Laptop

[Tankbuster]

I'm going to university next year, and I want to buy a good laptop.
However, I'm completely at a loss on how to start. I've been clicking around on various sites to get information about laptops, but I still don't see how to make a choice out of the enormous choice...

I mean, there are like 15 laptop brands. There's HP, there's Dell, there's Toshiba, Gateway, Compaq, ASUS, Sony,... But what's the difference? It's so hard to find an unbiased source. I read somewhere that a Gateway laptop is twice as fast as a Toshiba one with the same stats.

How do I pick a brand?? Are they important?

P.S. Good experience with a Mac, anyone?

[Banned]

I'm also looking for another, so the question's nearly the same.

Edit: I'm looking for a gaming laptop btw.

[Freddie]

I'm also looking for another, so the question's nearly the same.

Edit: I'm looking for a gaming laptop btw.

Please don't try to game on laptops, I’m not going to go into the reason why you shouldn’t because there are many but basically it’s because it’s expensive and performance is rubbish making gaming laptops bad value for money.

If you want portability and desktop abilities I suggest buying a shuttle PC with a 19" monitor (or bigger if you prefer).

As for a brand of Laptop, I would use a well known brand like HP or Dell. If anything goes wrong with it support is a lot easier to come by. At work we always buy Dell's. Dell is has a bad name as a consumer PC but for business their hard to beat.

[Banned]

Now what's a shuttle PC?

[Freddie]

Now what's a shuttle PC?

One of these.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

This could be you at University.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Tankbuster]

Hmmm those shuttle PC's look a bit big to take with me to class A 17" laptop is good enough for portability, huh? 3-4 kg is alright, but more is starting to be a pain.

I think I'm going to buy an average laptop, not to really play games on it, but good enough so it can take on new graphical modelling programs (I'll be learning for civil engineer) for the next 5 years + bit gaming in my spare time.

And thank you for the Dell&HP-argument Hadn't thought of that.

[Freddie]

Hmmm those shuttle PC's look a bit big to take with me to class A 17" laptop is good enough for portability, huh? 3-4 kg is alright, but more is starting to be a pain.

I think I'm going to buy an average laptop, not to really play games on it, but good enough so it can take on new graphical modelling programs (I'll be learning for civil engineer) for the next 5 years + bit gaming in my spare time.

And thank you for the Dell&HP-argument Hadn't thought of that.

When I was Uni a few years ago we didn't take computer with us to class. Pen, paper and a folder to put your notes into. Your computer would stay at home or in be kept in your dorm for when you wanted to use the internet or write your reports and course work.

[Tankbuster]

When I was Uni a few years ago we didn't take computer with us to class. Pen, paper and a folder to put your notes into. Your computer would stay at home or in be kept in your dorm for when you wanted to use the internet or write your reports and course work.

Well it is rare that you need to bring your laptop along, but I've heard that for programming lessons you 'have to' (read: it's better) bring your computer along.
Anyway, in Belgium it's becoming more and more frequent, so I might as well be prepared for it.

By the way, I've been looking around, and found this HP laptop, for the acceptable price of 1500 dollars! Seems surreal, if I try similar stats with any other manufacturer, I get nearly double!

Operating systemGenuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
ProcessorIntel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.40 GHz, 3 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
Display17.0" diagonal WSXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1680 x 1050)
Memory4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Graphics Card512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS
PersonalizationHP Imprint (Radiance) + Fingerprint Reader + Webcam + Microphone
NetworkingIntel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and Bluetooth(TM)
Hard Drive240GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (120GB x 2)
Primary CD/DVD DriveLightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Supportedit
TV & Entertainment ExperienceNo TV Tuner w/remote controledit
Primary BatteryHigh Capacity 8 Cell Lithium Ion Batteryedit
Productivity SoftwareMicrosoft(R) Works 9.0edit

[Cyrus the Virus]

Gaming laptops is a waste of money really. Listen to Freddie.

You will have a hard time finding drivers too for them.

[NiceTryAgain]

I agree that gaming laptops is a waste of money really.
But if you want to buy a laptop, personally i like HP.
I think HP Pavilion dv6700t is a good one to try.
It is 15.4-inch, 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5550, 4GB DDR2, GeForce 8400M , 250GB..
And it is on sale now, a decent deal for it is only $913..
Hope it helps.

