<p>I actually think I'm going to be buying a 12" PowerBook to have super portability and then a 20" Apple Cinema display to lock down in the dorm so I can do my photography on a decent size screen.</p>
<p>Modestmelody,</p>
<p>First off, my experience with Dell support was fantastic. </p>
<p>Second off, which benches are you running? There's no way that an early Northwood with a slower FSB is going to take on a recent Prescott with the 200 MHz FSB; not even a better northbridge is going to make that big of a difference.</p>
<p>I have a Dell inspiron. It's great, but a little heavy. I think I'll buy a Thinkpad if I ever need to buy another one.</p>
<p>When my parents got a new Dell 1.5 years ago (agianst my recommendation), mine ran faster then theirs both in life and on the PCPitstop tests. It wasnt a top of the line, but it wasnt supposed to be trash.</p>
<p>Edit:</p>
<p>I am glad your Dell experience was positive. I am using one now and I think it's a great machine. My experiences with their latest offerings, however, has been poor. Perhaps I've seen 5 or 6 lemons, but they just havent been built as well as other makers. But, I can't see how anyone but a true newbie (I hate n00b) would want to buy and not build, especially going into college where they can take advantage of group licensed software.</p>
<p>First off, PCPitstop benchmarks are terribly inaccurate indications of performance. Try real benchmarks like 3dMark or PCMark. Much better.</p>
<p>When I build my new system, I'll be sure to do that. But, I have found PCPitstop to be rather indicative of real world performance. Computers that score low run slower with every day tasks, as expected. I've found some other benchmarks (I think one of which was PCMark), really showed very little in terms of day to day use performance. More like, what this system should be capable of, if everything was optimized for it and it wasnt trashed, not, this is how I actually work.</p>
<p>Yes....I'm still lost. In fact I think I may be even more confused than I was previously. Keep the jargon simple, guys, I'm no comp whiz by any means. So I'm guessing go with either a think pad or powerbook? What are the advantages/disadvantages of each? I don't believe I'm going to need my laptop to do any complicated functions...do neuro majors need complicated programs?! Anyhoo, I'd probably just use it for typing up papers, storing to music, chatting on AIM, and going on CC of course! You know, the usual college goer kind of stuff. Thanks for all your help guys, although I have to tell you, it's kind of falling on deaf ears.</p>
<p>If you're using it just for daily menial tasks like AIM, anything running over 1GHz with at least 512 MB of RAM will do the trick.</p>
<p>
[quote]
When I build my new system, I'll be sure to do that. But, I have found PCPitstop to be rather indicative of real world performance. Computers that score low run slower with every day tasks, as expected. I've found some other benchmarks (I think one of which was PCMark), really showed very little in terms of day to day use performance. More like, what this system should be capable of, if everything was optimized for it and it wasnt trashed, not, this is how I actually work.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>In that case, it's your software, not hardware, that's holding you back. Many people are quick to blame slowness on their bloated OSes and lack of motivation to defrag, clean up, and format at least annually. Any problem I ever had with a new computer was almost always because of something at the soft, not hard end.</p>
<p>To me, this is like buying a Ferrari and then complaining when you get engine knock after putting in low octane gas.</p>
<p>Maybe, UCLAri. I didn't go to fix other people's computers, just compared them to mine. I do keep excellent care of mine, and that's largely why it still works great.</p>
<p>Back to the topic at hand. First thing to do is configure two comparable laptops on the respective webpages. Not much to do on Apple, so get over to IBM.com (or is it Lenovo.com now) and make a t42 laptop with as close to the same specs you can. Be sure to select the 15" model (you may want the 14.1... make that choice, but for the sake of comparison, try to make them as close to possible). Be sure to include all the software you'd want for both, and if you get 3 years warantee and service from IBM, add that to Apple.</p>
<p>In the end, compare prices. That's a great start point for most. But the truth is, you need to know what you prefer, OSX or Windows or you don't care. This will be the biggest influence since I am pretty sure that ThinkPads are almost hte same price as Powerbooks are. When it comes down to it, I like OSX, but not enough to discard XP and to pay for my software. That's why I am not 100% sure of what I am going to do, the choices before me are fairly balanced. It always seems like Apple is a few dollars or a few years from being where I would like them to be to entice me. I'd even buy one of their desktops instead of building if they would support PCIe and get better graphics cards already...</p>
<p>Go to a local Apple store and use the Powerbooks. Get used to the feel, realize these are slightly abused systems, but anyway, feel it out, you may really prefer it quite a bit to Windows XP and the choice will be clear, etc.</p>
<p>So from your guys' thread, I'm guessing Mac software is not offered for free, as it is for Windows XP? On a side note, what about the Sony Vaios? Are they any good? Does anyone know of any student discounts with them?</p>
<p>I would stay away from VAIOs, to be honest. They're neat little multimedia toys, but the price ain't right.</p>
<p>Look at reviews at sites like CNET and others and figure out what's good in your range. Really, most of the hardware is 90% the same, but one might have a better battery life, or another might have a port for something you use. But don't take the flashiest Compaq, because it's guaranteed to suck despite its flashiness.</p>
<p>ttttthhhhiiinnnkkkpppaaadddddd......I want one.</p>
<p>ThinkPads may be nice, but I still love my 15</a>" PowerBook.</p>
<p>So, Vaios=bad...what about the Mac software? Does Brown CIS offer it for free? Yes, I've heard, thinkpads are beyond great, but why don't they make it pretty?! I want pretty!!! :)</p>
<p><a href="http://software.brown.edu/dist/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://software.brown.edu/dist/index.html</a></p>
<p>Thats all the software Brown offers that I know of.</p>
<p>Does anyone else find it really ****ty that Brown doesn't offer Office to students? I know for a fact that for group licenses it's less than $20 per license...</p>
<p>We really should be allowed to get that software free.</p>
<p>Actually it's 40$ and you can still get it for 40$ just order it offline and claim your microsoft student discount.</p>
<p>I heard a rumor that you might be able to get xp and office free from the CIT, that they loan it out to you if you go to the dispatch window. I haven't had time yet to confirm said rumor--it was on the jolt, so it definitely needs to be confirmed! Maybe once finals are over, or next year, I will check it out.</p>
<p>
[quote]
heard a rumor that you might be able to get xp and office free from the CIT
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Sounds <em>very</em> fishy to me. -Won't work unless they're giving serial numbers out, as well. They're needed for initial install and they can't be shared (at least not if both installs are connected to the internet).</p>