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Geek Culture / Looking for a laptop for college: Any thoughts?

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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 00:09
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Hey guys,

So, having graduated High School last year, I figured it's high time I go to college. My plans (though you probably don't care) are to get my gen ed's out of the way at the local community college and then transfer to another school in the University of Wisconsin system and study computer sciences (my minor) and major in library sciences/media.

Anyway, while I have a laptop that's fairly decent (it's my full-time use computer), I don't quite want it for college. I'm thinking about saving up and buying a less-powerful one specifically for school, and not really using it for much else. Thus, it doesn't need anything like a super-great graphics chip or a ton of RAM or even a big HDD; it just needs to be portable, and reliable. And sturdy, of course, in case I drop it down a flight of stairs. *shudders*

I was honestly thinking a NetBook (gasp!) would do fairly nicely. I was thinking I could purchase one that had Linux pre-installed, but here's my big question concerning that: will a college's network REQUIRE me to have Windows or Mac OS X, or will it not care and just say "hey, you're running Linux? That's cool, bro"? Do most schools require me to have Windows? I know it's a stupid question, but it just seems like one I should ask.

Besides a netbook, does anyone have any recommendations on a cheap laptop (when I say cheap, I mean cheap: Under $380 would be very nice please. )?

Thanks for any and all advice!

-CoffeeCoder


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Destrugter 1
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 00:27
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Not that I know of on a college level. Some private schools lower than college require their children to carry around Macbooks, but I've never heard of a college restricting students.

A netbook is a decent idea imo, because honestly...that's about as cheap as you can get it. Some netbooks are fairly fast, and cost less than even a crappy resold laptop that you could get off some dude from Craigslist.

One thing though, make sure the apps are all available to you, such as word and excel. Some professors at my college will accept emailed reports and papers, but they have to open in MS Word or else they will give you a grade for not even turning it in. Now you ask, why would you email a research paper?

Well...sometimes things get screwey...and you can't get the paper in. My printer decided one day to print in only pink ink

College is so much fun. Sometimes it can be rough, but it's not at all like school you've been to so far.

One thing I've obsereved about netbooks though: None, that I have seen, have cd/dvd drives
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Errant AI
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 00:30 Edited at: 17th Mar 2011 00:33
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Most notebooks rated to be dropped more than a couple feet cost thousands of dollars. In the US you're also quite a bit more limited in finding one that doesn't already have windows on it.

I'd say do come comparison on netbooks at tigerdirect and find one with a low consumption CPU and a long battery life (several are 6-8hrs now) and b/g/n wifi. You can keep your good notebook in your room and/or use an external HDD to keep things backed up if you think you've got butterfingers. You could also use your normal notebook when you need to read a disc. I'm not sure but you may be able to get one with a SSD in that price range and I believe they tend to be a bit more shock resistant.
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crispex
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 01:04
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Get yourself a decent business laptop. If it's for school, don't worry about one that is gamer-friendly, etc. Sure, you can look for one for both, but a business laptop is your best bet. I'd settle on a Lenovo ThinkPad (formerly IBM). The keyboards are amazing on them, you can spill something on them and it'll drain right through, plus they can be dropped from fairly decent heights.

I just now realized I've had a typo in my signature for the past 3 years.
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CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 01:17
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I personally use a Netbook 90% of the time, and bring it into college now and then. Runs Chrome alongside Word and such quite efficiently, can't really fault it to be honest. Obviously it's no use at gaming, but hey, it's a Netbook and doesn't pretend to be a gaming machine.

Tat and if you're looking for educational laptops, best not to get one that can run Minecraft.

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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 01:38
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@crispex:

ThinkPads are above my price range.

At this point I've pretty much got my heart set on a NetBook running Linux, as it's cheap and would be easier to maintain, but I need to look into the colleges I'm interested in and see if they'll let me use Linux. I'm sure I could as long as I saved reports/essays/research papers in .doc format (I think Abiword lets you do that in Ubuntu). Does anyone know if MS Word works in WINE on Ubuntu?

Next question: Any brands you guys would recommend for a NetBook? Brands I've ruled out so far are Dell and HP. I'm actually really interested in the Acer Aspire line, but I'm not sure if I can order one with Linux right off the bat.

Quote: "One thing I've obsereved about netbooks though: None, that I have seen, have cd/dvd drives"


Yeah, I'm not so concerned about that though. Unless professors hand out CDs for classes, then I'd get a little worried. I could always tell them that I have drives at home though, and can work there. Yay for the ability to talk.

