<p>My daughter is starting college next fall and needs a laptop. She is a economics/math major. I would expect her graphic needs (games, cad, movies) to be minimum. It would be used mainly for word processing, web surfing, Skye and economic type programs (Stats). I have a few simple questions about laptops.</p>
<p>1) How much does weight matter? Is it worth the extra cost for a 3 lb. laptop compared to a 4-5 lb. laptop? She will be carrying it at times on campus.</p>
<p>2) How important is the DVD drive? I have no issues getting an external drive.</p>
<p>1) If she’s going to be carrying it all the time on campus, weight is very important. The difference between 3 and 5 lbs is significant when it is in your backpack. Think about carrying one textbook in your backpack instead of carrying a textbook plus 4 notebooks. As for cost, it is worth looking at the Thinkpad X1 Carbon which is a very solid computer weighing a pinch under 3 lbs and the Macbook Air 13" which also weighs under 3 lbs. </p>
<p>2) As for the optical drive, they aren’t necessary these days. I haven’t used one in two years. If you have a physical disc and key for a program, all you need is the key, you can download the program online. On the Mac side, you can use another computer’s disc drive over wifi. Optical drives won’t be available for thinner “ultrabook” computers. If you’re worried, an external drive would be the way to go, although I don’t know if your daughter will ever use it. </p>
<p>3) A 13" / 14" display is adequate and is ideal for portability, but the main thing you should be looking at is the resolution. You want a display with a higher PPI (pixels per inch). Other things you should consider are the panel type (TN, IPS, etc.), whether it’s 16x10 or 16x9, and whether it’s glossy or has an antiglare coating. As for the physical size of the screen, it may be more beneficial to get an external monitor if she’s going to be looking at spreadsheets or any large data sheets. Maybe consider an external monitor rather than the external optical drive? </p>
<p>Hopefully I answered your questions. Let me know if you have any other questions.</p>
<p>1) I don’t mind weight at all. Suck it up. 3 extra pounds isn’t going to kill you and no, $200 more for 3lbs less is stupid. Either ignore the weight and form factor or buy a Macbook Air.</p>
<p>2) DVD drive is almost useless unless you plan to watch DVD’s. Nowadays everyone has Netflix ONLINE. NOT THE DVDS. Students stream from the Internet. I only use my DVD drive when I need to boot up a specific program (computer programmer). Nowadays all the software for econ classes can be bought online. Ignore DVD drive while purchasing the computer. IF it has one - kudos, if it doesnt - indifference.</p>
<p>3) Only get a 13" if you are getting a netbook or a Macbook Air. If you are buying a Windows computer I like 14" or 15.6"
17" are dead. 13" compared to 15.6" is barely noticeable. <13"=tablet</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Anything under 6 lbs is relatively pretty light; I usually carry about 25-30 lbs in my backpack including a 10 lb laptop and a 2 lb power supply. A laptop’s weight is much less important than the ergonomics of what it is carried in. I wear an enormous backpack that distributes the weight comfortably, but the same weight in a shoulder bag would be brutal.</p></li>
<li><p>CDs and DVDs are becoming obsolete; their main use is for installation disks, which are easily used with a USB disk drive. Omitting a DVD drive from a laptop is a smart design decision. Technically, you could even use another computer to make disk images and mount them virtually on a computer without a DVD drive if you don’t mind the inconvenience and you don’t need to boot from a disk.</p></li>
<li><p>13" is a good size for a screen; resolution is more important. I’d advise 1440x900 or higher.
<p>17" screens aren’t dead, perhaps, but very few people actually need them… why have an aircraft carrier if you don’t necessarily need it? =P </p>
<p>1) Whether or not weight matters depends on what else you’re carrying. If you’ve already got a 10lb bag, then a pound or two extra doesn’t hugely matter. However, if you’ve got your laptop on its own tucked under your arm, then yes, weight does matter and you should keep things as light as possible.</p>
<p>2) That entirely depends on whether or not you use DVDs much. With the rise of downloading software/drivers/movies online, I’d say DVD drives are only going to get more obsolete as time goes on. </p>
<p>3) 13" screens are definitely big enough for everything bar, like, video/image processing. For the usage you describe, I can’t see how you’d need a large screen.</p>
<p>One of the advantages of DVDs is that for some software, you get to install it on two or three PCs if you buy the software on DVD, but only can only do one install if you buy the software as a download. Also, if you use Netflix, many movies are only available on DVD, and not as a download.</p>