<p>I've been thinking about buying a Macbook Pro 15", but the problem with the computer is that it uses a glass-covered screen. While it looks cool, it seriously isn't good for my eyes, and neither do the glossy screens offered by other computer companies, like HP and Dell. </p>
<p>There has been rumors that Apple will be adding an antiglare option for their computers and Intel will be releasing the next-gen processors in 3-6 months, which I would absolutely LOVE, because it would really be the perfect computer for me (and my eyes). So I've discussed this with my parents and we've agreed that it's best for me to wait until Christmas or the end of my first year to upgrade my computer. </p>
<p>But before I do that ... I'm not sure if the computer I have can suit my needs as a first year engineering undergrad ... aka does it have enough power to execute engineering tasks? It hardly ever crashes (partially due to the fact that it's on XP), so it's pretty reliable. </p>
<p>Here are its specs: </p>
<p>HP Pavilion dv6000t
[ul]
[<em>]Intel Core Solo T1350 processor (1.86 GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533 MHz FSB, 31W TDP)
[</em>]1.5 GB DDR2 memory clocked at 533 MHz (will be upgraded to 3GB with $25 2GB memory module from Newegg)
[<em>]160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
[</em>]Intel GMA 950 (very slow and bad at 3D stuff)
[<em>]CD-RW/DVD Combo
[</em>]Windows XP Media Center (32-bit)
[/ul]</p>
<p>What I will do is:
[ul]
[<em>]Replace the battery with a fresh new one ordered from HP (my current battery can only last 20 minutes) ... it costs $130.
[</em>]Upgrade the memory for $25, for a total of $155 on upgrades.
[li]Or, if I don't replace the battery, I may order a new netbook from HP, which will cost $330. And when I get my new computer in 6-12 months, my mom said that she will be more than happy to have it.[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>What do you guys think? Will my 3 year old computer have enough power for my first-year engineering (and math) studies?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>And ... would you look at that? I just made my 1,300th post!!! Yay! (Oh the little things in life)</p>
<p>You should be fine. It doesn’t have a dual core processor though? 1.86 ghz on a single processer would be pretty slow. Doubt it matters, but how many MB does your video card have and how old is it?</p>
<p>Intel Core Solo = single core
This computer contains one of the last few models of single core processors ever released for mainstream laptops. Actually, it still loads up and shuts down pretty fast. Performance wise, it calculates 2 million digits of pi in 1 min 30 sec. Modern day processors do that in half of the time, if not less.</p>
<p>My video card, as stated above, is an integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 with up to 128MB of shared memory. Performance-wise, it cannot even run the 3DMark03 benchmark test.</p>
<p>Mac’s have a good college deal out right now. Free IPod Touch if you don’t already have one and a free printer in addition to a discount price on a lap top. Price varies depending on the laptop. I just recently got a Mac and I like it a lot. Very fast, easy to use. But to the thread starter. You will do just fine with the computer and the adjustments that you plan to get.</p>
<p>They have that free ipod thing every year. Also, your computer should be fine. You’ll probably only use microsoft office and the internet for academic use. If you do need a stronger computer, you can just use one of the ones available in many of the dorms, library, etc. Your current computer should be able to handle windows XP with office so it shouldn’t be too bad.</p>
<p>Another question: My parents are not so willing to buy the netbook anymore because they think the screen size is too small (10" on the HP Mini I’m looking at). Does a small screen size on a computer really hurt your eyes or is this really psychological?</p>
<p>I don’t think it would hurt your eyes, but depending on the kind of work you’re going to be doing 10" doesn’t give you a lot of screen real estate to work with.</p>
<p>New problem: It turns out that my build version of the dv6000t is an earlier one, which means that the system board does not support up to 4GB of memory (this only applied to the later builds), so my build can only support up to 2GB of memory. Is 2GB on XP enough for freshman year engineering?</p>
<p>The specs on anything you get will be 500x better than what I had, and I got through frosh year just fine. 2GB memory? I had 256 MB the whole year on a 5 yr old lenovo. You’ll live. And if for some reason it doesn’t work out, theres always plenty of computers wherever you live.</p>