Laptop-age!

[Duffman]

Well I'm about to start college in september, and being the cs major, I've begun to think about getting a laptop, since I'm going to commute and not live on campus. I think having something to get some work done on the 2 hour breaks between classes would be cool, and being a cs major It might be helpful too.
The only problem is that I really don't know shit about laptops, I've never owned one, or even looked into buying one. So if anyone has any recomendations on a not too expensive one that will get the school work done, with a little internet, and possibly light gaming if it doesn't make the price jump up it'd be cool.

[Shiranai_Baka]

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16834220032

I think this laptop gives you the best bang for your buck and its got a nice graphics card for light gaming. It's never in stock for newegg but you can froogle it I guess.

[Duffman]

hmm, I know you can build your own laptops if you wanted to, although its much more difficult that a desktop, anyone know if its really worth it?

[zapjb]

No it's not. And no most people can't build their own laptops. Way way harder. Imo consider the weight. For me defenitely under 5lbs. But if I was hauling it around everywhere I'd get one under 3lbs. But the lighter the more $.

[cpt_azad]

Spot on man, for my degree I'm gonna be taking computing science as well (applied sciences) at UBC for my ROTP. starting this sept, and ya I guess I'd better start looking for a laptop too. If I find any good deals I'll send em your way, but most of em will probably be from canadian sites. I'm getting a double major, computing science is one (obviously) and the other one I haven't really decided yet, but since military is paying for it, why not get the most out of a free education :P lol.

[Seedler]

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16834220032

I think this laptop gives you the best bang for your buck and its got a nice graphics card for light gaming. It's never in stock for newegg but you can froogle it I guess.

That's overpriced.

core duo at only 1.8ghz, 15-in wxga, and a crappy 7300GO.

Not good enough for $1300.

Get something that has at least a 7600 or x1600 class graphics. That 7300 can't run anything.

[silent h3ro]

Wait for the memroms to be released (in about a month).

[Duffman]

alright, the more I think about the lappy, the less gaming is important, that would be a cool extra if possible. The most important things would be battery life, good reviews, something that can get some work done between classes, I have a car so if were to weigh 50lbs it wouldn't really matter. So if that helps in recomending then cool, but thanks anyway for the suggestions.

[zapjb]

A 50lb laptop? :lol: I think thats called a desktop. :lol:

[peat moss]

A 50lb laptop? :lol: I think thats called a desktop. :lol:

He's joking right ? I'd look at a good used one , because of the prices .

You never know what you may find . :)

[sArA]

Yeah, I would go with second-hand too, then if it gets damaged, lost, or stolen during drunken revelry, its not such a loss...

Besides, I should imagine that as a student, every penny saved is a penny partied. :lol:

[clocker]

...if it gets damaged, lost, or stolen during drunken revelry, its not such a loss...

Besides, I should imagine that as a student, every penny saved is a penny partied. :lol:
It's good to hear from the voice of experience.

[Duffman]

...if it gets damaged, lost, or stolen during drunken revelry, its not such a loss...

Besides, I should imagine that as a student, every penny saved is a penny partied. :lol:
It's good to hear from the voice of experience.

Yeah I watched my friend spill a cup of beer on his brand new power book last year, like less then a month after they came out. Fucked up like 4 keys on the keyboard but ended up getting it replaced for free.

[Tempestv]

I watched a friend of my roommate spill a rum and coke on my high end laptop. the acid in the coke ate at the motherboard and killed it. it ran fine until about a week later, then it just died. tec support pretty much just laughed at me and the guy that did it disappeared soon afterwords. I still have it around because I am looking to build a laptop on a similar chassis and figure I might be able to use some parts.

[lynx]

I watched a friend of my roommate spill a rum and coke on my high end laptop. the acid in the coke ate at the motherboard and killed it. it ran fine until about a week later, then it just died. tec support pretty much just laughed at me and the guy that did it disappeared soon afterwords. I still have it around because I am looking to build a laptop on a similar chassis and figure I might be able to use some parts.There's not enough acid in coke to cause any noticeable damage. Almost certainly it would be the sugar which was the culprit, and that would be true of most soft drinks.

It's often surprisingly easy to repair damage like that, as long as you don't wait for the failure situation. Most parts are more or less waterproof, so careful cleaning with a water and alcohol spray on the directly affected parts does the trick. Of course, in the case of a laptop it could be tricky working out what's affected and getting to them.

