Hey everyone, alright so I finally decided that I'm heading down to the University of Florida in August for my first year of college and I need a laptop... and I'm going to be an Engineering major so I can't go Mac like I originally planned. It just sucks, I don't want to use Vista, but I do have a legit copy of XP so I guess I'm still alright. I'm just curious as to what brands would be good to look at in the next month or so and some features that I'll definitely need, besides DVI-out of course. I won't be watching too many movies on its screen (I've got a 22") so size isn't really important but I would like at least 15". I want it to have decent battery life and durability, it's gotta last a while.


UF's minimum requirements are definitely a little out date so I don't think it's going to help at all...


Any help you guys can offer would be great!

Thanks!

Just make sure it can play Oblivion.

A budget sure would help. You want a tablet or just a regular one? And be careful since a lot of newer laptops are Vista only, i.e. the manufacturers don't make drivers for XP.

Quote: Originally Posted by 4x0n A budget sure would help. You want a tablet or just a regular one? And be careful since a lot of newer laptops are Vista only, i.e. the manufacturers don't make drivers for XP.

Oh right, sorry, I guess that budget is important I'm looking at around $2,000 (possible student discounts?)

How's Sony or IBM?

No idea on Sony, but IBM is now Lenovo and their pretty good, big fan of the Thinkpad series, but they're pretty expensive.

I've heard good thing about some of the Acer laptops, HP has picked up their slack apparently, Dell's are decent. You should check out those brands see what's in your price range that you want and google them to see if there any problems that are frequent.

I don't know much about Laptops. But I know this. GO GATORS :-)

Students can get a macbook pro for $1800, might want to take a look at those too.

Quote: Originally Posted by RedRozeWolF Oh right, sorry, I guess that budget is important I'm looking at around $2,000 (possible student discounts?) How's Sony or IBM?

As previously stated, IBM is now Lenovo, and I'm composing this message from my X31 ... it's about 4 years old, and still rocking. (Avoid X4-series, however -- slow, non-standard HD size, difficult to upgrade).

Anyway, as a Lenovo fanboy, I can only recommend them with the utmost happiness ... but I will say that the X-series are for ultralight, ultraportable uses, which gives good battery life but cuts out things like peripherals in a lot of them.

However, my work Lappy is a Dell 630, quite nice, dual-core CPU, and with a reasonable on-board graphics chip (256MB dedicated RAM) that can hack out Oblivion, HL2, BF2, COD4, and others. Not the highest res, of course, but quite good. Plus you can claim, "Dude, I got a Dell." They're quite reliable. I just spec'd out a Vostro with maxed CPU (2.4GHz, dual-core), RAM (4GB), and graphics (8600GT to go, or something like that). Came to $1800+ after the instant rebates.

Point is, with 2 grand to kill, you can go a long way. If this is your first year at college, I'd go so far as just spending a grand on a Dell and save the extra grand for ... uh ... soda. And the like.

-godling

Quote: Originally Posted by godling However, my work Lappy is a Dell 630, quite nice, dual-core CPU, and with a reasonable on-board graphics chip (256MB dedicated RAM) that can hack out Oblivion, HL2, BF2, COD4, and others. Not the highest res, of course, but quite good. Plus you can claim, "Dude, I got a Dell." They're quite reliable. I just spec'd out a Vostro with maxed CPU (2.4GHz, dual-core), RAM (4GB), and graphics (8600GT to go, or something like that). Came to $1800+ after the instant rebates. Point is, with 2 grand to kill, you can go a long way. If this is your first year at college, I'd go so far as just spending a grand on a Dell and save the extra grand for ... uh ... soda. And the like. -godling

Haha! Well, that is a good point, I started doing some pricing and there's some nice stuff easily around $1,500.

Quote: Originally Posted by Slaymate I don't know much about Laptops. But I know this. GO GATORS :-)

Oh yeah!! HAha, I wasn't really into college sports until this year, and now I have to be a fan, and I'm looking forward to it!! UF GATORS!!

Quote: Originally Posted by post_break Students can get a macbook pro for $1800, might want to take a look at those too.

