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Laptop-Age for School

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D

DarkJC

Member
Creating movies and stuff... By going through the list... :)
Click to expand...

What part of the list are you looking at? Ultimate is basically the Home Premium and Business/Enterprise versions of Vista combined. There is nothing stopping you from editing movies on Home Premium. Very few users really need what Ultimate provides, honestly.
 
Z

Zapages

Member
Ryck said:
Got this one for the wife the other day

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8880874&type=product&id=1210982227895


Apparently its a really good deal specs wise
Click to expand...


That's really good deal... :) I wish it had a better graphic card and sound card(sound card is ok if its that price) though. :\



As for Ultimate... Sorry about that. The security features are kind of cool with the enterprise edition so it'll be cool to have them plus I have a scanner/printer/copier thing so that would be cool too.

EDIT: How's this?

SYSTEM COLOR Midnight Blue edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5850 (2.16GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate Edition SP1 edit
DISPLAY Glossy, high contrast, widescreen 17.0 inch display (1440 x 900) edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT edit
MEMORY 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz edit
HARD DRIVE Size: 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) edit
OPTICAL DRIVE CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive) edit
WIRELESS NETWORK CARDS Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-Card edit
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Integrated 2.0 Megapixel Webcam edit
BATTERY OPTIONS 85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell) edit
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™HD Software Edition edit
My Software & Accessories
ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE Trend Micro Internet Security 15-months edit
OFFICE SOFTWARE No Productivity software pre-installed edit
My Service
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 2Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor, 24x7 Phone Support edit
DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP Included 3 GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Yr edit
DIAL-UP INTERNET ACCESS No ISP requested edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.1
Labels Windows Vista™ Premium
Processor Branding Intel Centrino Core Duo Processor
DOMS Camera Mod Premium Deep Navy Blue with Soft Touch LCD back color w/ 2.0M pixel Camera
PHOTO AND MUSIC SOFTWARE No Entertainment software pre-installed
Click to expand...
 
J

JzeroT1437

Member
I built a laptop on Dell's website that is well over your minimum specs and it was only $720 after taxes and shipping. Go look at Dell's Inspiron series. Unless you're going for gaming, you don't need something superpowerful for school.
 
Z

Zapages

Member
zoku88 said:
1440x900 on a 17" screen?

That thing better not be over $1K...
Click to expand...


That was about 1600... :-\

How about these:

HP: $1200: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-P...id/215031/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do#prodspecs


Toshiba, would be nice for typing and doing homework with the side num pad: $1050
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Tosh...id/-12963/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do#prodspecs

Do you guys know when the Acer Aspire AS8920-6837 18.4" Laptop will release:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Acer...id/-12963/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do#prodspecs
^This seems like an awesome price for it if true. I would definitely buy it. :)
Includes Nvidia 9500, Blu-Ray/DVD +/- Burner/ 18inch...
 
Z

zoku88

Member
You shouldn't get anything bigger than a 15.4" for school...

EDIT: I try to stay away from Acer, personally...
 
J

Jamesfrom818

Banned
W

Wraith

Member
Were I back in school, I think I would go for a subnotebook(~$500) and a killer desktop. If you absolutely need the added power of the desktop you can always remote into there since WiFi is ubiquitous these days on campuses. This way you have an extremely lightweight and easy-to-use laptop and a pc that can be upgraded rather than a high-end laptop that will inevitably be shit in 2 years requring another $2000 investment.

Just my two cents.
 
Z

zoku88

Member
Zapages said:
Are Acer that bad? Our neighbors have one and I heard nothing bad about it.

Are Intel Integrated chips any good in comparison to the Nvidia or ATI ones???

How's this one: http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=213348#prodspecs
Click to expand...
Why are you trying to get giant laptops? They're a waste of money. You're going to school :-/ You'll want something that you can actually carry around.

As far as Acer quality, YMMV...

And what do you mean by 'good'? Performance wise or battery wise?

Performance wise, they absolutely suck.. Battery wise, they're the best (obvious reasons.)
 
Z

Zapages

Member
zoku88 said:
Why are you trying to get giant laptops? They're a waste of money. You're going to school :-/ You'll want something that you can actually carry around.

As far as Acer quality, YMMV...

And what do you mean by 'good'? Performance wise or battery wise?

