And what of the next one?...

Binary Ranger

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Good day all! ...Actually it's night here, but whatever! I'm currently faced with a bit of a dilemma. Once I get the necessary funds, I would like to get a hold of a more up-to-date laptop.

Now, several friends/techies/ignorant-wannabe-1337haxorz tell me that Asus is a good trusty brand. Others are much more rude and make unsettling comments about me being a Computer Science major and thus incapable of constructing my own computer, which is a HUGE ad hominem as well as being quite offensive/true.

Anyway, what type of LAPTOP computer would you recommend to a computer science major? Also factor in that I may take some engineering courses and see how those go too. Not sure what level they actually make you start using computer simulation programs, but I'm sure those require a computer with a bit of fire power.

I stress laptop because I am an on the go guy and don't want to haul a bulky monitor and tower up to my 3rd floor dorm. (No elevator either. :mad:)

So, what would be a trusty brand for the wannabe computer dude? Preferably something within the 300 - 800$ price range. Though I am open to more "expensive" suggestions if you have them. Just nothing that costs more than my car please... Or as a much as my insurance bill total at the end of the year.
 
Asus makes a good laptop but something I noticed last month is Lenovo make very good decently priced laptops as well.

I can't stress enough that, even though a gen 3 i7 laptop will have quite a bit of power an actual desktop or workstation will be what you really need when you actually get in to simulation and the such.

I suggest something with a gen 3 i7 and 8-16GB of RAM. If you wont be gaming at all something with a GT630 or 640 will suffice quite easily and help if you have a program that can utilize GPGPU.

Edit: Actually this greatly shows what I mean. Almost perfect specs for the price minus the slower HDD.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246493
 
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Looks like a pretty cool machine. But uh... What does GT630 mean? Is that it's graphics card? I'm a little behind on my computer anatomy.
 
I wouldnt recommend Lenovo, from my experience with my X220. Asus is solid, and gateway (surprisingly) is pretty good and cheap.
 
Looks like a pretty cool machine. But uh... What does GT630 mean? Is that it's graphics card? I'm a little behind on my computer anatomy.

Yep, the GT630 is the GPU. A very low end one at that, about a step above integrated. If you don't plan on gaming, that's about all you'll need and shouldn't really go with anything more because laptop GPU's put out a lot of heat, and suck down the power.
 
But if you don't need the GPU power, why even create the heat that would make it necessary to have a cooling dock? Checkmate :Peeking:

Because the most unnecessary things are worth having! :Determined:
Actually I don't really know. This would mainly just be a college laptop. Once I got into my actual profession I'd like to think that by then I would be capable of knowing what PC I would need and buying it.

Also, if I may ask, how much excess heat are we talking here? You know, compared to not having a higher GPU card.
 
if you use the PC naked, your b**** will burn off. jk.

It gets pretty damn hot, it'll scorch your legs if you're using it as a laptop. Plus, when laptops get hot, they drop in performance significantly.
 
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