I would get a macbook pro, except that like I said, the program I'm in "requires" windows...so I'm stuck with windows

Quote: Originally Posted by godling As previously stated, IBM is now Lenovo, and I'm composing this message from my X31 ... it's about 4 years old, and still rocking. (Avoid X4-series, however -- slow, non-standard HD size, difficult to upgrade). Anyway, as a Lenovo fanboy, I can only recommend them with the utmost happiness ... but I will say that the X-series are for ultralight, ultraportable uses, which gives good battery life but cuts out things like peripherals in a lot of them. However, my work Lappy is a Dell 630, quite nice, dual-core CPU, and with a reasonable on-board graphics chip (256MB dedicated RAM) that can hack out Oblivion, HL2, BF2, COD4, and others. Not the highest res, of course, but quite good. Plus you can claim, "Dude, I got a Dell." They're quite reliable. I just spec'd out a Vostro with maxed CPU (2.4GHz, dual-core), RAM (4GB), and graphics (8600GT to go, or something like that). Came to $1800+ after the instant rebates. Point is, with 2 grand to kill, you can go a long way. If this is your first year at college, I'd go so far as just spending a grand on a Dell and save the extra grand for ... uh ... soda. And the like. -godling

Lenovo fan here too, I want a tablet sooo bad

Quote: Originally Posted by 4x0n No idea on Sony, but IBM is now Lenovo and their pretty good, big fan of the Thinkpad series, but they're pretty expensive. I've heard good thing about some of the Acer laptops, HP has picked up their slack apparently, Dell's are decent. You should check out those brands see what's in your price range that you want and google them to see if there any problems that are frequent.

Like I said i love lenovo laptops.

They really aren't too badly priced, I must say the 12" models can come with up to 2.6GHz of non Low Voltage CPU power, and still pack out the door (without major memory or HDD size, those you can upgrade yourself for fairly cheap compared to the backing company charge) for around $1,500.

I looked at the X series recently, but I haven't after I relized how much I want a tablet.

Quote: Originally Posted by RedRozeWolF I would get a macbook pro, except that like I said, the program I'm in "requires" windows...so I'm stuck with windows

Dual boot?

Quote: Originally Posted by s1ugh34d I looked at the X series recently, but I haven't after I relized how much I want a tablet.

Here's a 12.1" X series tablet Lenovo - Notebook computers - ThinkPad X Series Tablet Enjoy

Do you want to game? Because if so the best graphics card you're going to get in a 15'' form factor is the 8600M GT. That's what I've got in my Inspiron 1520 laptop (great piece of kit by the way; check it out) and it handles pretty much everything apart from Crysis on medium detail at 1280x800.

Basically, as far as guideline specs go, I'd say you want at least a 2.2ghz Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM and a 160gb 5400rpm hard drive.

Quote: Originally Posted by Slaymate I don't know much about Laptops. But I know this. GO GATORS :-)

Word. And your ass better be here June 28th for the FL Pimps and Players LAN and watch me rape face in UT2004

Quote: Originally Posted by Master Yunk Dual boot?

If I'll be doing most of my work in Windows anyway, I don't think it's worth a dual boot.

Quote: Originally Posted by 4x0n Here's a 12.1" X series tablet Lenovo - Notebook computers - ThinkPad X Series Tablet Enjoy

At first, I wasn't sure about a tablet, like WHY would I need one when I can just have a normal laptop? My handwriting sucks, but that looks pretty cool, I'm gonna have to take a better look at that later.

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Do you want to game? Because if so the best graphics card you're going to get in a 15'' form factor is the 8600M GT. That's what I've got in my Inspiron 1520 laptop (great piece of kit by the way; check it out) and it handles pretty much everything apart from Crysis on medium detail at 1280x800. Basically, as far as guideline specs go, I'd say you want at least a 2.2ghz Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM and a 160gb 5400rpm hard drive.

Gaming is not extremely important, it'd be nice but I'm probably not going to be playing too many advanced games, I'll definitely be watching movies though.

Quote: Originally Posted by j-dogg Word. And your ass better be here June 28th for the FL Pimps and Players LAN and watch me rape face in UT2004

Good luck with that, haha, that's actually the day I graduate.

You can wipe out OSX all together and just run windows (gasp) on that macbook pro.

But why when you can get a fully loaded 17" HP for less than the bog standard 17" Macbook Pro?

Another Lenovo lover checking in here. The only problem that my 3000 v100 has given me is that I broke the headphone jack, but that was my fault. They're durable as anything, have a great keyboard layout and it's light enough for me to lift from any part of the laptop with one hand.

Well I suggest the macbook pro because of the magnetic power adapter, 1 inch thin design, 5.5 confirmed battery life, and multitouch trackpad. But thats just me. If you do buy a PC laptop go with a thinkpad, the only other computer I would consider if I wasnt buying a mac.

Quote: Originally Posted by post_break Well I suggest the macbook pro because of the magnetic power adapter, 1 inch thin design, 5.5 confirmed battery life, and multitouch trackpad. But thats just me. If you do buy a PC laptop go with a thinkpad, the only other computer I would consider if I wasnt buying a mac.

Great minds think alike