notebook for college

Post by **Sam** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 5:56 am

ok, i need to get my daughter a notebook for college. she wants it for her birthday/graduation which is middle may. needs to be at least 1.5 ghz, 40 gig memory, 512 ram, cd-rw but dvd player is optional. 15 inch screen i am guessing. need something to hold up, and definitely that all perils protection (i am more worried about someone spilling a drink onto the laptop then her mishandling it). ethernet card and wifi also needed.

anyone got any comments or weblinks i can read up on. some suppossed college deals aren't that huge of a savings. also, any periperhals such as optical mice or carrying case, lemme know

sam

blackgrass · Post by **blackgrass** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 6:37 am

Anybody else miss the old days when notebooks were really notebooks?

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:29 am

I always get good deals at dell.com. I bought and Inspiron for my son for under $1500. You have to keep checking their website for promotionals.

Post by **Sam** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 10:46 am

i am thinking dell also. i read that according to a ups guy, they have a lot of returns, but then again, you cant just run them to a store, you have to ship them back. support service and warranty is suppossed to be good and i will get that complete care plan. i am worried about theft, do they have renters insurance for dorms? what kind of security do people use with laptops?

sam

clownjuggles · Post by **clownjuggles** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 11:53 am

Sam,

If you want a really good laptop that has the best support according to consumer reports they had this to say about Apple

"Apple has been a reliable brand and has the best record for tech support"

They really stand behind their product and since Apple is a smaller segment of the market. You won't find the hassles you would with viruses or hackers.

Also tomorrow they have a brand new more efficient operating system coming out.

Here are their specs on a base model 15" (Don't let the 1.5 GHZ make you look elsewhere. IT is approx the equiv of a Pentium 2.6 give or take.

15.2-inch TFT Display
1280x854 resolution
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
80GB Hard Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon
9700 (64 MB DDR)
Backlit keyboard
Gigabit Ethernet
FireWire 400 & 800
Analog audio in/out
DVI & S-Video out

clownjuggles · Post by **clownjuggles** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 12:05 pm

Here is a link of Cnet Review of the 1.25 15" powerbook.
http://reviews.cnet.com/Apple_15_inch_P ... ml?tag=tab

Also, your daughter gets discounts on apple products.

I know you may have questions about apple and compatibility. Feel Free to ask. also here is a site that has a lot of answers.
http://www.apple.com/switch/

clownjuggles · Post by **clownjuggles** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 2:25 pm

Chris,

I would agree that I have never needed tech support with my PB either. I am going to go pick up Tiger on friday. How bout you?

SimonM · Post by **SimonM** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:26 pm

Another major Mac nerd here, and I'm a college student. While Apple's marketshare isn't that big on the whole, at least at my school, Apple is about 50/50 in the lecture halls by the looks of the laptops. Maybe Apple users just like showing them off more, though?

I will say that I'm not a partisan, really. Dell laptops are pretty good, but my favorite PC laptop brands are probably IBM and Sony, though they're also probably considered 'premium' PC brands.

Couple of things to keep in mind: RAM is dirt cheap, so even if whatever you end up with doesn't have much RAM, you can always order some, and at least in every laptop I've owned, anyone can install it. As for insurance http://www.safeware.com does laptop insurance that is very reasonable, and the few instances I've heard from friends where they've needed to collect, Safeware has been good to deal with. I'm definitely insuring my new PowerBook before I head off for study abroad for a year...

Any other questions, feel free to ask, as I actually run a website on laptops (though focusing on Apple ones), so I follow all this stuff reasonably closely.

SimonM · Post by **SimonM** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:34 pm

Thought I'd add a couple more things, after re-reading your question. As far as bags, this is a pretty good list of brands that I like and trust:

http://pbzone.com/bags.shtml. I don't know about your daughter's style, but of the companies on that site, I think Timbuk2 is particularly stylish, and they are all over college campuses. All of those brands make bags that are good quality, though.

I also wanted to comment on the screen size issue. My new PowerBook has a 12" screen, and I had originally planned to buy an external LCD for my home, but I've found it to be quite adequate, actually. Regardless of brand, you might consider going the route of a small screened laptop, but with a 17" (or bigger) LCD for the dorm room. I've found that with my 12" laptop, I'm finally actually willing to carry it to school and not just have its portability used for reading while in bed

This is a matter of personal taste, and what your daughter is hoping to use the laptop for, of course, but just something to consider. The weight difference between a 15" and 12" laptop isn't always that much, but when added to a pile of text books, it can feel like a lot! Oh, and for LCDs, I definitely recommend the Dells. They have very good prices, and are good quality screens. Apple charges a premium to have your LCD and computer match.

navajadeafeitar · Post by **navajadeafeitar** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 4:43 pm

Hi Sam:

I haven't been a student in a while, but I do part time research at a university and I can tell you that a lot depends on your daughter's choice of a major. As an engineer, it would probably be pretty hard (but definitely not impossible) for me to use a Mac, just because of the paucity of Mac flavors of the applications that I use. Some professors also hand out software and the vast majority of this nowadays runs on Windows. If I were to study liberal arts etc, then it would probably be a different matter.

