<p>Well seeing that gradation is less than a week away, and graduation means mucho moolah...I was just wondering what kind of computer seems to work best for kids. I want a laptop...but I'm debating between ibook or hp (I'm kinda anit-dell). Any pointers??</p>
<p>well, if you can get over your anti dell sentiments, they sometimes have amazing coupons for 750 off 1900 computers...they're a great deal. if not, it depends what you're used to. personally, i feel that switching from windows to mac is too much to worry about, and i think macs are very overpriced. between hp and ibook, id go with the hp</p>
<p>thank you for the advice =-) my friend has a dell laptop that has needed 2 new hard drives. granted this is definitely not the norm, I'm already computer impaired and don't want any more technical difficulties =-/</p>
<p>definately, i can't blame you there.</p>
<p>Macs tend to be more expensive than most of their Windows-based counterparts for the same reason that IBM laptops are more expensive... they're built really really well. The only difference between Mac laptops and IBM laptops is that the Macs are by far the best looking, and IBMs are by far the worst lol. I would go for the powerbook, personally. I like the idea of the fall sensor that parks the hard drive heads in milliseconds. HP/Compaq are crap - definitely don't buy one of those.</p>
<p>what about a sony vaio?</p>
<p>oh yeah...and what the heck is a powerbook? haha...such a technologically impaired girl =-/</p>
<p>A powerbook is a Mac laptop. </p>
<p>I'm not so sure about HP/Compaq being crap because I've had my HP laptop for 2 years now and I've had no problems with it.</p>
<p>my HP is built solid. i can pick it up by one corner and the plastic doesnt creak and the case doesnt bend (its 6.5 lbs). dell was notorious for using cheap plastic casing for their inspirons. with that said, the dell 700m my friend has is awesome and feels rock solid too. i just think its a tad bit too small to use as a main computer. great for portability though.</p>
<p>i guess is the moral of the story is each company will have its advocates and opponents. what i say is just buy whatever you like best... be it by looks, size, performance, price...whatever. as long as its a major manufacturer, you should have relatively few to no reliability issues...and if there are problems, you know you can seek service (even though customer service can be a major pain) from a major manufacturer more easily than some off brand that might go out of business 3 days after you buy it.</p>
<p>oh, and if youre going for a PC laptop, get a laptop with Intel Centrino (or Pentium-M....or at the very least Celeron-M). super battery life and great performance too.</p>
<p>if i were to get a laptop now, i would get a Dell Inspiron 6000. (i have an HP zt3000 now, and its been discontinued and replaced by the DV4000)</p>
<p>someone told me I should buy from ucla bookstore to get a good deal...is it a good idea to wait and do that?</p>
<p>hey whatever you do dont get an HP or dell or any other PC's they are very unreliable! Get an Apple powerbook and you will be so satisfied!</p>
<p>h'ok...soooo...my parents decided to surprise me with a computer. I ended up with a Toshiba Satellite M40/M45. I have no idea what this means =-/. It has a celeron M processor. Is this a good computer?! I have no idea. Oh yeah, and it's the biggest frikin notebook I have ever seen in my life....</p>
<p>while not the best, it's not bad. probably wont be very good for gaming, but everything else will be fine. people see "celeron" and they automatically think "piece of crap", but the Celeron-M is actually not bad. it's comparable to the first generation Pentium-M chips, which were pretty ground breaking as far as mobile CPUs go (great performance with great battery life).</p>
<p>it's pretty big if you wanted something very portable, but i think its a good size. mine's basically the same thing, 15.4", 6.5 lbs.</p>
<p>Any thoughts on the Apple store deal (iBook/Powerbook + a FREE mini iPod, or $179 off any other iPod)? I'm going to the mall manana to pick mine up.</p>
<p>i havent been following mac prices so i dont know if thats a good deal or not. the UCLA store might have a better deal? i think they have lower prices on top of the free ipod mini deal. check with them first before you head to the mall. :)</p>
<p>so the celeron m will get the job done?</p>
<p>it will...but i suggest that you get a Pentium-M if possible over the Celeron-M. the big difference is that the Celeron-M doesnt have "Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology". basically the P-M can slow down to save battery and produce less heat when you dont need all of the CPU power. like if you're typing an essay, it will probably clock down to 600mhz (or whatever is the lowest) since typing doesnt need that much CPU power. the C-M doesnt have that, so it will run at max speed all the time. the average P-M laptop can last about 4 hours, while a similarly equipped C-M laptop might last only about 2.5 hours.</p>
<p>lol headedsouth is biased. all this mac talk is propaganda. i think celeron M will get the job done but i think u got it a bit pricey.. it should be more like $900 bucks mayb less, not $1300. i mean look at this pentium M one:
<a href="http://www.notebookreview.com/price/default.asp?productID=11067&productFamilyID=527&brandID=15&display=priceDetail%5B/url%5D">http://www.notebookreview.com/price/default.asp?productID=11067&productFamilyID=527&brandID=15&display=priceDetail</a></p>
<p>bigdreamscj, how much for all that mac stuff? btw i hate ipods just cuz everyone has them. i think this is better than ipod shuffle:
<a href="http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2005/07/mobiblu-dah1500-review.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2005/07/mobiblu-dah1500-review.php</a></p>
<p>I think less than a thousand with student discount/rebates, ect...I didn't want an iPod initially, but I'm realizing now that having ALL of my music nicely packaged together will be so nice (vs. bringing favorite CD's, ect to a dorm room). So yeah..definitely doing it!</p>
<p>hmm where do u get less than 1k.
powerbooks start at $1400 and go up to $2400. only a single iBook is $950..</p>