<p>hey guys, just curious...if you had 2500 dollars to spend on a computer/accessories, what would you get? laptop w/docking station, exceptional desktop, what have you...</p>
<p>Laptop with 2 gigs expandable ram, 200+ gig hard drive, top of the line graphics card, tv tuner, 8-in-1 card reader, 15.4" hi def screen, etc. but it wouldn't cost 2500</p>
<p>please god get a desktop if you intend to do any gaming. laptops are horrible for it, nomatter how fast they are. I still don't see a necesity for laptops in school, either. I own both and never use the laptop except at the library.</p>
<p>on the contrary, i dont see why college students even own a desktop these days. all u need is a laptop, and i use mine all the time, everywhere. they really come in handy. desktops are not even nessesary unless u want to do gaming.</p>
<p>Desktop (get the parts and assemble them from newegg.com):</p>
<p>Intel Core 2 Duo X6800
4 GIGs Ram (800 Mhz)
2 18X SATA DVD+-RW Drives
2 Nvidia Geforce 8800GTX cards in SLi (or wait for the ATi R600)
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131074%5B/url%5D">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131074</a> ^^^^Motherboard
Case of your choosing</p>
<p>Get a SFF (small form factor) Box. Its a desktop but like 1/4 the size and has the same possible power as a desktop. It would be smaller, so its easier to fit into a regular sized dorm room(which are usually small).</p>
<p>"Intel Core 2 Duo X6800
4 GIGs Ram (800 Mhz)
2 18X SATA DVD+-RW Drives
2 Nvidia Geforce 8800GTX cards in SLi (or wait for the ATi R600)
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131074%5B/url%5D">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131074</a> ^^^^Motherboard
Case of your choosing"</p>
<p>Overkill much?</p>
<p>Desktops take up too much space. and a small form factor can run into problems with bigger vid cards and higher speed proc. due to heat and size issues ;). I personally am getting tired of lugging my desktop back and forth from college</p>
<p>yeah, the main disadvantage to a desktop is that if you're going somewhere for the weekend you can't really take it with you, or if you did it would be monstrously awkward. Better to shell out a couple hundred more for a good laptop that you can carry around.</p>
<p><a href="http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/6844000/wo/qEVW2tEJ2aCf3mOVdfkiH6mPY4c/2.?p=0%5B/url%5D">http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/6844000/wo/qEVW2tEJ2aCf3mOVdfkiH6mPY4c/2.?p=0</a>
with 160gb hard drive
$2,400 with educational discount.</p>
<p>I'd probably buy a souped-up desktop, as I've already got a pretty decent laptop.</p>
<p>What is your major. I am CS and have to say the best investment I made is dual LCD screens (Black Friday Best Buy 1st in line). They are so much faster and you can watch a movie on one and type a paper on the other, or read an ebook and take notes on it. Its just incredibly useful. If you get a laptop get another screen for your desk and make sure that you can hook up dual displays. Some ECE kids get like a 24" screen but I like my set up better.
Get a good mouse, a gaming one, and a logitech keyboard because the standard ones, (aka laptop ones) are crap.
Then get a cheaper processor, 64 bit dual core, and get good ram, and a lot of it, depending again upon your major.</p>
<p>@mattd1688</p>
<p>Did you get the mag 17" for $80? I got that. It was a great deal.</p>
<p>even though 2 screens aren't exactly necessary...lol</p>
<p>Get a laptop. Desktops are a real pain in the ass. My mom has to make a lot of teaching material on her computer and she's tired of carrying around 2-3 thumb drives to work. She did consider a laptop at one point.</p>
<p>I got the Samsung 19" widescreen for $130, and had my lil bro get the other one. </p>
<p>They are so necessary, after college break, 3/20 of us came back with dual monitors. We each went to different stores 2.</p>
<p>I would probably divide; get a really good desktop (once again it won't cost you 2500 even with that... unless you are getting a macintosh) and mediocre laptop... Laptops suck at gaming/upgrading so... Desktop for all the heavy duty stuff, laptop for just carrying around purposes. I don't know, I wanted both so ^^;;; haha. My friend does this currently</p>
<p>OR you could get a tablet pc if that floats your fancy</p>
<p>I agree uyu, I would split it.</p>
<p>Get a decent Lappy (512 or a gig of ram, baseline dual core processor, onboard video or just a decent video card, 60gb - 120gb HD), and then spend the rest on building a desktop from new egg. Even that shouldn't be too much if you shop new egg you an get like 2 GB, dual core proc, 200GB HD, DVD Burner and all for less than like a thusand if you know what you are doing. Hell you might even be able to afford an HD DVD drive (though I dont suggest it now).</p>