Thanks for the tips everyone!


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Destrugter 1
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 02:18 Edited at: 17th Mar 2011 02:20
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You probably won't find one with Ubuntu installed already rather than Windows.

You'll have to do that yourself.

EDIT:

Also, like I said before...Colleges don't really have restrictions on what OS you use. And your documents don't HAVE to be saved in .doc format. I was just saying that if you get professors like mine that let you email them your reports, that they tend to want them to be in .doc format.

OpenOffice lets you save in .doc format, Idk for sure but I think you can run that in Ubuntu.
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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 02:21
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Yeah, I'm starting to realize that.

I also just found out that NetBooks only come with 1GB of RAM, which while it may be sufficient, I would actually like a little more than that...so I either have to buy a laptop with 2GBs of RAM, or figure out if I can install more RAM in a NetBook.


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crispex
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 02:21
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If you find a Netbook with Linux installed, it's usually some kind of crap one like Xandros. Anyway, if you're looking for a more budget oriented PC, get a HP NC6400. You can find quite a few refurbished ones for around $250, duel core, etc. I bought mine new for $400, can play Minecraft and Garry's Mod at decent speeds. 2gb RAM, etc.

I have an Asus eeePC 900, my only real complaint is how cramped the keyboard is.

I just now realized I've had a typo in my signature for the past 3 years.
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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 02:43
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Yeah, that's something I forgot to consider about a NetBook; the fact that their keyboards are smaller than a standard laptop's. But they're great for portability and their battery life is good (something I need), so I think I'll stick with the idea for now.

I think I might look into the Acer Aspire line very seriously. They look to be the best for me and I'm sure they'd run Ubuntu very well, even if they do only have 1GB of RAM.


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puppyofkosh
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 03:02
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Quote: "Next question: Any brands you guys would recommend for a NetBook? Brands I've ruled out so far are Dell and HP. I'm actually really interested in the Acer Aspire line, but I'm not sure if I can order one with Linux right off the bat.
"


MSI and Asus are good. Asus has a dual core atom model I think.

I would personally go with a low end laptop over a netbook though. My netbook runs like crap (Then again, I do have windows 7 pro running on it, I plan on trying starter or something, maybe it'll run better). The small keyboard gets annoying, especially if you're going to be typing a lot(taking notes?), and the small screen size and crappy touch pad don't help. The battery life is very nice though.
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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 05:01
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@puppyofkosh:

Do you have any recommendations for a low-end laptop? I need something with decent battery life (2+ hours at least) and it doesn't need to be a large screen. In fact, I almost would prefer smaller for portability reasons. I've looked on NewEgg but haven't found much that I like. I really like the idea of a netbook, mostly just because of the battery life and portability.


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PrimalBeans
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 05:18
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wall mart has some that you have to have hands the same size as a five year old and reading glasses. I guess im just old skool but a decent desktop would be ideal if you ask me. I think just about any laptop that didnt break the bank would suite your needs... I would just say that if you dont have kids (me) then i wouldnt be too worried about its breakability unless your really clumsy. Look into brands that are well known and have good support for the price. Laptops scare me though... (its alot harder for your 5 or two year old to pic one up and drop it off the kitchen table..)

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bitJericho
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 05:27 Edited at: 17th Mar 2011 05:28
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I got a toshiba m200 portege tablet pc off ebay for about 250 a few years back. You could check ebay for similar laptops. It's a 14in but super high def screen. Even today I'd say it's about on par with most moderately priced netbooks.

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Indicium
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 20:38
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For the .doc thing, OpenOffice can save to Microsoft office formats.
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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 21:05 Edited at: 17th Mar 2011 21:08
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I posted on the Ubuntu forums, and a lot of college students there said to stick with Windows because a lot of colleges don't even support Linux, in either the school's network or file compatibility and lots of other things. Oh well.

But on the subject of a light, portable little beast, I found this little thing from Dell that has a full-width keyboard, 1366x768 resolution on a 11.6" screen (will that look cramped?), and a long battery life. Inspiron M101z

What do you guys think? There's also this Acer Aspire 721 that is slightly more powerful for cheaper at Walmart, but it doesn't look as sturdy as the Dell.

EDIT: There's also the Inspiron 14R. It's a full-featured laptop with a core i3 processor and significantly better features. It's 14" so it's still smaller than my current laptop, but it's almost $500. Guess it'd be worth it though....


