<p>I'm looking to get a new laptop for college and I'm wondering what these jargon mean in layman's term and how they relate to price, performance etc. </p>
<p>-Intel (core? pentium? i3? i5? i7? dual? quad? tri? What do all these mean?)
-GB memory / GB HDD?
-GHz
-Linux/Vista/XP/7/Mac OS? I know that these refer to different "operating systems" but what are the major characteristics/advantages/purposes of each? Which one's good for the engineer? the design student? the businessman? the gamer? etc?
-64bit, 32bit?
-optical drive?</p>
<p>More importantly, I'd appreciate an explanation or outline of what to look for in a laptop (i.e. if two laptops have similar/same specs, how do I know which one to buy? Clearly, they're priced differently for a reason, right?) </p>
<p>I'm not on a tight budget and wouldn't mind a Macbook either, so any explanation of the difference between the two operating systems (?) would be helpful as well...</p>
<p>I'm looking for a generic guideline for purchasing a laptop. I'm not particularly looking for anyone to "sell" or tell me what's good and what's bad. Ideally, I want to be able to determine what is best for myself. </p>
<p>If I'm completely off-track, please let me know.</p>
<p>EDIT: I've also been trying to do some research from CNET and other forums on the internet, but I thought it could be helpful to get feedback from college students in particular.</p>
<p>Processors: In this day and age most laptops are going to have an i3, i5, or i7. Core 2 duo is the gen before that, and clock-for-clock cannot compete with nehalem processors. Now, however, sandy bridge is appearing and is the main reason you should wait to the summer, since more sandy bridge models would be available and if anything you would buy right now might decrease in price (Macs excluded). Better overall processors, more energy efficient, etc.</p>
<p>GB memory: How much memory your computer has. Beyond a certain point it is pretty much useless for everyone except those who know they have a need for it. 4gb works in most cases. As for RAM frequency… 1066mhz or 1333mhz is pretty much the most common.</p>
<p>Harddrive: Gigabytes mean the amount of storage. Typically harddrive storage is measured measured based on 10^x, instead of 2^x, so that the actual value when observed on a computer is less than what is advertised. Also consider hdd speed. 5400rpm is slow, 7200rpm is standard, and then there are SSDs which are very fast but aren’t default on many models (usually requiring self-installation) and have a high cost per storage. They work well when combined with an esata/usb 3.0 external harddrive however.</p>
<p>OS: stick to the one you are comfortable with. A lot of people preach OS X is superior, but aside from allowing people to learn it easier (the claim at least) windows has never been less enabling to the user. Also consider compatibility with the programs you use.
engineer: Depends. windows typically (for CAD and such), or a CS major could use linux (but probably dual-booted)
design student: Has become a push, since any design program worth using is on both.
Gamer: Trivially windows.
businessman: windows, and in particular xp has been in the standard but its not really worth downgrading imo.</p>
<p>64bit/32bit: just go with 64bit.</p>
<p>optical drive: dvd or blu-ray. External players exist that can be connected to computers so unless you want a blu-ray player don’t bother putting too much emphasis on an optical drive.</p>
<p>The current processor lineup is
i3 (budget)- dual cores
i5 (mainstream)- dual cores
i7 (high performance)- some dual and some quad cores
For good battery life look for i3 or i5. Both are very fast and the average user won’t see a difference (I can’t feel a difference).</p>
<p>GHz is basically the rate the CPU can do something. Current GHz speeds range from around 2.0 to 3.0 GHz. I wouldn’t recommend quad core i7 to you since they gulp down battery and release tons of heat. You won’t require that kind of power in college.</p>
<p>Normal-powered processors (2.0-3.0 GHz) are usually in mainstream laptops with 13’‘+ screen sizes. Under-powered processors (1.0-2.0 GHz) are usually in thin-and-light laptops with 11’‘-13’’ screen sizes. Both have their pros & cons.</p>
<p>Get 4 GB of RAM memory. That’s all you need</p>
<p>Get around 320 to 500 GB of hard drive space. Buy a backup hard drive!!</p>
<p>Get windows 7 or osx. Don’t even consider the old ones. Both W7 and osx run perfectly fine and they come standard now. Buy 64 bit W7 because 32 bit cannot utilize all 4 GB RAM memory.</p>
<p>Get an optical drive whether it’s built in or external. Many colleges will give you stuff to download.</p>
<p>Get a laptop with good battery life. Essential for college. 6-cell batteries are usually flush while 9-cell batteries usually stick out. Good battery life on a PC is around 5 hours. Macbooks have 6+ battery life.</p>
<p>You’ll probably suffice with the intel integrated graphics card. Intel’s graphics can do youtube, 1080p, light gaming. There are 2 brands that make dedicated graphics cards, AMD and Nvidia. Both offer low-end and high-end. You’ll have to do more research on those if you want.</p>
<p>As a general rule: if you don’t know what something is you probably don’t need it. ^_^</p>
<p>Some people use a different OS for work. Some programs might only work in XP.
