<p>Yeah.. I never really understood what myspace is for. I like facebook a lot because I can meet people in my classes.</p>
<p>haha, well, it's a nice way to stay in touch with your online friends, i guess. and btw, what kind of laptops are you guys using/getting? i'm looking at Dell latitudes, but i really don't know much about computers whatsoever, and this is giving me a such headache.</p>
<p>I'll probably get an IBM T42...I don't know much about laptops either but I've heard IBM laptops are definitely more durable than some other brands out there.</p>
<p>Aww.. I really want to get an apple ibook. Those are so cute! But I guess I will stick with my desktop.</p>
<p>mine's this taiwan brand. isus, don't know if anyone heard of it. i'm currently abusing it...</p>
<p>i really like apple. mac ones...'cuz they don't get virus~ virus are designed for Windows!</p>
<p>hi, there. I guess I belong to this thread too, lol. My dad is from Hong Kong while my mom is from Thailand. I was born in Portugal and grew up in Bolivia. Now I'm in US........patiently waiting for my June SAT score</p>
<p>nice to meet u guys~~</p>
<p>hey there lifelessmachine! hehe,we welcome all ppl of chinese origin! are you going to college next year?
mayflower, but isn't a lot of programs different or not compatible with mac? that's a bit inconvenient. but i really like the apply computers. they're so cute!</p>
<p>my stupid school sent another person's school account and email to me. ARGH!!!!!!</p>
<p>so the girls finished shopping cosmetics, now gadgy computers.
anyway, i recommend laptop models with centrino or pentium m processors. they save significantly more power than pentium4. battery life is an issue too. a good centrino model should last 4 to 5 hour battery life. a centrino 1.5 ghz 512mb ram model is not necessarily slower than a pen4 3.2ghz 1gb ram.(1 hour battery life) however, centrio model is more expensive. ibm models carrying centrinos(1.1~2.0) are through $1,500 in T,R,X series. dell offers a hot deal now, if you order it in u.s. something like inspiron 6000 including centrino 1.3~1.6ghz,256~512mb ram,dvd-rw, price range from $649~1181 in four models after $250 rebate.
don't customize pc on the web like ibm, dell's official site. customization is not a good deal, usually end up with hundreds of dollars more, if you want to include more software, hard drive, faster processor, more memory, wireless.....
you can check out ecost.com for some clearance deals
if you aim better dvd movie playing, choose 64mb video memory or better, up to 128mb. specific graphic questions consult bowtoserenity
now computers don't change that fast as a few years ago from pen2 to pen3 to pen4. $1400 and above not recommended. ibm and apples are nice, but considering what you really needed out of a computer(speed, storage, solid system), $500, even $1000 dollars more aren't necessary for some cool looks, cute buttons, titanium shell and leon lights.
so a laptop around $1000 no more or less than $200 range is a wise price. it should be substantial for next 4 years of college . unless all computer suddenly turned into a piece of paper, or less than 1 lb
speaking of boycotting japanese product, we can avoid buying laptops of sony, toshiba, fujitsu, nec, sharp, panasonic..... this time</p>
<p>those are my opions. the price varies with time and stores</p>
<p>anyone heard about the TC thing? how bad is this? </p>
<p><a href="http://www.p2pforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=13224%5B/url%5D">http://www.p2pforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=13224</a>
<a href="http://www.againsttcpa.com/tcpa-faq-en.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.againsttcpa.com/tcpa-faq-en.html</a></p>
<p>and i quoted the chinese related things:" For years, Bill Gates has dreamed of finding a way to make the Chinese pay for software: TC looks like being the answer to his prayer." </p>
<p>and there are more. anyway</p>
<p>ok, here is the other one:"At a TCG symposium in Berlin, I put it this way: in 2010 President Clinton may have two red buttons on her desk - one that sends the missiles to China, and another that turns off all the PCs in China - and guess which the Chinese will fear the most? (At this point, a heckler from the audience said, `What about the button that turns off the PCs in Europe?') This may be an exaggeration, but it's only a slight one. "</p>
<p>thanks tangsdaily and everyone. yes, your comments are very helpful. the computer i'm currently looking at is Latitude D810:</p>
<p>(Intel(r) Pentium(r) M Processor 750 (1.86GHz) w/ATI RADEON X600 128MB
Microsoft(r) Windows(r) XP Professional, SP2, with media
15.4 inch UltraSharp Wide Screen WSXGA+ LCD Panel
512MB 400MHz, DDRII SDRAM, 1 DIMM
60GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 5400RPM
No Floppy Drive
Dell Wireless 1370 802.11b/g WLAN miniPCI Card
24X CD-RW/DVD Combination Drive
9-CELL PRIMARY BATTERY
3 Year Limited Warranty plus 3 Year NBD On-site Service and CompleteCare
Belkin 25ft Blu RJ45/RJ45 Ntwk Patch Cbl (A3L791-25-BLU))
...
and yes, thanks for your advice. my family does try to avoid japanese products as much as we can, following my dad's example (who chose ford, motorola, etc, over toyota, sony, ...). but it's quite hard to aviod everything that's japanese nowadays...</p>
<p>after reading that TCG thing, i turned off Windows automatic update.
Bill Gates made way enough money, he's just not satisfied with billions, he wants trillions. the more greedy microsoft pushes, the more opportunities will be give to more open softwares like firefox, linux......
more than 20 years ago, microsoft was like nowaday linux or firefox.</p>
<p>yy0712, bowtoserenity has just purchased a dell model, he will give you substantial details. i recommend you get a dell model with dvd burner. blank dvd price is expected to drop; and given its 6 times greater storage than cd, dvd burner will be very useful soon. plus, people are moving to mp3, cd is almost neglected.</p>
<p>hmmm...though i do have a laptop, i have no idea what you all are talking about.</p>
<p>Anyone here have facebook? It's pretty addicting =)</p>
<p>yy0721, as tangsdaily said, I just got a new Dell laptop (a graduation gift) with almost identical gears as the one you just listed, except with a smaller hard drive (40G) and with the addition of DVD+RW. I do recommend a DVD-burner if you do not plan to purchase a desktop model. I probably will buy a desktop myself as my laptop is only intended for light use & travel. </p>
<p>My 0.02: a combination of cheap laptop ($800-$900) plus a moderate desktop ($700) is better than buy an expensive lapop ($1500+) </p>
<p>I am personally not a big fan of lower-end Dell laptops (mine is a gift) since the customer service of dell is quite atrocious. My battery is already dying though I just got the laptop one and a half months ago.
I looked for an American laptop in effort to boycott Japanese goods though I do realize Sony or Toshiba might offer better products than Dell.</p>
<p>Dell does offer extensive warrenty thoug it is a hassle to claim it once any part is broken. I am not particularly familiar with your model, check eopinions or CNet customer reviews to see how most customers think.</p>
<p>Of the major non-Japanese brands, Dell, HP, IBM are American and Acer is from Taiwan. IBM is more expensive.</p>
<p>I'm curious, if you wish to bring a desktop, how are you suppose to carry it to your school if your trip consists of at least one flight and you are going alone (maybe not the very first time, but you get the idea)? I mean myself for example, I have 1 big and 1 moderate luggage (I have seen examples where people carrying much, much more) and I still have trouble managing them. I guess I just couldn't imagine if you need add another 2 boxes on top of everything for the trip.</p>
<p>hey all! my facebook account is...wait, hmmm, well my name is put down as Julie Wang(julie's my unofficial english name), and my colllege email is <a href="mailto:wangn@charlotte.lfc.edu">wangn@charlotte.lfc.edu</a>. add me! and give me all of your accounts so i can add you!</p>