|
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15677
Location: SoCal | In the next couple of months, I've got a daughter heading off to college. We need to get her a laptop. Can't afford an Apple (minimum $2k) for something decent.
I'm thinking 2-3 gigs of ram, about 300 gigs for hard drive, built in video camera for staying in touch with her mother, wi fi, 15-17" moniter, decent battery life, etc.
Any suggestions? I'd like to keep the cost down to about $800. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 398
Location: So. Cal. | 13" macbook is under $1K, with education discount $50 off $999.... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2008
Posts: 1119
Location: Michigan | Get an inexpensive one. Kids (even college ones) are tough on laptops and technology races past a durable computers life anyway. I would try costco or walmart.
My daughter is a grad student and always wanted an apple until she had to work on one and could not believe how slow it was compared to her old dell laptop. She, by the way spilled a glass of water into her laptop and fried the HD freshman year.
Battery life seems to be a crapshoot depending on who is making the batteries for that particular brand in any particular week. OEM dell batteries have been crap for me, while the cheap ebay ones work fine. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2008
Posts: 4996
Location: Phoenix AZ | 13" Macbook. It's pretty much the standard issue for college students these days. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2007
Posts: 1486
Location: Cincinnati | Originally posted by playadamas:
13" macbook is under $1K, with education discount $50 off $999.... +1 My daughter and several of her friends have one. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2006
Posts: 3969
| If all she's using it for is Internet access and standard school apps like word processing, then you can't beat one of the new netbooks. I bought my wife an Acer 150 (the one with an 80G HD rather than 16G solid state drive) & installed Open Office on it (does everything MS Office does - including file compatibility - only free). The screen size (10") is a bit on the small side for my old eyes, but a single charge lasts about 6 hours and it's light as a feather. Built-in wi-fi, mic and web-cam (great for Skype). You couldn't do DAW, video editing, or full-motion 3D CGI on it, but that's not what she'll be needing. Total price incl. shipping was $319. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
October 2008
Posts: 639
Location: NW of Philadelphia | You can get an 14" ASUS laptop for around $800.
Mine is a ASUS X83VM-X2 I got it when Toshiba died last year. Its a really nice laptop for the money.
Windows Vista Home Premium (free upgrade to 7)
Dual 2.1Ghz CPU or higher
14" screen
Nvidia Graphics card w/1G RAM (very good)
DVD burner w/Lightscribe
4G RAM
350 G HD
802.11N/G wifi
2-2.5 hrs on battery (can be longer if I set it that way) |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15677
Location: SoCal | We're going to go shop. That's a small moniter... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 1889
Location: Central Massachusetts | Paul, the nice thing about the small screen is it's lightweight and easy to carry around to classrooms, library, etc. Get too big of a screen and it becomes a burden to carry around. You're better off getting a smaller screen laptop and then if she really needs more real estate (for graphics work, for example), get an lcd monitor for her dorm room.
Just something to think about without jumping into the Mac/PC fray.
Oh, and you can always add the lcd monitor later, for xmas or something. you can get very nice ones for under 200 these days |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15677
Location: SoCal | One other thing she's looking for is a laptop with a numeric 10 key. She's going to be a math major and thinks it might be important.... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 1889
Location: Central Massachusetts | pretty sure that won't happen. she'll need a usb/bluetooth keyboard to do that. happy shopping! |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | Both mine got macs. The first because that's what the graphic designers used. The second because she liked the little Macbook. I thought the screen was too small, but she likes the little thing and is going on her 5th year. I quit trying to get them what I thought they needed and just went with what they wanted.
On the other side, I have a nice Roland keyboard that she had to have. It's cool, but she decided she didn't want it and I don't know how to work it. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Yeah, it's a PC... I just got new Toshiba L305-S5968 for $400, but it was off of evilBay.
They are alittle more at Office Depot, but you get a rebate, and you can get a printer for free with it by using another rebate.
Mine is 3GB and 320GB Hard Drive, 15.4" widescreen, wifi, webcam and that stuff, DVD+/-RW but no LightScribe, crappy teeny speakers but it takes headphones. Mine doesn't have a number keypad, but I think the the regular typewriter keypad is bigger. All in all it is a good computer but it is Vista.
Sorta like this one.... Only mine's pretty silver with a bigger HD.
If you buy a laptop with Vista now, I think that you will get a free upgrade to Windows7 (But who knows if that is gonna be any good).
You can look around this website, but if you go to a physical Office Depot they always have Sales and Rebates and Bundles and Such.
I was just in there and they had a 17" 3GB 250HD for $379 with numeric keyboard and in-store price cut thingie.
(That was enough to annoy me, but never go price compare after you've bought something!)
But you can get a good laptop for much less than $800 if you shop around.
Happy Hunting! :cool: |
|
| |
|
Joined:
October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | there are many options with 10-key pads out there. my wife needed one also. several dell vostro models have them. we saw a few from hp in office max and walmart with the 10-key pad features. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2007
Posts: 1486
Location: Cincinnati | Paul,
I have USB numeric keyboard that is designed to be used with laptops without the numeric 10 key. You're welcome to it. It's a Targus PAUK10. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2006
Posts: 3969
| Most widescreen laptops regardless of OS flavor (BTW Macs are also "personal computers" or PCs) have a separate numeric keypad. But then you're getting into desktop replacements that hit the 7-9lb territory. Pretty big and heavy to lug around in a backpack all the time. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | And congratulations. Getting the kid ready to go off to college is a little scary, but lots of fun. I really enjoyed the "parent orientations" that the colleges put on for us. I don't think they offered those for my parents. Still didn't justify the cost of the college, but it gave me some warm fuzzies knowing that the schools were trying to give the kids a good education. I think my wife really liked the "back to school sales", but on a much grander scale. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Students know better what they need than we do. Give her a budget and have her pick it out herself. She'll be happier because she's invested in the choice. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7236
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | reason # 9,874 of why to not have kids. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 1889
Location: Central Massachusetts | Originally posted by lanaki:
there are many options with 10-key pads out there. my wife needed one also. several dell vostro models have them. we saw a few from hp in office max and walmart with the 10-key pad features. I stand corrected, many laptops do have separate numeric keypads, which seem to be commonly referred to as 10-key's these days. I had been thinking of the old-fashioned 10-key layout used for accounting/adding machines -- hopefully long forgotten. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 5567
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | reason # 9,874 of why to not have kids.
Did that for over 49 years...now I have two great kids: I wouldn't trade them for anything on earth... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Originally posted by Mr. Ovation:
reason # 9,874 of why to not have kids. Glad my folks didn't read your list! BTW, they probably could have added to it after my youth... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | As I said above, I really enjoyed that part of the kids' lives. In fact I might have enjoyed shopping for colleges for them more than I did for me. They were much more mature about it. Graduations were the highlights of my life, even though I didn't even go to my own. Kids are the best. Glad my wife tricked me into it. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | I just bought myself a Toshiba that has an AMD Turion X2 Ultra 2.1 ghz Dual-Core 64-bit processor, 4 gig of RAM, 320gb HD, DVD super multi-drive, and all the other bells and whistles, including hi-def audio card and decent video card, built-in webcam, etc. $598. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4071
Location: Utah | Be sure to consider the warranty cost. Many cheap PC's come with a very short warranty, like 90 days. You want at least a year, preferably 2. It may be worth investing in some kind of theft protection, either a lojack, a physical lock, or insurance.
We found that the Mac was a bit more expensive up front, but when you consider the warranty and the software that was preloaded, it was competitive.
Your daughter probably doesn't need a very powerful machine at all. |
|
| |
OT: Laptops
