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As the temliquidian community grows as fast as it's members, many of us are going off to college to continue our educational career. However while in the process of getting signed up and whatnot, my mother has told me for a gift to going off to college she would buy me a laptop for my stay.
I will be going to CSU Monterey Bay and staying in the dorms, but I have no idea what kind of laptop i should get. There have been deals with Apple for their macbooks and whatnot but they seem way too expensive for what their specs are showing off. So i am not sure at the moment what i can get. I still want to be able to game on it, so it should be a pretty decent rig at the same time. She's willing to play around $1200 give or take a few hundred.
One of the perks i do have is that if i do get a windows based machine, i already have a copy of windows ultimate in 64 and 32 bit versions.
But seriously, what do you decide to do? I know it matters on your major a little bit, i'm going to be a pure math major and realize you probably don't need a very powerful computer for the major, but i still want to play games such as CoD4 and probably Age of Conan:Hyborian Adventures.
So what will it be? Has anyone seen any good deals? Help me out teamliquid!
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that new architecture is comin out early june, in july alot of good laptops with new tech will be out. (and probably a better graphics card in the mid range than 8600gt/9500gt.)
if you're gettin it now make sure it has a 2ghz core 2 duo and a 8600gt/9500gt. 2gig of ram will do if you're goin to install XP on it.
HP and sony vaio are great for the money, so check their webpages for their current laptops.
*edit, i think you should add some money and get a new one in the 1400-1600 range in july, i think you can get a pretty awesome laptop then. Currently its pretty much old tech...
and dont get a mac dude... they dont play games and have no advantages over pc at all.
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My sister got a mac for college and it apparently runs as smooth as the day she got it, but they do tend to get pricey for whatever reason.
Only thng i have to contribute is DONT get an HP that shit sucks, most buggy peice of crap i ever got. But a Mac should last a little longer if you can find one with decent specs.
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On May 03 2008 09:00 MoNKeYSpanKeR wrote:
My sister got a mac for college and it apparently runs as smooth as the day she got it, but they do tend to get pricey for whatever reason.
Only thng i have to contribute is DONT get an HP that shit sucks, most buggy peice of crap i ever got. But a Mac should last a little longer if you can find one with decent specs.
mac's dont play games, have 0 benefits over PC and are extremely overpriced. People who get macs are people who don't know _ANYTHING_ about computers.
and no, HP has lots of really good laptops on the market right now.
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I would look at Toshiba and Fujitsu models. I got a Toshiba laptop for like $700 almost 2 years ago and it's still performing fine even though they used to have problems with reliability. My mom has a Fujitsu, they are more expensive but are probably the best quality Japanese brand.
And i agree, you should probably avoid a Mac.
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United States22883 Posts
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On May 03 2008 09:04 MarklarMarklar wrote:
mac's dont play games, have 0 benefits over PC and are extremely overpriced. People who get macs are people who don't know _ANYTHING_ about computers.
That is completely not true. There are a pretty large number of computer scientists where I go to school, and the consensus is pretty much Thinkpad or Macbook. Some of the best programmers I know use macbooks.
That being said, I'm probably going to get a lenovo for my next laptop.
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On May 03 2008 09:42 Daveed wrote:Show nested quote +On May 03 2008 09:04 MarklarMarklar wrote:
mac's dont play games, have 0 benefits over PC and are extremely overpriced. People who get macs are people who don't know _ANYTHING_ about computers.
That is completely not true. There are a pretty large number of computer scientists where I go to school, and the consensus is pretty much Thinkpad or Macbook. Some of the best programmers I know use macbooks. That being said, I'm probably going to get a lenovo for my next laptop.
all programmers use ubuntu
this is a lie
but seriously, why would anyone use a mac? programmers and the entire nerd community _detest_ macs, and for good reasons as well.
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On May 03 2008 09:04 MarklarMarklar wrote:Show nested quote +On May 03 2008 09:00 MoNKeYSpanKeR wrote:
My sister got a mac for college and it apparently runs as smooth as the day she got it, but they do tend to get pricey for whatever reason.
Only thng i have to contribute is DONT get an HP that shit sucks, most buggy peice of crap i ever got. But a Mac should last a little longer if you can find one with decent specs. mac's dont play games, have 0 benefits over PC and are extremely overpriced. People who get macs are people who don't know _ANYTHING_ about computers. and no, HP has lots of really good laptops on the market right now.
I resent that - I have a BS in Computer Science and I just bought my first mac. Who cares if they are a little pricey, i love my macbook pro and just the idea of not having to run windows is good enough for me.
I don't get why you think that the price is a good reason to say that poeple don't know anything about computers. Sometimes you pay for the name, so what? you think that doesn't happen with clothes, tvs, or anything else in the world? I know that I will never go back to a Windows based machine
I still don't think this means he should get a mac, as he wants to game, but -_- you are biased for stupid reasons
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United States22883 Posts
The most pragmatic reason to get a Mac is if you need Final Cut Pro or other Mac exclusive editing software. They don't necessarily encode sound/video better anymore though. Quicktime is definitely faster on a Mac, but things like Premier are faster on Windows.
