recommend me a good college laptop
 

so i'm off to college and i want a laptop to carry to class and stuff. I really only want it to be smaller and lighter, able to handle word and stuff ya know to take notes, and like cool stuff like watching DVD's and maybe it should be able to handle lighter games ya know? I was looking at the Alienware Sentia...i dont know what is much better than that so just help me out please! Dont go much over the 1200 price range

Go for a Dell with an Intel Centrino processor, 512MB of RAM, a 40-60GB hard drive, whatever cheapest graphics card option they have, and Microsoft Office (purchase this on newegg.com; where you get Office2003 Pro for $160 vs. $400)

Why not give OpenOffice a try? ...Hell, it has all the fetures, and a price tag of $0 :)
www.openoffice.org

Actually if you must use MS software (office, windows, whateverelse), check your school first. At Purdue, you could get alot of MS software for around $10 legal. Windows, Office, Visual Studio, and a few others. I hardly used any of them, but bought them anyway just to have copies.
As for laptops, just stay the fuck away from Gateway and Compaq.

I've been looking for the same thing, and so far the best I've found is a Dell 600m. Now, I'll probably be doing more than typing papers and surfing, so I figured I need more power....so I'm looking at a Pentium M 725, 60GB HD, 512 MB RAM, wireless, LAN, and modem, Windows XP Pro. I'm not too worried about graphics or sound, and the college I'm going to offers the educational version of MS Office at a reduced price. As far as virus and spyware protection, Staples usually has rebates, so I can get them cheap.

Best price I've gotten so far fluctuates between $1000 and $1200.

My father-in-law just bought the 600m around the same time I bought the 700m...

The 700m is a little smaller than the 600m but they are both without complaint so far...

I run a small company of about 55 employees. We tried to use OpenOffice for a while but frankly, it was a very bad decision. No matter what the claims the software does not match up to the quality of the MS suite. It was clunky and buggy and there is little to no support available. Most of all, it is NOT widely compatible with MS Office, which is what most businesses run. I would suggest finding an academic version of MS Office and going with that. OpenOffice, StarOffice, or whatever you decide to use that is Anti MS will have little to no value on your resume and will likely be a negative instead of a positive attribute for 99.9% of the folks you would interview with.

Just my opinion.

What's so bad about Gateway and Compaq?

Dell and IBM are the top laptop dealers in terms of price and reliability.

Anti-spyware programs are all free (Combo of Ad-Aware-Spybot-SpywareBlaster-Microsoft AntiSpyware is the best option, 100% free).
Anti-virus can also be had for free (AVG antivirus).

I would check to see if your university sells programs for dirt cheap (like Purdue who mass purchases the licenses most likely).

Nothing wrong with Compaq, but most of the computers that come through our repair shop and are unfixable are either Gateways or Emachines.

Your best bet is Dell or HP. Alienware is decent if you want to pay the expenses, but please don't ever buy Gateway or Emachines.

Ehh, i've had my Gateway laptop for about 5 years now, and it's still running pretty decent. My only complaint is that the battery life is pretty short, and obviously it's an outdated machine because it's 5 years old. I think I would buy another Gateway if I had to.

Yeah -definitely- check your school for software.

I managed to pick up the Windows XP Pro upgrade (and the 64bit upgrade) for 20 dollars, plus Office XP Pro for 10. It was so sexy I couldn't see straight.

It gave me the warm and fuzzies to see that kind of software arrive in the mail for a tenth the price of the price.

You also might want to check with the school to see if they are getting discounts from manufacturers... You might (or might not) end up with a better price going thru school than you will on your own.

Since you will be using it for class- you really want to look at battery life. Battery life on a new laptop is about 3 -4 hours with constant use (my 3 year old laptop averages about 45 minutes) You will probably want to get an extra battery that y ou keep charged (most laptops you can pop out the cd rom/dvd drive and put in an extra battery if you need it.

The stock changes almost on a daily basis... but check out www.overstock.com -- their prices are usually pretty terrific, their shipping rates are usually $1.00 and it's quick shipping. SOme of t hier stock is factory reconditioned (which honestly isn't bad.. you still get a warranty on it - but it might have been an open box which a store can't sell as new)

aren't HP and Compaq the same company?

Yeah, but their warranty policies do differ slightly.

My best advice is if you have a local computer shop that you trust, find out what certifications the tech's have. If they can fix the units locally under warranty, that's your best bet. Worst thing that can happen for you is to get a laptop, they say " Sure we can fix it." then they send the thing off to the nearest repair depot. Which depending on the brand could be next door or across the country.

Ive been using my Dell 700m at college for a year and I have no complaints about it all, in fact I love it... its so small and does everything I want it to (except play games). I bought the larger battery for it which has a battery life of 5-6 hours whereas the default is only about 2.5 hours.

stay away from celeron processors.
and beware the words "integrated graphics card" or "shared video memory"

they can't handle the newer games coming out.
and dont think that you'll be able to just upgrade the video card later, because you can't.

If this is just for college, you don't really need too much, but if you're planning on using this for business when you get out...just remember you can't upgrade (as has already been said).

And Celeron processors are fine. The only difference in a Pentium M 725 and a Celeron M 350 is .3 GHz. That's not enough to notice a difference, and most of the power is in processes that most people never run anyway. Plus pentium uses more power.

If you're planning to play games, then you might still need more power, but if it's "just" for college, celeron should be fine. In fact, I gotta cousin who plays (2005) games on his Celeron 6000, and he says it works fine.