Buying a computer for college

Mileshigh

So this may be a bit ahead of myself but i am thinking if i get the course i want i will probably need a laptop. Anyone have any suggestions on good deals and what is reliable etc. Don't mind spending a bit extra if it lasts me the four years.

brownacid

What course are you planning to do? Most colleges have more than enough computer facilities to cater for the students. You never NEED a laptop unless your doing something like computer programming. Having said that it is handy to have one, I've just finished my degree and while I bought a laptop halfway through first year many of my friends got through just fine without one.

Having said that, if your just going to be using it for word processing and general ms office stuff any laptop should suffice, I would recommend get as light a laptop as you can afford. Its an extra 2ish kilos your going to be lugging around on your back every day.

Carsinian Thau

brownacid wrote: »

What course are you planning to do? Most colleges have more than enough computer facilities to cater for the students. You never NEED a laptop unless your doing something like computer programming. Having said that it is handy to have one, I've just finished my degree and while I bought a laptop halfway through first year many of my friends got through just fine without one.

This is true in theory but in practice, it's much less of a headache to have your own computer. Queues will rather quickly become awful and if you're doing assignments etc. it's quite annoying depending on the college computers.

brownacid wrote: »

Having said that, if your just going to be using it for word processing and general ms office stuff any laptop should suffice, I would recommend get as light a laptop as you can afford. Its an extra 2ish kilos your going to be lugging around on your back every day.

This is very true. The weight quickly becomes very annoying (even if you only bring it in rarely).

What budget are you working with OP? Are you a Windows/Mac/Linux user? And depending on your course, some may be better than others.

njd2010

Mileshigh wrote: »

So this may be a bit ahead of myself but i am thinking if i get the course i want i will probably need a laptop. Anyone have any suggestions on good deals and what is reliable etc. Don't mind spending a bit extra if it lasts me the four years.

Depends on how much extra you are willing to spend, but if you can spare the cash and longevity is a big concern, the new Macbook Airs are a great choice. Relatively expensive, but Apple's got fairly good customer service and OSX (while it takes a tiny bit of getting used to if you've always used Windows) requires very little maintenance, next to none in fact. That combined with the aluminium build quality and the fact that solid state drives are now standard (this just means the hard drive has no moving parts, which takes most of the possibility for failure out while speeding up the machine quite a lot) gives you the best chance for having a computer that you won't need to replace within the next 5 or 6 years at least. Also, they are ridiculously thin, so carrying them around is easy.

If your budget doesn't stretch that far (or you're into PC gaming), Dell's Inspiron laptops are pretty solid and can be had for around €500. Downsides include the fact that nothing about them makes them particularly great at lasting for a long time, but they'll do the trick as long as you keep a decent Antivirus running to keep you safe on those dodgy campus networks and maintain them regularly. You don't want to ever have to deal with Dell's customer service, they can be a bit... outsourced.

Really, any PC these days can last far more than 5 years if it's looked after,but I'd recommend a Macbook simply on the basis that it'll be considerably less likely to crap out on you when it's needed most.

Edit: Also agree with above poster's comment, which course you do might factor in. If you are say, doing an IT or programming related course, take a look at the modules and check, as Windows might be important.

Esel

Keep an eye on Aldi and Lidl - theirs are usually high-spec for general purpose use, and will have a 3-year warranty as standard.

This Acer for €299 in Tesco seems very good value.

Aoifey!

I'm not sure about types, but I would definitely recommened getting a laptop for college. I didn't get one til Christmas in 1st year and it was such a pain having to do my essays in college or borrow others laptops. It makes it a hell of a lot easier to have your own.

mikemac

They are brilliant to have

There can be big queues for computers some days and often you're under pressure to get work done and people are dicking around on facebook

Having your laptop means you do this at home instead of walking home late from college on dark winter nights

Go light OP, weight will bother you
Unless you're playing games you don't need an expensive one, any decent laptop will play music and word processing

Get a printer too OP, not having to rely on the college printers can be invaluable

Darius.Tr

I'we seen sony offering discounts for students, so i think you would be better of waiting for a while till you get your student card or what ever you need to prove that you are a student...I'm not sure about other shops I havent looked in to it yet.

Aoifey!

mikemac wrote: »

Get a printer too OP, not having to rely on the college printers can be invaluable

Best advice you will ever hear for your college life. I plan on investing in one very soon. When it's an hour before the deadline and you can't find a working college printer, you'll understand.

Dave_Kilkenny

Browse Komplett.ie they always have highly competitive prices and I'm sure the staff who browse the forum would be more than happy to help you pick.

Komplett forum on Boards.ie

**Timbuk2**

I would recommend a netbook, as opposed to a laptop - I have one and it's what I used for first year in college. I got an Acer Aspire One netbook in PowerCity in Drogheda that was on special offer - it has Windows 7 starter so it's not that much different from a normal laptop, just much smaller. Also, netbooks often don't have built in CD Drives so you need to get an external USB one if you need cds/dvds.

But I'd easily get between 4 and 5 hours battery life from my netbook from full charge - it's a 6 cell battery.

You don't really need a special bag or anything for it - I just put it into my bag as if it was another book - it's only about the size of a refill pad after all, just thicker!

But that's just my opinion - most people have laptops, not netbooks, but I think having to carry in your hands an extra bag for a laptop is annoying, and laptops often don't last as long as netbooks in terms of battery life, so they're always chasing around for a plug.

bnt

Smaller is definitely better, for the weight, and also if you hope to take notes during lectures. Most of the benches in lecture theatres are tiny, and a big laptop is at more risk of being knocked off.