<p>Hi, I'm an incoming freshman and I have a few questions about laptops. Out of all the mail that I've been getting, I can't seem to find anything on what type of specs I should have for my laptop. What do most freshman use for computing? Do they bring a new laptop to school with them, buy one after the first semester, etc.? I still haven't decided if I'm going to bring my current one (about a year old) or just upgrade now and hope it works for the next two years with the new version of Windows that's coming out. Here's the specs:</p>
<p>Intel Pentium 4 Processor at 2.4Ghz, 533 MHz front side bus
256MB Ram at 266MHz (going to 640mb)
ATI Mobility Raedeon 7500 video card with 32mb of memory
XGA Display (15 in., seems kinda dim compared to my LCD on the desktop)
8x DVD (no burner)
30 Gigs HD (about 22 free)</p>
<p>Think that's good enough for the first year? Or first semester maybe?</p>
<p>I don't see why that laptop wouldn't work fine. I hate to say it, but it'll probably get the most use from wordprocessing types of applications, accessing the internet for class assignments, AIM and gaming. If you get into any super heavy duty processing (I don't know your major), I'd expect it to be on university computers. They've got plenty.</p>
<p>I would go for more memory, a gig or more if you can afford it. That's more important than most anything, particularly if you're running any of the Windows variants.</p>
<p>The only other thing I might suggest is an external HD for back ups or in case you're a programmer and want more room to run a dual boot.</p>
<p>I think you'll be fine unless you're a gamer, just get yourself more RAM. Really easy to install and order. If you don't feel competent, go to crucial.com to order it (all you have to do is input what kind of laptop you have and they'll tell you what kind to order), otherwise check out newegg.com (cheaper, but you have to figure out what you want yourself).</p>
<p>Also, if you dislike your screen, you can buy a higher resolution/larger LCD monitor and leave it on your desk, then hook up your laptop to it when you're in your room.</p>
<p>hey guys, thanks for the help. Stick, I'm an EE major, so there's probably plenty of computers around I can use if I really needed it. </p>
<p>Krazy, I do have a few games that I play, which I normally play on my desktop at home. Do you think a RAM upgrade will give me enough preformance? I was thinking of buying a 512 chip to bring it to 640MB total.</p>
<p>What kind of games do you play? If you play Doom 3, you don't have the graphics card for it. If you play shockwave games and solitaire, you'll be fine. I've run Age of Mythology on my laptop (512 MB RAM/64 MB video card) and it's alright, but it lags when trying to run Dawn of War.</p>
<p>Also, be aware that your motherboard might not support two different sized sticks of RAM and/or you won't get the full performance of hyperthreading with it.</p>
<p>Right now I've been playing Tiger Woods PGA 2005 a lot, as well as some FIFA. I play Civ 3 on occasion, and might have to get AOE3 when it comes out.</p>
<p>I decided that if I upgrade the RAM, I'll just get two 512 dimms - they're pretty cheap. I also saw that the graphics card is actually 16MB dedicated memory...Not really great I know. TW05 ran pretty well when I last tried it - certain objects sort of created a frozen split image, but other than that it worked. Anyway, think I can set it up to share memory with the RAM, or am I just trying to push too much out of something thats not there at this point...?</p>
<p>I'm not geeky enough to tell you if there's a way to share the memory... You might try googling around for info. If it can be done, there'll be a website telling you how.</p>
<p>it depends on what type of video card you have... since you do not seem to have an integrated video card (its a good thing) you cannot change the ammount of memory allocated to your video card... however your video card is quite old so it won't be able to play the latest games as well as the new vid-cards ([MeToMyself]way to go captain obvious[/MeToMyself ]).</p>
<p>Truly, the ammount of memory that video cards have does not effect performance as much as the speed of the Graphical Processing Unit (GPU, like CPU with a G) and how fast that GPU can calculate and display images (the memory usually just acts as a workbench for the GPU)... If you have a slow GPU,it is like sending a retard to go draft blueprints for the 101 Taipei tower...</p>
<p>Other than that... by increasing your computer's main memory you are speeding it up more for the lowest cost (it decreases the time the CPU has to wait for the Hard Drive to access its info <em>HardDrives are really slow in Laptops to help conserve Energy</em>).</p>
<p>I'm a EECE possible major too (either that or ME) and I LOOOOVVVEEE computers (Windows mainly, a little linux) so if you have any questions direct them at me and I'll try to answer them...</p>