Laptop for about $1000

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dawizhacker

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I'm going off to university next year and I will need a laptop. What is better iMac or PC? I will use it mostly for notes and writing up labs and reports.

Suggest something please.
 
You will probably want a PC unless you are going into image preprocessing, graphic design, etc... as schools usually rely on Macs in these labs. All else, PCs usually dominate. So you want to get whatever system is relevant to your studies.

I would suggest a laptop that's quiet and comfortable, small and lightweight, and durable. You will also want something that has a long battery life. For college, you don't want something too large to comfortably carry around, but not something so small that you can't comfortable type on it or see the screen. I would suggest a 13.3" or 14.1" notebook. 15.4" is the standard size for consumer notebooks, but it's just a tad bit too large for school use in my opinion.

I suggest a ThinkPad R61. I configured one for $1010 with the following specs:

-Core 2 Duo T7250
-Vista Home Premium
-14.1" WXGA+
-Intel X3100 Graphics
-2GB RAM
-80GB 5400RPM HDD
-DVD+/-RW DL
-Intel PRO/Wireless A/B/G
-6 Cell Li-Ion
-1 Year Depot Express Warranty

If you want to sacrifice build quality but save a few bucks and invest that in better hardware upgrades, you could check out the Dell Vostro line. Here's a Dell Vostro 1400 priced out to $968:

-Core 2 Duo T7500
-Vista Home Premium
-14.1" WXGA+
-2GB RAM
-120GB 5400RPM HDD
-DVD+/-RW DL
-Dell Wireless G
-128MB GeForce 8400M G
-1 Year Warranty


Both are business class notebooks and should stand up to more abuse than regular consumer notebooks.
 
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