Should I get a laptop now?

[nin137]

I'll be going to law school next fall and I want to get myself a laptop (or rather the law school INSISTS i get a laptop). My question is, should I wait until maybe next summer or get one now? The only two advantages I can see are technology and price.
Are laptops going to get insanely better between now and the summer?
Are laptops usually less expensive during the holiday season or the summer?
i would imagine during the holiday season as there are more sales or coupons or what not, whereas in the summer people are scrambling to buy them for college.
now that i've somewhat answered my own questions (any input is more than appreciated though), i just wanted to get an opinion on the basic system Dell Inspiron 6000.
my requirements are:
1.) can run word processing and any other menial tasks associated with what you might do in an office or college (i.e. spreadsheets, excel, etc.)
2.) has good to great wireless capability (i know nothing about these wireless cards although i just read another post on the difference between a/b/g)
3.) is inexpensive since law school = i will be poor
4.) i want it to be decently light and manageable; i don't know what sizes are commonly referred to as big or small in the laptop world
so considering those requirements how good of a fit is the $749 basic inspiron 6000?
would the xps m140 for $999 of the 600M series be better (it definitely seems lighter)?
i've really only built desktop computers so i have no idea what to look for in laptops (i already see i'm neglecting even mentioning battery life).
thanks in advance for any help!

[thefultonhow]

Technology-wise, the new Yonah dual-core laptop chips from Intel will be coming out in January. If multitasking ability is important to you, you may want to wait for them. (Keep in mind that if you're using the computer mostly on battery, you won't get any advantage from dual-core, as Yonah shuts off one of the cores on battery so that you get longer run-time.)

The Inspiron 6000 is a fairly nice laptop. A co-worker has one (he got it about a month ago) and he likes it a lot. However, if you are concerned about size, then who knows whether you will like it. He thinks the size is fine, but my cousin (who incidentally is also in law school) got one on my recommendation and ended up returning it because it was too big and heavy.

The Inspiron XPS M140 is a nice laptop. It's like a smaller version of the 6000. If you're not planning on playing games it should do everything you need it to (it has integrated graphics, so it wouldn't be great for that purpose). If you settle on that laptop, you may want to look at getting it from Dell Small Business; it's called the Inspiron 630m there and seems to be cheaper.

In terms of capability, you mentioned "word processing and other menial tasks." We're at a point where any computer you buy will be able to deal with that. Wireless-wise, if you look for the Intel Centrino platform, you will be assured of a Pentium-M (good for long battery life) and Intel wireless (either b/g or a/b/g).

[flanzig1]

One thing you should find out from the school is if you will need to run Windows XP Pro. Most of those Dells have XP Home to start with.
1: Most will do the normal things, but upgrade ram to 512megs.
2: Wireless is built in.
3: Don't go with the cheapest on any of the different models, up the options that will help like ram, bigger HD, better battery.
4: There's 3 generally types as they relate to weight.
A: Lite weight: they generally give up weight by reduction of the screen, battery size,keyboard, and eliminate option bays.
B: Laptop: middle of the road everything
C: Desck top replacement: Heavyist/bigger screens/bigger batteries/can have replacable video cards.

[Jaggannath]

Look at IBM Thinkpads too, they're pretty nice and good at those type of tasks

[thefultonhow]

The only problem with ThinkPads is that they're sort of expensive. Dells offer better bang for the buck, although IBMs are better-built and a bit more reliable.

[nin137]

thanks a lot for the tips. I'm looking with at the 630m and i really like it (i'm thinking of upgrading to pro as it does seem most lawschools i'm applying to require that, thanks for that tip i didn't even notice!). my dad told me that i should look at the refurbished portion of the site.
is there any difference in refurbished laptops? my dad's business swears by them, but i don't know if they're good for an individual use as they may pose more problems, any thoughts on those?
thanks!

[thefultonhow]

Refurbished laptops should be fine, but I looked earlier today and they don't have the 630m/XPS M140 on that part of the site.