Performance wise, they absolutely suck.. Battery wise, they're the best (obvious reasons.)
Click to expand...

I'll be renting a room with a roommate, when I go to school. As for the large Laptops, its mostly because I want something that'll last me about 4 years and still be able to used afterwards with some great performance. Also I use photoshop/dreamweaver for my website. So it'll kind of cool to have a large screen to work with it...

So acers quality vary a lot. :\

As for the good part, I meant both performance and battery wise. If I like to run a game like ie. Trackmania Nations Forever or some other game to relax after a hard day of classes. Would I be able to run them? I know some games require that you have Nvidia or Ati graphic cards.

Anyway, I'll be going to my local Best Buy and Circuit City to look around for some good deals. What do you suggest the specs to keep in mind when looking at the laptops there?

PC or MAC:
Make:
Chip:
Ram:
Graphic Card:
Sound Card:
Operating System:
Price:
 
J

JzeroT1437

Member
If you're just getting it for school, you don't need more than a Dell Inspiron 1525. I dunno why you're looking at these 1000+ laptop models. It seems like a gratuitous wasting of money to turn an academic tool into a status symbol or toy.

Dell's better than Acer but I wouldn't say Acer's bad by any means--they just haven't achieved the presence of your gateways, dells, and HPs over their very long existence.
 
Z

Zapages

Member
JzeroT1437 said:
If you're just getting it for school, you don't need more than a Dell Inspiron 1525. I dunno why you're looking at these 1000+ laptop models. It seems like a gratuitous wasting of money to turn an academic tool into a status symbol or toy.
Click to expand...

Its not that... I want something that will last me more than a year. I rather pay more 1000+ on something that will last me about 4 years as the school changes its requirements for laptops every year...
 
Z

zoku88

Member
Zapages said:
I'll be renting a room with a roommate, when I go to school. As for the large Laptops, its mostly because I want something that'll last me about 4 years and still be able to used afterwards with some great performance. Also I use photoshop/dreamweaver for my website. So it'll kind of cool to have a large screen to work with it...

So acers quality vary a lot. :\

As for the good part, I meant both performance and battery wise. If I like to run a game like ie. Trackmania Nations Forever or some other game to relax after a hard day of classes. Would I be able to run them? I know some games require that you have Nvidia or Ati graphic cards.

Anyway, I'll be going to my local Best Buy and Circuit City to look around for some good deals. What do you suggest the specs to keep in mind when looking at the laptops there?

PC or MAC: you should decide for yourself
Make: I like Asus, Sager... LG seems to make more than decent laptops
Chip: T8100 or better
Ram: 3-4 GB
Graphic Card: I'm unsure of the games you want to play, so I'll be safe as say AMD 3650 or Nvidia 9500
Sound Card: Forget about this
Click to expand...
That 4-year life thing you want is kind of a dream. Specs wise, anything you buy today won't have great performance in 4 years... and the bigger laptops you keep on bringing up have worse performance than many of the 15.4" laptops (heck, the one I have now that I bought last year was faster.)

If you're doing serious enough photoshop work to need a bigger screen, then you wouldn't want to be using a laptop screen anyway. Laptop screen are notoriously bad... Since your budget was so big anyway, you might as well use the extra money you'd be saving to buy a nice external monitor (and a keyboard and mouse.)
 
S

Shogmaster

Member
Zapages said:
I got this computer through my old University. We get to keep our laptops after we graduate. Therefore, there I don't have original CD for the Windows XP Tablet Edition. Also the laptop is encrypted so you can't upgrade it unless you wipe it out and install Windows XP or whatever operating system. Plus I don't even know if its upgradeable or not. It was slow when we got the laptops and it still slow. Actually our university said sorry because it needed more ram.

Its an Lenovo X41 and heats up like crazy...
Click to expand...

If you look at the bottom of your X41, you'll see your XP Tablet keycode. That's the keycode you'll need when you reinstall. As for media, you might be able to find places selling Windows CDs without keycode and COA for cheap. You need the XP Media Center Edition 2005 CDs (2 discs). That will allow you to install XP Tablet Edition SP2 with your keycode on your X41. Basically, your XP Tablet keycode will make the CDs install XP Tablet.

