<p>Current and prospective students,</p>
<p>What iyo is the best laptop to get?</p>
<p>the IBM thinkpad is pretty solid but also kind of pricey. In my experience HP's are pretty good. However i am not a fan of the ibook.</p>
<p>are tablet PC's recommended?</p>
<p>I'm likely going to go with a Dell XPS M1710. It's got the horsepower to match a desktop but still allows for easy transportation of the machine where I need it.</p>
<p>Do not, I repeat- DO NOT get HP computers. The computers are not the best quality and their customer service is atrocious.
Tablet PCs have not been proven to be very reliable.
msouva, don't get an M1710- it does not allow for easy transportation at all. Not only will you have to get a humongous backpack, but the shear weight of it is really really annoying. Go with 15.4" max.</p>
<p>Look into either IBMs or Asus- both are extremely reliable with the latter being a small division of a large technology company. Only go with Dell if you are looking into their higher end products.</p>
<p>check out tigerdirect.com </p>
<p>its not about how it looks...or the price...</p>
<p>it's about what's in it...</p>
<p>some professors wont let you bring a laptop to class...</p>
<p>if you're in dickson then there is a lab there that's open 24hrs...</p>
<p>As no one's mentioned Apple yet, do they sell Macs, or is it better go to through the Apple Store directly? I am torn between the MBP and the MB; leaning towards the MBP just because of looks, which I know is sad...</p>
<p>Do Not Buy A Dell Computer. Ever.</p>
<p>well said chords. cheap, sure, but clunky and unreliable. dont bother.
id say HP is the way to go. they hella trick them out just for college students too, and i think the next series of laptops is gonna be some sort of tablet pc orientation. score.</p>
<p>What about the Dell XPS M1210?</p>
<p>Apple and Mac are the same thing- the Apple Stores are just that- stores of Apple. Same thing if you get them from Apple.com or if you get them from an Apple store</p>
<p>Actually Dell is decent if you get their upperend computers (ie the XPSes). I have heard that the M1210 is amazing.</p>
<p>everyone had a mac this year...but everyone always has troubles with courseEnroll on a mac...</p>
<p>this being said i'm sure windows vista will be problematic as well...</p>
<p>just bring what you have already...no need to buy a new one</p>
<p>a macbook or macbook pro is a good choice. you can put bootcamp on it and dual boot OS X and Windows. You should have no problem with course enroll if you just use the windows partition when you do it.</p>
<p>I'm either going with IBM or Toshiba</p>
<p>Pretty much, just pick any laptop that'll give you reliable performance just so you can use the microsoft office suite and surf the web. And unless you're gonna be doing any hardcore gaming or graphic design, then the processor and everything else doesn't matter that much. However, getting 2GB of RAM is recommended and as I've found definitely useful if you're an engineer, especially since you'll be running some memory intensive programs such as MATLAB.</p>
<p>Unless you really care about specs and want to be playing crazy games that are processor intensive, any computer really should be fine. People have had problems with Dells and Gateways mostly from what my friends' have experienced. I've found that Toshibas, Lenovos, Macs, and Acers are pretty reliable. I frankly don't like Sony computers these days just because they've seem to have focused all their thoughts onto the PS3 rather than building better computers.</p>
<p>How much do you carry a laptop around? I'd prefer to get a 17" laptop because I don't see why I'd want to carry it around to class or whatever. Don't people just leave it in the dorm room? I'd prefer a laptop over a desktop because even a heavy laptop is much easier to travel with than a desktop. O, and does anyone know how likely it is for a laptop to be stolen, not that i'm gonna have that nice of a laptop that it'd be more likely to be stolen than anyone else's, but in general.</p>
<p>Almost 100% of the kids you see in class on their laptops are browsing the internet, talking on AEM, maybe finishing up last-minute homework for another class. You really don't need one in class.</p>
<p>sony vaio VS macbook??</p>
<p>(ILR school)</p>
<p>Just get a desktop then...
Cornell will probably have a place where you can rent notebooks if needed...</p>
<p>Don't get a Sony Vaio</p>
<p>^^^A desktop will be a huge pain when i go move-in/move-out/want to take my computer when i go home for breaks. And i do want to move my computer around, just not so much that i need an ultraportable one.</p>