Agreed. My current machine is on a 1.8 GHz and there’s nothing I’ve wanted to do that it couldn’t do. Then again I’ve never wanted to program/code or use photoshop. But movies, music, internet sites, online games, office suite + mutil tasking with internet and a few other random programs - all like butter.</p>
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That would suck to fit that into a new schedule every school term, plus clubs or something. There may be a reason why consumers like their batteries to last more than 1 3/4 hours - they got sick of having to keep finding time and place to plug in.</p>
<p>I just don’t want to have to work my schedule around a bad battery; I don’t have time for that. I want something that’s going to hold a several hour charge to get me through probably an average of three classes a day. </p>
<p>I guess now that I think about it a SSD really wouldn’t be that practical if I get one with a really powerful hard drive. The other thing is I might need the space and the average standard hard drive on these new laptops is usually two or three times the amount of space you’d get with a SSD. </p>
<p>I’m not sure if the CS students would repair a broken laptop, but honestly, if I was banking on my laptop breaking and someone having to fix or upgrade it, I would have bought a new computer yesterday. Don’t get me wrong, this computer I’m using is wonderful. It doesn’t have problems, works great, and is fast. And more likely than not it will get me through my first year of college with no issues.</p>
<p>But, I still want to be on top of everything for college. I don’t want to go to school to find out that my processor speed is not good enough or something to go wrong on me. I have enough money to buy a new laptop and I’m definitely looking for something with more power, windows 7, a dedicated graphics card, etc. And I know that I can get something that would do just that for around $600-$700.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that buying a new laptop isn’t a guarantee that it won’t have issues/break within a short period of time. I’ve had several friends and many more clients whose brand new notebooks had hardware failures within the first year…or even within the first 3-6 months. </p>
<p>Recalled dozens of folks sending back their Dell Inspirons several times within the first 6 months to replace dead motherboards, video chips, LCD screens, etc back in the early-mid '00s. Saw similar issues with many other consumer-grade notebooks…especially those from bigbox stores. </p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that if you send notebooks back, warranty repair does take some time so you’ll have to figure out a way to deal without a laptop during that interval. That interval may be relatively quick like less than a week to as much as a month or two in the worst cases I’ve heard about(Best Buy and another bigbox like it).* </p>
<p>Moreover, sometimes the quality of the laptop repair technicians can really be hit or miss. A friend sent his HP notebook to me a few weeks back because it seems the “techs” at a bigbox he purchased it from didn’t know what they were doing and made the problem worse. They didn’t even bother to check to see if it was a virus/malware infection…when that machine actually had several. :(</p>
<ul>
<li>Good reason to always back up your data off your notebook’s main drive.</li>
</ul>
<p>I’ll probably buy it from Newegg. Still though, it would be nice to buy a brand new computer that has windows 7 and the works and runs perfectly. That’s really my need for when I go to college. And I think the reliability of computers nowadays versus in the 90’s and '00’s is a lot better as far as stuff breaking instantly. You just need to know how to take care of your computer I guess.</p>
<p>Well, I think I’ve gotten all the info I need. I’m probably going to wait until the new Intel Processor type comes out (Ivy Bridge?). I’m probably more inclined to just buy a new laptop and have my current as a backup in case something goes wrong rather than just have my current and have no backup in case something goes wrong. </p>
I think the damage we’re specifying here is damage that is directly related to old worn out and overused parts - i.e. age. A new computer, while still having the potential to have problems, won’t have a problem because of aged parts. Hence, the whole new factor. Those are the problems that were suggested to have avoided.</p>
<p>Actually, my experience from having used computers from the '90s to the present is that computers built after 2001 aren’t built as well/reliable as the older models with a few exceptions…especially if we’re talking the consumer line or manufacturers like Dell, HP, etc.</p>
<p>My old Toshiba Satellite from the late '90s is still humming along great today for a friend who needed a basic office/light internet machine for job searches/resumes. Not only are all the parts original with the exception of a RAM add-on…but it still kept on ticking even after being dropped from up to 5 feet onto concrete…sometimes while it was still on. </p>
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</p>
<p>If you do, be sure to give it sufficient room so the vents/CPU fan areas have sufficient space to dissipate heat. Especially considering from what I’ve read…Ivy Bridge CPU/Chipsets tend to run hotter than their Sandy Bridge counterparts and the i7 CPU based notebooks I’ve worked on tended to already run extremely hot.</p>
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</p>
<p>Assuming the notebook wasn’t defective/had defective parts to begin with and it wasn’t abused/lacked basic maintenance*…the only parts which tend to wear out from regular use are conventional hard drives and other mechanical parts like CPU fans. Hard drives are the parts most likely to fail first. </p>
<p>Electronic solid state parts which aren’t defective to begin with due to poor QC/use of defective parts like crappy capacitors tend to last at least several years provided they weren’t subjected to excess heat from situations like being placed in confining spaces without ventilation or overclocking. </p>
