPS display which is one of the best screens available in a laptop.

Lenovo - Laptops - ThinkPad - X Series- X220
 
@Abstract Hero- I was just pointing the pros and cons and yes, laptops are hard to upgrade do to their "one-fits-one".
Dowd11- Agree with Abstract I didn't notice you said you already had a laptop, go with a RAM upgrade. Core 2 Duo should run your programs just fine, and if storage is an issue, fairfieldfalconsfan makes a good point, you can clone your drive, or just buy an external.

Ya I'm gonna agree with fairfield too. So if you go for the upgrade check your disk replication options.
If he does choose to do this though wont there need to be a 3rd party pc to perform the copy if the laptop he has can't handle 2 drives at once.?
May be an issue but idk.

I think I'd just bite the bullet and say fresh parts fresh windows.
 
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