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COLLEGE NooB SEEKS ULTIMATE GOD NOTEBOOK, Lifelong Companion (CASH NOT AN OBJECT) - Page 2

post #21 of 65
4/20/05 at 6:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by krazyjosh5
Hey everyone,
Im looking to purchase my college notebook.

Consider money not a factor in considering which notebook to purchase. Money is unlimited.

The only limiting factors in this purchase are weight (has to be portable enough to get around campus) and battery life (I dont want to be tethered to a socket on campus).

I would prefer a good screen and I would strongly like to game so keep that in mind.

What suggestions do you have? Remember, $$ is not an object (weight and battery are).

Thanks!

,
Josh

Bloody students, far too much money, rant....rave.... in my day,..... blah.....blah
I think you should get a really cheap, crap, old notebook (preferrably secondhand and the size of a briefcase) if money is no object, then give all that money to charity. That way, you will feel all warm inside when you lug your 20 pound brick around college (probably all warm and sweaty on the outside too ) wowing all the folks with what a philanthropist you are; And instead of spending all your precious study time boring everyone with technical details about the wonders of your notebook, you will be unmolested by such temptations, hiding in the corner of the library, lest someone should see your ugly monster.

I hope this helps with your decision.........
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post #22 of 65
4/20/05 at 6:22pm
Actually, I'm going to DePaul next year and they have LAN parties very often so a laptop that can perform well and be portable would be awesome just to bring in and put a monitor on. (BTW DePaul has a computer gaming degree and computer games club, nicknamed DeFrag, so having a killer notebook will literally Roxors everyone's Boxors down to their Soxors)
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post #23 of 65
4/20/05 at 6:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by richarddesmond
Bloody students, far too much money, rant....rave.... in my day,..... blah.....blah
I think you should get a really cheap, crap, old notebook (preferrably secondhand and the size of a briefcase) if money is no object, then give all that money to charity. That way, you will feel all warm inside when you lug your 20 pound brick around college (probably all warm and sweaty on the outside too ) wowing all the folks with what a philanthropist you are; And instead of spending all your precious study time boring everyone with technical details about the wonders of your notebook, you will be unmolested by such temptations, hiding in the corner of the library, lest someone should see your ugly monster.

I hope this helps with your decision.........
lol agreed

If money isn't the problem.. get the Asus with dual battery.. buy a sony.. swap the screens.. buy a XPS2, swap the video card..
2.13ghz 2gb ddr2 geforce go 6800 ultra like 6 hours of battery life under 7 pounds, picture perfect screen
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post #24 of 65
4/20/05 at 7:00pm
I can't imagine walking around with a laptop at school people. I graduated about a year ago and let me tell you that I would never carry a notebook around with me.... It's a risk that you'll damage it. It's not very upgradeable. It costs a lot more than a total beast of a desktop. Only dumbasses takes notebooks to class. Especially if you want to learn and not fail very quickly.

You'll be surprised just how much you won't carry it around. Dorm life doesn't need a mobile PC and using one in the union building or whatever is just not a popular thing. I gamed entirely on my desktop. If you think gaming is fun now just wait until you are within earshot of 20 friends in your dorm.

Now, after college, I find a notebook is an essential thing to have. But that's because I use it daily at work and take it to friend's places at night. The real world has totally different needs than college.

I knew many people with notebooks at school though. They weren't gamers typically. And they'd always have paid bazillions for the things but couldn't even play UT. Lol. I know times have changed with the things, but the truth of the matter is they don't hold a candle to a full desktop for price/performance/upgradeability/options.
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post #25 of 65
4/20/05 at 7:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by swaaye
I can't imagine walking around with a laptop at school people. I graduated about a year ago and let me tell you that I would never carry a notebook around with me.... It's a risk that you'll damage it. It's not very upgradeable. It costs a lot more than a total beast of a desktop.

You'll be surprised just how much you won't carry it around. Dorm life doesn't need a moble PC and using one in the union building or whatever is just not a popular thing. I gamed entirely on my desktop. Nobody takes notebooks to class. Especially if you want to learn and not fail very quickly.

