[trialsboy50]

Hey all,

I'm going to college next year, and looking into a new labtop. I was initally set on a Powerbook G4, but after doing all the customization, I think it may run too much $$.

My sisters have Dells and frankly have had a ton of problems, so I'd like to avoid those.

HOw are Sonys? A computer friend mentioned they were fairly reliable. I plan to use it for generally college stuff, music, email, photo editing (photoshop cs) and possibly video editiing. I realize that in the case of large file editing, people seem to promote Macs, are they really better for these purposes and is high power powerbook (superdrive, 1.67, 100gb, 512 gb of ram) going to be better, the same or worse for a cheaper say sony, with simimlar processing speed, but maybe twice the ram or soemthing.

sorry for the incoherence,

byron

 

[Kornphlake]

We've got a couple of sony's here at work, my impression of them is that they run slower than they are, one we've got is a 1.1 gHz but feels like 500 mHz. It literally takes 2 minutes to boot up and isn't very snappy at anything else either. The only real good thing I can say about it is the docking port is pretty nifty, it's small enough that you can leave it docked all the time or unhook it when you don't want those extra ports and stuff, and it's built in wireless stuff seems to work much better than any other wireless card we've got in any of the desktops.

People on the computer geek forums seem to like Toshiba and IBM laptops pretty well.

 

[luken8r]

i have a dell inspirion 8600 that i picked up last year for a desktop replacement. no problems so far
ive played plenty of games on it, hacked into neighbor's wireless networks, video editing, etc on it without any issues
1.3ghz pentium m proc
768ram
64vram
40gb hdd
firewire and ghz wireless
ran me aboot $1200 january 04

 

[firetoole]

get a mac before they taint them with PC cooties

 

[H8R]

What the hell is a Labtop?

 

[Motionboy2]

What the hell is a Labtop?

I was thinking the same thing

 

[SkaredShtles]

Get stuffed you spelling Nazis. You know what he was talking about. :eviltongu

 

[merrrrjig]

Id try to go for the Mac. There such better computers. My friend has a Sony Viao or w/e and its the slowest computer ive ever been on, but I also think it has every virus on earth!

 

[Jayridesacove]

You major will usually dictate what laptop to purchase.

Most colleges/universities post their computer requirements for majors online.

G4's are great for the art, english, and graphic design type majors. But for general engineering, math type majors you will most likely be required to have a non mac laptop.

Start browsing college/university website to see what schools you're interested in and see what each has for their computer requirements.

 

[bjanga]

I am running a dell and having no problems with intense gaming and some editing. What types problems are your sisters having?

 

[oly]

Just make sure it has a spell checker, and a sarcasm filter........

 

[sanjuro]

Well, he mispelled laptop in the title and the thread. Maybe he does think it is labtop.

 

[Spitfired]

I've been very happy with my HP ZT3000 (no longer availible). It's got a rediculous resolution (1920 x 1280), it's very slim, amazing battery (3.5 to 4.5 hour life, depending on brightness/wireless), and it's a pretty atractive machine.
HP's current comparable model would be dv4000. It's basicly the same thing hardware wise, but I think it has their cool DVD/music only boot mode and it's a little bit cleaner looking (damnit!)

I use it primarily for Photoshop, Autocad and Solidworks, although since summer started it's just been email and ocasionally instant messaging outside on the porch with a brew.

 

[trialsboy50]

Yea sorry, I dont proofread everything I write on forums. My apologies.

My sister's Dells just constantly have bugs forcing them to restart and stuff like that. I have a dell desktop currently, and havent been particularly impressed.

Labtop, laptop, i could care less, I really dont think about my grammer too much on forums as everyone seems to be able to figure it out. so im sorry if i offended you witht he wrong spelling.

Thanks for the responses, as for major, I'm most likely an Econ major and psych minor. No into math at all.

I will keep looking at the powerbooks as they are tempting.