Having 512MB of RAM is just ridiculous, especially with XP: Tablet Edition. You really need to give over a GB to spread it's wings. You can buy a GB SODIMM for around $60. That will make it run much faster, with the 256MB or 512MB SODIMM for the other slot. Since dual channel mode sucked ass with Intel mobos back then you don't need to match the two SODIMMs.

I can tell that you hardly used your TPC properly at your old school because it ran like shit due to horrible OEM install + lack of RAM. You really should make the most of it since it's really tailor made for taking notes in school. Get the RAM, find the CDs, and perhaps even buy a new battery for it. All that would be less than $200, and you'll have a perfectly nice ultraportable TPC to take digital notes with at school. Sure, you can buy yourself a big and heavy laptop for your entertainment and gaming purposes too, but you really shouldn't abandon your TPC, especially when you will be doing more school. Go ahead an get yourself a nice 15.4" or 17" gaming laptop, but leave that at home and take your X41 for doing school stuff.

Just my $.02
 
W

Wraith

Member
Zapages said:
Its not that... I want something that will last me more than a year. I rather pay more 1000+ on something that will last me about 4 years as the school changes its requirements for laptops every year...
Click to expand...

Again, a laptop is not going to do much of anything after 4 years. I really think you'd be better off with a subnotebook and a pc for remote login.
 
Z

Zapages

Member
zoku88 said:
That 4-year life thing you want is kind of a dream. Specs wise, anything you buy today won't have great performance in 4 years... and the bigger laptops you keep on bringing up have worse performance than many of the 15.4" laptops (heck, the one I have now that I bought last year was faster.)

If you're doing serious enough photoshop work to need a bigger screen, then you wouldn't want to be using a laptop screen anyway. Laptop screen are notoriously bad... Since your budget was so big anyway, you might as well use the extra money you'd be saving to buy a nice external monitor (and a keyboard and mouse.)
Click to expand...

I know most laptops suck after 2 years... But some do last long have a good value after 4 years. My cousins laptop lasted him a good 6 years of use and he used through Medical school and stuff.

Anyway I'll definitely look into the 15.4s laptops...

Yeah I know about big screen for photoshop... But I won't have desktop for a while so I'll end up doing most of my stuff on my laptop/on the go.

I'll only be buying one keyboard and mouse might come on in later. Actually I have an extra mouse lying around somewhere. :)

Just a small question whats the T8100???

I forgot:
Processor:
Hard Drive Space:

Shogmaster said:
If you look at the bottom of your X41, you'll see your XP Tablet keycode. That's the keycode you'll need when you reinstall. As for media, you might be able to find places selling Windows CDs without keycode and COA for cheap. You need the XP Media Center Edition 2005 CDs (2 discs). That will allow you to install XP Tablet Edition SP2 with your keycode on your X41. Basically, your XP Tablet keycode will make the CDs install XP Tablet.

Having 512MB of RAM is just ridiculous, especially with XP: Tablet Edition. You really need to give over a GB to spread it's wings. You can buy a GB SODIMM for around $60. That will make it run much faster, with the 256MB or 512MB SODIMM for the other slot. Since dual channel mode sucked ass with Intel mobos back then you don't need to match the two SODIMMs.

I can tell that you hardly used your TPC properly at your old school because it ran like shit due to horrible OEM install + lack of RAM. You really should make the most of it since it's really tailor made for taking notes in school. Get the RAM, find the CDs, and perhaps even buy a new battery for it. All that would be less than $200, and you'll have a perfectly nice ultraportable TPC to take digital notes with at school. Sure, you can buy yourself a big and heavy laptop for your entertainment and gaming purposes too, but you really shouldn't abandon your TPC, especially when you will be doing more school. Go ahead an get yourself a nice 15.4" or 17" gaming laptop, but leave that at home and take your X41 for doing school stuff.

Just my $.02
Click to expand...

The laptop seems to be only single slotted and the hard drive space is only 60 gigs, which is nearly filled up with my college stuff. I have about 10 gigs left or so. I have 0.99 Gig of ram.... The school requires 1 gig or more. But it recommends a couple gigs from what I called and checked. :\

Thank you though... So I need to buy Windows Media Center to re-install Tablet PC... That gives me some hope... :)
 
Z

zoku88

Member
T8100 is a processor... 45nm process instead of the 65nm ones you kept on bring up before (T7100 and below.)

