<p>I am currently browsing the internet looking for a laptop to buy for the upcoming freshmen year at cal. So far, I have mainly been looking at the small/slim models because I figure i'll be taking them to classes, libraries, and what not. However, i read other boards saying people were buying the larger, 17 inch (as opposed to the smaller 14.1 in. like ive been looking at) types. </p>
<p>So, do you think i should get the smaller Laptops, with more portability, or the larger ones?</p>
<p>Also, my eyesight is fine, but would a monitor about 14in be a pain to look at: with smaller print and all that? Or is there no noticable difference?</p>
<p>For higher resolutions, you can enable 120 DPI for the fonts (instead of the standard 96), plus turn on big icons, so everything looks fine. </p>
<p>I'm kind of a hardware buff who loves huge WUXGA displays, and prefer larger models to slim notebooks. It's all preference, and also depends on how often you will use your computer in a mobile environment.</p>
<p>Ultraportable: These things are really slim and come usually with a 12" screen. Usually for travelling businessman who mainly do Outlook/Word/Excel/Quicken kind of stuff. </p>
<p>Portable: A little bit more bigger, but still mainly for businessman and a college student. Can play some games, and watch DVDs.</p>
<p>Portable-Performance: Screen ranges from 14"-15". Pretty light (4-5lbs) and quite good gaming performace. Not as much as desktop but a good compromise between raw power and portability. The only problem is price and battery life.</p>
<p>Desktop Replacement: Basically meant as a small desktop. 90% of the time it will remain plugged in on your desk. Maybe you can lug it to a LAN party or something. Usually in the 17"+ area. Not at all reccomended if you want to actually take the thing places some times.</p>
<p>So if you really really reccomend light-weight machines go ultraportable.
If you don't game much (only a little), and want portability go for portable.
If you game quite a bit, but still want some portable go for a performance-portable.
If you just want the laptop for the novelty of it, go for a DTR (desktop replacement).</p>
<p>Personally I have an Asus W3J. Expensive? Yes. But with a Core Duo T2500, 2GB RAM and an ATI x1600 it can do quite a bit of gaming while still remaining portable. And the 14" WXGA screen is quite enough, and it's utterly beautiful when watching movies or gaming.</p>
<p>I have a 17inch and would not recommend getting one. Also, don't skimp on specs. I got this inspiron 9300 for sub 1k with 512mb ram and 40gb HD and am regretting it. Make sure you get integrated wireless and a dvd burner if you're into media download.</p>
<p>Asus laptops are not ripoffs. The higher cost is because of the build quality unlike the cheap plastic chassis that the Dells have. Put an Asus laptop next to a Dell and the Dell will look like garbage.</p>
<p>I used my own money to buy my laptop, so I had the decision to buy what I want. But if you parents are paying, then Asus is probably not for you since it costs more than a Dell, and less known (popularity =/= good laptop)</p>
<p>ASUS laptops are not at all a ripoff. I'm on one right now and it's pure brilliant. I've owned a Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo/IBM, and Sony VAIO before. None of those match up to the quality that is an Asus laptop. I mean this thing is sturdy and beautiful. Pictures don't do it justice. Furthermore this thing is a powerful beast BUT is silent.</p>
<p>Now on the other hand if you don't want to pay much for a gaming laptop, than there's nothing to do. All gaming laptop that's worth anything costs a good amount of money.</p>
<p>Asus is less well known to less-techy parents. If your parents know what a motherboard is and have seen one, the chances are very likely they know what Asus is. Asus makes some of the best motherboards for computers, and are well known to people who actually open up the boxes.</p>
<p>And I bought an Audigy Xi-Fi only to realize that I'd have to stick with 2 speakers since I couldn't fit a 5.1 let alone a 7.1 in my room. So I returned it and stuck with my Audigy 2.</p>
<p>Interesting side note and has nothing to do with the topic on hand.</p>
<p>I'm looking to replace my 16'' HP Pavillion, which I've realized is way too large and heavy for me to carry around place to place and has basically become a replacement to my home PC.</p>
<p>The XPS line loaded to the brim with high-end hardware, and battery life is usually not great. I recommend this instead (it's in Dell Small Business):</p>
<p>I presume you're looking for an ultraportable, if that's the case, this is the best one. The XPS 1210 is slightly larger but has better performance and less battery life as well.</p>
<p>I'm not familiar with any Dell models except the newer Inspirions (e1505 and e1705), but I do know that the XPS m1210 is not a true ultraportable. It's a mix between portability and gaming. But the 12" screen is too little to be gaming on. So if you really want a 12" screen go for some other model that doesn't cut down on battery life with potentially useless dedicated GPU and stuff.</p>
<p>Yup, for the ultraportable Latitude X1, go for the 1.28GB RAM option (since these days you need at least 1GB of RAM to suffice most applications, and 768MB isn't quite good enough IMO), and depending on what you use your laptop for, you may want to upgrade the 30GB hard drive to something larger (I would personally get an external hard drive to save money). There's also a DVD burner option available if you wish to have one, and a spare battery if you want to work mobile. Also depends on what kind of budget you're working with; on the Dell config page there is an offer where if you configure the laptop to be over $1799, you get a $450 discount off that, so I'm working to find the best bang for the buck.</p>
<p>After looking at both for a bit, I'm actually starting to slant towards the D420. But if you want the absolute smallest Dell laptop, splurge for the X1. I'll look at D420 configs.</p>
<p>Just a note...buy your lappy with the minimum ram specs and upgrade yourself if necessary. Laptop ram is cheaper from newegg, your local frys, compusa, etc.</p>
<p>"Just a note...buy your lappy with the minimum ram specs and upgrade yourself if necessary. Laptop ram is cheaper from newegg, your local frys, compusa, etc."</p>
<p>Yeah, I just wasn't sure about the RAM configuration of the X1 though.</p>
<p>Hey Strykur, what would you recommend between the Dell XPS 1210 and the E1405 Dual Core.. I'm torn apart between both and can't decide.. I'm not really into gaming though I would like to use my laptop to watch movies and stuff.. I'm definitely not looking for a desktop replacement as I want to take my laptop to classes and stuff .. On the other hand I'm not sure about the XPS 1210, about whether the screen is just too small? The fact they are both widescreen doesn't help but nearly all Dell's are widescreen...</p>
<p>Definitely the E1405, it's a MUCH better deal than the XPS 1210 when looking at the hardware components, and has better configuration options in general, plus it's not much larger (E1405 is about 5-6 pounds). I find the XPS 1210 to be a triviality; it's not a very small ultraportable, and the hardware per se doesn't quite match that of a performance PC, it's a wierd combination of both. I personally don't like it. I like a 12.1 inch screen only if the unit matches the LCD's minute size, and the XPS M1210 is a little big for a small portable.</p>