<p>DS' college recommends buying the college laptop- it will be a business class model and have a four year warranty. Here are the "pros" as explained by the college:</p>
<p>4-year Warranty
On-site Service Center<br>
Loaner Notebooks Available
4-year Accidental Damage Protection (Lenovo and Dell)</p>
<p>REASONS TO BUY
Why can't I just go to my closest retail store and buy a $300 computer?
You can, but beware. It may not be the investment you need for your academic needs. Our College notebooks are recommended to last you four years. These computers are typically business class systems with standard components that are more reliable.</p>
<p>Reasons to Purchase through us:</p>
<p>Notebooks are competitively priced and include an educational discount for students.
All computers are sold with a 4-year warranty. Standard warranties for computers are 1-3 years. This program provides protection for your notebook for 4 years, even if you are no longer at our college.
We are an authorized warranty repair center for Apple, Dell and Lenovo. Most service on your computer can be done at our on-campus service center, so you dont have to wait for a service technician to come to you or for your notebook to travel to some out-of-state service center. We only repair computers purchased through us.
Most warranty repairs are completed within 24-48 hours.<br>
Loaner notebooks are available to students while repairs are being made if their notebook will be in for servicing for an extended period of time.
In addition to a 4 year warranty, Lenovo and Dell notebooks are covered for 4 years with accidental damage protection. </p>
<p>If we purchased the college laptop it will cost around $1800. I know we can get a laptop cheaper from a box store, but am looking for advice, stories, recommendations, opinions from parents who may have had experience with this matter.</p>
<p>You can probably buy a laptop that should be perfectly adequate and that also has a 4 year warranty including accidental coverage for less than that (but more than $300) and it can probably be one of those brands (Dell or Lenovo) so they could repair ir as well. Have you done a price comparison? It doesn’t need to be a ‘business model’ to last through the 4 years.</p>
<p>We bought S1 the Lenovo through his university when he was an entering freshman. It has held up well for five years now. The one time he had a prob. with it someone from the comp.“help dept.” fixed it for him. S1 is pretty rough on things so we are amazed it has held up for five years!</p>
<p>We bought S2 a Lenovo when he started college in '08. It is the exact model the sch. bookstore was selling but we got a cheaper deal on it using DH’s corporate discount.
The “help dept” at his sch. will still trouble shoot for him since it is the model they sell.
He has had no prob. with it except when he got on some website that left a virus on it. He was at home at the time so DH managed to fix it.</p>
<p>So in our experience, it is good to have the one the school remcommends but does not necessarily have to be purchased through the sch.</p>
<p>Even the cheapest laptops are lots more than $300, once loaded with software, anti-virus etc. And tax. I’d be tempted to at least do detailed investigation of the campus deal. If the college has a CC thread, try posting there too.</p>
<p>I noticed the computer packages available at my sons college are MUCH more expensive than going through dell.com or elsewhere. This really surprised me because I assumed they would have a good deal through the school. </p>
<p>Unless I am really missing something - we will not be buying through the school!</p>
<p>The deal through a college can vary - I purchased one Dell through the college after researching a lot and found it really was a good deal. The next time I needed to buy a laptop I checked again and the deal wasn’t so good - it would have been higher than purchasing straight from Dell’s website which is what I did.</p>
<p>My son’s college does not offer deals. But they have links to Dell and Apple discounts. We like the fact that there is on-campus Dell warranty. Just have not decided whether to order a new one now or wait to see more what he needs beyond his current old but functional laptop.</p>
<p>OP - it sounds like you are describing the same school’s computer options that my D will be attending this fall but either way I am having the same dilemma. She’s going into engineering and actually when I priced out the same model on the Dell site the price was comparable. Given we need the high specs for the engineering software I may just buy it through the school so it’s already set-up and preloaded, etc. I’m still going to compare some options though so we’ll see.</p>
<p>^^ I have looked at the Dell website too and found the same thing. DS is also going to be an engineer (for now), I fully expect him to change his mind or tweak it a bit once he starts school.</p>
<p>Oh well, I’ll procrastinate a little bit longer before we make a decision.</p>
<p>Which Dell model is being recommended for engineering students? My son’s school just has very general recommendations and a link to the Dell site.</p>
<p>There are some wonderful deals on laptops out there-- fast, with windows 7, office, and a free printer, for $349. Really (see frys ads). Only overpriced college deal worth considering is an apple college deal. Others are not worth it, IMO.</p>
<p>Although buying a computer through the college may not be the most economical option, it offers advantages for service.</p>
<p>My daughter bought a laptop last year through an ordinary retailer in her college community. When it turned out to have a hardware problem (covered under warranty), getting it serviced was challenging. It would have been easier to get a computer repaired if it had been purchased at the campus store.</p>
<p>Here’s the thing to think about though - both of my kids were in engineering (CS) and the laptops I purchased about 7 years ago and then about 4 years ago did the job just fine and those relatively higher end laptops (both Dells) would still be adequate today although today a lower end laptop would probably have the power (or more) of those older ones. Putting newer OS versions on them is what tends to tax them. The one from 4 years ago went from XP to Vista to Windows7 and while it was a higher end laptop with XP it’d not be for Windows 7. Along with what I just stated is the fact that the actual usage in the coursework hasn’t really changed in that timeframe - the classes are about the same and the work is about the same.</p>
<p>Other considerations -
More important than overall ‘power’, which the user will likely not fully exercise, are the areas they’ll use heavily - looking at the screen, typing, possibly listening to the speakers (or not if they plan to use headphones).