[Tankbuster]

I agree that gaming laptops is a waste of money really.
But if you want to buy a laptop, personally i like HP.
I think HP Pavilion dv6700t is a good one to try.
It is 15.4-inch, 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5550, 4GB DDR2, GeForce 8400M , 250GB..
And it is on sale now, a decent deal for it is only $913..
Hope it helps.

Yeah those HP Pavilion laptops are quite cheap... Strange really, I wonder if it's because of the graphics card.

[chriscase]

I'm going to university next year, and I want to buy a good laptop.
However, I'm completely at a loss on how to start. I've been clicking around on various sites to get information about laptops, but I still don't see how to make a choice out of the enormous choice...

I mean, there are like 15 laptop brands. There's HP, there's Dell, there's Toshiba, Gateway, Compaq, ASUS, Sony,... But what's the difference? It's so hard to find an unbiased source. I read somewhere that a Gateway laptop is twice as fast as a Toshiba one with the same stats.

How do I pick a brand?? Are they important?

P.S. Good experience with a Mac, anyone?

If I were going to buy a laptop to use in gaming, school, and CS, I would choose a laptop I could multi-boot windows and solaris (or linux) on. If I had the money, I'd check out something precertified, because I hate futzing with compatibility problems.

It's true that laptops are not ideal for gaming, but a new laptop will run most games ok. Don't expect longevity though.

[Dievar]

Pretty sure that coupoun ended - Check out this guy. Awesome prices (for the same laptop as spec posted by TankBuster) and a large variety of HP laptops. These are good priced to me especially, considering the US-AU exchange rate atm, but they have a huge cost cut due to the fact they are refurbished. Meaning they were refunded within 2 weeks of purchase (not due to technical issues) and were sent back to the HP factory for maintenance then re-put on the shelves.

[Tankbuster]

I've got a couple of more questions...

1) The difference between a 5400 and 7200 RPM hard drive. Now I know that the 7200 will go a lot faster, but does this effect the battery? I mean will a 7200 hard drive consume a lot more than a 5400?

2) Is a 17" laptop (who has a built-in numeric keyboard) easier to use than a 15" when you're going to typ numbers and stuff? Is it annoying?

[Dievar]

1) Considering the low amount of HDD space laptops have (for me at least, I like to edit movies/pictures alot and I use a lot of software and games) your better off forking out the extra cash for a bigger slower hard-drive, if you're only going to do schoolwork and play total war, go for a faster drive.

2) I always prefer a bigger screen, especially on a laptop it is just pwnage. But, I do not have my HP laptop atm (I ordered it last night, and it is shipping from the US). But both my mum and sister have laptops, and a bigger screen is definitely ideal (my mothers being a tiny dell laptop, designed for travelling, it must be near 9"-10" I find myself cringing to see whats on the screen and bringing the laptop much, much closer then my ideal comfort zone, whereas my sister's 15" is very relaxing and a ideal gaming system) If you wait a few weeks before purchasing (or are going to) I can give you a first-hand experience comment on a 17" widescreen via a HP Laptop.

Btw, which model are you currently looking at? My price range was $1200-$1500, so I chose the HP Pavillion DV9700t, from my previous link. Check it out. Definitely the best cost:performance ratio out of my hours of browsing laptops.

[Tankbuster]

Ah yes, the DVT9700 As I said in the other thread, an excellent buy. I was thinking of buying it myself for a couple of weeks. What scared me off was the 8600M GT graphics card

Now look, I'll tell you my story. Next year I'm going to university. I'm going to be studying civil engineer (a 5 year study. If all goes well, that is ). Civil engineers need heavy graphical programs on their laptops, so that means a good video card, which equals gaming laptop.
And after that study I'll probably do an extra two years of who-knows-what, maybe economy.
That's 7 year of studying, and I'm aiming to do those 7 years with the same laptop, that is, the one I'm going to buy now. So I could buy an average laptop now, and then within 4 years come to the conclusion that it's getting too old.
So now my plan is: buy a really really good laptop. For the first couple of years, it'll be absolutely great for everything I'll need (which might also be some casual gaming), and after 7 years it will probably still be an average laptop.
And that's why the 8600M GT is not good enough for me. It's average now, so it'll get old quite fast.

I think I'm going to buy something around 2000$.

[Dievar]

Well, you have multiple problems there.