The biggest downside to getting a Windows machine right now is that you're mostly forced to get Vista, but it still beats having very few games. Honestly, if you're an intelligent and experienced computer user (which I assume most TL.net people to be) there won't be much of a difference in how you use the computers. You're not going to use IE or Safari, you're still going to be using MS Office, your porn will look the same, etc.
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- go windows xp. you wont have to deal with vista and whatever noncompatibility stuff for now (i usually wait a bit for OS' to work out the kinks
- obviously, youre gonna be paying more for laptop specs than for its PC counterparts
- the games you listed are gonna need a lot of power (for a laptop). youre gonna have to spend a few hundred extra just upping the processor speeds and video card. srsly, laptops arent built for high-end gaming
- Dell gives you the most bang for your buck, though it IS Dell, and people have mixed experiences with their products. also, their Vostro business series is slightly cheaper than their home Inspiron series
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United States24755 Posts
Unless you have a specific reason not to, consider a desktop also. They give you more bang for you buck if you don't really need the portability, and they are a lot safer/secure.
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I have an HP laptop, it works well. The only bad part was uninstalling all the gay-ware that came installed on it. Though I love and adore alternative lifestyles, when they use lots of system resources it bothers me.
But Micronesia is right, I don't take my Laptop places very often, and they're less likely to break. Only if you actually intend on taking to class / to the Library should you get a Laptop.
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On May 03 2008 10:43 micronesia wrote:
Unless you have a specific reason not to, consider a desktop also. They give you more bang for you buck if you don't really need the portability, and they are a lot safer/secure.
I also agree with this, not only that, most of the time with a laptop you just sit in your dorm w/ it plugged in, so its just a glorified desktop
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United States22883 Posts
On May 03 2008 10:55 berated- wrote:Show nested quote +On May 03 2008 10:43 micronesia wrote:
Unless you have a specific reason not to, consider a desktop also. They give you more bang for you buck if you don't really need the portability, and they are a lot safer/secure. I also agree with this, not only that, most of the time with a laptop you just sit in your dorm w/ it plugged in, so its just a glorified desktop
Kinda. I'll mostly do that, but when I'm working on a paper at 3AM I'd rather be able to go elsewhere so my roomate doesn't hate me.
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On May 03 2008 11:12 Jibba wrote:Show nested quote +On May 03 2008 10:55 berated- wrote:On May 03 2008 10:43 micronesia wrote:
Unless you have a specific reason not to, consider a desktop also. They give you more bang for you buck if you don't really need the portability, and they are a lot safer/secure. I also agree with this, not only that, most of the time with a laptop you just sit in your dorm w/ it plugged in, so its just a glorified desktop Kinda. I'll mostly do that, but when I'm working on a paper at 3AM I'd rather be able to go elsewhere so my roomate doesn't hate me.
You could always go to the library and use their computers, at 3AM there are not usually many people on them at my university at least. Just points to consider. And I've spent plenty of time in the wee hours writing papers.
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United States22883 Posts
On May 03 2008 11:26 Ancestral wrote:Show nested quote +On May 03 2008 11:12 Jibba wrote:On May 03 2008 10:55 berated- wrote:On May 03 2008 10:43 micronesia wrote:
Unless you have a specific reason not to, consider a desktop also. They give you more bang for you buck if you don't really need the portability, and they are a lot safer/secure. I also agree with this, not only that, most of the time with a laptop you just sit in your dorm w/ it plugged in, so its just a glorified desktop Kinda. I'll mostly do that, but when I'm working on a paper at 3AM I'd rather be able to go elsewhere so my roomate doesn't hate me. You could always go to the library and use their computers, at 3AM there are not usually many people on them at my university at least. Just points to consider. And I've spent plenty of time in the wee hours writing papers.
My music/porn are not on library computers.
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That laptop you linked, Jibba. Looks really good. I want one of them now. LOLOL.
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United States22883 Posts
Yep, I'm picking one up after my school ends and sticking a T8300 processor in it.
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What you could also do is buy a cheap laptop for school work... and then build a gaming desktop for ~500 bucks.
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MURICA15980 Posts
If you are going to take your laptop around a lot to take notes in class, I'd recommend smaller than a 15 inch. I have a 15 incher and my packback is heavy as hell with just my laptop and 2 books. It's awkwardly so and it sucks. I'm thinking of getting a new laptop this summer, and it'll be a 13 incher, probably a Dell XPS simply because it is such good bang for buck with the coupons and they are getting good reviews now.
But you being a math major, I'd think you'd need to take notes by hand, so this may not apply. With that said, I'm going to assume you want a 15+ laptop. Here's my recommendations:
If you want a laptop you can carry around on occasion to the library when you need to get out of your room to study, get a 15 inch one. If you want a pure desktop replacement that you'll move maybe only 10 times maximum a year, get a 17 inch model.
Overall, 15 provides most versatility. 17 = pure mobile desktop and nothing more. I know some friends who go with a 13 inch laptop that has a deck that you can clip it into that will immediately almost make it desktop by auto connecting it to a bigger monitor, mouse, external keyboard, printer, and charte, a few of my suitemates have chosen to go that route. The downside of the laptop deck method is that your machine would be less powerful than a 15 or 17 inch computer.
For your needs, I'd recommend a 15 inch machine.
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United States20661 Posts
i have a 15 inch vaio and it's pretty.
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