so i need a notebook for school...

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
So what are the recommended brand names? The Macbooks are too expensive for me. I need something less than $1,000($500-$800 preferably), doesnt overheat like a mother******, wifi enabled preferably, and is 14" or bigger.

I look on sites like Best Buy's and the such but I have no knowledge of half the features for laptops. Especially when they throw numbers at me.
 
A laptop with ~15" display or less is going to be 1200 pixels x 800 pixels. At 12 pixels tall for a line of text, you'd get about 66 lines of text on the screen. But you have the window decorations, so something less.

A laptop with 17" display is going to be bigger and a little heavier, but you should get at least 1440x900 pixels and the pixels are bigger so everything looks better and text is easier to read.

The CPUs are hard to get your head around. Some are 2GHz and are slower than ones that are 1.8GHz. It won't matter that much unless you're making super huge complex spreadsheets, or otherwise have a need for number crunching horsepower. The key thing, IMO, is getting a 64 bit CPU because it's maximum flexibility (can run 32 bit or 64 bit OS), and in 64 bit mode you could use more than 4G of RAM. Also, at least dual core is good because it will make the whole system seem a lot faster (it can truly do 2 things at once).

Big hard drive means you can store a lot of MP3 and video type files. That's up to you. I personally tend to have several different versions of many files, so the disk space is important to me. If you have 40G of MP3 files and want to experiment with some tagging software, you might want to copy all 40G and experiment on the copy. You'd use up 80G on that right away.

Windows Vista? Installs to a small amount of disk space, but after you start getting updates and that kind of thing, it gets big. I have a system with not much installed on it, just a few applications, and it takes 70G or so of disk space. Also, the more full your disk is, the slower the OS goes; a big hard disk 1/2 full is WAY better than nearly full disk 1/2 the size. Then there's density. When you have a 2.5" disk with 300G on it, the drive is faster because you have 2x as much information that can be read in one revolution of the disk than for a 150G drive (assuming a single platter, or same number of platters).

The HP laptop I posted a link to can act as a TIVO, I do believe. So you might want extra disk space for recording TV shows or other things off the cable in your dorm (or wherever).

If you look hard enough, you can find a 17" screen with 1600x1200 resolution or better. WUXGA+ is like 1920x1200 which gets you HDTV resolution, and then some. At 1600x1200, you get 2x full pages of text side by side - good for working on your school papers.

The advantage of a 14" or even 12" screen is that the laptop is going to be small and very portable. You might not even need a bag for it, as you can carry it like a school book.
 
Hmmmm. Dunno for sure if I'll be editing video and such but I am taking a film and digital media class and plan on taking a lot more after this quarter. A Mac sounds like it fits all my needs with basic internet, music, video, etc. plus consistency, reliability, and its small/lightweight.

Money isn't really an issue since I've been working for two years and basically only spend money on gas and car insurance. I have no problem dropping a grand in savings as long as I get a good product. So basically what I'm asking is what is the best lap top to get regardless of price (maybe regardless is a little much but I can go up to $1200 max probably)? I know a ton of people who swear by Mac and I used to resist that but now I'm open to getting a Mac if its really all its cracked up to be.

Also FWIW I'm more than happy on my current computer that I've had all through high school- 2.24 GHz Intel processore, 512 MB DDR RAM, 80 GB HD, GeForce 4 video card, running on a cracked version of Windows XP that I love. Nothing fancy but it more than gets the job done for my basic needs. Only cost me a few hundred dollars total to put together. I'm thinking a new low-end Mac can easily fit these specifications(?).
 
upl6845941572.png


That's what I built for L, based on what his needs are. 20% coupon on 999+, so it was 800.
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (#1_War_Poet_ForLife @ Aug 15 2008, 07:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Denny, can Ubuntu run 64 bit, and utilize 4GB+ of Ram?</div>

Yes. A laptop (or desktop) with 4G will only show 3.2G or so usable under 32-bit Windows or 32-bit Ubuntu. But 64-bit (either) can use 4G or more.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Run BJM @ Aug 15 2008, 08:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Hmmmm. Dunno for sure if I'll be editing video and such but I am taking a film and digital media class and plan on taking a lot more after this quarter. A Mac sounds like it fits all my needs with basic internet, music, video, etc. plus consistency, reliability, and its small/lightweight.

Money isn't really an issue since I've been working for two years and basically only spend money on gas and car insurance. I have no problem dropping a grand in savings as long as I get a good product. So basically what I'm asking is what is the best lap top to get regardless of price (maybe regardless is a little much but I can go up to $1200 max probably)? I know a ton of people who swear by Mac and I used to resist that but now I'm open to getting a Mac if its really all its cracked up to be.

