Well i am entering uni next year and i am in the market to get a new notebook. I am going into a biomedical program for the first two years and then will be doing a business program afterwards- dual degree. Therefore i need a laptop that will fit my needs in the price budget i have.

The laptop must be compatable with the programs i am taking in university. In addition:
- i would like a laptop with a small profile- 13 inches no larger and thin
-DVD burner
-have a budget of 2000 CAD dollars
-Will burn DVD's without problems
-Handle watching movies
-that is light
-faster processer (greater than 2)

General Questions

1) What is your budget?

2000- at most candian

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen- more 13 inch tho

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.

Canada

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
I am open to anything

5) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
Internet, Microsoft Office apps, watching some videos, school work, burning DVD's and dual layer DVD's

6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?

Both, but i need to be very portable as it will be with me around campus.

7) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games or types of games?
no

8) How many hours of battery life do you need?
I would like at least 4 hours the longer the better.

9) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
Online is ok with me. but i would like to see the laptop in person

10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
Windows, do not know if mac is compatable with my business program

Screen Specifics

11) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?
I have no idea

12) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
No preference

Build Quality and Design

13) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
sleek and thin

14) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?

2 – 3 years

Notebook Components

15) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 500GB? Do you want a SSD drive?
250-500gb would be nice

16) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?
Dvd burner would be required- dual layer

I am not so much a gamer so that is not my main prority in a laptop.

To give you all some examples of the laptops I am looking for I have considered:

Apple's new macbook pro
- do not know about compatability issues

Dell XPS studio 13 inch
-reviews were not great on this one and it is known to overheat

Sony Vaio Z series
-out of my budget

I would appreciated it if you guys can provide me with some sugesstions with what laptop I can purchase to fit my needs.

Thank you

If you don't mind a 12'' the Thinkpad X200 is a good option. For 14.1'' the HP 6930p is good too, and comes with a 3 years warranty.

I currently have an HP and it has been nothing but problems for me. and the thinkpad in my personal opionion does not have the asthetics i would like in a laptop. thanks for you input tho

May I ask which particular HP did you have?

I know you said you didn't know if a Mac would run your business programme but a 13 inch MacBook Pro would fit all your criteria—and would be useful for the medical degree if you need any type of medical or chemical/biological imaging software due to it's being Unix based—and if you can't find the same software or equivalent software for something you use on Windows you can actually install Windows on the Mac and have your cake and eat it too.

And you can get up to 7 hours on a single charge of the battery.

Yes I realize the macbook 13 inch pro will fit all of my needs. in addition i love the design and profile of the laptop. it also has great battery life. the one and only concern i have is compatability with the univeristy software in the business course i am taking. They do not reccommend macs but many people still use them for this course. If i did not have this issue i would have purchased a mac immedialty

If people are able to successfully complete the business course while using a Mac then what's the problem?

If you have concerns I would advise finding a student in the business programme who uses a Mac and talking to him to get the pros and cons. That would give you a better idea of how a Mac would fit into things.

Most schools don't recommend Macs simply because they have deals with Microsoft or other PC makers or because they don't want to support both Macs and PCs. The truth, however, is that there are very very few things that, for one reason or another, can only be done on Windows.

I must say if this is the Johnny T I think it is? He wants to recommend a Sony? And let's talk football/soccer. If you must go Mac fine but PC is cheaper. I like most better than HP as they have had heat related MoBo failures beyond what I think is cool.

Edit: If the Johnny I think in bed in England or waking up in Hong Kong?

Yes it is the Johnny T you think he is. Hard to pinpoint the young man since he is back and forth.

cheers ...

It's a shame HP Pavilions and their consumer support have created a bad rep for HP, their business line (what I recommended) is more than excellent. Same for Dell, but the Latitude E4300 is abit expensive in Canada.

Yeah it's me. Right now I am in the Land of Canadia.

Thanks for all of your help. I e-mailed the univesrity and was told that 1/4 of last years class used macbooks. There will also be no compatability issues with other programs so i think i will go down that route and get a 13 inch macbook pro with the sutdetn diso**** and the free ipod touch.

Sounds like a good choice for you. I don't know Macs well enough to comment but a lot of people are very happy with them. Good luck and enjoy.

old post but i recommend the business ones 6930p