<p>Well, time for college, and time for getting my first laptop! The thing is, I have no idea where to really start. The computer I've been using is now 6-7 years old (aka ancient) and I'm not that big of a computer whiz. My parents told me to pick a laptop out and they will (probably) get it for me, but that's not very helpful when I don't even know where to start.</p>
<p>I don't want a mac, I want a PC. An important factor will probably be weight. It should probably be light enough because I will need to lug it along to class and back (I have like a 15 minute walk to my classes), however having never handled laptops I'm not sure what's considered heavy and what's not, so suggestions for what kind of weight I should be looking for would be helpful. </p>
<p>What else... a high resolution would be nice. Might sound silly, but I've been running 1600x1200 on a 20" lcd screen so I'm used to large displays. Obviously laptop screens are much smaller and the larger they are the heavier the laptop, and also more unwieldy. Once again though, I don't know much at all about laptops in college situations, which is why I'm posting about it here.</p>
<p>And, silly as this sounds, I'm also a bit of a gamer. Or rather, I would have been, had my current computer been able to run any games within the past 4 years. Which it hasn't. I think after all I've put up with, having a laptop that has good gaming capabilities for the next several years would be amazing for me. (Although I realize gaming on a laptop meant for college might be an impossibility, and I might just have to give up that dream of PC gaming for another four years... :()</p>
<p>I'd love to see laptop suggestions from you guys, because I don't even know where I could begin to look. I'm in a business school and I imagine the laptop will be receiving use in class as well as out of it (I'm a big fan of online activities), so this is an important decision. Thanks in advance for any help! :)</p>
<p>You should definitely check out the Lenovo ThinkPads—they are some of the most popular laptops in the business world, due to their professional look and very high build quality.</p>
<p>If you want a high resolution laptop, you should take a look at the 15.4" ThinkPad T500, which has the option of a WSXGA+ (1680x1050) screen. If you want something a little smaller, get the 14.1" ThinkPad T400, which you can buy with a WXGA+ (1440x900) screen. I’ve got the T400 and have found it to be of adequate resolution, but you might need more pixels since you’re used to a 1600x1200 monitor.</p>
<p>most notebooks are widescreen now, so you likely wont mind the difference between what you’re used to and screens as small as a 13". not to mention getting used to a different resolution is a very very minimal adjustment.</p>
<p>have you gone to a store to look at different screen sizes/resolutions, or have had experience working on smaller laptops?</p>
<p>i’d be lying if i said i wasn’t bias because of a love for my 13", but 13" are always lighter, and one of the nicest things about it imo is how light and portable they are. 13" tend to be below 4 lbs and 15" tend to approach 6 lbs. the difference is about 40-50%. at 2lbs that doesn’t sound like a lot, but its definitely noticeable.</p>
<p>I would go to Costco and buy a nice thin Acer Laptop for about $500 (Vista, 3+meg Ram, Free upgrade to Windows 7) and a $250 21" LCD TV/Monitor (or just use the LCD you have now) to plug into your laptop while using it on your desk, add a wireless keyboard and mouse. Then replace the laptop in about 2 years (for about $500) and you will have a very good system now and in 2 years better than the best you can buy today. You get everything you want and a new laptop in 2 years for $800 now and $500 more in 2 years.</p>
<p>Ya I realized he had a good enough monitor after I poster (and then edited) Left the TV/Monitor in as much for others as anything. But your right… hey maybe he wanted HD TV too.</p>
<p>OK how about if we let him keep his existing monitor but he buys a 1TB USB hard drive for backups for about $100 and an adjustable laptop cooler $20 and a 7 port USB hub for $25 - so he just plugs in 1 USB cord to connect his LCD, keyboard hub, backup hard drive, printer/scanner, speakers, IPOD/Zune, and if we want to get fancy a bluetooth doggle to sync with his smartphone.</p>
<p>so thats
$500 laptop
$ 40 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
$100 USB Hard drive
$ 20 cooler</p>
<p>(female. weird, I know)
If you guys really care, my monitor is a dell ultrasharp 2000FP 20" made in like, 2003. Kind of heavy and I’m not sure it’s the type of thing I’d like to lug around to my dorm.</p>
<p>ncmentor’s advice to stagger my laptop buys is pretty smart, not sure I will be going that way in a dorm setting though. Not sure I’m that intense about having a setup like that, at least until I’m situated somewhere more permanent.</p>
<p>As for the T400/T500 mentioned earlier, I have a friend who has a T500 so I’ll have to ask him what he thinks of it. Other than that, I’m going to go to some stores on monday when they’re open and see how the screen sizes and how the different weights feel for myself. I think that’d make it easier to choose what I want to buy.</p>