[cpt_azad]

I watched a friend of my roommate spill a rum and coke on my high end laptop. the acid in the coke ate at the motherboard and killed it. it ran fine until about a week later, then it just died. tec support pretty much just laughed at me and the guy that did it disappeared soon afterwords. I still have it around because I am looking to build a laptop on a similar chassis and figure I might be able to use some parts.There's not enough acid in coke to cause any noticeable damage. Almost certainly it would be the sugar which was the culprit, and that would be true of most soft drinks.



Yup, coke has an average pH level of 2.8-ish, even though it is acidic, it can't really kill your mobo the way you described it. It was probably the other chemicals that ate away at it or short cicuited it.

[DanB]

and the guy that did it disappeared soon afterwords.


You killed him? :unsure:

[Tempestv]

There's not enough acid in coke to cause any noticeable damage. Almost certainly it would be the sugar which was the culprit, and that would be true of most soft drinks.

It's often surprisingly easy to repair damage like that, as long as you don't wait for the failure situation. Most parts are more or less waterproof, so careful cleaning with a water and alcohol spray on the directly affected parts does the trick. Of course, in the case of a laptop it could be tricky working out what's affected and getting to them.

the acid in the coke is what the tec support and a couple of people that looked at it said was the likely problem.

I tried to fix it actually. when it first happened, I removed the keyboard and cleaned it, however it appeared that the liquid had not gotten beyond that, so I didn't want to tear the whole laptop apart and risk breaking something when it appeared that there wasn't a problem. it worked for about a week after that and then it shut off as if the power had been pulled. after I got laughed at by tec service I tried to repair it and opened it up compleatly where I found the coke surup gunk on a couple of places, and cleaned everything with rubbing alcohol and put it back together and it still didn't work.

@ DanB- it was an accedent, I swear

actually he stopped by soon after the laptop died and I told him that tec service wasn't going to do squat and I was looking into other options, and he was all apaligetic and saying that he would pay for it and all and then when I went looking for him to pay up, I found out that he had dropped out and moved to washington.

[Duffman]

OK guys your job got harder, my budget got knocked to 700 ish, Dad says he doesn't want to spend much more, so it has a little flex.

[Duffman]

Ok, bringing this back to lifer here. My dad is being a bit of a prick about this whole thing. He knows nothing about computers and he keeps trying to buy 600 shitty celeron laptops. I've tried a thousand times to explain to him the specs that matter and why, but the only thing he seems to retain is 1024 megagigs of memory.

I'm looking for something now in the range on like 750 to the low 900's. The closer it gets to a 1000 the more he starts moving to the next one in the line. He really seems to want me to have a warrenty on it too so thats why he wants the base price a little lower than I want. So if anyone spotted any good deals, in store only, let me know, and I'm gonna start looking at different models now and posting them here in case anyone has had any experience with it.

[Duffman]

Ok heres what I have so far.

I have a microcenter close by which is cool.

http://microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0241287
^ thats an acer one, 879$ with a turion x2

http://microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0240461
^ this one is also an acer, 899$, got a core duo, 1.3mp built in cam, and rather large hdd.

compusa has this one:
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=cat3&product_code=339892&Pn=Pavilion_dv5215us_Notebook#ts
^seems like a really sweet deal, turion moble, lightscribe burner, remote for movies, and ati express 200m IGP

And does anyone know the best way to go with a laptop in this range graphics wise, integrated? integrated with a ati or nvidia chipset and shared memory, or standalone card?

[Tempestv]

as for the graphics, it all depends on what you want this computer to be able to do. for typing papers, watching movies and getting online, you would probably be fine with intergrated graphics. if you intend to use the laptop for gaming or do any cad/3d rendering, look for a laptop with a seperate chip and video ram. it may not be a seperate card, on my old laptop, the graphics chip and video ram were both part of the motherboard- fine unless you want to upgrade your video card. now they have a mini pci express plug that is used on some laptops so that the graphics card is a seperate piece that can be removed and upgraded.

[Formula1]

this laptop is sic!!!!!!!!!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834115246

[360]

forget about the laptop, you will use an xbox 360 10X more in your dorm room than your laptop. the xbox is the key to friends and chicks in the dorms. get good at it bro....

[Duffman]

Problem solved I guess, i'm know the proud owner of a gateway mx6445, its pretty cool, nice burner, turion 64, shared graphics memory, but with an ati chip so I'm happy. Just need to format it though, it has a weird 7 gig fat32 partition, and like 6 gigs of shitty preloaded software, like aol...