<p>I just got a macbook pro 13 and looove it! I’ve had 2 hps, a toshiba, a couple dells and this is by far my favorite! It’s quick, it’s simple, and it’s pretty! </p>
<p>Why anyone here cares what someone spends their money on is beyond me, this is not high school anymore, it’s college…time to grow up!</p>
<p>Macbook Pro 13 is a pretty good choice. Buy it if you feel comfortable. (Btw, WE ALL KNOW THAT MAC’S ARE OVERPRICED… EVERY1 AGREES… but they’re still good machines right?)
But you said that you’re on a tight budget. So go with a Dell, HP, Asus, or Toshiba. Make sure you read the reviews and DON’T BUY A PLASTIC laptop. If you buy a cheapo $400-500 laptop it’ll break in 1 year and you’ll end up writing those hate reviews saying not to buy Dell, HP, whatever. That includes Dell’s Inspiron, HP’s g-series, and some Toshiba satellites.</p>
<p>I agree with StraightsJacket. Just go to Best Buy and look around.</p>
<p>didn’t realize how many apple fan boys are here. don’t go for apple, there laptops are super expensive and the specs are that of a laptop that you can get for $700-$800. since you said you don’t have money, just get a dell dude. my brother had his dell last all four years and more of college. it was like 512mb ram, pentium III processor, a ****ty integrated graphics card, and he was in engineering. granted he bought this laptop in 2004 and requirements have drastically changed, his laptop lasted him all through out college. get the insipiron 15-R-2nd Generation. just upgrade the hard drive to 500gb. you’re set.</p>
<p>if you gonna buy dell or hp, buy their business line. stay away from dell inspirons!!! they suck. i had one and it lasted me 3.5 years and i barely moved it around so basically i used it more as a desktop. the battery went from 3 hours (it states that it should have 6 but its all lies) to barely 1 hours in 3.5 years! i would get the mbp 13" for $999 from microcenter. the thing has amazing build quality. very portable and battery lasts me 6 hours when surfing web and writing essays. you will not regret it.<br>
as for the software, your school should offer all the those stuff for free. just google: [you school name] software and it should work</p>
<p>I think some of us are saying, why spend 1k plus taxes and any extra warranty when all you’re going to do is “surfing web and writing essays.” For some, that extra $500 is big. Have to say, 3.5 years is great. BUT, none of us can really compare an older laptop and it’s aging or flexibility issues to something brand new on the market, with those 3.5years of innovations and fixes. </p>
<p>In all fairness, my D’s 1 yr old Dell overheats (and shuts off) when it is used on top of a comforter- fan can’t work efficiently. As soon as she understood this and stopped the comforter thing, problem went away.</p>
<p>I think if there’s anything to learn from this thread, it’s that all laptops are terrible especially for the price, so the best option is a desktop + a cheap laptop (which together will still cost less than a “good” single laptop).</p>
<p>Yeah, this thread is confusing me since people are saying “get this, it’s awesome!” and others are saying “Dear, God NO! Don’t get that! That’s awful!” I expected to get straightforward answers, but I guess that wasn’t the case haha.</p>
<p>Thank you for taking the time to answer though.
I’ve decided to just look at laptop reviews on CNET</p>
<p>I would say go to a store like BestBuy. They have really helpful workers there that help you find the right laptop for your budget and the specific things you are looking for. Plus they know what they are talking about. They present you with all kinds of brands, not just the brand they personally favor. That’s what I did and it really helped.</p>
<p>Make sure you don’t fall for any accessories the salespeople recommend at best buy, I know that if you buy a TV there, they pressure you into buying $50 to $100 HDMI cables, but who knows what they do with laptops.</p>
<p>I think this whole ordeal reveals that it really doesn’t matter which laptop you buy. Laptops from Apple and Lenovo tend to have better keyboards and have frames that are more sturdy and durable than other laptops, but you will have to pay extra for that (especially with Apple). I think that may be the only important difference. </p>
<p>ThisCouldBeHeavn linked to a laptop that looks pretty good to me:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>A Lenovo X220 is a quality laptop and to be able to get one for less than a thousand dollars is a good deal. It is small, light, has an excellent keyboard, and a great battery life.</p>
<p>Yeah, I looked at ThisCouldBeHeaven’s suggestion and I like what I see so far so thank you silence_kit. I’ll be looking for more reviews about the ThinkPad! :)</p>
<p>I should amended my post to say that the Lenovo <em>Thinkpad</em> laptops have better quality keyboards and frames but are a little more expensive. I don’t know about the other products that Lenovo sells.</p>
<p>Agree with rymd. Don’t read Cnet reviews… a lot of their facts are wrong. Sometimes they’ll say that the screen sucks when there’s obviously an option to upgrade the screen. Sometimes they’ll say the battery life is a crappy 3 hrs when actually the laptop actually gets 6 hrs.</p>
<p>Read Notebookreview and LaptopMag. They usually have charts that compare laptops and they actually tell you how they rate/benchmark their computers. Maybe read engadget but I know that they lean towards Macs… just like how FOX News leans towards the Right.</p>
<p>Aw, really? I was mostly relying on the reviews done by the actual people and not from the creators of the website. I’ll check out those two websites too, aStyle. Thanks! I actually didn’t go laptop shopping today so I’ll have more time to read more reviews. Today was toiletry/supply shopping day! Woot!</p>
<p>And I will also definitely go to Best Buy and ask the Geek Squad on what they think :)</p>
<p>Adding on to the lenovo train, I just got a lenovo g575, and its fantastic… 4gbs of ram and 750gb harddrive for under $500. (I got it for less than 400 too because my dads a bigshot at ibm!! Woohoo!!)
Awesome thing is that it isn’t as ugly as the thinkpads too, haha :)</p>
<p>Macbooks are overpriced and a giant flag saying you’re computer illiterate (so take recommendations from Apple users with a grain of salt). Heck they refer to 16 year old help desk attendants as “Geniuses” :)</p>
<p>My suggestion would be look at walmart / best buy/ wherever print or store ads and buy the cheapest laptop you can find. You don’t need to game, so anything that powers on will work for you. Avoid Gateway, Toshiba, and Sony laptops because they’re notorious for having more problems than average. Don’t install random software, have a good anti-virus, and it’ll work 4 years no problem.</p>
<p>Chances are you’ll end up with a low end Dell, Compaq, or maybe HP (HP owns Compaq and Compaq is the budget arm). I’ve used all those brands, and all work fine long term. You shouldn’t need to spend more than $700.</p>