<p>I know plenty of folks who are still using their PII/PIII based notebook PCs from the late '90s/early '00s happily because all they need is basic office apps and some light internet…including several anthro PhD students. </p>
<p>Heck, my early '90s era 386sx/16 and a friend’s 386DX/33 still boot up and runs dosgames and office applications nowadays without a hiccup. </p>
<ul>
<li>Clearing out dust bunnies from vents, CPU fans, heat sink area once every few years…especially in hot dusty climates.</li>
</ul>
<p>Well, you’re probably right. I was too young to be noticing computer quality in the 1990s. I do remember playing an old computer game on Windows 95 though. </p>
<p>But, anyways, I’ll probably only use my computer for stuff with Engineering classes. Probably CAD and programs like that. Like I said I most likely won’t have time for gaming. So I guess I’m just going to keep looking for one and if I don’t find one, I’ll upgrade to Windows 7 and keep this for now. I’d still rather get a new computer and start fresh though. I will probably go for an i5 and not an i7. I know I’ll need sufficient ventilation. Luckily the dorms are AC’ed to the max for I will be attending college in an extremely hot state. I’ll just need to keep it out of the sun. don’t want a computer melting on me.</p>
<p>And an IdeaPad Z570 has all comparable specs with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M (1GB) for about the same price (~$650 after eCoupon and taxes). Different look and style than the ThinkPad though.</p>
<p>I took a quick look at Dell models, but none of them seemed to have good enough specs for their price, and I’m purposefully not recommending any HPs. Still recommend the Toshibas too though.</p>
<p>Take a look if you’re interested. Best of luck finding your next machine.</p>
Oh, lookie here - I viewed the Lenovo IdeaPad Y470p (their model geared towards gamers) and I think I like it enough to decide to get it over the Toshiba Portege Z835 (trading in the ultrabook option, SC!).</p>
<p>It comes with:
Win 7 HP 64-bit
14" LED HD glare (blah) 1366x768
2.5 GHz i5
AMD Radeon HD 7690 1GB (bounds better than the previously mentioned NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M in the Z series)
6GB RAM
500GB HDD @ 5400 rpm (I’d consider upgrading that to an SSD or at least faster HDD later on).
All for $700. Not too shabby. A dedicated graphics card usually found in 17" models, but in a small 14" package. I could be in class and play online games no sweat (assuming the internet connection would be any good - but I don’t condone playing VGs over paying attention to the professor )</p>
<p>Wow, that Lenovo looks really nice and right in the price range I’m looking for. I have heard mixed reviews about Lenovo though. How reliable are they? And I really don’t need a laptop geared towards gamers but just something that can handle everything if that makes sense.</p>
<p>-6 gigs of RAM would be nice, but I think anything can get by with 4
-The Intel Core i5 is a big plus
-The dedicated graphics card is also a big plus</p>
<p>What other brands are good? I’ve heard Vaio is really overpriced, but Acer and Asus and Samsung are also really good.</p>
<p>^I’ve heard more good than bad about ASUS and Acer. I’ve only owned a couple different Toshibas and a Dell, but I feel I can trust Lenovo’s overall company after watching numerous reviews and talking to others who’ve owned/seeing other posts on forums. Much different from the fact that 9/10 people tell me to stay away from HP. I’d agree that Sony is overpriced as well as Dell these days.</p>
<p>Why, may I ask, do people tell you to steer away from HP? I’ve had an HP Pavilion Desktop for about 7 years now, and it’s running just as well now as it was when we first got it…</p>
<p>I think I will stick to those brands: Lenovo, Asus, and Acer. Samsungs seem to be pretty pricey for my budget. I have had a lot of luck with gateway (that’s what I’m running now) so maybe I will look to them to.</p>
<p>Personally I have heard no bad things about HP. I mean, you get what you pay for. If you buy a cheap HP you’re going to get a cheap computer, but if you buy an expensive one with better hardware, it will probably be better for you.</p>
<p>Does anyone know when the new laptops with Ivy Bridge are due out? I have heard they are making those processors way more energy efficient and they automatically run slower when your computer isn’t in use, which could prevent it from overheating. This could be really beneficial to me due to the ridiculously hot temps where I’m going to college.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that the Ivy Bridge Processors tend to run kinda hot. But in answer to your question, they’ll be coming out during early to mid summer. A little sidenote, hp uses it’s coolsense technology which keeps the computer from overheating in different situations. I’d check out the envy 6, it’s a brand new line from hp that looks very promising. I ordered one last weekend.</p>
<p>That envy is an ultrabook which is not what I’m looking for. I’m looking for something with a dedicated graphics card and a very powerful processor. The ultrabooks seem like they are a lot of money for a lot of hype.</p>
<p>A: you can get a discrete graphics card, which I did.
B: Intel i5 processor is standard in the envy 6.
C: I upgraded to 6gb RAM without much extra cost.
HP basically rethought the standard ultrabook by packing high end, high speed, and high power into a laptop weighing less than 5 lbs and measuring a little more than 3/4 thick, and only costing about $800 with the HP student discount. I think it would fit your needs perfectly.</p>
<p>Does the HP come with a discrete card? Or did you have to add it? And I’m honestly fine with 4 gigs of RAM. That’s really all you need. And I’d say $800 would be on the high end of what I was looking to spend. I had $700 as my maximum. But that’s a good point that you make. I am definitely looking for something light and sleek like that. Maybe I will check out the ultrabooks more. I’m still going to wait until Ivy Bridge comes out though.</p>
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