Laptops

KillerGremlin · 07-14-2006, 07:36 PM

I just got a laptop for college:

Dell Inspiron E1705
Intel T2500 2.00GHz Core Duo Processor
17" UltraSharp Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife
100GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
8x CD/DVD Burner
Wireless/Bluetooth
256MB Nvidia GeForce Go 7900 GS
512mbs of Ram

It was around 1,300, without shipping and handling and tax. I also bought 2gigs of ram, dual channel, for 160 bucks, because 2 gigs of Dell ram running at 667mhz was like 250 dollars.

It's heavy compared to most notebooks you see, 9 pounds...BUT, i don't mind the weight. The physical size is worse than the actual weight. But after watching a movie on this beauty in bed last night, and running Far Cry at 1920x1200, I can't complain. Battery life is around 1.5~3 hours, depending on what you are doing.

As far as college goes, i'm a computer engineering major...so, most of my notes will be of the hand taken variety. I doubt I will be doing tons of calculus and physics on this thing. so, in that regard, this is a desktop replacement that is more moveable. If i had more money, i wanted the w3j. Sexy thing, but a bit pricey for what it packs.

Also, in 2 or 3 years when I have my own apartment or something for college, I can just throw this badboy down the stairs or hit it with a hammer and claim the 2,100 I have it insured for. Go insurance fraud!

So, do any of you have laptops? Getting them? Have any opinion of them?

BlueFire · 07-14-2006, 09:27 PM

I'm getting one for college as well. I'm getting a Macbook. I forgot the specs.. but they go something like

2.0 GHz, I think
1 GB RAM
80 GBs
Wireless/Bluetooth
CD/DVD burner

blah blah..

Jason1 · 07-14-2006, 10:30 PM

I want one. I'll probably wait until next year when I transfer. Id really like a Macbook, but I wonder about compatibility issues...

Jonbo298 · 07-14-2006, 11:47 PM

Wow yeah, was abuot to say, the only thing really hurting that original configuration on that laptop was the pitiful amount of ram for that video card. Thumbs up to getting 2 gigs

manasecret · 07-15-2006, 01:09 AM

Good choice. Laptops for college and dormlife = way to go.

I had a desktop for the first couple years, then got a laptop to take with me when I went abroad for my junior year and have used it for all this last year when I came back for my 4th year. Laptops are so much easier to deal with, plus I think you may use it more often than you think. I took a computer engineering class last semester, and everyone in the class except for me brought their laptops in.

The only thing I really miss is the nice 5.1 speaker system I have for my desktop.

MrCoffee · 07-15-2006, 01:12 AM

I got some **** pieces lol:
1.HP 500Mhz CPU
64MB video card
15inch 1024/768 MAX screen
dvd
1 USB lol
batterylife:3-6 hours

2.Intel p4 2.4GHZ
128mb video card
256ram
the CD drive broke and you can use anything else to boot from and it costs 1400 dollars to fix, so its a useless piece of **** now...

I plan on picking up a laptop in japan next year

KillerGremlin · 07-15-2006, 01:25 AM

The thing is, for near half the price, you can configure a PC almost 1.5 or 2 times as good as a laptop. My plan, once I get my own place, is to buy a smaller screen laptop and get a nice desktop. Like I said, the w3j is sweet (http://www.notebookreview.com/price/...ay=priceDetail), but it's a bit pricey. In the future, I may opt to get an 800 dollar laptop, and a 1200 dollar desktop, and still game and be portable. For now, this will do just fine.

manasecret · 07-15-2006, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

The thing is, for near half the price, you can configure a PC almost 1.5 or 2 times as good as a laptop. My plan, once I get my own place, is to buy a smaller screen laptop and get a nice desktop. Like I said, the w3j is sweet (http://www.notebookreview.com/price/...ay=priceDetail), but it's a bit pricey. In the future, I may opt to get an 800 dollar laptop, and a 1200 dollar desktop, and still game and be portable. For now, this will do just fine.

Yeah, I'm going back to desktops when I get my own place. My plan is also to get a nice widescreen LCD, one that can double for both HDTV and my desktop. Perhaps I'll need a seperate CRT to use when I need to use the computer when watching TV, but you can get used 21" CRTs nowadays for $30.

Hmmm... the more I think about it, the more I think I will have to take some time and plan this out. I have this vision of just having one really nice computer that can be used to control all the media in the house.

BlueFire · 07-15-2006, 03:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason1

I want one. I'll probably wait until next year when I transfer. Id really like a Macbook, but I wonder about compatibility issues...

Well, supposedly they have that whole bootcamp dealie where it allows you to run windows on a mac. I really don't care since I don't play pc games, but if it interests you..

Jason1 · 07-15-2006, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLueFire

Well, supposedly they have that whole bootcamp dealie where it allows you to run windows on a mac. I really don't care since I don't play pc games, but if it interests you..

Yea, but how does that work exactly? As in, wouldnt I have to spend a couple hundred more dollars to purchase windows for Mac, and then get Word, Excel, and whatever other **** programs the entire world is using...I dont know, it just seems like more of a hassle than its worth.

DarkMaster · 07-15-2006, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLueFire

Well, supposedly they have that whole bootcamp dealie where it allows you to run windows on a mac. I really don't care since I don't play pc games, but if it interests you..

It's not just for games. Applications like Photoshop and whatnot are not compatible on both OSs, so if you're using stuff like that on your PC and then switch to a Mac, you have to either repurchase a Mac version of each program (some are dual compatible though, I think), or run that Boot Camp thing.

Kind of a pain in the ass.

BlueFire · 07-15-2006, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkMaster

It's not just for games. Applications like Photoshop and whatnot are not compatible on both OSs, so if you're using stuff like that on your PC and then switch to a Mac, you have to either repurchase a Mac version of each program (some are dual compatible though, I think), or run that Boot Camp thing.

Kind of a pain in the ass.

Well, that would be a problem, but Photoshop isn't that hard to come by. Haha. I was also worried about my mp3 player. I have a Creative Zen Touch and I thought I wouldn't be able to use its program on a mac, but I found a website online that has a download set up so you can run the program on a mac.

GameMaster · 07-15-2006, 03:02 PM

I've run Windows XP via Boot Camp on my Mini. It just partitions a part of your drive (you choose how much) and that part is reserved for the Windows OS. It's not virtualization though like in the past. It just runs natively. It was pretty cool. I used the XP disc that came with the Dell though so I wasn't able to load all the drivers. I need to buy a certified copy of XP SP2. The only reason I want it is so I could play WarCraft 3. WC3 runs fairly poor under OS X because Rosetta has to emulate it.

KillerGremlin · 07-17-2006, 03:19 PM

WC3 on widescreen is so pretty. If I can get myself to not suck (will require some time on b-net) maybe we can get a game going with forum members. My friend has his 30" LCD for his Mac...and Warcraft 3 is fantabulous on it.