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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 17th Mar 2011 23:54 Edited at: 18th Mar 2011 00:03
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Quote: "Get yourself a decent business laptop. If it's for school, don't worry about one that is gamer-friendly, etc. Sure, you can look for one for both, but a business laptop is your best bet. I'd settle on a Lenovo ThinkPad (formerly IBM). The keyboards are amazing on them, you can spill something on them and it'll drain right through, plus they can be dropped from fairly decent heights."


I wholeheartedly concur! [Typed from his Lenovo ThinkPad SL510]

The trouble with a ThinkPad is that you can probably get more spec for you money on another laptop. I paid £400 for Core 2 Duo, 2gb RAM, 250gb HDD, Intel GMA. You can get a better spec i3 for that. But I paid £700 on a decent spec Acer for university and it died 4 weeks before my deadlines for my final year at university. I thought I was getting value for money, but considering I paid £400 on a ThinkPad two years after my Acer Aspire, I don't think I got very good value for my money at all. I know a couple of folk at University who suffered deaths from Dells and Acers, saying that, I know one Acer that's still going strong and still gaming like a beast (he bought a gaming laptop too).

I can't really give a verdict on how long a ThinkPad lasts because I bought this one in January, but the advice I can give is, if you're wanting your laptop to last, go for a trusted brand, even if it means paying a little more. And MOST IMPORTANTLY: have an external hard drive and a secure online drive (Google Docs, Acrobat.com, Office Live etc. (I used all three) or SkyDrive, GoogleDrive etc.) as a well as a USB pen drive because nothing is worse than when something goes wrong and you lose your important data. At University I found myself making regular backups and I'm glad I did. I would have been royally screwed if I didn't (4 weeks to come up with 1 years worth of work wouldn't have been funny).

If my ThinkPad lasts and remains durable, then I'll happily recommend it. It took 3 months for my Acer to encounter its first problem. 2 months down and running smoothly still.



But if you're going for Netbooks, there is the ThinkPad X Series, I'd bring up the page, but my internet connection is being really mean.

[edit]
Finally, something has loaded:

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/products/professional-grade/thinkpad/x-series/index.html

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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 18th Mar 2011 02:34
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Oh man, if that ThinkPad wasn't normally $600+ I'd most assuredly get it! I just don't have that money right now even for it's sale price. Honestly I've got less than $100 at the moment, which is all going towards a laptop.

The Dell Inspiron M101z has slightly better processing power, but I'm not sure about graphics or RAM (though I'm not too concerned with either of those). At this point, I'm leaning towards the M101z or the Inspiron 14R (I can't make up my mind which I'd like better).


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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 18th Mar 2011 04:06 Edited at: 18th Mar 2011 04:08
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Aha! I think I've found a winner. It's a newer HP Pavillion model, and it sounds quite good. What really intrigues me is that I haven't found a single review NOT praising it.



Sorry, the forums didn't like the link, you'll have to copy> paste:

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Screen+size&v1=Under+12.0&series_name=dm1z_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp%2Fhhoslp%2Fpsg%2Fnotebooks%2FUnder_12.0%2Fdm1z_series#defaultAnchor


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Indicium
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Posted: 18th Mar 2011 19:24
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Aren't HP laptops notorious for being... well, crap?
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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 18th Mar 2011 20:37
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Sometimes. Their newer models are actually pretty good, in my opinion. I do wish they were a bit better quality, though.

I really wish that ThinkPad wasn't $600 at normal price...


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Melancholic
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Posted: 18th Mar 2011 21:00
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I recently sold my laptop for funds to build a desktop, the desktop may be great but im finding that pen and paper is much too inefficient for note taking for me. Laptops are too heavy and bulky for my liking(even netbooks, so i came up with this:

http://www.amazon.com/Archos-70-Internet-Tablet-Black/dp/B00422SH5C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300474431&sr=8-1

combined with

http://www.amazon.com/HDE-Black-Leather-Keyboard-Tablets/dp/B004MBRJ8E/ref=sr_1_27?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1300474578&sr=1-27

Bear in mind im looking in Europe where some tablets are not available, and the Archos is pretty exspensive. You could probably save a bit of cash by going with a cheaper Coby tablet unavailable in europe.

You would have to use your main laptop for writing essays unfortunatly, though Archos have released firmware for the 70 tablet allowing the angstrom distribution of linux to be isntalled on the tablet, you could then use open office.


