Laptop Recommendations

[FLG]

Hey guys/gals,

I start college in september and im going to need a new laptop. The school itself wants you to have a higher end laptop in the first place...though i want to have the best i can afford. I know it will be for school, but if i can kind of "replace" my desktop id like to. I want to use it for school work, and for play.

I was looking at the Dell XPS series, the M1710 in particuliar. Any opinions? There new M2010, though a very nice multimedia PC...really is too much for me to lug around and it wont suit me very well.

Im looking for a high-end PC without going over $3,000. Any recommendations?

Also, is there any reason to wait until july-august or should i just go with one now?

Help is much apprechiated,

Frank

[Staren]

Are you planning to carry the laptop around to classes? If you are, I can say from my own experence that anything over a 5 lbs 14" screen laptop you will probobly get sick of rather quickly. If it will mostly be on a desk and only taken to class from time to time then an XPS might do the trick. Though, the E1705 can be just as powerful for a better price if you would like another option and still stay with Dell. As for waiting, I'd say no right now. Any back to school sales usually arn't great for the higher end models if they're out there at all, and laptop hardware is pretty stable at the moment. Nothing real big is scheduled to come out between now and then as far as I know.

[freakitchen]

Thought I'd point you in the direction of this recent guide by thefultonhow.

http://www.pcmech.com/show/internal/946/

FK

[Dtree11]

I made the mistake of buying a desktop going into college three years ago. Not really sure what kind of computer etiquette you have, but if you are like me, you will always have it on the move so you need to have light weight, good batt life, durability, and something that looks sweet. Oh, because theft is a normal occurrence in college, you might not want to buy the most expensive one out there.

This one is a good choice, but Customer Serv apparently sucks


I am an Acer notebook fan, so this is a solid all-around computer


I bought a couple of these because they get the job done for $500, only thing is you would have to buy a $25 DDR chip.


There are a ton of really nice notebooks out there. Hope you find what your looking for.

[FLG]

Thanks for the help guys, im slowly thinking that getting a more "Professional" notebook that is powerful enough for what i need, is thin, and has long battery life would be a better choice then the dell. I can leave the gaming and what not to my desktop.

[XenaWP]

Go with a Thinkpad. More businesses use IBM/Lenovo than any other make. There's a reason.

[FLG]

Thanks, i quickly browsed there page. I have to find the sheet with what the school wants the minimum specs to be. Since there not very expensive, i can save about 1,500 and put that twards other things (lunch, transportation..ect).

Thanks again.

[thefultonhow]

Just because you get a lower-end graphics card doesn't mean you can't game. The Asus A8Jm looks good and has a GeForce Go 7600, which should be more powerful than your Radeon 9800 Pro:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2984

[FLG]

Thanks fulton, I just have to do more homework on this.

btw nice guide.

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by FLG btw nice guide.

Thanks!

[FLG]

Currently i have my sights on the Thinkpad T60..seems like it will work for what i need to do with it. Any thoughts?

[thefultonhow]

THe T60 is good. If I were you I'd get the version with the Mobility Radeon X1400 card.

[FLG]

Thanks again fulton, hopefully ill be ordering it by the end of the week.

[cday710]

I have a thinkpad T43, issued by my school and I love it. The insurance company I am interning at also uses thinkpads (in my department anyway, which is engineering QA). I have played around with the T60 and it is very nice, I would recommend it.