[nin137]

so i scoured the law school websites where i applied and they all seem to recommend the Dell Latitude D610. I looked at it and the only difference i can find is that the 610 has xp professional + sp2 installed and a 3 year mail in plan instead of a 1 year. it also says intel gma 900 by the processor but i don't know what difference that makes, other than that they are identical.
the main thing the law websites have caused me to freak out about are service plans (the dire consequences of your laptop loosing it on you right before an exam).
now usually when something happens to my desktop i just log onto pcmech and then fix it myself, of course with laptops i have no idea. so my two questions are:
1.) should i get the recommended D610 instead of the 630M i have my eyes on? (is it worth the extra 500 bucks?)
2.) if i do stick with the 630M is it worth the extra $230 for the 3 year plan? i me
an how reliable are these laptops? i'm strongly leaning towards the 3 year plan.
3.) also i noticed that the 630M has centrino technology whereas i didn't see that on the D610, considering my need for efficiency while being mobile that is something that keeps me on that model.
Now that I look at it the D610 is lighter than the 630M. Decisions, decisions.

[thefultonhow]

The D610 will be pretty reliable, as it is a business class laptop. However, if you upgrade to the 3-year plan with CompleteCare on the 630m, I don't know how much of a difference you would see. The 630m also gets better battery life with the 9-cell battery.

[nin137]

thanks a lot for all your help.
i'm leaning towards the 630M really, i do think i will go ahead and get a pretty comprehensive service/warranty plan for the laptop just in case. the battery life is a big winner for me and so are the -$500.

[nin137]

after doing extensive research on a whole bunch of different laptops (i went through three different dell types) i've come across the ACER TRAVELMATE 4652, here is the link
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115306
to me it looks like a great deal, and really i can't see anything wrong with it. does anyone have any advise, or think know of any commonly occurring problems? i've read through the forums and cnet and it seems acer laptops have a pretty good rep.
Thanks!

[thefultonhow]

I personally would still get a Dell. Another option is to look at the IBM ThinkPad R-series -- they are speced slightly lower, but there are a bunch of models for around the price of that Acer.

[nin137]

I finally decided on a laptop!
it'll be the Dell Latitude D610
with really just the basic features and all.
there is just one question i have before i purchase it; and that is:
what is the difference between the 4-cell and 6-cell battery?
the little help window they have at the dell website doesn't explain anything. it just says that the 4-cell makes it lighter (doesn't say if it is significantly lighter). and then for the 6-cell it just says "the optimum battery to weight ratio" or something along those lines.
of course my two main criteria are
battery life and weight. not necessarily in that order. are there any suggestions as to which one i should go with?
thanks for all the help!

[thefultonhow]

I'd go with the 6-cell -- I can almost guarantee the 4-cell's battery life is sub-par.

[Jaggannath]

The biggest battery possible IMO, which in this case is the 6-cell

[nin137]

OK this is the absolute last question for before i purchase my laptop (i swear). i have it all configured for the specifications that are indicated by the law schools (40 gig hdd, 512 ram, cd writer, 1.73 ghz). now the last component i am still wondering about is the video card. i would say largely (about 80% of the time) i will be using this for straight work but there could be the chance that i play a video game here or there or watch a movie.
there are two questions for me on this:
1.) will the gma integrated graphics handle the usual madden 2006/nba live 2006 and the occassional dvd?
2.) will there be an increase/decrease in the battery performance and overall performance of the computer?
i know the gma has shared memory; so does that degrade performance? the video card has its own memory so it seems it wouldn't degrade overall performance. i'm assuming the video card would drain the battery more and i'm guessing the increase in weight is negligible.
Thanks!

[thefultonhow]

If you're gaming, the general rule is to go with as good a video card as possible. DVD-watching is dependent on the processor, so the video card doesn't matter with that. Battery-life-wise, integrated graphics will make for longer runtime than dedicated graphics.