looking to buy a laptop for college

[AT-JeffT]

Getting back to the original post:

Nwe30, When I got to college I thought EVERYONE brought their laptops to class. Infact the opposite is true. you will most likely find that only one or two of your professor's allow laptops in their class. I have been at two 4yr college/universities and this was the case at both.

So, my solution was to build a desktop; which it sounds like you are more than capable of. As well as purchase a netbook.

This system has worked flawlessly for me. I have something (very) portable that I can use to surf/research/watch videos/whatever at the library, lounge, friends room...ect

Also, I have something very fast, with lots of screen real estate for the majority of my computing. (if you have never used dual screens, you won't go back afterwards)

I was able to save some money too buy purchasing ebooks to view on my netbook. This worked very well for me since the netbook is so portable.

[CabbE30]

13" MBP. Long ass battery life, fast processor & graphics, apple/mac.
Do it.


I never liked macs until I got my 13" MBP, I do want to run Win7 to try it tho.

[87e30]

Tough call. I can say from experience that Apple will pretty much force you into a new system eventually when you cannot run the newest OS on your laptop. Or you will be stuck with the e30 of laptops... It is a tough question to say the least. Do you realize how much beer, weed and ramen noodles you can go through with 2k? Shiiiit that's pretty much a 24v swap these days.

I haz one of those though. Just a beater car...

It was a gift, I've wanted a mac since 7th grade and I'm well aware of all of the pro-cons - it's a personal decision. Like my original post stated. A little competition and choice is good for everyone.

I don't think I'll be forced into a new system before I graduate and can afford another computer. At that point - I'll probably get a tablet and build a hacontish at home.

Getting back to the original post:

Nwe30, When I got to college I thought EVERYONE brought their laptops to class. Infact the opposite is true. you will most likely find that only one or two of your professor's allow laptops in their class. I have been at two 4yr college/universities and this was the case at both.

So, my solution was to build a desktop; which it sounds like you are more than capable of. As well as purchase a netbook.

This system has worked flawlessly for me. I have something (very) portable that I can use to surf/research/watch videos/whatever at the library, lounge, friends room...ect

Also, I have something very fast, with lots of screen real estate for the majority of my computing. (if you have never used dual screens, you won't go back afterwards)

I was able to save some money too buy purchasing ebooks to view on my netbook. This worked very well for me since the netbook is so portable.

I like your solution. At my school [UW] I'd say over 1/2 of freshman/soph classes were filled with laptops (over half of those macs haha).

This is a very techy and "hipster" area though so it makes sense.

If you anticipate any sort of graphic (photo, video, web, cad) I would either go with the above or get a powerful laptop. I like being able to work downstairs, at my parents house, on campus, next to my next class, in my room, etc...

[Wanganstyle]

I'd get a MacBook air, solid state and inexpensive, easy to portage. All business

[e30e]

You are a waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffles, if a 15" or 17" laptop is heavy in a back pack. More than half your classes you won't use your books other than a cram session or you'll buy an online version of a book for a class. 17" laptops can be a bit big for some backpacks. Most computers now have 4 hours of battery life, no one has 4 hours of school in a row where your not next to a power source. Be careful with the Mac if you end up going with it, when I was in school no science or business classes had mac compatible software.

[Jalves619]

My past 2 laptops have been Toshiba Satellites, and while they usually working fine, both of them had to go in for a recall. The second laptop they tried to send back without actually fixing because "the cracked screen is not covered by the warranty". When I sent it in the screen wasn't cracked, and I mailed it in a container they provided. :o

[Wanganstyle]

I ran win XP on my mac for stupid classes, 11" @ 1k is about as thin/light as it gets. 3 lbs i think?

apple warranty / service/ proximity still beats all, esp if you have a deadline and then your machine DIES.

I have gotten some things replaced for $0 that really should not have been replaced.

[nwe30]

Don't know if it's been answered yet, but I think an important question here is.... wtf are you going to study in college?

im studying engineering. i'm going to be a part of the army rotc program at santa clara and want to become a civil engineer in the army. so i'll be doing everything related to ROTC on my laptop and programs i'll need for engineering, i suppose.
i'll be playing a couple games on 'em too :)

My past 2 laptops have been Toshiba Satellites, and while they usually working fine, both of them had to go in for a recall. The second laptop they tried to send back without actually fixing because "the cracked screen is not covered by the warranty". When I sent it in the screen wasn't cracked, and I mailed it in a container they provided. :o

i have a satellite right now and i hate it.