Vista sucks… that’s why people either go down to XP or up to W7.
Mac owners might download W7 to play games or to use certain programs.</p>
<p>@TheJuanSoto is linux the OS of choice for programmers? I’m just starting in CS now and I’ve been thinking about making the switch. Haven’t seen anybody using it yet, but as i said I just started. There’s gotta be a sleeper cell of Fedora users somewhere on campus! lol</p>
<p>I used Linux and BSD for quite a while but ultimately gave up because I need MS Office for debate. I would certainly expect most CS departments to have at least a few Linux users around.</p>
<p>The intel line of processors are which your referring to. There’s also AMD processors which are cheaper, but thats another story. The old powerhouse for intel processors used to be the Core 2 series featuring the dual core (2 cores) and quad core (4 cores). They both were and still are pretty fast for the average user. 4 cores is better though since more cores (usually) equals faster computing and is better for video editing, photography, etc. The core 2 stuff was big a couple years back and apple is still shipping them in their mac minis and only recently stopped producing their macbook pro 13’ model with them inside. They work well and are still a cheap option for the average user.</p>
<p>The core i series was introduced ~late 09’ and has become the new standard for most laptops and desktops. The core i3 is a step up from the core 2 duo it replaces and is quite speed. Obviously the higher you go (i3 i5 i7), the more powerful the processors become. For the average user though, I’d say that the i3 is a perfect spot. It is nice and speedy, handles almost all applications well, and is power efficient which is a must in laptops. The whole i series though is very nice. That was a small overview off the top of my head. Kind of jumbled but i hope it helps. </p>
<p>i7 > i5 > i3 >core 2 quad > core 2 duo
-This little chart may help too, but don’t automatically think that the core 2 duo is no good. Its a great little processor and most colleges have them in all their school computers which, at my school at least, are quick and are a big jump over the pentiums of old (Intel still ships pentiums in laptops, usually just labeled “dual core” in ads or stores. From all i’ve heard, stay away from those. Quite slow compared to those above and really getting up there in age.)</p>
<p>There is one complication though, and that is Intel just made substantial upgrades to the i3, i5 and i7 processors without changing their names. So, it would be better to buy the latest versions of these processors, particularly if you are buying a computer where the graphics display hardware is integrated with the main processor. Intel code-named the new processor system, “Sandy Bridge”, and recent tests indicate a substantial performance boost, compared to the older versions. So, I would buy a computer with a new (Sandy Bridge) i3 or i5 processor.</p>
<p>One more question on a slightly unrelated note - how practical/worthwhile would it be for someone with not much computer knowledge/programming experience to minor in computer science in college? Would I take away any significant skills by the end of the degree?</p>
<p>I’m starting to become interested in computers, but was never really the hands-on type of person to tear stuff apart…</p>
<p>I don’t know how quantitative computer science is, but if it means anything I did get a 5 in Calc BC and took multivar in high school. OTOH, I hated physics…(does computer science have anything to do with physics?)</p>
<p>HDD- hard drive. It’s the typical hard drive that spins. It’s the thing where you hear a tiny “whirl” from your computer. Large storage capacity. Very cheap.</p>
<p>SSD- solid state drive. Not exactly “new” but it’s faster than HDD. It uses flash memory (found in cell phones, SD cards, iPods, mp3’s) so it transfers data very quickly. It’s silent and has no moving parts. Smallish storage capacity. Very expensive. I would only get it if you have extra cash… many college kids don’t seeing that you’re paying thousands for tuition.</p>