Now, after college, I find a notebook is an essential thing to have. But that's because I use it daily at work and take it to friend's places at night. The real world has totally different needs than college.
well where i go to university.. it is kinda true..you bring a laptop to class.. it enables u surf da net during class... i don't live on campus.. soo i drive home (30 mins drive) and what i find most annoying is when i have a comp sci assignment due.. and i can't bring my program to class when its due tonite..

from the guy's last post.. i think hes more interesting in the gaming clubs and lan parties.. and you should have a XPS2 for those.. i dunno if i'll carry my notebook to school next term.. i just got myself a toshiba m40 (canadian version) 6 pounds, 15.1 beautiful widescreen, bad battery life.. 14.2 x 10.6
even tho in al my classes... i'll have outlets.. i'll probally only bring it to school on the days where i wanan study on campus libraries.. probally end up gaming at the library
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post #26 of 65
4/20/05 at 7:09pm
Yeah. Basically you only want to consider a notebook when you KNOW you absolutely will use it for its mobility. You do not want to get a notebook just to stick it in some room. You will regret it because notebooks lack a lot of desktop niceties (screen is the biggest). And carrying books is enough work at college....don't really want a laptop too.

If you KNOW that you are going to be traveling with it a lot. Or you are going to be a commuter (freshmen could not commute at my school), then yeah it's likely to be useful. But remember, every college has computer labs that you PAY for in your tuition. I spent a ton of time in labs because you have to work in groups in college to survive. In a lab everybody has their own comp to work on. Hell, in one of my labs we had like 30 Dell P4s with FireGL X1's. Nobody ever gamed on them though.

I also worked in labs with Sun desktops, and one classroom had a sorta cool Sun dumb terminal setup (like 40 terminals) with remote desktops to a Citrix Win2k server. That thing was so damned slow omg. And of course there were the PC labs. Macs were limited to the humanities building and I never used them.

I started college as an electrical engineer, but finished as a MIS major (not such a great choice). But, I saw lots of campus.
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post #27 of 65
4/20/05 at 7:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by swaaye
Yeah. Basically you only want to consider a notebook when you KNOW you absolutely will use it for its mobility. You do not want to get a notebook just to stick it in some room. You will regret it because notebooks lack a lot of desktop niceties (screen is the biggest). And carrying books is enough work at college....don't really want a laptop too.

If you KNOW that you are going to be traveling with it a lot. Or you are going to be a commuter (freshmen could not commute at my school), then yeah it's likely to be useful. But remember, every college has computer labs that you PAY for in your tuition. I spent a ton of time in labs because you have to work in groups in college to survive. In a lab everybody has their own comp to work on. Hell, in one of my labs we had like 30 Dell P4s with FireGL X1's. Nobody ever gamed on them though.

I also worked in labs with Sun desktops, and one classroom had a sorta cool Sun dumb terminal setup (like 40 terminals) with remote desktops to a Citrix Win2k server. That thing was so damned slow omg. And of course there were the PC labs. Macs were limited to the humanities building and I never used them.

I started college as an electrical engineer, but finished as a MIS major (not such a great choice). But, I saw lots of campus.
ya we haf tons of computer labs.. there are computers everywhere for us to access.. but they all suck in my school.. no 1 ever gamed there.. i never go to the computer unless i haf programming assignments due or i have to check solutions online..

i say get a nice deskstop replacement.. a 17inch one.. for ur dorm.. and u can bring it to lan parties
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post #28 of 65
4/20/05 at 7:57pm
I'm going for a Computer Gaming Development degree... which means I have 3D Art/Model Design, CAD design (elective), programming and such just in my first year. I need a beast of a laptop, so if the Asus Z71V will do the job then I will get that. If the XPS2 is what I need, then I will get that. I'm coming close to a date when I need the laptop, so I will make the decision when the time comes.
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post #29 of 65
4/20/05 at 8:03pm
I think the nice thing about having a notebook is the ability to move it around. I never really appreciated that until my sister and my gf got them. It's not so bad if you're stuck in a dorm room, but if you live in an apartment, it's nice to not be tied to a desk. It's also nice to be able to take your computer home during breaks and holidays.
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post #30 of 65
4/20/05 at 8:09pm
money not a problem? get a beast of desktop and then buy a tablet that you can carry around and take notes on. Have you seen MS onenote? looks sweet
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post #31 of 65
4/20/05 at 8:11pm
Scuba's got a point... if you have all the money to spend, use 900 dollars or so to make your own desktop (900 dollars can probably get you near the best if not the best hardware) and then 1500 or so on a really small ultraportable.
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post #32 of 65
4/20/05 at 8:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BannedNinja
Scuba's got a point... if you have all the money to spend, use 900 dollars or so to make your own desktop (900 dollars can probably get you near the best if not the best hardware) and then 1500 or so on a really small ultraportable.
If money is really not an issue, you might even want to consider the following option, which I have taken.
  • 1 Desktop:
    K8T800 (soon to be NF4)
    Athlon 64 3200 (soon to be dual core Toledo during summer)
    2GB RAM PC3200
    NV 5900U (soon to be 6800U during summer)
    2 X 120GB SATA
    ......
  • 2 DTR:
    Gateway 7405GX
    A64 3200+
    1.25 GB PC2700
    MR 9600
    80GB HDD
    ....
  • 3 Ultraportable:
    Sony SRX 77
    P-III 800MHz
    256MB
    20GB HDD