Byron

 

[bluebug32]

I just graduated and spent 4 years on a Dell Inspiron without experiencing one single problem despite my rampent downloading and its constant use. I know a lot of people who love their Dells. Labtops/laptops are just going to be more expensive period, but I loved having a laptop so that I could take it home over breaks and take it to campus if needed. On the flipside, I now work in publishing and we do all of our layout on Macs. I hate the Macs, but I will give them credit for their photo/video editing abilities. Just remember that you'll also have computer facilities at school with all the programs you'll need to use for editing and such.

Beth

 

[Austin Bike]

I'm on my about my 15th Dell notebook between home, work and my wife's. Only had 1 bad one and that was an inspiron 3700. Those were bad but the rest of the Inspiron and Latitudes have been rock solid. Dropped my Latitudes all over Europe and Asia with no problems.

 

[beestiboy]

just got a HP ZD8000 and cant really complain. It did ship with a bad sound card but i paid for the 1 year throw it out the window at 75 mph and we will replace it once within 4 days. Real quick turn around. Also had a couple of software issues but that wasnt related to the computer, norton was acting funky.

I would really consider going with the Pentium M if I had to do it over again. The P4 is a battery whore (1-1.5hours) which fortunately for me the computer is docked 80% of the time.

 

[hooples3]

if you go with a mac... you mind as well wait and see what they are doing with Intel in the future of things may become obsolete

If you go on Dellauction.com you can bid on a Laptop. Most of them on there are 1-2 yrs old .. they come from companies who lease them for a year or 2 and upgrade. They are completly cleaned up and all memory is erased.. I paid $280 (winning bid) for mine .. I have had it for 2 years without any problems its a pentium 4 , 40 gb, with dvd palyer , burner etc..

look at this site.. you can't go wrong

Dell auction

 

[firetoole]

When it comes to computers there will allways be a 1 in 5 chance that you get a lemon no matter what brand you buy. but I will say this a lemon with a good service plan is better than one without so keep that in mind

 

[WarEagle2K]

I have a Dell 700m. My campus is wireless and if you don't have the $$ for the apple, The dell 700m is the smallest computer for the price. I have done everything on it, programming/engineering projects etc. and have had no problems. I also looked at the Sony Vaio, the little one. I thought it was just too much money and didn't provide any real upgrades. Check it out though.

 

[DRB]

Thanks for the responses, as for major, I'm most likely an Econ major and psych minor. No into math at all.

You will hit some major math in your econ major including Statistics.

As for the laptop, I use a Dell and have never had an issue. That includes more than a couple of drops to floor in airports and hotel lobbies.

 

[Peteydag]

sonys suck, they get ****ed up sooo easily, it iwll never run as well as the first day, where macs seem to conitnually get batter, u can keep a mac for years, sonys die. the only reason to get a sony would be if it were free. macs r good fr eveything

 

[MMike]

Yea sorry, I dont proofread everything I write on forums. My apologies.

My sister's Dells just constantly have bugs forcing them to restart and stuff like that. I have a dell desktop currently, and havent been particularly impressed.

Labtop, laptop, i could care less, I really dont think about my grammer too much on forums as everyone seems to be able to figure it out. so im sorry if i offended you witht he wrong spelling.

Thanks for the responses, as for major, I'm most likely an Econ major and psych minor. No into math at all.

I will keep looking at the powerbooks as they are tempting.

Byron

tsk tsk...

* You mean you could NOT care less.
* it's grammAr
* and if you thought it was a laBtop..... it's just phoenetically incorrect...

Ahhh...Econ major.... everything is clear now.

(Oh lighten up. Engineers are required by law to pick on Economics and art students).

 

[SkaredShtles]

<snip> and it's a pretty atractive machine.

WTF? Do you hump your labtop? Is this an East Coast thing?

 

[fuzzynutz]

I'd spend the money and get one of these . . .

Best LABtops ever