<p>My son will be getting the (forthcoming) new iteration of the MacBook Pro for the fall. There's supposed to be a new case design as well as integration of Intel's Montevina</a> chipset. Will work fine to boot into Windows Vista for whatever app's are necessary for class and then into OS X for everything else.</p>
<p>My advice. Get a desktop for power usage, and a ultra portable for mobility.</p>
<p>Big chunky laptop = short lifespan</p>
<p>Looks like you have the money. I say get a macbook air or other ultraportable, and a nice desktop.</p>
<p>I got a dell pos laptop, and it stays at home most of the time. If I turn it sideways, the hardrive falls out. Service? You have to call someone in india, then ship it out. I had a dent in my iphone, and they gave me a new one no questions asked.</p>
<p>There are pros and cons to each. Get both, and your set.</p>
<p>computers are a poor investment, 3000 bucks, and in a few years you have to pay to get rid of it. Get something cheap, but good enough for what you need. You'll get more out of life if you don't sit infront of the computer all day long. </p>
<p>Vista unstable? you bet, I register for classes on my iphone becasue my laptop wont behave. Is it more unstable than XP? Not substantially, depends on what you do.</p>
<p>@Cookn I decided against a Mac because I spoke to the head of computing for the mechanical engineering department, as well as UF students, who said there was windows-specific software for engineering and that virtualization wasn't guaranteed to work. I would love to get a MacBook pro, but it's just not compatible with my college plans. The question now is what kind of PC to get.</p>
<p>@physh Getting a laptop and a desktop is basically out of the question. What I want to know are the cons of the Dell XPS as opposed to the alienware. I already know the pro (significantly better price), but I want to know if it's worth it.</p>
<p>Alienware is a subsidiary of Dell. Now, that being said, Alienware is NOT the last bastion of consumer quality, despite what the price might tell you. The customer service sucks, and the computers often have significant issues (do some googling). </p>
<p>The XPS probably has some of its own issues, but of the five that I've come into contact with, none has broken down. My strong recommendation would be to get an XPS, HP, or Acer and possibly a warranty just in case. Just don't get an alienware expecting quality.</p>
<p>
[quote]
@Cookn I decided against a Mac because I spoke to the head of computing for the mechanical engineering department...
[/quote]
Thanks for the info. I may end up saving some money in order to keep my boy compatible. He's going to be an Engineering major as well.</p>
<p>
[Quote]
I'm buying an Alienware because I want something guaranteed to be powerful enough. Loaded the way I want, it costs $3,233. If you guys have other recommendations, just make sure it can have the following specs and weigh 7 pounds or under.</p>
<p>-14-15 inch screen
- 2.4-2.6 GHz dual-core processors
- 3-4 GBs of RAM
- 250-300 GB Hard Drive
- 256-512 MB of Graphics Memory
- DVD-RW and CD-RW optical drive
[/Quote]
</p>
<p>I don't understand what makes you think alienware is guaranteed to be powerful enough. Any PC with those spec will be powerful enough, the only thing alienware is guaranteed to be is overpriced(so is Apple, but it looks like you made the right choice and dropped that idea)/</p>
<p>You seem like you know a little bit about computers. Do yourself a favor and don't waste your money. </p>
<p>First of all, forget about how much RAM the video card has. Basically the options you have for mobile GPU's are integrated video, Geforce 8400, geforce 8600, geforce 8700, geforce 8800. There are also ATI cards, like the x2600, x1900, x1800, but all of them are slower than or about the same as the geforce 8600, so your best off sticking w/ Nvidia. Do you play alot of new video games? If not you'll be fine with an 8400 or 8600, they will be plenty for running some engineering programs. If you play alot of video games I would go for the 8800(although I don't know if you can get it in a 15.4").</p>
<p>When it comes to RAM, I think 4gb is a good idea although 2gb is really plenty.(I only have 2gb when I bought my laptop a year ago, and it is really enough for everything)</p>
<p>I bought my laptop from xoticpc.com, and put in the RAM myslef b/c it was cheaper.
Look at this laptop
FORCE</a> 3298 (Built on COMPAL JFL92)</p>
<p>Configure it with:
Core2Duo T9300(2.5ghz)
3gb RAM
160GB seagate Momentus 7200RPM hard drive
Built in Wifi card
Windows Home Premium</p>
<p>The total comes to less than 1500. Less than half of what your paying for that Alienware(although I would guess that the alienware has an Geforce 8800 video card while the one above only has the 8600)</p>
<p>Both my sons have the power in their desktops, and the lightweight portability in their laptops. They are both really happy with this option. We looked at the seriously powerful laptops, but decided that they started getting too bulky to toss in a backpack and go. Also, unless you have a docking station, it starts to be a pain to connect/disconnect all the peripherals of your computer all the time, and your laptop turns into a desktop.</p>
<p>Yes, it's two computers, but I'm not sure it costs that much more than the killer laptop, because the same power in a desktop costs SO much less, and then any decent laptop will let you take notes and do some basic stuff on the road.</p>
<p>Also, I was just looking at alienware.com and configureing their 15.4" notebook, how did you get the price to $3,300, go through the list and pick all the most expensive options?</p>
<p>I've done some more research, and I'm now seriously considering the dell XPS 1530. Configured the way I want, and with discounts, its about $700 less than the alienware. I plan to avoid the "dell hell" of customer support by ordering through the small business section of their website, which has good US based tech support.</p>
<p>Okay people. I have now officially placed an order for a Dell XPS 1530. Configured to the above specs, it cost $2029.88 with shipping and tax, which is about $1200 dollars less than the alienware I was considering. Thank you all for your advice, you saved me a lot of money and frustration in the next four years, and I look forward to seeing some of you on campus this fall.</p>
<p>do you have an old laptop? my roomie had two laptops. one mac. one p.c. because the mac wasn't compatible with a lot of the school's software apparently?</p>