Question:
HS Senior/College Fresh Laptop
General Questions
My bro is a HS senior and is going to be heading off to an engineering college (still not sure which one) in the fall; he already has a nice desktop, but he could use a nice, portable durable laptop.
1) What is your budget?
Under $1500
2) What size notebook would you prefer?
b. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
c. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
3) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?
Mostly word processing, light media (movies), perhaps some CAD work, but nothing too demanding in the way of CAD or gaming.
4) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?
Taking it
5) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?
Nothing demanding, if at all.
6) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
I like my HP nc8430, I've heard good things about Thinkpads, obviously, as well as Dell's latitude line (NO inspirons), as well as ASUS. We're not too picky about that.
7) How many hours of battery life do you need?
3-4+
8) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?
Online is fine
9) Please select your country's flag as a post icon and tell us what country are you buying this in?
US of A
Screen Specifics
10) Would you prefer standard or widescreen?
Either/or, but the bro seems interested in widescreen.
11) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?
Standard
a. XGA -1024x768 - Large and easy to read text + graphics icons, but you fit less stuff on the screen.
b. SXGA - 1400x1050 - Compromise resolution between XGA and UXGA.
c. UXGA - 1600x1200 - Very small text and graphics icons, you can fit lots of stuff on the screen.
Widescreen
d. WXGA or WXGA+ - 1280x768/800 or 1440x900; Wider viewing version of XGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
e. WSXGA+ - 1680x1050; Wider viewing version of SXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
f. WUXGA - 1920x1200; Wider viewing version of UXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.
Anything, really. Higher than W/XGA would be nice, though.
12) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
Matte
Build Quality and Design
13) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
Not so much
14) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?
Could be buying any time between now and the beginning of the fall semester. I'm thinking we should wait until after the new Intel platform comes out, if nothing else so that the currently latest chipset laptops will be a lot cheaper then.
Otherwise it'd be nice if it lasted throughout undergrad, so 4-5 years.
Notebook Components
15) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 160GB?
40 or more; it won't be his primary machine.
16) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD-ROM, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-RW drive?
DVD-ROM at the least, CD/DVD R/RW would be nice, but not required. The options for media bay HDDs or batteries would be preferable.
AMD or Intel, either is fine. I just know Intel hardware better and it seems they have the edge in performance and batter life at the moment.
For graphics, if it's a laptop with integrated, it would be nice if it's better than the GMA950, at least.
There is absolutely no rush on this machine, since it's entirely possible that his school will provide one/require that one be purchased from them, though not many schools on his list have a policy like that.
Durability, reliability (3+ year warranty would be ideal) and battery life are all key.
I've been thinking perhaps a Thinkpad R series (or perhaps Z), or a Dell D620 (the 520 seems to end up costing about the same once I get a decent configuration for it, including the 3-year warranty). Perhaps an HP nx6325 or nx7300 also.
Answer:
Re: HS Senior/College Fresh Laptop
I would recommend the ThinkPad R-series:
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/c...B4B3178B3B6554
Can't beat that keyboard, and it has an SXGA+ screen option.
The Sager NP5460 is worth a look for widescreen:
http://www.sagernotebook.com/pages/n...5460&SubType=C
Really a nice machine.
Answer:
Re: HS Senior/College Fresh Laptop
ThinkPad T series is an excellent option as well.
Answer:
Re: HS Senior/College Fresh Laptop
You're choices are good ones, the HP Compaq NC8430 is totally excellent, Asus laptops are fantastics, Thinkpads are superior and Latitudes are great too.
I recommend the Lenovo Thinkpad T60. Since you don't need to game heavily, you won't need a powerful graphics card, although getting the ATI Radeon X1400 isn't bad, since you might want to run Vista later, and you need a graphics card for that.
Answer:
Re: HS Senior/College Fresh Laptop
The ever popular hp dv6000t is a great idea too, especially now since you can get the APP discount ()
Answer:
Re: HS Senior/College Fresh Laptop
If he's going to be mobile with it, then I think the "main stream" size may be uncomfortable.
You might want to consider the Compal HGL30, a 14" with a hefty Nvidia 7600. Also while Core Duo (Yonah), the Asus A8jm can be had for 1299 now and you also get an Nvidia 7600.