Good laptops for a college student?

Kyougu

Due to a pretty nice tax return, I have some extra spending money that I'm thinking of using on a laptop. Problem is, I have no idea what to look for, so I'm here looking for recomendations. Here's some guidelines.

1) Battery life is definately important. I go to school for 7 hours, and the lap top would probably be on at least for about 6 or so of those hours. I doubt there's many with that sort of battery life, but something close to it would be nice.

2) Lightweight would be nice, specially if I could fit in my backpack.

3) There's no need for 3D cards, or anything fancy. Just want to be able to connect wirelessly to the internet, and one that can handle the usual microsoft office programs.

4) Price: Anything around $1000 would be perfect, but up to $1500.

ArcticXC

I recently blew $800 on a refurb Macbook, no complaints, plus boot camp/parallels makes it extra awesome.

No clue how you'd get that much battery life though. Even with power saving set really high I can only get up to 4-5 hours. I have found that it's quite useless for some classes though.

Also, in some of my classrooms there are plugins easily accessable so battery life isn't really an issue. Of course, that's always kindof up in the air so I wouldn't count on that.

Godfather

Macbook Pro ought to do it (assuming PC games aren't on the top of your list, like me).

contraband

Godfather wrote: »

Macbook Pro ought to do it (assuming PC games aren't on the top of your list, like me).

Pros are big, heavy, and $500 overbudget. I dunno how they are as far as battery life is concerned.

I would get an Acer laptop. My friend recently purchased a beefier one for two grand, but he wanted to run games on his. A student-friendly model would run considerably cheaper.

TrippyDK

The problem with a mac is he wants to use microsoft programs. Ive noticed that microsoft office is extremely laggy when used in OSX on an intel mac, because it lacks universal support.

Daedalus

TrippyDK wrote: »

The problem with a mac is he wants to use microsoft programs. Ive noticed that microsoft office is extremely laggy when used in OSX on an intel mac, because it lacks universal support.

Office.mac 2008 will have a universal binary, though.

If you're not going with the Mac, the really small model of Dell Latitude is said to be good, also.

Kewop Decam

buy a cheapo $500 dollar laptop from dell or something. Sicne you're using it purely for school stuff, you don't need anything too pricey. I say don't go over $850

zhen_rogue

The HP dv6000z series is worth looking at.

I would also suggest visiting this forum for tons of additional information on notebook systems:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/

Specifically, read the FAQ sticky, and consider copy/pasting the FAQ questions (with your answers) in the "what notebook should I buy?" subforum.

Uncle Long

I just picked up a decent ibook (12" 1.33 GHz 512 built-in expandable to 1.5 GB) Battery life is a little better than five hours and it is extremely light and portable. If you don't plan on gaming you can find one for a decent price and use the rest of your cash for other stuff. Believe me, there's always something to spend money on at college.

Magus`

Wait until one of those 50% off notebooks $1500 and over deals comes on Dell, then grab that.


As far as battery life, you're not gonna find one with 7 hours on a single charge. However, I'm sure you'll easily find plug-ins for at least some of your classes.

mrcheesypants

For battery life I've seen some external laptop batteries which sell for about $100 and claim to double your laptop's battery life. By the way they look they seem to weigh a few pounds though.

LoneIgadzra

I recommend a MacBook. Apple's laptops are tops, and it will serve you well for years. I don't know why someone recommended a Pro. They're awesome machines, but are quite a bit overbudget and overkill (I don't think supposed bulkiness would be a problem though since they're really incredibly sleek). I recommend picking the middle model and upping the hard drive if you can afford it. 1 GB of RAM is par for the course these days (and still isn't enough for Rosetta) and almost everyone has tons of multimedia and can easily fill a hard drive. The more the infinitely-merrier. Lastly, while you may not use the DVD burner a lot, it can come in extremely handy.

My experience with cheapo PC laptops is you get what you pay for, and I haven't used any expensive ones I thought compared well to just a plain ol' MacBook. The build quality, ergonomics, and overall design are usually vastly inferior, as is the bundled software. (Don't knock iLife - a lot of it's dead useful, and there's little in PC-land to compare, with the exception of Google Picasa.) Since the MacBook is Intel, you don't necessarily need to miss out on the odd PC app either. Microsoft software is of course important, though I get by well enough by running an old copy of Office X in Rosetta. It's not great, but it could be worse. The main problem with Rosetta is it's a RAM hog.

Also, don't miss the fact that Apple's store offers very easy-to-get student discounts. (Though you should be able to get that with any brand.)

Finally, I don't think you're going to find 6 hours battery life without getting some extreme power-lacking lightweight energy-saving model. That said, a laptop is actually not that useful in class. I find it easier to take notes with a pencil and paper, and at any other time it's just a distraction. I use mine for homework and hobbies.

Kyougu

So I checked out Dell's Website, among many, and saw that the Inspiron 1501 Notebook is on sale for a bit less than $600 bucks.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_1501?c=us&cs=2236&l=en&s=eep

It comes with Windows Vista, which I thought was neat.Even when upgrading to 1 gig of ram, 80 gig HDD, 8X cd writers, it only comes to around 800.

This seems like a good deal to me, but then again, I'm pretty computer retarded. What you guys think?

Daedalus

Kyougu wrote: »

So I checked out Dell's Website, among many, and saw that the Inspiron 1501 Notebook is on sale for a bit less than $600 bucks.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_1501?c=us&cs=2236&l=en&s=eep

It comes with Windows Vista, which I thought was neat.Even when upgrading to 1 gig of ram, 80 gig HDD, 8X cd writers, it only comes to around 800.

This seems like a good deal to me, but then again, I'm pretty computer retarded. What you guys think?