I found this to be an excellent combination, and it's something for every occassion. A powerful desktop allows me to do the most intensive programming and computational tasks. A DTR allows me to do serious work outside home. And an ultra-portable for bringing to classes and accessing the server as a client from almost anywhere.
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post #33 of 65
4/20/05 at 9:31pm
Thread Starter 
Wow!

Wonderful responses! Thanks for the info.

Another question is this...

I would like to game but if I were to slightly reword it to "I want the best laptop money can buy that is portable (not a desktop replacement)"... would that change any opinions? If so, how?

As for the posts about dont get a laptop if you dont need it.... my school REQUIRES a laptop

As for the posts about get a desktop.... I fully understand that desktops are very upgradeable, more bang, etc etc. I AM a desktop dude. This is why I am posting here... Im all about desktops and have no clue about notebooks. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) I have to get a notebook for college though.

Since notebooks are hardley upgradeable... thats why Im pouring cash into one so I can get one that will last me the longest a notebooks lifespan can be.

Now... what about the questions I posed above?

Essentially Im looking for the best notebook money can buy thats not a desktop replacement notebook.
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post #34 of 65
4/20/05 at 9:40pm
In that case, that would be the Asus Z71V. It is actually a lot cheaper, but has a nVidia 6600 and is relatively 'thin and light' but not really. It's a midweight (6.5 lbs). However, I just came accross the HP NW8240, which is shaping up to be an extremely awesome laptop, and can really be called a thin and light (but not a super or ultraportable by any means). 1.1" thick and 5.8 lbs. It has the 15.4" WSXGA+ screen option with the ATi Mobility Fire GL V5000 (a professional card, but it seems like it can perform like the x700). If it can really spec at a x700 level, then this will definitely be the laptop for me.
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post #35 of 65
4/20/05 at 9:49pm
Why not get a T43, perhaps not the latest specs, but certainly will last you a long time. Notebook isn't something you want to bank on being able to age gracefully, but do make sure that it will still work 3-5 years from now. There is nothing more frustrating than to buy a Dell, Emachine, Systemax, Medion, Toshiba, etc,etc, and find out 15 months later that you will have to pay hundreds to repair, or be forced to buy a new lappy. Reliability should be at the top of the list, if you want your laptop to last a long time.
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post #36 of 65
4/20/05 at 9:52pm
Thread Starter 
Regardless of what laptop I buy... a 3 yr warranty will be coming with it.

My next question is WHERE to buy from?
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post #37 of 65
4/20/05 at 9:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by krazyjosh5
Regardless of what laptop I buy... a 3 yr warranty will be coming with it.

My next question is WHERE to buy from?
This is one of the most reliable companies I have known:
http://www.falcon-nw.com/index.asp

So is this:
http://www.voodoopc.com/

If you really have the dough, then go for one of them.
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post #38 of 65
4/20/05 at 10:07pm
Thread Starter 
Those are often times rebadged Sagers and Probooks but that argument is beyond the scope of this thread.

I have the dough to go with them but I dont really want to double my price for a very small percentage increase and a flashy paint job that secretly says "Steal me"
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post #39 of 65
4/20/05 at 10:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by krazyjosh5
Those are often times rebadged Sagers and Probooks but that argument is beyond the scope of this thread.

I have the dough to go with them but I dont really want to double my price for a very small percentage increase and a flashy paint job that secretly says "Steal me"
But they both have the best support and service in the business, check out their ratings by customers:

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller2044.html
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller2051.html

And now compare these to some of the major OEMs

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1640.html
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1867.html
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller745.html
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1195.html

And you will see why I recommend them to anyone who can afford to buy one.
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post #40 of 65
4/21/05 at 4:46am
how is the asus z71v for a college bound student?
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