New laptop?

[bell reavue]

I'm getting a new laptop for college and I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations. I know for sure I don't want a mac but that's about as far as I got on my own :/ So any suggestions on a good laptop that'll last 3/4 years? I'm not looking for a gaming computer, just something for school.

[TulsaGeoff]

I'd recommend a 15" or 14" screen with atleast 4gb ram and an i5. Don't get an HP.

[icky?/]

I'd recommend a 15" or 14" screen with atleast 4gb ram and an i5. Don't get an HP.

 

What's wrong with HP? My mum has one and never had any problems.

[PiaNist]

I'd recommend a 15" or 14" screen with atleast 4gb ram and an i5.

 

agree..at least i5 & bigger ram for games like 2-4gb (coz for sure you'll use it to play ET as well )....for brands, im not really brand material.any brand that is within your budget should do

[TulsaGeoff]

They don't post their drivers in an easy to find format for when you have to reinstall Windows. They use numerous different brands/models for components making it hard to figure out which drivers you need. They seem to be more cheaply made than asus, toshiba, gateway, dell, and lenovo. Why buy one when there are better brands?

 

agree..at least i5 & bigger ram for games like 2-4gb (coz for sure you'll use it to play ET as well )....for brands, im not really brand material.any brand that is within your budget should do

 

If you intend to play any games like ET, you definitely need a videocard regardless of how powerful your processor is.

 

Something like this would make an excellent computer for school work and media/internet browsing for $500. http://slickdeals.net/f/4883740-Staples-Lenovo-Ideapad-Z580-2151-28U-15-6-Laptop-w-i5-Processor-and-Win-8-Upgrade-WITH-STUDENT-ID-499-99-ship-a-TWO-Visa-Easy-Rebates

[rolf]

If you don't care about gaming, get a business laptop. No they aint the fastests, but after 4 years they're not likely to be broken. Try an Lenovo Thinkpad, Dell Latitude, HP Elitebook (probook perhaps), things like that. Furthermore, these laptops have the advantage that it is possible to put an good battery in it, such that a battery life of >6hr is easily possible. I personally love Dell, but most of FA don't though. The Dell Latitudes are awesome imho, but of course more expensive than the default acer/asus/hp pavilion/etc most people buy.

 

If you have a decent pc at home, don't buy a desktop replacement, 15" is quite heavy to bring to school every day. 13"/14" is good enough (and you get <2kg generally, rather than 2.5~3kg). If you're doing a lot of multitasking, try go get something with a higher resolution than 1366x768, that's not good enough for multitasking. Those business laptops have options for 1600x900 which is quite nice.

 

4GB is indeed the minimum, but because you don't want to upgrade over 3 years (because its old and expensive by then), buy 8GB straight away.

 

 

[edit]

If possible, try to figure out how good the keyboard is. On many laptops it sucks. Since you'll be working on it quite a lot, get a decent one.

 

 

[edit2]

Ignore any optical drives, you won't need it (or use external that once a year). Better find out if you can replace it by a battery (e.g. in the Thinkpads) or by a different/another hdd (SSD!), which is normally optional for many business laptops.

 

[edit3]

If an upgrade on memory is too expensive, buy it seperately and place it yourself. In most countries it won't void the guarantee if you upgrade it.

Edited July 16, 2012 by rolf

[bell reavue]

Okay so what started as me picking out my own laptop turned into my parents picking one for me. They gave me a couple options and this is the one that looked the best: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Series-SVT13112FXS-13-3-Inch-Ultrabook/dp/B0080C225Q It's a Sony VAIO T Series 13.3in Ultrabook. Pros/cons? Should I keep looking for something better?

And I may jump on ET *occasionally* which means I do need a decent graphics card, however I do not really know what that means.

Thanks to everyone for the help so far

[epicofail]

I have hp i5 4gb ram led and i've been using it since 1.5 years and i haven't had a single problem with it. Depends on how you use it.

 

Sony is a good choice though it might be little expensive than other brands.

[rolf]

Okay so what started as me picking out my own laptop turned into my parents picking one for me. They gave me a couple options and this is the one that looked the best: http://www.amazon.co...k/dp/B0080C225Q It's a Sony VAIO T Series 13.3in Ultrabook. Pros/cons? Should I keep looking for something better?

And I may jump on ET *occasionally* which means I do need a decent graphics card, however I do not really know what that means.

Thanks to everyone for the help so far

 

I suggest in those cases to read a couple of reviews. Find out the weak points, and if those aint a weak point for you it'll be a great laptop. Of course, in most reviews there is also linked to 'other' similar laptops. Read those too, perhaps those are better for your purpose.

 

Generally Sony is a bit more expensive than other laptops, but the design is nice, the hardware is quite good. I'd personally choose the Asus Zenbook due to the higher screen resolution, on the other hand the keyboard of that zenbook aint the best (although a lot better than what asus sold on other notebooks). Then again, the keyboard on the Sony aint great either.

 

 

Hence, as I said, read some reviews. We can't know what your focuspoints are on buying a laptop