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Kamakazi
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Well, the college I'm attending (online) supports both Windows and Macs. Macs are costly of course, but you get what you pay for with those. On the PC side of laptops, I've went through two since 2009. That's one laptop per college year. The Acer I was using in the beginning had the keyboard take a dump. The Compaq I'm using now has a defective battery after only 6 months and I've rarely used the thing on battery power. Yea, it's still under warranty, but HP refuses to send a battery until I pay $100 up-front. Why can't I send mine first? LOL.

Anywho, if you plan on getting financial aid of any kind, I would stick with your current laptop. If/when you get your portion of funds, use those to get a new computer. From experience, I'd highly recommend a MacBook only because of the durability, long-battery life, and customer support and service. If those are out of your price range, and you have to have a Windows system, I would avoid Acer. I've had nothing but issues with those. HP seems to be the better system at the moment...but with their prices, might as well spend that on a Mac that you know will last. Just my opinion.
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dab
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Posted: 19th Mar 2011 03:27
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Quote: "Anywho, if you plan on getting financial aid of any kind, I would stick with your current laptop. If/when you get your portion of funds, use those to get a new computer. From experience, I'd highly recommend a MacBook only because of the durability, long-battery life, and customer support and service."


I agree completely. I used my left over financial aid to get my macbook pro and I haven't yet regretted it. I love it. The battery life sold me, plus the fact that they are more compatible with future gens of software, with the addition of cheaper OS updates ($30 os updgrades?)

Anyway, I have had no bad issues with Acer, just their crapware they put on it. But that goes for any laptop brand these days.

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Satchmo
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Posted: 19th Mar 2011 05:34
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Get one of the new thinkpads, they're cheaper than a mac, very powerful, run a competent OS, have a longer battery life than a mac, one of the best keyboards you can find on a laptop and an amazing screen as well.

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bitJericho
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Posted: 20th Mar 2011 12:50 Edited at: 20th Mar 2011 12:50
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I'd never buy an acer. Ick!

I haven't had any issues with compaqs or HPs though. I personally don't like the flimsiness feeling of my HP though. I much prefer my Toshiba in terms of quality.

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DeadTomGC
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Posted: 20th Mar 2011 20:11 Edited at: 20th Mar 2011 20:13
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Don't get a Lenovo. They're over priced (now Chinese) crap.

The Dell xps 15's look good though.

Oh wait, you want cheap. That Cheap!

Go hp.

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Indicium
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Posted: 20th Mar 2011 20:22
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Quote: "Don't get a Lenovo. They're over priced (now Chinese) crap."


Really? Have you ever owned one?
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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 20th Mar 2011 21:07
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I can't go with Lenovo, they're just too expensive, but someday I AM most certainly going to buy one.

I'm really thinking about going with HP. They seem to be the best deal for now.


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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 21st Mar 2011 01:12
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When I was going to buy a Lenovo, I did my research, it seems where they suffer most is that they outsource the service to repair centres, so your customer service can potentially be god-awful, it just depends on where you live. But members off Lenovo surf the tech support forum and actually try their best to help people out, including their c-support woes.

But from what I've seen, like any other laptop, they are capable of producing crap models as their tech support forum suggests and they are capable of error. And they do produce cheaper models, like the SL and Edge series, which are made of plastic, but they still have some of the features that make ThinkPads more durable, it just doesn't the roll cage technology.

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DeadTomGC
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Posted: 21st Mar 2011 16:52
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Quote: "Really? Have you ever owned one?"


I am using one right now.
It is less than 3 years old and it already has a bad hard drive.

Besides, they're too expensive for the price range he was looking at.

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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 21st Mar 2011 17:14
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Hard drives are normally western digital, they're supposed to be reliable, but as I was saying, even reliable brands go wrong. It's why you extend your warranties and back-up on a regular basis. I know Lenovo let you extend your warranty when you like.

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Indicium
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Posted: 21st Mar 2011 23:03
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Well come on, hard drives are high speed spinning disks, in 3 years you can't expect it to be fully functional if you use your laptop at angles etc.
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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2011 23:24
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@Tom:

Yeah, my laptop is just over a year old (about 14 months) and it's just now starting to show *slight* issues with the hard drive. Although it seems to be getting better, so I have no idea what's going on. Luck, I guess.

HP really looks like the best bet for me, so I'm going to stick to browsing their laptops. Thanks for all the suggestions guys, and I'm still open to them if any of you think there's a better deal out there.


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