I would recommend you spend some time around notebookreview.com forums or something so that you can become more acquainted with laptops in general.
 
N

NovemberMike

Member
Zapages said:
I'll be renting a room with a roommate, when I go to school. As for the large Laptops, its mostly because I want something that'll last me about 4 years and still be able to used afterwards with some great performance. Also I use photoshop/dreamweaver for my website. So it'll kind of cool to have a large screen to work with it...
Click to expand...

The problem is that the large laptops you are choosing don't necessarily have the kind of screen you want to do Photoshop on, and nothing you can get today will have great performance four years down the line. If you want a good screen, buy an external monitor. You can get a really nice 24" monitor in the $400-600 range, and cheaper monitors aren't necessarily bad either.

As for the good part, I meant both performance and battery wise. If I like to run a game like ie. Trackmania Nations Forever or some other game to relax after a hard day of classes. Would I be able to run them? I know some games require that you have Nvidia or Ati graphic cards.
Click to expand...

If you wait a bit, Intel should be coming out with the x4500 integrated card, which is supposed to be roughly as powerful as an 8400 (I think, I don't pay to much attention to integrated cards). Trackmania should run on anything though.

Anyway, I'll be going to my local Best Buy and Circuit City to look around for some good deals. What do you suggest the specs to keep in mind when looking at the laptops there?

PC or MAC:This is completely your choice. Both are good.
Make:Dell's are good, but also look at HP, Lenovo, Sony, Asus etc. I can't recommend Acer though.
Chip:T8100 or better. The important thing is that it has 3 or 6mb of l2 cache, since htat means it is penryn.
Ram:2-4 gigs.
Graphic Card:X3100 or X4500 for battery life, 3450, 3650 and 9500 for games.
Sound Card:Don't.
Operating System: Vista works well, I recommend Home Premium for basic stuff, Business or Ultimate for networking oriented stuff (I doubt you'll need it though).
Price:Completely your choice. My big thing is not to overspend.
Click to expand...
 
Z

Zapages

Member
zoku88 said:
T8100 is a processor... 45nm process instead of the 65nm ones you kept on bring up before (T7100 and below.)

I would recommend you spend some time around notebookreview.com forums or something so that you can become more acquainted with laptops in general.
Click to expand...


Will do... I just went there they say that Dell Studio 15 are the most popular ones...

SYSTEM COLOR Midnight Blue edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1 edit
HD DISPLAY Hi Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1920x1200) edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 edit
MEMORY 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 edit
HARD DRIVE Size: 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE 8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive) edit
WIRELESS NETWORK CARDS Dell 1510 Wireless-N Card edit
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam edit
BATTERY OPTIONS 85 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell) edit
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ Advanced HD Software Edition edit
FINGERPRINT SCANNER Integrated Finger Print Reader edit
KEYBOARD Back-lit Keyboard edit
My Software & Accessories
ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE Trend Micro Internet Security 15-months edit
PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE No Productivity software pre-installed edit
My Service
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor,24x7 Phone Support edit
DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP Included 3 GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Yr edit
DIAL-UP INTERNET ACCESS No ISP requested edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
LCD and Camera Hi Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 LCD (1920x1200) w/ 2.0M pixel Camera
Labels Windows Vista™ Premium
Processor Branding Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.1
Click to expand...

for 1518...
 
Z

Zapages

Member
NovemberMike said:
The problem is that the large laptops you are choosing don't necessarily have the kind of screen you want to do Photoshop on, and nothing you can get today will have great performance four years down the line. If you want a good screen, buy an external monitor. You can get a really nice 24" monitor in the $400-600 range, and cheaper monitors aren't necessarily bad either.



If you wait a bit, Intel should be coming out with the x4500 integrated card, which is supposed to be roughly as powerful as an 8400 (I think, I don't pay to much attention to integrated cards). Trackmania should run on anything though.
Click to expand...


The only thing is the problem is space when I travel down there....

Also when is the x4500 are suppose to released??? I have till Early August to wait it out. As I have to get everything checked by August 19th by the school.
 
S

Shogmaster

Member
Zapages said:
The only thing is the problem is space when I travel down there....

