laptop for college

[amietron]

i want a new laptop for college. my parents said that if i didn't go to a private university, i could buy one that cost $17,000. haha. i think they were just pulling my leg. i need a light-weight laptop that's really durable. i need it to go online and do work. any suggestions?

[sOKaLiBoY]

whatever you do do not buy a sony vaio laptop. they are light-weight but are a pos.

[VV o n g B a]

wait a little bit for the new ati mobility 9600 chips if u wanna play games on your laptop.

[Tao]

CENTRINO!

[yoMAMA]

IMHO, I would look at:

Dell :D
Toshiba
Apple ibook and powerbook :o

and basically any other wintel/amd laptops-except compaq and winbook. I heard those are bad.

[d-boy]

Fujitsu S Series
Panasonic T1 or R1
Toshiba ultralight

[lethal]

If you're just going online and word processing, then you don't need much at all.

If you need to play games or do anything graphics intensive, then you need more.

I have a Dell. Other classmates have HPs, Toshibas, and Sonys mostly. And Macs too. iBooks.

[Emperor_Mike]

Dells are nice. Compaq and HP laptops aren't bad per se, but I've heard that many are prone to "difficulties."

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Do NOT go for HP, especially pavilion. They have a defective heat sensor in them, which always thinks the CPU is overheating, and as a result shuts the system down at any random fucking time it feels like. The problem worsens as you own the machine for longer. It's so bad now that a minute running at 100% CPU load will cause the system to shut down. Meaning on a 1.4GHz machine, I can't even watch a divx-encoded movie and leave kazaa or AIM running in the background ... it's one or the other.

But I survived most of university without a computer of my own. Didn't get one until just before I went to HK. Most people I know had a similar experience ... until they started senior year and needed to work on their thesis, access to a computer in their room just meant they goofed off and spent more time online, and less time going out or studying.

[tvbdude]

my friend's friend supposedly bought 2 laptops for $500 but when he opened it, it was filled with stones. the sellers are black

[AngryABCGirl]

I heard HP and Compaq have issues. I have a Toshiba laptop, and it gets the job done, but I don't play games or anything like that. Just a few song/movie downloads, word processing, online, watching movies, and that's it.

You might want to jot down certain things you want, like processer speeds and stuff like that and then go down to a place like Frys or a mass discount store and see what computers they have to offer.

[teaz0r]

i buy the one that
looks the prettiest.

when i first went,
i got myself a vaio.

then the white ibook
came out. then the
shiny black vaio came
out.

buy sell buy sell!

now i'm back to using
a vaio. fujitsus are
pretty too. and the
powerbooks. those
are SUPER pretty.

[YuheiCarreau]

If you're gonna go with a Mac, don't buy an iBook, especially if you plan to do any graphics work or anything like that. They use G3 processors, which are pretty old, and even though they're still good in most areas you're not saving enough money buying an iBook instead of a Powerbook 'cause when it comes to using Photoshop, editing video, or even viewing DVDs while you use other applications, G3s are slooooow. I reccomend the 15-inch Powerbook or the 12-inch if you're looking for something portable, as the 17-inch is ridiculously expensive and probably has more features than you'd need.

[himura-dono]

sager uses the same lappy mobo's as dell and alienware and costs a shitload less. go to sager get a lappy as good as theirs, for less, play games or not, but enjoy it. i never bother to check if sager offers magneium alloy cases tho, but their cases are supposed to be as duarable as dell's i think.

[Chester]

You have a lot of narrowing down to do. Obviously, you have to figure out your price range...$800...$1000...$1500...$2000?

But more importantly, you need to figure out whether you want to have your laptop as not just a laptop, but a surrogate desktop, or if you want something ultraportable.

That is: is this something you're just going to bring with you to/from school during breaks and maybe the occasional session in the library, or is this something you're going to always have in your bag or at least with you every time the sun's out and you feel like "working" on the grass...with a real desktop in your room?

If it's the former, get something that's loaded up: fast components as well as a CD burner and large screen and all that. If it's the latter, then you have to consider how small is small enough.

As someone with one of the Sony Picturebooks, I'd urge you go slightly larger with one of the ultra-thin/compact units with 10 or 12" screens. Toshiba, Sony, Dell, Sharp, Fujitsu...there are a lot of cool options out there.

[yoMAMA]

Himura reminded me:

Alienware

How can I forget this, a green laptop-and other out of this world colors :D

<img src='http://hardware.actiontrip.com/gfx2/aware/a51_big.jpg[/img]

[himura-dono]

and overpriced by a few $k

[yoMAMA]

no doubt about that :P

[My Name Is...]

I have a Toshiba Satellite and I'm pretty satisfied. I watch DVDs and play music on it, but no games. I haven't really had any problems. (The only problems were those from viruses through e-mail. :angry: )

And please do check out Frye's. Their prices are really decent.