Not too powerful and pretty heavy, but you can't argue with the price. Better graphics chipset than Intel GMA900, too.

Kewop Decam

Exactly what would you be using this laptop for? Also, most classrooms have plugs and a lot have plugs on the floor (or in the tables) for laptops.

borzou99

TrippyDK wrote: »

The problem with a mac is he wants to use microsoft programs. Ive noticed that microsoft office is extremely laggy when used in OSX on an intel mac, because it lacks universal support.

I've been using PC for years and this year I bought a MacBook Pro. I have not found said lag on the intel mac.

Also, I find formatting Word and Powerpoint documents easier on the Mac.

Brodo Faggins

If you have at least a gig of RAM on a Macbook, MS Office will work just fine under Rosetta. Office 2008 is coming out this year for OS X, and it'll be universal binary (as said above).

Go with a MacBook.

Shazkar Shadowstorm

MacBook, MacBook, wheeeee.
I'm using one now!

And I'm in engineering school and don't have any worries with software compatibility issues, what very few things I need to use that don't work on OS X I use Parallels, or one of the many many computer labs...

MacBook is win.

Pheezer

If you want to save money, get a G4 iBook 12" and upgrade the RAM above 1 GB. Unless there's something you NEED Windows for (say, MS Visual Studio, Access, SQL Server, etc.), it's a lightweight, extremely portable, very cost effective option that has more than enough power for school work and so forth, generates very little heat, and can get like six hours on the battery if you turn the brightness down a bit and keep the wifi off. Three or four hours with wifi on, easy.

You can get MS Office (except Access), and anything by Macromedia or Adobe on a Mac.

Shazkar Shadowstorm

Or pheezer's suggestion, I like that. That will save much dollars.

Also, nice location pheez.

kingmetal

my Fujtisu T4215 will go for 7 hours on a single charge when you replace the optical drive with another battery. the whole thing is still under 5lbs with both batteries (which is lighter than a macbook!). I love this thing, it works great as a laptop and a tablet - it's just a bit more money than you look like you want to spend (I think mine was about $1650 all said and done).

the S7110 looks to be in your price range and is capable of having dual batteries. http://store.shopfujitsu.com/fpc/Ecommerce/buildseriesbean.do?series=S7110

the P7230 is super sexy (http://store.shopfujitsu.com/fpc/Ecommerce/buildseriesbean.do?series=P7230) and small and can also rock two batteries. expect psychotic battery life out of anything with the name Fujitsu on it, mine beats out my roomate's Macbook on a single battery.

variant

I believe HP has the best deals, I was able to get my Dv2000 for about $900 after student discount and it's perfect, while dell, toshiba, fujitsu and sony---all want to charge you about 3-400 more for basically the same build.

kingmetal

variant wrote: »

I believe HP has the best deals, I was able to get my Dv2000 for about $900 after student discount and it's perfect, while dell, toshiba, fujitsu and sony---all want to charge you about 3-400 more for basically the same build.

I had a DV1000, the predecessor of your DV2000 and while it was well designed, the build quality was atrocious. I serviced it 3 times before my warranty ran out and I would service it again if it wasn't horribly expensive. I've seen the 2000 series and it's the same machine only with a different motherboard. my issues included:

-screen failing 3 times
-firewire port literally snapped out of the machine when I used it the first time
-all USB ports are dead
-horrible keyboard flex
-horrible screen-back flex, resulting in a scratched screen

other than that it was a great machine. I carried my DV1000 with me almost everywhere I went in Timbuk2 Laptop messenger bag, so it's not like it didn't get moved around a lot, but it just didn't hold up to serious use. for $900 though, it probably is the best cheap notebook you can buy.

I always recommend Fujitsu to people because these things are built like damn tanks. I can see me and my T4215 having a very long relationship, which makes the extra cost justifiable.

Älphämönkëy

pheezer FD wrote: »

If you want to save money, get a G4 iBook 12" and upgrade the RAM above 1 GB. Unless there's something you NEED Windows for (say, MS Visual Studio, Access, SQL Server, etc.), it's a lightweight, extremely portable, very cost effective option that has more than enough power for school work and so forth, generates very little heat, and can get like six hours on the battery if you turn the brightness down a bit and keep the wifi off. Three or four hours with wifi on, easy.

You can get MS Office (except Access), and anything by Macromedia or Adobe on a Mac.

I still rock out with my G4 Powerbook I bought in early 2004. With the brightness down and all the energy settings enabled, I easily get through my classes. I can't speak to the other majors, but if you are going with an Engineering major, I would recommend an intel mac, otherwise the old G4 has plenty of power behind it.

Khaczor

I currently have a Dell Inspiron 9300 and it has fit fully my gaming and school needs... of course with my own specifications.

I did this because at my school here at UF they had a program that I could get a pretty big student discount off of it. That was close to -500 off and also my dad's workplace discount got me another -250 off so make sure to check if your college has any programs like that for Dell laptops or any electronics.

Herschel

I'm thinking of getting a MacBook, as well, but they are prohibitively expensive. Question is, can non-Pro MacBooks run 3d applications decently or at all?

Won't want to do a whole lot of gaming or anything, but installing a game or two would be nice.

Shazkar Shadowstorm

Umm, depends on what you want to do. As long as you have the RAM, everything up through WoW should be good, I dunno what higher than that is good... certainly Half-Life 2 did not run well lol.

The Nazarite

Civilization 4 runs well on the Windows partition of my MacBook (2 GHz, 1 Gb RAM), but only with the graphic settings set way the hell down. So does Galactic Civilizations and Hearts of Iron 2. I don't know if you play those, but it may give you an idea.