Also when is the x4500 are suppose to released??? I have till Early August to wait it out. As I have to get everything checked by August 19th by the school.
Click to expand...
If you are getting a 15.4", why the hell would you be waiting for the X4500? No matter what, it's still a Northbridge GPU. You need a dedicated card to see decent performance.

Here. Buy this laptop. Let's call it a day with this thread since I think you are just too clueless for making decisions for yourself.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114459

Edit: Much better deal, but Asus support in the states is almost none-existent...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220307
 
J

JzeroT1437

Member
Zapages said:
Its not that... I want something that will last me more than a year. I rather pay more 1000+ on something that will last me about 4 years as the school changes its requirements for laptops every year...
Click to expand...

My Laptop:

2.0GHz, 533Mhz, 1M L2 Cache
3GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
15.4 inch Wide Screen WXGA LCDTrueLife for Inspiron 1525
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
120G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive
Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini Card,for Insp 1525
Integrated 10/100 Network Card
6-cell Primary Battery, for Inspiron 1525

$720.00 w/ taxes, shipping, etc.

It's no powerhorse for gaming and graphics, but it suits my needs--and I don't really need anything superpowerful since I still have my desktop. For about 50-250 more you can upgrade it to a 3.GHz with a larger hard drive or whatever.

I really think you're overshooting your goals here.
 
S

Shogmaster

Member
zoku88 said:
???

What do you mean by that? I've had nothing but good experiences with them... They're pretty fast, too.
Click to expand...

Try navigating their US site to just download some drivers. YEESH! It's total clusterfuck and SLOW. Doesn't give me one iota of confidence about their service.
 
Z

Zapages

Member
The looks Asus is awesome...

JzeroT1437 how is your graphic card? I'll probably upgrade the hard drive to 250 or 320... Which Chip is it for the 2 GHz? If I chose the T8100 Series, it becomes really expensive...

Thank you guys for the help. :)
 
N

NovemberMike

Member
Shogmaster said:
If you are getting a 15.4", why the hell would you be waiting for the X4500? No matter what, it's still a Northbridge GPU. You need a dedicated card to see decent performance.
Click to expand...

The x4500 is approximately the same speed as an 8400gs. If he doesn't play particularly demanding games, then that should be more than enough to do a respectable job, and it should be good for the battery drain. From what I have heard, he doesn't need a dedicated card at all.

[quot]
Edit: Much better deal, but Asus support in the states is almost none-existent...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220307[/QUOTE]

I approve of this laptop.
 
Z

zoku88

Member
Shogmaster said:
Try navigating their US site to just download some drivers. YEESH! It's total clusterfuck and SLOW. Doesn't give me one iota of confidence about their service.
Click to expand...
Oh yea. The website it pretty bad. I haven't been on there since the second time I reformatted my lappy, I just kept my driver CD. Does the liveupdate thing actually work, btw? I've been wondering, since it's never told me about an update before (although, my video drivers arent the ASUS ones, anyway.)

The support by the people is good, though. They don't seem to ask many questions. (Or any at all for me so far.)
 
N

NovemberMike

Member
Zapages said:
The only thing is the problem is space when I travel down there....

Also when is the x4500 are suppose to released??? I have till Early August to wait it out. As I have to get everything checked by August 19th by the school.
Click to expand...

X4500 is part of the Montevina platform, which should be technically out in a couple days.
 
J

JzeroT1437

Member
Zapages said:
The looks Asus is awesome...

JzeroT1437 how is your graphic card? I'll probably upgrade the hard drive to 250 or 320... Which Chip is it for the 2 GHz? If I chose the T8100 Series, it becomes really expensive...

Thank you guys for the help. :)
Click to expand...

Here's a review on the 1525 from the guys over at Slickdeals. They're better at this than I am.

http://blog.slickdeals.net/index.php/2008/07/10/dell-inspiron-1525-notebook-review/1/

The graphics card isn't good for gaming, but it works for what I use my laptop for.
 
Z

Zapages

Member
After reading the reviews... The Toshiba one seems a bit better, but there are less reviews and then there is the huge TOSHIBA sign in the back...