First of all, Laptops get really, really slow, very fast. My friend's cousin spent $4,000 on a ASUS laptop which could install CoD4, when he first bought it, in 5 minutes. 3 months on, he re-installed, took him 15 minutes to install. He reformatted, took him 10 minutes, and quickly climbed back up to 15 minutes. Same issue happened with my mother and sister's laptops. Thus to my point, there is no such thing as a 7 year laptop in my experience. My advice to you is to buy the DV9700t now for $1300, store the $700 in your bank, in 3 and a half years, grab it out with interest, chip in the difference to $1300 again and buy another laptop that is then - as the DV9700t is now.

Secondly, the graphics card can run CoD4 (a brand-new high performance game) on Medium-High according to all the reviews I have read on it and YouTube. But if your still in doubt of the card, I'm sure Schanq will offer to take it out and deduct the price for you - he seem's very co-operative with things like that (I had a chat with him a few months ago), and you could buy and shove a 8800 into your baby (as the laptop is still awesomely priced without the card).

[chriscase]

I have to agree with Dievar. Laptops age very quickly. Buying the bells and whistles is a luxury.

For your graphically demanding applications you are better off buying a desktop system that can be upgraded incrementally. For your portable computing needs, get an economical laptop.

[Necrobrit]

Macs make great school laptops. In fact its the only instance in which buying a mac can really be recommended because some of the key disadvantages to Macs are nullified: 1, upgrading is usually not an issue with laptops, as it is often inconvenient with any manufacturer and your hardware requirements generally dont change much anyway. 2, not being able to do much gaming is actually an advantage in a school computer and laptops dont keep up with gaming requirements well anyway.

The advantages are significant; you can be assured of having a well designed and excellently assembled laptop. Most importantly though, they last, many people that buy windows laptops end up buying a new one almost every year, while those with macs happily keep them throughout their schooling. Also of note, Macs have resale value, which is an interesting concept, my sister managed to sell her macbook for half its original price almost four years after she initially buying it. That really quite remarkable when you consider that most computers loose almost all value after only a month's use.

So in this instance Macs are worth a look. I have no personal experience with them myself, but a laptop loaded with linux might be worth a look too, I know dell offers laptops with Ubuntu. Though you have to be conscious of some software needs however, for example, openoffice is fine for most academic uses... but it may not work out well in a workplace.

[chriscase]

Macs make great school laptops. In fact its the only instance in which buying a mac can really be recommended because some of the key disadvantages to Macs are nullified: 1, upgrading is usually not an issue with laptops, as it is often inconvenient with any manufacturer and your hardware requirements generally dont change much anyway. 2, not being able to do much gaming is actually an advantage in a school computer and laptops dont keep up with gaming requirements well anyway.

The advantages are significant; you can be assured of having a well designed and excellently assembled laptop. Most importantly though, they last, many people that buy windows laptops end up buying a new one almost every year, while those with macs happily keep them throughout their schooling. Also of note, Macs have resale value, which is an interesting concept, my sister managed to sell her macbook for half its original price almost four years after she initially buying it. That really quite remarkable when you consider that most computers loose almost all value after only a month's use.

So in this instance Macs are worth a look. I have no personal experience with them myself, but a laptop loaded with linux might be worth a look too, I know dell offers laptops with Ubuntu. Though you have to be conscious of some software needs however, for example, openoffice is fine for most academic uses... but it may not work out well in a workplace.

Yea, and Apple has some pretty economical new laptops they are selling now. You don't have to shell out the big bucks for PowerPC chips anymore.

Macs also tend to have a lot of the nice graphical design software built for them - that's one of their niche markets. Watch out though, because some classes may require software that only runs on Windows. (Consider that par for the course.) But the newer Macs are Intel based, so you can boot Windows natively on them too.

I much prefer a client-server computing model for my personal use. I would buy a nice little desktop I could multiboot Solaris / Linux / Windows or OSX on for high end graphical apps. Then set that one up as a shell server with some port forwarding from the front end of my home network's router. Port forward ssh or ftp and telnet if you want life to be easy. Hell, set up smtp and imap if you feel like it. Put an http server on there if you want.

Then get a nifty little laptop to take to class and use as a mobile computing system - but use the home system as your mail, file, shell and print server, development system, and workstation. ssh in from your class network to use your compilers and development tools. Mirror the disks on your home system and back up your data to DVD from there. Your portable system stores nothing critical and your home system is redundant and archived.

But that's me.