<p>^ How narrow-minded.</p>
<p>Have you seen one of those IRL? Yeah, I would frown upon somebody with one… ■■■■■■■■ purchase unless they got it for 50% off. It’s not flashy; it’s butt-ugly.</p>
<p>No alienware…you really don’t want to carry that bulky thing around campus. I pretty much agree with eziamm. For pretty much the same price, you can get a macbook pro. I mean, I know everyone claims “macbooks are overpriced and overrated” but at least it’s lighter and has better battery life.</p>
<p>why is it only a Mac or Alienware… I feel like we are missing a large chunk of the market</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Because more expensive means it’s better duh</p>
<p>The alienware looks clunky and is heavy. Kind of looks like a toy. Do you really want to carry that thing?</p>
<p>In short, get whatever you want because no one really cares what kind of laptop you purchase. It’s your personal preference and choice. However, do consider weight when making your decision.</p>
<p>dont buy it. buy some thing for half the price so that, if you loose your first one u can buy another one. alot of people loose their lap tops in college</p>
<p>I’m gonna mention some choices:</p>
<p>Asus- Pretty much a range for everything. The U series is thin, high battery life, and very portable, the K series in general, and the G series for gaming. And for customability xoticpc is probably the place to go. Asus also has a 1 year accidental damage warranty that is amazing.
Lenovo- Thinkpad series. Some things are marginally more expensive thought than apple however, such as an SSD. Still, thinkpad series of lenovo is well known.
Sony- Sony is expensive as far as normal laptops go. However even the Sb series is cheaper than mac (and that is currently the premium model until the vaio Sa comes out).</p>
<p>My recommendation, whatever you get, is to just go for a laptop with an SSD and an eSATA/USB 3.0 port. Then you can just get an external drive with pretty reasonable speeds for storage and then the SSD can be used for very quick program access. Though buying your own SSD and putting that in may be a preferable choice than to some offered.</p>
<p>For small 11-14" laptops, I would also put out there Acer’s line of ultraportables. Among Sony, HP, Lenovo, and Asus small laptops I’ve tried, Acer has the best trackpad and pretty good keyboards</p>
<p>2-3 pounds definitely DOES make a difference when you’re hauling it around on your back every day along with a bunch of books.</p>
<p>Also W/R/T that Alienware… I’d think the blue lights everywhere would look really obnoxious when you’re working in a darkened classroom. It’s like a rice rocket with neon undertray lights… you think it looks impressive, but anyone with a clue is thinking “all that useless weight just makes your car slower, jackass.”</p>
<p>I won’t tell you to get a Mac, but I have used nothing but Apple hardware since 2005 and couldn’t be happier. Elegant design, a joy to use and quite simply bulletproof. My first-gen 15" unibody MacBook Pro has been going strong since December 2008 and I plan to keep it at least another 8 months or so. Do I care that it cost me an extra couple hundred dollars vs. a similar Windows laptop? Not a whit. (Besides, what’s that amortized over three years? 25 cents a day?)</p>
<p>It’s like saying “Why buy a BMW 3-series when a Chevy Aveo does the same thing???” OK, sure, they do “the same thing” in that they’re both four-door passenger sedans which are capable of federally-limited highway speeds. But the BMW “does that thing” in a qualitatively different manner, for those who care about such things.</p>
<p>My school gave me a laptop as part of my scholarship, but I was only able to get either Dell or HP (possibly a mac but it wouldn’t have covered the whole price). I ended up choosing an HP and it started having all kinds of weird problems about a year in…
I ended up buying a Toshiba for only about $600 and I couldn’t be happier with it. I’ve had it for almost a year and a half now and the only problems I’ve had were cosmetic and easily fixed (as in the computer repair place at my school fixed it for free in about five minutes). It has a pretty big screen, too, which I like better for playing games, and find important since it’s my only computer. The battery tends to last about 4 hours.
I got used to carrying around a 25 pound backpack in high school (my school didn’t have lockers) so I don’t mind carrying around a few extra pounds. If you do mind a smaller screen might be better.
I’d recommend you consider Toshiba. It’s really durable, at least compared to HP.</p>
<p>Best things that I like about my MBA: battery life, minimalist and modern design, 1440x900 resolution on 13" screen, and very lightweight (not noticeable in my bag). If anyone can find a PC equivalent… I’m more than willing to know about it. If not, then it’s 100% worth the price because it has what I’m looking for. By the way, I wont take anything under that resolution for 13" screens now because anything lower looks all pixelated.</p>
<p>Oh and another question. How many books do college students carry around? I know that classes are usually spread out and that you have time to go back to the dorms. So do people usually carry 2 classes worth of stuff? More than 2 classes of stuff?</p>
<p>How much battery life is satisfactory for college life? 4-5 hours? 6+ hours?</p>
<p>^ My classes are back to back to back (like it that way) and I carry two textbooks, 3 notebooks, and my MBA with me usually everyday. That’s the reason why it MATTERS if a laptop is 3lbs vs. 5lbs and bulkier. Your back will thank you.</p>
<p>I still think the weight is a dumb reason to choose 1 laptop over another, unless they are equal in every other aspect.</p>
<p>^ I thought so too… until I bought a MBA to replace my MBP 15" as my school laptop. It made such a difference because it saved space and my bag just felt lighter. I’m already carrying a lot of weight from the 2 textbooks so anything that could free up weight is fantastic. </p>
<p>Don’t think of me as just a Mac person. I also have a Sony Vaio S that I’m testing out right now and it’s pretty good aside from the bad screen and cheap materials. I recommend it as a PC alternative to the 13" MBP. I could never go with the 13" MBP because of the horrid resolution. I’m shocked that Apple didn’t raise it to MBA’s new resolution.</p>
<p>I’ve had many different laptops within the last 2 years: HP Envy 14" over the summer (returned due to build quality reasons and trackpad), Dell Adamo (returned due to build quality reasons, especially since the screen was rippling with any vibration), and Sony Vaio F (replaced by 17" MBP).</p>
<p>Currently… I have my MBP 15" (replaced the MBP 17") and MBA 13" (will be replaced when they update it to the Sandy Bridge processors in the summer).</p>
<p>I guess you could say I have a bad habit of replacing laptops often. I can afford to do so though and something about Apple notebooks… their resale value is unmatched. Simply due to the Apple brand, you can resell it for much more than lets say… an HP or Dell. So if you really care about resale value, the only company to go with is Apple.</p>
<p>If you’re willing to around that much, also take a look at some Sony Vaio products.</p>
<p>[Notebooks</a> - Laptops - Computers VAIO | Sony Style USA | Sony](<a href=“http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=10151&langId=-1&catalogId=10551&categoryId=16154&N=4294966502&Name=Laptops]Notebooks”>http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=10151&langId=-1&catalogId=10551&categoryId=16154&N=4294966502&Name=Laptops)</p>
<p>Sony has a pretty good reputation for build quality. But then, you get what you pay for. Also, you don’t need a Mac. Most of the people I see using MB Pros just use Office, their browser (to go to facebook), and perhaps a bit of multimedia. You don’t need to pay out the arse for a MCP when you can get a PC that does that much cheaper.</p>
<p>Also, an alternative to the MBA, by Samsung (pricey):
[Series</a> 9 Notebook | Samsung Office Series 9 Notebook](<a href=“http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP900X3A-A03US]Series”>http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP900X3A-A03US)</p>
<p>I have an Alienware M15x…I don’t like to think of it as “flashy”…just unique lol. Honestly yeah I spent a lot to get it but you get what you pay for and I like it.</p>