I would think carefully before committing to a Mac, though I think they're great computers.

best,

Nirmal

Post by **Sam** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 5:46 pm

great replies, all, and keep em coming. i will talk to her to at least consider apple, but she will use it for internet over 50 percent of the time, and to send us pics she will take. dell and ibm seem to be neck and neck. issues with dell, plastic cases. ibm, steel mostly. tech support nod goes to dell, but fewer repairs with ibm. each has a complete care pack for all but theft and intentional destruction. i will check safeway and some renters insurance for sure. there is a t42 ibm with 14 inch screen for like $1600.

She wont be gaming or engineering, but maybe a few business courses and she is set on political science to get into law school. go figure, i was business major.

she wants a bright and smaller screen. she has a ibm laptop at home and cares not for the external screen. she hates this black color and the red button above the "b" key. no built in mouse, but she wants an optical mouse.

any more recommendations, keep em coming

sam

clownjuggles · Post by **clownjuggles** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:50 pm

Ok Sam you just nailed a few good reasons for apple.

Apple is very safe online being a unix based system. and the photo issues are an extremely easy program called iPhoto. http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/ And if you have found that iPod you know how easy itunes is for music.

Post by **Sam** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 6:04 am

simon, tell me more about that insurance. i show my fee would be $90 for a $1500 computer. is that per year? if so, then it is good cause that is how much i would spend to protect a dell from just accidental damage for 4 years ($360 or so), but this covers theft.

how has experience been with accidents or thefts at colleges? is their service good say on fixing it if the screen goes out, or do u have to wait like 3 months?

thanks

sam

Post by **Sam** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 11:49 am

i got a quote on a dell 600 m, with 1.8 ghz 64 meg video card, 512 ram, 24Xcdr/dvd, 14 sxga inch screen down to about $1187 with standard one year warranty, or about $1344 for the 4 year complete care package. curious as to the insurance simon showed, $96. is that per year? if so, i might do that becuase it covers theft as well for the same price.

sam

clownjuggles · Post by **clownjuggles** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 3:39 pm

Sam,

What college will she go to? Call up their IT division and ask them what reccomended systems they suggest.

Post by **Sam** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 4:56 pm

i did. ut knoxville. this exceeds their minimum specs

so, i need to decide on bluetooth or not, and what kinda insurance. she is gonna have to pick 14 or 12 inch, but i vote 14. she has that now, and eyestrain might really get to her on the 12

sam

Lionhoo · Post by **Lionhoo** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 4:55 pm

Sam,

As it turns out I'm graduating from law school in May and went through the laptop purchase just three short years ago.

I bought a Dell. For the most part it has treated me well. Several of my classmates also bought Dells and they did not fair so well. My keyboard freezes up occasionally (as have friend's keyboards) and the A/C adaptor was recalled on Dells just recently. I had to purchase a new battery last semester, it wouldn't hold a charge worth a darn after 2 years. Dell support said that my battery lasting for 2 years was actually really good, most conk out earlier than that.

Several of my friends have dumped their Dells (they bought them at the same time I did) and have purchased Sony laptops. They are more expensive, but IMO, they are sturdier than a Dell. You can also get internal Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (two things that I could not live without.) My next laptop will be a Sony.

Hope it helps.

BTW, I grew up in Southwestern VA, not far from UT. Beautiful part of the country!

Best,

-Marshall

Post by **Sam** » Tue May 03, 2005 5:25 am

i ordered her the dell. i could not beat that price with the insurance. that insuance is the best i could find at dell (at home service, special technical support number and accidental damage for 4 YEARS). if you discount that insurance by say $250, i got the computer for like $1200 and i could not get those specs with most other brands.

still am curious about insurance with that software.com place or other places

sam

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Tue May 03, 2005 11:48 am

Good choice. Can't beat Dell for the money and configurations. My son likes his and uses it al the time. It has a built-in WIFI so he can email and surf in his dorm or student hall and library.

Personally, I like my IBM Thinkpad better but it's more expensive.

Post by **Sam** » Wed May 04, 2005 6:12 am

yeah, i was torn between a think pad and the dell. but i read where you get a new LCD screen once by dell and ibm gives you problems. that and the customer support for her at school, some 6 hours away. she has a problem, she can have them come to her dorm room to take a look. the computer store at her school says there are a lot of dells around campus and they had good service.

btw, i got a better deal from going to the website and buying as a home user than i did by signing up for educational discount. i did not get a lot of programs (only windows xp professional and the free stuff) but she can get office professional at her college (UT Knoxville) for $64 and other programs as well

sam