Laptop for college!

[Newby]

Anybody have any recommendations?

I'm currently looking at Panasonic Toughbooks and (what appears to be the quintessential college student laptop) MacBooks. I can get $100 off of MacBooks and $200 off of MacBook Pros for being a college student (and I get a bunch of other cool free shit) so that may play a factor. I may also look into tablet PCs but from the incredible amounts of mixed review for all brands of tablets, I may just stick with a normal computer.

Help out! Recommend stuff. I'm new at this.

[Sidoh]

I'm not very savvy on what brands are currently most desirable, but I can give on recommendation: get something small and portable.  The laptop I got for college from my parents has a 17" screen and weighs about 8 pounds.  It doesn't seem like much, but it significantly weighs down my backpack and I never take it to class.  I bought a tablet a little over a year ago, which is what I take to class when I need to.  I love my big laptop for gaming at friend's places, but it's not really something I want to lug around all the time.

[iago]

I love my toughbook. They're basically invincible, although they cost roughly 2x the equivalent non-toughbook.

[rabbit]

MacBooks suck.  All of my friends who have them also have a burning desire to destroy them.  Sadly, most laptops suck.  But I agree with Sidoh, small = good.

[Newby]

I love my toughbook. They're basically invincible, although they cost roughly 2x the equivalent non-toughbook.

So investing in one good Toughbook would get me a laptop that would last my undergraduate career basically?

[trust]

My Macbook is pretty convienent to take with me to class, although I didn't do that much. I have the 13" and the screen size isn't an issue. I used an external monitor for the first couple of months but stopped using it because the laptop screen is fine. The current Macbook deals are nice (free printer and iPod touch)

[Hell-Lord]

About a Dell XPS? More specifically the 1530 model it weighs a little under 6 pounts and is quite good performance wise, probably more so then my current desktop

[Sidoh]

I don't think I'd recommend getting a desktop replacement if you want to take it to classes, but that's just me.

[Rule]

I love my toughbook. They're basically invincible, although they cost roughly 2x the equivalent non-toughbook.

So investing in one good Toughbook would get me a laptop that would last my undergraduate career basically?

I bought a Toshiba Satellite (2.7 GHz P4, 512 MB Ram, DVD + CDRW, 32 MB Video Card, 40 gig HD, Internal Wireless) in August 2003 for I think $1600 (which was a great deal at the time).  It still works reasonably well.  I mostly use it as a "desktop replacement", but I'm still happy I got a laptop.  There are times out of every month where I want to bring it with me somewhere.

[iago]

I know a lot of people with Macbooks, and they all like them a lot.

So investing in one good Toughbook would get me a laptop that would last my undergraduate career basically?

In theory. But I bought a non-toughbook (HP-something or other) in first year that I still use. As long as you aren't running a retarded OS (you know what I'm talking about), a decent computer now should last you at least a few years.

[c0Ld]

On the opposite end of what everyone else is saying, I'm considering a 'desktop replacement' from "I buy power" -- probably the FX-922Z [2] with 4 gigs of ram and a slightly larger hd -- was about $1150 the last time I set it all up the way I wanted it. I don't mind carrying around a slightly larger/heavier laptop at all, and quite frankly I'd end up spending the same amount for a smaller machine with lesser specs somewhere else. I buy power has great prices for great specs, so I'd rather just buy a multi-purpose machine and be able to game on it in my spare time when I don't have my desktop nearby. To each his own, though.

Edit: Also, macbooks are overpriced and overrated in my opinion. You really are just paying for the name brand, OS X doesn't impress me over any 'bleeding edge' linux distro and the hardware itself isn't anything special.

[iago]

Speaking of a desktop replacement, what I did in university was buy a good laptop to leave mostly at home (although I took it to friends' and stuff), and a super cheap one (old, $300 toughbook [300mhz, I think?]) for bringing to class with me. The reason is, I'm much more likely to drop/break/lose the one I'm bringing to class, and all I needed on it was a text editor anyways.

[zorm]

Buy yourself a stack of these for class:


and then pick out a notebook with specs you can live with at a price you can afford. I wouldn't bother with a mac or a toughbook(even though I love mine!) The extra fancy won't get you the ladies so you probably shouldn't bother.

I've got a 15.4" Toshiba, which serves as my main computer these days and I love it. Its small enough that I can take it to class/work/friends without it being a royal pain but still big enough that the screen is readable. I think if I was to do buy another one I might look for a slightly smaller screen, 14" might be nice.

I suspect you'll find that hauling a laptop to class everyday is worthless if you intend to *try* to take notes on it. I don't know of anyone that actually uses a laptop for notetaking in class, its generally not practical.
I find mine leaves home the most when I go out to do study groups or homework, then its nice because I have access to email/google/etc and can look up answers or email the professor.

[iago]

I suspect you'll find that hauling a laptop to class everyday is worthless if you intend to *try* to take notes on it. I don't know of anyone that actually uses a laptop for notetaking in class, its generally not practical.

Heh, agreed. When I bring mine to class, I have trouble paying attention and my marks fall.

[nslay]

Thinkpad T series is a good mix of portability and performance...and they are freaking durable as hell too, the newer ones even have roll cages.

[trust]

yeah I definitely facebook in class instead of taking notes. well I still take some notes but I don't listen to the lecture so they don't really mean much.

[while1]

Are you bringing a desktop as well?  If you are, then go with something portable.  If not, then go with a desktop replacement because you likely won't be bring it to class that much.  Most people don't unless it's a class requirement and you'll find that unless you're very disciplined or the lecture requires its use, you'll not be paying attention all that often .  Productivity wise, taking notes on a laptop sucks compared to a tablet.  And in generally I can take notes by hand quicker than by typing (especially math and anything that requires diagrams, charts, figures, etc.)

I have a desktop and a laptop.  The only time I use my laptop is to take home on relatively short breaks (i.e. everything but Winter break).

[trust]

once you get to college a lot of the stuff that you do now you're going to do less. (or at least that's what happened with me) once I got to school the only thing I used my computer for was internet, papers, facebook, and porn. I played video games on 360 because you can play with other people and college is tons more social than high school because you hang out with friends all of the time (since you live with them.) I have the lowend Macbook and it did everything I needed.