Daughter headed to college - PC Laptop specs?

[ranger]

Daughter headed to college - Liberal Arts major - looking for specs that I should look for when I shop for a PC based (not MAC) laptop. Looking for a laptop and not a Netbook type machine to replace her current desktop. Looking for the Production class laptop - not the Open class laptop I cannot afford!

[Sarge]

In my experience after buying two for my kids in college, somebody at the school knows what programs, speeds, etc. are needed. My kids researched through the staff at OSU and were able to see what programs would need to be loaded after they got in the various courses and this helped determine most of our needs when shopping.

I hear you on wanting a "production" computer. I have to buy another one soon for a total of three in school.

Things like this are what keep me shooting a Glock.

[cyburg]

Why not a MAC?

[Chris Keen]

Why not a MAC?

Price, of course.

[Sarge]

Why not a MAC?

Price, of course.

+1. My son just had to have a fully loaded mac. We made him dump some of his own money into that deep well.

[blind bat]

<IT Guy Advice> I generally advice people to browse the local electronics stores to find out what sort of laptop they like since personal preference (sceen size, weight, color, keyboard size, etc.) rather than processing power and disk size seem to be much more important in laptop purchases. After she knows what she likes then you can shop around online.

Your daughter's school may have a computer center that offers package deal or at least steeeep discounts on software. I know when my fiance went to Dartmouth they had the best deals going on Macs and software. Of course that was a long time ago...

[jmcmanis]

http://www.tigerdirect.com is a really good place to look for a laptop.

In purchasing a laptop, I wouldn't get less than 250 GB Hard drive, 2.0Ghz Processor, and 2 GB Ram.

Daughter headed to college - Liberal Arts major - looking for specs that I should look for when I shop for a PC based (not MAC) laptop. Looking for a laptop and not a Netbook type machine to replace her current desktop. Looking for the Production class laptop - not the Open class laptop I cannot afford!

[twodownzero]

I would highly suggest that you get her a netbook style computer to take to class if she wants (or the library, etc.) and encourage her to maintain her desktop. Laptops are easily lost, often kicked around, and easily broken. That could be devastating for a college student on a deadline!

I made it through the first two years of college with only my laptop. Now I use a desktop with a 500 gb hard drive at home, and I bought a $250 Netbook (MSI Wind, 10", 1.6 ghz Intel, 100 gb hdd, 1 gb ram, XP) that weighs 2.3 pounds to take with me if I need the portability.

Considering the fact that my netbook is less than 3 pounds, smaller than a piece of notebook paper, and was only $250, I can't justify getting rid of my desktop and carrying a 6-8 pound laptop just so I can have a desktop replacement.

When I'm at home I can sit down at the desktop, enjoy my 22", 1680x1050 screen (which holds a LOT of Excel cells!), and store it on a hard drive that I'm not banging around in my book bag all the time.

But if I want to look something up in class, study in the library, type a paper on the go, or just take my materials with me...I have a computer in my bag that is smaller and lighter than a single textbook.

A fancy laptop might seem like a great idea for some, but I'd never spend more than about $4-500 on one ever again. The key thing about a good laptop is that it needs to be portable. A powerful laptop just costs a lot of money and will never offer the performance of even a halfway decent desktop unless you spend thousands of dollars.

I just graduated from college, for what it's worth.

This laptop is just like mine, except mine is a different color:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300393543603&rvr_id=&crlp=1_263602_263622&UA=WXF%3F&GUID=563f194c1210a075f3c645e6fffbee9a&itemid=300393543603&ff4=263602_263622

If you're not amazed that you can get a functional computer for less than $200 with all the capability you'll ever need on the go, I'll leave you with one more fact--I am typing this message on my MSI Wind.

Edited May 29, 2010 by twodownzero

[Jman]

We bought a Dell Inspiron for our youngest a few years ago. Heading into her senior year, I think it might just make it. ALWAYS in use. Payed like $750 for it then.

[Nik Habicht]

I survived 2.5 years of nursing school with a refurbished Dell XPS 1210 laptop from their outlet. That laptop's still going strong a year after graduation -- and wasn't too pricey, considering that it's capable of replacing a desktop, and fairly portable at the same time. A spare battery helped for the really long days -- and since I bought the small battery as the spare, also gave be the ability to make the computer physically smaller and lighter, for the non-intensive days....

My next laptop will be a refurbished XPS, unless I decide that I can get by with a netbook, i.e. if I really only want a small computer for travel. If I need a portable machine for anything else, it'll be an XPS....

[Gameplayer]

In my experience after buying two for my kids in college, somebody at the school knows what programs, speeds, etc. are needed. My kids researched through the staff at OSU and were able to see what programs would need to be loaded after they got in the various courses and this helped determine most of our needs when shopping.

Excellent advice right there.

[Aglifter]

I carried my mac all through law school, w.o. any problems, but I kept it in a pelican 1470 laptop case. As a woman, she probably won't want to carry around a giant case - and MSI notebook could be a good idea.

[Matt Cheely]

Wife has been very happy with her Lenovo laptop.

Get as much processing power and RAM as you can without blowing the budget.

[eric nielsen]

just posted last nite about my dell XPS 1330: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=103198&st=25

i think it was Nik who helped convince me to get it when I was accepted 2 summers ago. it goes with me every trip to campus in a very normal-looking Eddie Bauer backpack that has a padded slot for a laptop. most people don't realize there's a pc in there unless i whip it out.

if she has to watch a lot of streaming lectures i would consider an XPS 1530. wider, heavier, costlier, but better for the eyes.

[CocoBolo]

My third daughter is almost done at AM. What learned with the other 2 is buy the extended warranty for the full time they are in school and make sure they have anti-virus etc. We used Dell since I get an Employee discount where I work and then I found coupons to cut the cost even more.

All three plus the Step Daughter had to have MS Office for the courses they took. That is Baylor, UTSA, and AM. A printer with scanner/copier is also a must have. Yes they copy stuff and one did some faxing but there is aways Kinko's for that. Wirelss and Wired.

[markcic]

Get something with a decent warranty. You can't beat Dell's next day support with accident coverage. A buddy was camping and found out that his dry box makes an excellent water collector and had his laptop in 6 inches of water. Dell replaced it the day after he called.

[Suprdave]

You should really think about ponying up the extra cash for the 13" Macbook Pro ($1200) is you can swing it. You'll be better off in long run.

It's gonna last her all the way through school (especially if you get the extended warranty). I just switched to a Mac from PC Laptops that I used daily and for work.

The PC is gonna be replaced ATLEAST once in that 4 years. It's eventually going to just start running slow, and sucking. Especially if it's a college student

downloading all kinds of music and random files...plus, the MAC is 50x cooler and she will love you forever heh. You could do the regular Macbook, which is only $1000.

That's a few hundo more than a decent PC, well worth it...

[Bob Hostetter]

We got my daughter a Compac laptop when she started college and had good luck with it. When she left for Europe to study at Oxford last year we picked up a high end Netbook with a 10 hour battery. Best decision we ever made, you should think about it...

Edited June 9, 2010 by Bob Hostetter