Also FWIW I'm more than happy on my current computer that I've had all through high school- 2.24 GHz Intel processore, 512 MB DDR RAM, 80 GB HD, GeForce 4 video card, running on a cracked version of Windows XP that I love. Nothing fancy but it more than gets the job done for my basic needs. Only cost me a few hundred dollars total to put together. I'm thinking a new low-end Mac can easily fit these specifications(?).</div>

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop.../family/macbook

I wouldn't want anything less than the $1299 version, though I still think the screen is smaller than I personally want. Your mileage on that score may vary. I think you want at least 2G of memory (the more RAM, the faster the machine is going to go).

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

The cheapest Mac desktop system, at about the same price.
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (#1_War_Poet_ForLife @ Aug 15 2008, 09:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'd stick with 14.1, L. You can build nice laptops, and get it for 800, with coupons.</div>

Agreed. Building your own laptops is a very good idea. I bought all the components for about £400 ($800) and my friend got the case and built it for me for £20 ($40)
 
Ha, I meant the easy way out, customizing on the company sites.

Though if you can build a computer, you should go for it
 
Damn, I'd get that if I didn't already have a laptop
 
Yeah. Seems like the popular complaint about that one is battery life but isn't that pretty common with laptops?

TBH I prefer the case on the regular edition model but why fore go the extra HD space and other programs and stuff that comes with it?
 
#1_War_Poet_ForLife said:
Ha, I meant the easy way out, customizing on the company sites.

Though if you can build a computer, you should go for it
Click to expand...

then you fail.

But i'm lucky i have a friend who can do that. I built my own Home computer and it took me about 4 nights to get it working properly.
 
Can you guys give me your opinions on these laptops?

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-P...sem/rpsm/oid/207715/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Tosh...15099/catOid/-12963/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

I prefer the top one because it has a 12 cell battery. I've also heard Intel Centrino is a lot better for laptops than pretty much anything AMD has to offer. Only problem is the top one is out of stock and marked "outlet" so it could be pretty damn hard to get my hands on. They have mostly the same specs- do you guys have any opnions about Intel vs AMD? HP vs Toshiba? Anything I should know?
 
Two differences: The Toshiba was a higher Processor speed, but lower Cache.

The Toshiba weighs less, but to an insignificant degree.

Wow, and the Toshiba has much more Video RAM
 
Last edited:
#1_War_Poet_ForLife said:
Two differences: The Toshiba was a higher Processor speed, but lower Cache.

The Toshiba weighs less, but to an insignificant degree.
Click to expand...

What does the cache affect?

And yeah the HP one is heavier than most 14" notebooks but its only because the battery is twice the size. I don't mind the extra weight at all- totally worth it for the extra battery life. Its the difference between 5.5 lbs and 6.2 lbs I think? Its probably gonna be in my backpack when I carry it anyway and its not like 6.2 lbs is a burden.
 
Run BJM said:
What does the cache affect?

And yeah the HP one is heavier than most 14" notebooks but its only because the battery is twice the size. I don't mind the extra weight at all- totally worth it for the extra battery life. Its the difference between 5.5 lbs and 6.2 lbs I think? Its probably gonna be in my backpack when I carry it anyway and its not like 6.2 lbs is a burden.
Click to expand...
Cache effects how quickly you can run recently ran programs (correct me if I'm wrong)

Not even that much of a difference.
Weight 5.2 lbs.
Weight 5.5 lbs.

Get the HP
 
Cache is very fast RAM that's on the CPU chip. The more of it you have, the faster the computer will be. When the CPU doesn't have data it wants in the CPU cache, it fetches it into the cache from regular memory. Fetching from regular memory hasn't kept up with CPU speed for a few years now.
 
Has anyone (else) read the June issue of Consumer Reports - where they rated all the laptops?

I just bought a refurbished 2.4 GHz Macbook for $1099.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

P0W3RBALLIN
2 Great days in a row..
Replies
19
Views
784
Something-To-Say
Something-To-Say
incandecio
im'a getting a xbox 360
Replies
17
Views
598
Art_gunner4life
Art_gunner4life
The Marine
Layout Discussion
Replies
1
Views
228
Heatfan32
Heatfan32
NTC
What To Do, What To Do...
2
Replies
42
Views
1K
NTC
NTC
P
Cliff face drama: Boy calls 999 (911 for US) - and is told to hold
Replies
0
Views
889
Petey
P

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top