<p>Linux is not favored for computer related majors. Yes, many kids who use linux are computer science majors but a majority of computer science majors do not use linux. Most people use the typical W7 or OSX. However, the good part about linux is that it’s free and it’s customizable with little restrictions.</p>
<p>I’m not the your college advisor, but usually minors back up your major. Seeing that everyone uses computers and computers are getting more complicated I think it could be a good choice.</p>
<p>^thats very true. There’s always going to be a need for people who know computers, so even having a small foundational knowledge of computers is great. I don’t know how many hours of actual class you’d take for a minor, but CS is a really cool major and i’d recommend it if your interested in computers, programming, etc. Its extremely immersive (especially programming) and can quickly become a hobby if you enjoy it enough. Like i said, if your interested go for it.</p>
<p>That’s a wide scope of explanation you’re looking at. It’s not gonna get explained sufficiently in one post, and probably not one thread either.</p>
<p>Not to mention, there are newer i3/i5/i7s that have just recently come out. Those are >> the old i3/i5/i7. The >> is a huge jump: new architecture, not comparable between GHz ratings because they accomplish much more per GHz.</p>
<p>RAM: get 4GB; 2GB is sufficient for most things, 4GB is a comfortable amount, and any more is likely not justified unless you have specific reasons. DDR3-1333 > DDR3-1066 in the sense that the memory functions faster, so memory-intensive apps (such as firefox or photoshop) run faster.</p>
<p>HDD: 100GB stores approximately 15hr worth of MP3s, 25 DVDs, or 3 blu-ray movies; allocate 10GB for your OS and 10GB more for apps.</p>
<p>OS: stick with the times and get 64-bit; if you have to ask, I suggest you give Linux a try: less viruses to worry about, lower learning curve when using an easy desktop environment such as Gnome (the default that comes with Ubuntu and Fedora). In terms of CS people: Mac OS X is actually the most common choice on my college; it offers the flexibility of Linux with more user-friendliness than Windows while coming nicely packaged on good quality hardware (compared to most other hardware), a few of the more intense people run Linux, and a few run Windows.</p>
<p>SSD: if you have to ask, you probably don’t need it enough to make the extra you spend on it work it ;)</p>
<p>DVD or BluRay: neither; most people won’t need the burner, and if you really do need one, you can get a much better external one later for ~$50.</p>
<p>“graphics display hardware is integrated with the main processor.”
What does this mean?</p>
<p>In addition to the central processor unit (CPU), you also need a graphics processor unit (GPU) that generates the video signal that goes to the display. In many computers, these are separate units. In other computers, particularly laptops, the GPU can be integrated into the CPU, yielding less cost and greater compactness. The GPU that is integrated into the new i3/i5/i7 CPUs is apparently much better than the old integrated GPU.</p>
<p>Not sure. You would at least have a basic knowledge of it. I just started on my major and we’re already learning the python programming language. I’m by no means an advanced programmer, but its quickly becoming something i really enjoy doing so i spend more time on it then other classes. programming can range from the simplest math problem to some of the most complex pieces of code known to man, so technically you would be programming. How in depth you go with it would be your own decision.</p>
<p>A quick question - my boss at work wants me to add a network attached storage on to a recently reformatted computer. How do I do this? It did have a snapserver drive on “my computer” but now it’s gone because the computer was reformatted. How do I bring it back?</p>