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Geek Culture / Need a new lap top for college

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Briere
19
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Joined: 28th Feb 2005
Location: Amherst New York, United States
Posted: 2nd Jun 2007 05:40 Edited at: 2nd Jun 2007 05:45
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Okay so I am starting college this fall and I need a lap top.
I am majoring in Information Systems and am thinking of double majoring as well in Business managment. I will need a laptop that can be used in both business and IT aspects. Developing business applications is part of the IS program.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Some lines I am interested in are the pavillion, latitude, inspiron, XPS, thinkpad and vaio.

Things I am looking for are:

- Light weight and a good size for traveling
- Able to develop programs without memory problems
- Good wifi connectivity
- Good keyboard
- preferably vista ready
- Ability to handle games. Im not a hardcore gamer I play games like BF1942 and command and conquer. Thats about it.
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indi
22
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Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: Earth, Brisbane, Australia
Posted: 2nd Jun 2007 05:50 Edited at: 2nd Jun 2007 05:50
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Ive sold quite a few toshibas to clients over the years, but they want it for business and not for IT and gaming.

Just consider the video card and your ability to back up with a dvd burner, plus your budget.
Really your budget will dictate a nice 17 inch with a chunky vid card lappie.

there are tonnes of review sites over the internet for systems and parts.

toms hardware is an example of one of these. some people say they are not accurate, but you get a decent comparison, I know many computer shops that use their tests and benchmarks.

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Briere
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Location: Amherst New York, United States
Posted: 2nd Jun 2007 05:57
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Well my parents have offered to buy me this as a HS graduation gift and they said they wanted to buy me one of the best ones we could find so that I am able to get the most out of it so price is not an issue.

I sort of like the Lenovo Thinkpads from reviews and the XPS seems like it might be the most powerful option but also maybe overpriced? I tried the pavillion and HATED the mouse touchpad but it otherwise wasnt too bad.
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Briere
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Location: Amherst New York, United States
Posted: 2nd Jun 2007 06:17 Edited at: 2nd Jun 2007 06:25
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Games are not a priority for this computer really.
Lets keep suggestions to school work / business use.

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5500 (1.66GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium edit
LCD PANEL 14.1 inch Wide Screen XGA TFT Display with TrueLife™(glossy) edit
MEMORY 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHZ, 2 DIMM edit
HARD DRIVE Size: 120GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability edit
VIDEO CARD Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 edit
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Audio edit

how does this look?

Dell Inspiron E1410 Duo Core
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indi
22
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Location: Earth, Brisbane, Australia
Posted: 2nd Jun 2007 06:20
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stay away from the 950 chipset mate as your video component. at least have a dedicated video card for a decent computer in any field.

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Briere
19
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Posted: 2nd Jun 2007 06:24
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ya that was the only option
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RUCCUS
19
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Joined: 11th Dec 2004
Location: Canada
Posted: 2nd Jun 2007 06:27 Edited at: 2nd Jun 2007 06:28
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Personally Im springing for Alienware's new model;





Going for $1600 USD, for more info check here.

Definitely getting the silver case, looks sleek.


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Briere
19
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Location: Amherst New York, United States
Posted: 2nd Jun 2007 06:41 Edited at: 2nd Jun 2007 06:41
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This ones looking nice to me



Starting at about 1 grand. Not bad at all.
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Phaelax
DBPro Master
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Location: Metropia
Posted: 2nd Jun 2007 21:47
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I like sony vaio, thin and lightweight and great looking screens.
I also have always liked the Toshiba Satellite. I would say just buy a powerbook, but you want vista for some odd reason.

stay away from Dell Latitudes, unless you like replacing motherboards every month.


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Zappo
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Location: In the post
Posted: 2nd Jun 2007 22:34
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After lots of searching, I have just bought myself a Lenovo laptop. I went for the Lenovo 3000 N100 in the end because it came in at under £500 (uk pounds including tax and delivery) which was the best/cheapest laptop I could find with a decent graphics card. Here are the specs:
* Intel Centrino Core DuoT2300e Processor 1.66 GHz
* 512 MB DDRII-667 MHz SDRAM
* 80GB Hard Drive
* 15.4" 1680x1050 Widescreen TFT Screen
* nVidia GeForce Go 7300
* Integrated LAN and 56k v.90 data fax modem
* Integrated wireless 802.11 a/b/g LAN
* Integrated Bluetooth
* Integrated fingerprint reader
* Integrated Webcam
* Integrated 4 -in-1 card reader – reads Memory Stick, MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, XD Picture Card
* Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition
* Microsoft Windows Vista Capable

I am very pleased with it so far. The super high resolution is fantastic for design work and the nVidia 7300 chipset is excellent for my occasional gaming and games programming. It runs the nVidia Dawn Ultra demo a treat. Its quite big and thick compared to other modern laptops but you need the extra space inside to keep the video card cool. The only bad things I have to say about it is that it comes with loads of preloaded stuff on it which needs a good wipe, and it really needs another 512MB memory added at least (approximately £18 for Kingston so its not that bad).
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hessiess
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Location: pc!
Posted: 3rd Jun 2007 01:05
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Quote: "* Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition"


wow, you can still get comps with a desent os!

what use is a fingerprint reeder?

learn blender, you will never regret it.
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Satchmo
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Posted: 3rd Jun 2007 05:19
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They are very useful, trust me. Someone can figure out your password but cant dup your fingerprint.

I like my sig.
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indi
22
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Location: Earth, Brisbane, Australia
Posted: 3rd Jun 2007 05:33
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a piece of sticky tape does actually from a lifted print.

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Zappo
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Posted: 4th Jun 2007 02:21
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Some modern fingerprint readers I believe use infrared and read the heat too so sticky tape, photocopied fingerprints and even chopped off finger (yuk) won't work on them. I haven't tried fooling this one yet so I don't know.
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Briere
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Posted: 4th Jun 2007 03:59
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I think I have narrowed my choices down.

MacBook (the black one) w/ boot camp and XP
MacBook Pro w/ boot camp and XP
Dell Latitude D630
Dell XPS M1210
Alienware Sentia
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indi
22
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Posted: 4th Jun 2007 04:04
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finger print scanners are not secure, you can still wear a latext glove with the print in front of it and in time it will warm up and work. microsofts version didnt even encrypt the fingerprint file! good on ya billy boy..

the mac book pro would be a nice solution mate however i am biased.

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Satchmo
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Posted: 4th Jun 2007 04:49
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Ooooh buy the commodore 64 now, you dont need a laptop.

I like my sig.
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Briere
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Posted: 4th Jun 2007 06:23
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Ya indy I have decided I want a mac provided I can get 100% functionality on it with windows XP.

One thing I love it that the keys on the pro light up! Or so I have read. This will rock I can type papers while in bed at night
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indi
22
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Posted: 4th Jun 2007 07:35
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yup there are two sensors either side of the number keys at the top, so you can make it glow without waiting for night

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