Laptop for college freshman: looking for ideas

[12thmonkey]

My daughter is going away to college in the fall, and she's going to need a laptop.

My guess is something fairly light but with a decent-sized screen. Should I just go for some version of a build-your-own Dell Inspiron?

Ideally I'd like to get away with something in $650 - $750 range, if that's being realistic.

[al_bundy]

get her a mac, they are cool in college

[12thmonkey]

Originally Posted by al_bundy

get her a mac, they are cool in college

And twice the price from what I've seen...

[Mopower]

Originally Posted by 12thmonkey

And twice the price from what I've seen...

Then I guess she's not cool enough to get a mac. Remember being cool now a days is acting like your poor. Thrift shops and not showering and all that other hipster crap.

I'd look at HP or Dell. Or course thats the obvious answer. There are much better brands like Asus but might not find much for $700.

[DonnachaOne]

Don't bother with a mac, she can buy one herself if she wants to. I love mine but I wouldn't recommend it for a starting laptop.

Get something even cheaper than what you're looking for if you can. All she probably needs is a glorified word processor for typing papers and searching the internet, all of which can be done with technology and software from a few years ago. She doesn't need it for gaming, editing video or animating CG models, does she? If not, go cheap and simple - ebay a used Dell or something.

[12thmonkey]

Originally Posted by Mopower

Then I guess she's not cool enough to get a mac. Remember being cool now a days is acting like your poor.

Then we're fucking cool as hell.

Originally Posted by Mopower

I'd look at HP or Dell. Or course thats the obvious answer. There are much better brands like Asus but might not find much for $700.

thx

[ATX]

i think al bundy was being facetious

you definately don't have to go over that budget. They are cheap now (relatively speaking)

is your daughter looking for anything specific in a laptop, brand?

i would say get something lightweight (maybe 13,14"), at least 2GB memory, i'd also recommend Intel core 2 Duo based, 250+ hard drive, maybe a webcam

[12thmonkey]

Originally Posted by ATX

is your daughter looking for anything specific in a laptop, brand?

i would say get something lightweight (maybe 13,14"), at least 2GB memory, i'd also recommend Intel core 2 Duo based, 250+ hard drive, maybe a webcam

She has no brand preference, and I'm just looking for something reliable.
Those are good suggestions - thx!

[al_bundy]

i'd buy a dell

my inspiron 6000 is still working after 5 years. never had any problems. same thing with my mom's. both have been around the country on trips. my wife still has a dell desktop at her parent's house that she bought in the 1990's. still works fine.

every hp laptop i've seen seems like you have to be gentle with it

if she wants OS X, just buy a Dell for $3000, download VMWare, but OS X on ebay and it's like 2 computers in one. for that much money you'll easily get a laptop that is twice as powerfull as a macbook pro

[kuroiinu]

First, check with the school for student discounts on PCs. You often get killer deals available only for students (Mac included).

Second, unless you have an urgent need to buy now, I'd wait closer to the fall when your daughter goes to school. There will be new models that are better or cheaper or both.

[Mr. Salty]

Originally Posted by Mopower

I'd look at HP or Dell. Or course thats the obvious answer.

I'd buy a Lenovo. The Lenovo brand isn't that well known yet by the general public, but those who use laptops professionally gravitate toward them. The company used to make IBM's laptops, and took over the line completely when IBM decided to get out of the business a couple of years back.

Lenovo has much better build quality than most laptops, so they'll hold up better to the abuse they're likely to encounter in the hands of a college student. They're also very reasonably priced and come with an impressive set of features. Their only drawback is that they come with facial recognition software as a security feature and it doesn't work very well. It's easy to uninstall, though.

You can look at them here. You can customize and order online, like you can with Dell, or you can find them at Amazon.com, Newegg.com, or in stores like Office Depot.

[Darknite39]

My thinkpad is a tank, and the couple of times I had an issue with it the warranty coverage was SPECTACULAR.

I was just looking at Lenovo's site yesterday, and they have a wide range of products that should meet her needs well (e.g., boring thinkpads or more flashy ideapads).

[al_bundy]

Originally Posted by kuroiinu

First, check with the school for student discounts on PCs. You often get killer deals available only for students (Mac included).

Second, unless you have an urgent need to buy now, I'd wait closer to the fall when your daughter goes to school. There will be new models that are better or cheaper or both.

i noticed that the UoP Apple store gives you a whole $100 off an imac. Dell always has EPP deals where the discounts are hundreds of $$$. i haven't kept up lately, but years ago it was up to $750 off. check fatwallet for updates

[Raul3]

Yeah, I was going to suggest a Lenovo too. Thinkpads are really great, they have the best history record, even with Lenovo. I saw in Fatwallet a deal for a T400 for $600 or something like that's a really great price. The deal is over, but you should be able to find something like that in the future.
But yeah, for students an Ideapad should be better.

[GatorDeb]

http://www.compusa.com/applications/...234-_-Notebook

[kayak99]

Dell, if one of the hot specials doesn't work for you, try the Dell outlet.

[ugabuga]

Hell grab a nice netbook which is what many college students are wanting right now. Small, portable, light, fantastic battery life, priced well. I recommend a 10inch one, like the Asus 1000HE.

[Brian Shannon]

Originally Posted by 12thmonkey

My daughter is going away to college in the fall, and she's going to need a laptop.

My guess is something fairly light but with a decent-sized screen. Should I just go for some version of a build-your-own Dell Inspiron?

Ideally I'd like to get away with something in $650 - $750 range, if that's being realistic.

Three years ago we bought our son a Dell with the extended warranty, which we have already needed.

I would recommend buying a good solid configuration but avoid alot of the bells and whistles. More than likely it will get trashed and need to be repaired and/or rebuilt more than once.

