Laptop for college??

Armani-style

Hello everyone,

I am going to college soon and need to know what sort of laptop to buy.

I want a decent one that will not be out of date in two years,so I will say my budget is about E2000,give or take a hundred.
I want decent batterie life,and also good storage.

What are your opinions on the Vaio AR series?

Please help,I don't know alot about buying laptops.

p.pete

You probably don't know yet what you're going to be using it for - but what type of course are you going into? That might help in figuring out how flash a laptop you need...

Armani-style

Law,an llb. But I want one that is going to be a good one,one that will last.
Let's say a budget of 1500-2000 then. Do you have any opinions?

Armani-style

I want something portable(Do you think the 17" AR is too big?) yet powerful. If it looks flash that could help also. I want over 100 GB of storage and maybe 2ghz(I am not sure what this is but a friend said it's important).
Should I go for sony/dell etc.????

Advice is welcome,

Thnaks

xebec

There's plenty of excellent laptops out there and you shouldn't need to spend €2000 to get a very good one that will fit your specs.

17" is too big if you want to carry it around - great for watching movies but hard on the back if you're carrying it all day.

What college are you going to? Most have discount schemes available to students - in my college we get 10% off some and other specials on software etc.

Don't limit yourself to Dell & Sony just because they're the most common names on the street, shop around. Spending more on a laptop won't necessarily make it have a long life - getting what you need and value for money are far more important. It doesn't sound like you're going to be doing anything too fancy so don't get too hung up on the specs you can get. 100GB hard drive is a good idea, although 80GB is more common, get a decent processor - a lot of newer laptops have Intel Core 2 Duo - but there's no need to go over the top, those law essays don't really need that much processor power!

Have a look around, see what is good both size-wise and spec-wise and make sure you're happy that you're getting value for money. And if you really know little about laptops get advice from as many different sources as possible.

(And take a look at the stuff Apple is offering at the moment, macbook and macbook pro's are nice pieces of kit - and they give a decent discount to students!)

lau1247

i have only one tip..
Portability is very important..
You might not think so at the moment..
Like I did back then..

I have an acer ferrari..
Laptop with charger comes to about slightly over 4kg..
It's a great laptop.. no doubt about that..
But I just don't like carrying weight around..

How about a HP??
I saw a small one in the laptopshop in st.stephen green..
It's between the normal 15" sony and the sony TX series lappie..
So the size is perfect
good looking too

edited: found the model.. http://reviews.cnet.com/HP_Pavilion_dv2000t/4505-3121_7-32000604.html?tag=pdtl-list

Thirdfox

I have a HP dv1354ea (think they have an updated one out now) - 100GB, 1G RAM, 14" widescreen, 1.83Ghz Centrino processor, battery life circa 2:20 hours, weight just under 2kg.

Now I study law in TCD (I think I read somewhere you're going to TCD too). This is a great laptop for taking notes (the keyboard is very comfortable to use) - also the balance is struck between readability and compactness with a slim 14" screen. It even has a remote control for watching DVDs and listening to music (if you like the flashiness). Touchpad can be turned off (very handy when quickly typing on the keyboard).

Cons, 2:20 hour battery life, it'll take you through your day in college (max 2 hours of lectures) but anymore work and you'll need to invest in a second battery (I haven't... just charge it up in the library in between).

The graphics card is Intel... meaning you won't be playing today's games at anywhere near the highest level of detail e.g. Halo at full graphics can be played in 800x600 resolution (default resolution of laptop is 1280x768)

A shop in St. Stephen's Green (The Laptop Shop on 3rd floor) sells them for circa €1500. Go get an XP Professional upgrade (TCD requires that) and see can you get some software bundles (HP gives you Wordperfect and some other Microsoft applications but not Office).

Whew! Hope that's helped a bit!

K.O.Kiki

I pity all you laptop users with such poor battery life -- I still get 4-5hrs out of my 1yr-old iBook!

Have a look into the Macbook is what I say; they're flash, and Apple usually implement their power-saving modes correctly -- you should expect 3.5-6hrs out of the battery (yes, I am going by Apple brochure, but the iBook brochure was correct!

Thirdfox

Battery power can be increased... with a reduction in performance of course! Can you play Halo at full resolution with high graphics? Indeed going with Apple means limiting yourself with regards to some software (but not others e.g. photoshop etc.)

It's a big decision, switching OS...

K.O.Kiki

If you REALLY wanna play games on the move -- get yourself a Nintendo DS! (or a PSP if you're a fashion whore )
And leave my Halo on Xbox where it belongs!

Thirdfox wrote:

Indeed going with Apple means limiting yourself with regards to some software (but not others e.g. photoshop etc.)

It's a big decision, switching OS...

My grandad switched. Are you telling me a 77yr-old man can switch OS easier than yourself?

68 lost souls

I was looking at a Mac aswel, doing Product Design and I've been told many a time that they are the best for multimedia, editing and design. Would I be right? Gonna use it for things like C.A.D. and other design, editing both music and video, the usual web usage among other things.