[nwe30]

Getting back to the original post:

Nwe30, When I got to college I thought EVERYONE brought their laptops to class. Infact the opposite is true. you will most likely find that only one or two of your professor's allow laptops in their class. I have been at two 4yr college/universities and this was the case at both.

So, my solution was to build a desktop; which it sounds like you are more than capable of. As well as purchase a netbook.

This system has worked flawlessly for me. I have something (very) portable that I can use to surf/research/watch videos/whatever at the library, lounge, friends room...ect

Also, I have something very fast, with lots of screen real estate for the majority of my computing. (if you have never used dual screens, you won't go back afterwards)

I was able to save some money too buy purchasing ebooks to view on my netbook. This worked very well for me since the netbook is so portable.

the thing is...i don't even want a desktop. the thought of it just makes me cringe. thanks for the idea, but no thanks. it's just...too much. it's extra bulk added to my move and dorm room.

[Heysüß]

Tough call. I can say from experience that Apple will pretty much force you into a new system eventually when you cannot run the newest OS on your laptop. Or you will be stuck with the e30 of laptops... It is a tough question to say the least. Do you realize how much beer, weed and ramen noodles you can go through with 2k? Shiiiit that's pretty much a 24v swap these days.

Mine's 5 years old and I have yet to be forced into anything, they have also fixed numerous problems OUTSIDE of the warranty and I've been charged $0. Granted, I'm no computer geek, other than downloading the top gear torrents everything else I do on my laptop would be considered "noob" stuff. I'm not part of that group that pretends they're bill gates engineering their own computer every time they need a new one. (not saying that's what you do)

im studying engineering. i'm going to be a part of the army rotc program at santa clara and want to become a civil engineer in the army. so i'll be doing everything related to ROTC on my laptop and programs i'll need for engineering, i suppose.
i'll be playing a couple games on 'em too :)

hmm seems like an apple is the last thing you want then :)

[nwe30]

Mine's 5 years old and I have yet to be forced into anything, they have also fixed numerous problems OUTSIDE of the warranty and I've been charged $0. Granted, I'm no computer geek, other than downloading the top gear torrents everything else I do on my laptop would be considered "noob" stuff. I'm not part of that group that pretends they're bill gates engineering their own computer every time they need a new one. (not saying that's what you do)



hmm seems like an apple is the last thing you want then :)

why is apple the last thing i want?

[drumad]

hmm seems like an apple is the last thing you want then :)

why is apple the last thing i want?

As a recent engineering grad, I wouldn't say an mbp is the last thing you want but it also isn't the first. For whatever reason at our school, we didn't use too many engineering programs. When I had my mbp my last two years(07-09), I used Matlab exclusively. As far as other engineering programs, I know there are a handful of cad programs available. I'm pretty sure autodesk suites are now available for the osx.

You can also look into parallels or vmware?. I'm in grad school now and some of the programs require me to hop into parallels.

My mbp is about 5 years old now (I purchased in 07 as a refurb), has a battery life of 15 minutes, and just hasn't quit on me yet. The board that acts as a link between the vid card and monitor fried on me a couple months ago and I took it in for service. Without question the Apple store took my repair in free of charge. You can't really beat the customer service once you get over their sometimes condescending attitude. I'll be replacing it with one of the newer gen models eventually.

Look into what program suites your school is requiring you to have and check from there.

[Axxe]

Most Civil Engineering software packages aren't fully supported by apple, as far as I know. Basically for Civil you will be using AutoCAD, SAP2000, Matlab (not civil), MicroStation and LDD.

[nando]

IMO - since you're a college student and money is imporant, look for something used. I'm a big fan of IBM/Lenovo business class laptops. you can get a pretty nice one off-lease on ebay for about $300-500. Very solid, plenty of features, and more than enough horsepower to get you through college. My last one looks like it's barely even been used, I spent another couple hundred on a windows 7 license and a bigger hard drive. it's already got 4 gigs of ram and an extended battery.

spending $2500 on a fucking mac? lol.. I haven't spent that much on a computer since 1998!

[drumad]

2500? that's for the top tier 17". Completely unnecessary. Agreed on the Lenovo set ups though.

You can also purchase through apple with a student discount and usually before fall semester, they have a special where they'll include a free printers and an ipod.

The only thing that blows about a used lappy is the possibility of not having a warranty. Pretty important to have jic your laptop dies for whatever reason.

I don't know if OP's school has their own pc shop, but try to purchase a university approved laptop through them. I know my school's shop was able to service on site for all laptops purchased through them. They even had a free loaner program so you weren't without your laptop for the repair time. Plus it was a good deal since everything has a student discount slapped on it.