<p>I'm not sure how much portability I will need/want for a laptop in college. As of right now I have a desktop so not much portability there, but obviously things will be different in college.</p>
<p>Right now I'm thinking of deciding between a Z-Series Sony Vaio and a Dell XPS Studio 16. The Vaio is much smaller and lighter, but for around the same price I can get way more memory/RAM/graphics card upgrade/etc for the Dell.</p>
<p>What should I do?</p>
<p>Will/Did you consider other laptop brands? If so, tell us what specs you want so can can recommend you a laptop (screen size, weight, battery life). Also what will you be doing with your laptop (what games if any, Photoshop, video editing, etc). Lastly, what is your budget?</p>
<p>Sorry, let me be more specific and add some new info.</p>
<p>I’m open to any PC brand as long as it will last me at least 4 years. I’m looking for around a 13" screen, hopefully less than 5 lbs. (lighter the better) and a solid battery life (at least 3 hours).</p>
<p>I will probably be doing a little video editing/photo-shopping and maybe a little gaming (e.g. Starcraft 2/Diablo 3 if they ever come out). Aside from that, I am just looking for a computer with a solid graphics/video card so that I can watch movies on it.</p>
<p>As far as budget goes, I have been lucky enough to get a $2,500 laptop scholarship, so I can spend between $2,500 - $3,000 on this computer.</p>
<p>I was also wondering what peoples’ opinions are of Solid State Drives and I’m curious as to which brands/model up recommend or where you suggest I continue my research? Thanks so much.</p>
<p>If you want a 13 inch screen, why are you looking at the Studio/XPS 16?</p>
<p>I’d recommend the Lenovo ThinkPad X301. It starts at $2,000, has a 13.3” LED-backlit screen, weighs 3.32 pounds with a 6-cell battery, theoretically lasts up to 6.5 hours with a 6-cell battery, and comes with a 64GB solid state hard drive. It can fit into a manila envelope just like the MacBook Air. Unlike the Air, the X301 has an optical drive and is designed to allow for self-service RAM upgrades.</p>
<p>Given what you want, the only negative is its integrated graphics. If you don’t mind low settings, you can probably still play StarCraft II or Diablo III when they come out.</p>
<p>You might want to consider a 14.1 inch laptop. The Thinkpad 301 is quite expensive. I think you would need a better graphics card and processor for gaming and video/photo editing. You should considered the Thinkpad T400 with switchable graphics. SSD technology can be complicated but basically there are 2 types of SSD: MLC and SLC. SLC is more expensive and performs better. Most laptop companies only offer MLC SSD because SLC just costs too much. Even MLC SSD costs ~4 dollars per GB. Then you have to consider the controller they use, and the only way to know if the controller they use are any good is to test them. A lot of websites offer the results, just google SSD reviews or something similar. Anyways, currently the best MLC SSD would be the Intel Intel X25-M, it performs similar to SLC by using a very aggressive controller.</p>
<p>Thanks for that information, it is very useful. I have a few more questions:</p>
<p>Would you recommend a 6 cell battery or a 9 cell battery which extends battery life but also increases weight/size (e.g. how more battery life are we talking here, and how much more size/weight?).</p>
<p>Would you recommend Vista over XP? If so, what are the differences between the different versions of Vista?</p>
<p>How would you compare the following models:</p>
<p>Lenovo ThinkPad T400
Sony Vaio VGN-Z690
Sony Vaio VGN-CS290
Dell XPS M1330
Dell Studio XPS 13</p>
<p>Thanks very much!</p>
<p>6 cell vs 9 cell is a personal preference. Some of the battery that has a bigger capacity sticks out of the laptop and I personally don’t like it. For instance, the 9 cell on a T500 sticks out while the 6 cell doesn’t. I think the standard size on a T400 is a 4 cell, both the 6 and 9 cell sticks out, but the 9 cell is curved up. It really depends on how much portability you need. </p>
<p>I don’t know about the others, but the 9 cell is about 6 oz heavier than the 6 cell on the T400 and it will give you ~2.5 extra hours.</p>
<p>If you are going to buy a Dell, go for their business model laptops such as the Latitude E6400/E6500</p>
<p>I don’t really know much about Sony’s laptop because they are overpriced. Here is what I know: Sony laptops are rather stylish and they have really nice screens, but they are overpriced (which doesn’t sound like an issue on your case). Sony Vaio VGN-Z690 has a decent build and it also has hybrid graphics. The laptop is smaller, might be a good alternative to the T400 if you think it’s too heavy. Sony Vaio VGN-Z690 is slightly lighter. I don’t know much about Sony Vaio VGN-CS290 or the battery life. The graphics card on Vaio VGN-Z690 is similiar to the one on the T400, but I’ve heard that some of Nvidia’s graphics card are bad (as in doesn’t work/faulty) and I’m not sure if the 9300M GS is one of those.</p>
<p>Lenovo’s T500 (15.4’') has a graphics card 2x as powerful as the T400, but it is slightly heavier and bigger (not thicker though), but more future resistant. </p>
<p>I would recommend Vista over XP even though many people here might suggest otherwise. Vista WAS a really bad OS, but Microsoft has done a lot of work since then on it. I would also suggest the 64 bit version, because the 32 bit only recognizes up to 3.5 GM of RAM. The different versions of vista comes with different features, for instance some has aero and some doesn’t. The more expensive version always have whatever the cheaper version have and more. I don’t remember the difference off the top of my head, but I would either get Vista Business 64 bit or Vista Ultimate 64 bit. Lenovo doesn’t offer Vista Ultimate 64 bit on their T series, but you can probably call in and ask for it. You can easily configure a T400 to 2.5k =).</p>
<p>I’ll tell you this, I just ordered a T500 about 2 days ago after doing A LOT of research. I probably would have ordered a T400 because it is lighter and has better battery life, but I didn’t because of the graphics card. I doubt I will need a graphics card that is as powerful as the one the T500 has, but you never know. Also, I didn’t have any brand preference in the beginning.</p>
<p>I forgot to add, the thinkpad keyboard might have some flex (yay for lighter design /sarcasm) even after they reinforced the chassis after a lot of complaints were made about the original design. Anyway, that can be easily fixed by buying a T61 keyboard and replacing it or if you are lucky enough, just call customer service and ask them for one. You might or might not get one for free. They cost ~40 dollars I think.</p>
<p>solid state hard drives will change your life.</p>