Thank you guys for the recommendations. :)
 
S

Shogmaster

Member
NovemberMike said:
The x4500 is approximately the same speed as an 8400gs. If he doesn't play particularly demanding games, then that should be more than enough to do a respectable job, and it should be good for the battery drain. From what I have heard, he doesn't need a dedicated card at all.
Click to expand...
Then he should not be looking at 15.4" monsters. WTF, dudes! Let's think a bit!

Yeah, the X4500 would have the shader oomph of something like 8400GS, but without the dedicated bandwidth of local frame buffer, it's all semantics.

I would be pissed as hell if I was carrying around 7lbs without the benefit of dedicated cards. Point him to a 13.3" units if the built in cards are "good enough".
 
U

Unlimited4s

Member
don't get a glossy screen, especially if you want to use photoshop and you have to use your laptop at your campus (lightning conditions that change will cause a lot of trouble with glossy screens)
 
O

Osorio

Member
Does anyone here know what a good but cheap laptop for art school would be? I'm not sure yet if I have to use it for projects since I'm a film major.
 
S

Shogmaster

Member
Osorio said:
Does anyone here know what a good but cheap laptop for art school would be? I'm not sure yet if I have to use it for projects since I'm a film major.
Click to expand...
Get something with fast Core 2 Duo + 7200rpm HDD and you're set to do digital editing. Also helps to have decent resolution on the LCD since you will want to have many windows open during editing. Aim for 1680x1050. Avoid 1280x800 and lower.
 
N

NovemberMike

Member
Shogmaster said:
Then he should not be looking at 15.4" monsters. WTF, dudes! Let's think a bit!


I would be pissed as hell if I was carrying around 7lbs without the benefit of dedicated cards. Point him to a 13.3" units if the built in cards are "good enough".
Click to expand...

15.4" is hardly a monster. Depending on the options (ie. the size of the battery, how large the bezel is, LED or CCL backlight) a 13" and 15" computer should be in roughly the same weight range. Most of the weight you are looking at comes from the Hard Drive, heatsinks, optical drive, motherboard and screen, of which only the screen will be smaller in a comparably equipped smaller laptop.


Yeah, the X4500 would have the shader oomph of something like 8400GS, but without the dedicated bandwidth of local frame buffer, it's all semantics.
Click to expand...

I am talking real world benchmarks here. In real games, I have seen the x4500 hanging right between the 8400gs and the 8400gt.

Get something with fast Core 2 Duo + 7200rpm HDD and you're set to do digital editing. Also helps to have decent resolution on the LCD since you will want to have many windows open during editing. Aim for 1680x1050. Avoid 1280x800 and lower.
Click to expand...

I'd go for size over rpm's if he wants a fast Hard Drive. A 320 or 500gb 5400rpm drive will beat pretty much any 200-250gb 7200rpm drive.
 
I

Iron_Scimitar

Banned
Nintaiyo said:
Just bought that a week ago from Apple's website. Got a $100 education discount, a free printer/copier/scanner, and a free iPod Touch!!! :D
Click to expand...

I wanna get a base model Macbook and toss in 4gb of RAM.

About the discount, is it an instant discount or is it thru a damn rebate?
 
N

NovemberMike

Member
Iron_Scimitar said:
I wanna get a base model Macbook and toss in 4gb of RAM.

About the discount, is it an instant discount or is it thru a damn rebate?
Click to expand...

The discount is instant, but the Ipod deal is rebate.
 
Z

zoku88

Member
Iron_Scimitar said:
I wanna get a base model Macbook and toss in 4gb of RAM.

About the discount, is it an instant discount or is it thru a damn rebate?
Click to expand...
Wtv, don't buy the RAM from Apple. Order the RAM from newegg or something. It will probably be cheaper.

Zapages said:
Hey guys,

Should I place an order from this place: http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=M50SV-A1&Category_Code=

all for 1300 dollars. I never used them before, are they ok?

and here's a small review of it: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=240104

Also should I get the 9 cell batteries or upgrade the hard drive or not?

Thanks guys...
Click to expand...
That's where I ordered my V1s from. He seemed fine to me.

As for you last two questions, it all depends on your preferences... really...
 
N

NovemberMike

Member
Osorio said:
Thanks for the advice guys. It'll come out a little costly but what doesn't when it comes to college?
Click to expand...

Please post actual specs when you decide to buy. Smaller choices can be important when buying a laptop.
 
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