[MBoyd]

Don't buy an ACER. And if you buy one don't buy one with 1GB of RAM and a Celeron processor and vista. NIGHTMARE! That was a $300 Wal Mart pre black Friday special back in 2007. I'm a Mac user, but bought it to take to China. Failed on me there and I almost lost all our pics on the HD. Got the pics off and got it fixed under warranty. My brother in law is now happily using it with an extra Gig of ram and the Chinese Bootleg XP installed on it.

[Sdallnct]

Well have you considered a netbook? I just ordered a 10" Asus pretty nicely loaded for $325 after Live.com cash back (basically a rebate of sorts). Add an external DVD writer (about $75.00) to leave in her room and you have a nice portable set up.

It will be able to do Office, etc. Probably not high end gaming. Photos will be fine, but probably have trouble with high end video editing.

[Nifty03]

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...54&dcaid=17654

Dell Latitude D531 Large Screen Netbook, AMD Mobile Sempron 3600+ / 1.8 GHz,512MB,60.0GB,14.1" XGA, Wireless G, Windows XP Home (does not include CD-RW/DVD Drive)
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[Michael Corvin]

Originally Posted by al_bundy

get her a mac, they are cool in college

Originally Posted by al_bundy

if she wants OS X, just buy a Dell for $3000, download VMWare, but OS X on ebay and it's like 2 computers in one. for that much money you'll easily get a laptop that is twice as powerfull as a macbook pro

Originally Posted by al_bundy

i noticed that the UoP Apple store gives you a whole $100 off an imac. Dell always has EPP deals where the discounts are hundreds of $$$.

For someone who doesn't own a mac (and won't pick one up on the cheap), you sure talk a lot of shit. Is it some personal requirement that every computer related post of yours trash Apple or something? Give it a rest, we get it, you despise all things Apple. Also, you constantly bitch about Apple's pricing in various threads but have no qualms about recommending a $3000 Dell? That's a bit hypocritical, don't you think? Even with your hypothetical $700 discount, one could get a MacBook Air for that price which would be phenomenal to carry around campus. It's also quite hypocritical to give advice against a product you have zero experience with.

Originally Posted by DonnachaOne

Don't bother with a mac, she can buy one herself if she wants to. I love mine but I wouldn't recommend it for a starting laptop.

Yes and no. I agree that Apple would be a poor starting laptop because there is a learning curve. Not much, but there is one. Having computer issues your first week of school would suck. However, the OP is buying early enough that it would allow ample time this summer to get acquainted with it, so there's that.

Personally, if she's only needing it for word processing and 'net use, there's nothing wrong with an older model Mac which would be cheaper on the wallet. Apple builds reliable hardware and there's nothing like the peace of mind of not worrying about viruses especially with a college student(you never know what they'll download). Also the install/remove programs functionality in OSX is much more user friendly(no accidentally deleting key files that screw up other programs/Windows).

I'm not recommending anything either way, just tossing that out there.

[D.Pham00]

^^

that's not really a netbook, based on the specs. a real netbook has a screen around 10" or smaller and weighs maybe 2-3 lbs. the dvd drive is probably a stickler for someone in college these days. though you could by an external. 14" screen is pretty small, for something you'd use as a desktop replacement, but if you're using it to carry around, and at 6 lbs, it's not that light esp. with no optical drive. and 512 ram in VISTA well, that could be upgraded for not too much these days. with that said, the price is great, for what you get.



here's another option, $550 with $50 rebate. this is somewhat of a desktop replacement.
Model
Brand HP
Model G60-230US
Part# NB041UA#ABA
General
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium
CPU Type Intel Pentium dual-core T4200(2.00GHz)
Screen 16"
Memory Size 3GB DDR2
Hard Disk 320GB
Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Graphics Card Intel GMA 4500M
Video Memory shared memory
Communication Modem, LAN and WLAN
Dimensions 14.88" x 9.90" x 1.38-1.72"
Weight 6.57 lbs.
Other Features Kensington MicroSaver lock slot
Power-on password
Accepts 3rd party security lock devices
CPU
CPU Type Intel Pentium dual-core
CPU Speed T4200(2.00GHz)
CPU FSB 800MHz
CPU L2 Cache 1MB
Display
Screen Size 16"
Wide Screen Support Yes
LCD Features BrightView
Resolution 1366 x 768
Operating Systems
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium
Graphics
GPU/VPU Intel GMA 4500M
Video Memory Shared system memory
Graphic Type Integrated Card
Hard Drive
HDD 320GB
HDD RPM 5400rpm
HDD Interface SATA
Memory
Memory 3GB
Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type DVD Super Multi
Optical Drive Interface Integrated
Optical Drive Spec LightScribe Super Multi 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
Communications
Modem 56K
LAN 10/100Mbps
WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN
Ports
USB 3
Video Port 1 x VGA, 1 x HDMI
Audio Ports 1 x Microphone jack; 1 x Headphone jack
Audio
Audio Integrated Sound card
Speaker Altec Lansing speakers
Input Device
Touchpad Touch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical scroll Up/Down pad
Keyboard 101-key compatible full size keyboard with integrated numeric keypad
Supplemental Drive
Card Reader 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards
Webcam Yes
Power
AC Adapter 65-watt AC adapter
Battery 6-cell lithium ion
Physical spec
Dimensions 14.88" x 9.90" x 1.38-1.72"
Weight 6.57 lbs.
Manufacturer Warranty
Parts 1 year limited
Labor 1 year limited

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc..._-NA-_-NA-_-NA

[12thmonkey]

Appreciating/reading/processing all the input, folks - keep it coming

For what it's worth I'm probably steering away from a Mac, and had pretty much come to that mindset before this thread.

[D.Pham00]

what size screen are you looking for? and how light?