screen size: Too big makes it heavier and more clumsy to tote and too small makes it more difficult for someone who may have a lot of windows open - like a CS student. Something around 14-15.5 inches is probably a good compromise. A 17" screen is too big and a 12" screen is too small (generally speaking)
graphics: If the person will be playing higher level games on it make sure it has an adequate graphics card in it.
battery life: longer is better but just assume you’ll need to replace the battery in about 1-2 years regardless.
software: Many colleges have deals for low cost or free software applicatoins including things like Word, Visual Studio (a compiler used sometimes in CS classes), and some others. Don’t rush out and buy these kinds of applications without first checking to see if the school has some kind of deal on it and sometimes only a department has the deal - for example at UCLA (I think) engineering students could get Visual Studio for free but other students would have to pay for it.</p>
<p>one other thing to remember, is the extended warranty which many colleges include in their bundled price. Adding a three-year warranty can add a couple of hundred bucks to the total deal.</p>
<p>We’ve always bought through the university. Knowing that people on campus would be knowledgeable in fixing a certain brand was a plus.</p>
<p>One thing I’d suggest–back in the day, the computer came with a 3 year warranty. We wished we had coughed up for that 4th year when it was offered at the end of year 3. You guessed it–computer died at beginning of senior year…</p>
<p>In most cases there is no significant difference between the “college bookstore” recommended mid-range laptap and the mid-range models of the major vendors (e.g. Dell, HP). In many cases, apart from “branding” they have identical components, possibly built in the same off-shore manufacturing sites</p>
<p>The approach that I recommend is to let your savvy (if that’s the case) engineering/math/science major-bound student choose without your help. He may need a top end model. And he should be trusted to pick the right tool.</p>
<p>For the less computer savvy student, pick up the most recent issue of consumer reports that reviews laptops and pick the model that is the best value. Then buy from Amazon or Dell or some other reliable web store.</p>
<p>And (never skip this step!) subscribe to one of the consumer reports recommended virus/malware suites. Make sure the software is properly installed and is active, and current. Most “warrantly” problems are a consequence of careless surfing, with resulting corruption of the operating environment.</p>
<p>And be aware that Apple computers are very much in fashion, and that in this case fashion doesn’t always translate to best value.</p>
<p>I am not computer savvy but according to my son the computers offered through his college are considerably more expensive for a lesser product. He says he can get a better/faster/etc. computer for hundreds (±$400-$700) less elsewhere. This makes no sense to me - I would think the school offerings would be more competitive.</p>
<p>If you are an engineering student, you will likely not need to have a super laptop that costs more than 500-700 dollars. In fact, you won’t want to use engineering software on a laptop because it’s just damn annoying… but aside from that personal decision, most engineering students make use of the labs since they are desktops. This means, for one, that the school knows that engineering students need decent amounts of processing power (but not gigantor amounts) so they equip the desktops appropriately as well as keep them safe (read: fast). Second, they usually have big screens with high resolution, which is ideal for using engineering software (laptop screens are NOT big enough, I’ll tell you this from experience).</p>
<p>That being said, if you’re going to buy a laptop to use engineering software with, there are some things to know. You don’t need the newest i7 quadrillion core max gaming processor… in fact if you’re over 2.1 GHz you are fine with atleast a dual core. That is the most common processor that is being put into regular laptops (not netbooks that are $300, don’t confuse the two!!) so you should be fine as far as that goes. Processor is the most important thing, but you can get away with having the basic processor (which happens to be very very good actually) and do what you need with it. The second most important thing is RAM. You should have atleast 2 GB, 3 is recommended though. And of course it’s always nice to have a big hard drive, 150 GB + should be fine.</p>
<p>So, again the only tech specs you need to look out for are:</p>
<p>[li] Processors (2.1 GHz or above, most laptops made now come with Pentium Dual Core/Core 2 Duo… can’t comment on the AMD but as long as it’s two processors and 2.1 GHz or higher, it should be alright)</p>[/li]
<p>[li] RAM (you should be well off with 3 GB, 4 GB might be overkill but that’s not always a bad thing. more RAM increases speed, but too much won’t have much more effect. most laptops come with 3 GB now anyway)</p>[/li]
<p>[li] Screen Size! Get a 15.5", unless you go to the store and SEE a smaller one and decide it is okay for you. There is nothing worse than a crappy screen that’s too little, as it’s very frustrating.</p>[/li]
<p>You can find very high quality laptops for something like 600 dollars. I can personally vouch for my Sony VAIO VGN-NW220F which has Pentium Dual Core 2.1 GHz with 3 GB RAM and something like a 120 GB HD. I bought it for $650 on Black Friday (wasn’t much of a sale honestly) and it’s been around half a year that I’ve had it. With Windows 7 on it, it has been amazing for me (I do a lot of programming, I use engineering software and other ‘heavy’ software, and I watch movies so it’s great for really anything).</p>
<p>One thing about schools… whether it’s book store or tech or whatever, they always try to rip you off. I hate them for screwing over students (and parents of course) like that. And if you’re going to spend $1800 on a laptop… for god’s sake get Apple’s MacBook Pro! Much better computer than most and I can list a lot of reasons why. The only thing is… why spend that when I just showed you how to get a killer laptop for a third of the price? Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Hadsed - Thank you. My son found a number of deals on computers with the specs you have suggested in the $600-$700 price range (maybe $750 with the extended/all coverage warranty). I just can’t imagine spending $1500+ for a laptop that will be a dinosaur in 4-5 years.</p>
Hope this helps.</p>