<p>I was wondering if you all could recommend a brand of laptop that is best for the price. From what I have heard dell/compaq are the worst and thinkpad and macs are the best. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>I posted this in the parents forum because i think you guys have the most experience.</p>
<p>nevermind i found the thread in college life forum. personal experience is still great though</p>
<p>we have always had macs- powerbooks & ibooks- built well- OS is great- and they are so much more attractive than those dk grey things ;)</p>
<p>Our family goes both ways :D. Fan of macs, but my business requires me to have a PC and S has wanted a PC since early teens due to the all-important gaming issue.</p>
<p>If you asked my H,he would say "mac all the way." If you asked my S, he would say "PC" all the way.</p>
<p>I think I'm more neutral. I currently own an iBook and a Dell Inspiron 1150. I have also owned a Toshiba Satellite. I bought that one because I had a new Powerbook at the time and wanted the cheapest PC-platform that would suffice for my business. I never had a lick of trouble with the Toshiba; it did everything I needed and wanted with plenty of speed.</p>
<p>I have also never had a lick of real trouble with any mac I/we have owned. You will not be exposed to viruses/hijacks with macs.</p>
<p>I love my Dell, but have had a few recurring crash/error problems which Dell support just doesn't seem to be able to fix. S <em>hates</em> Dell support. He is a moderately/very knowledgeable computer guy and has just ordered an HP. Since he's going into engineering and does gaming/video, he customized the 8000 quite a bit to the tune of just over $2000. You can do it quite a bit cheaper.</p>
<p>Bottom line: I think many, many brands are good. Recommend you walk into a Circuit City/Best Buy or equivalent to see how you like the different keyboards/touchpads etc. </p>
<p>Also, the tech columnist at Wall Street Journal reviews various brands quite often and is pretty even-handed re mac/PC platform.</p>
<p>It really depends on what kind of user you are and what you want out of your computer. The things that make one computer better than another for one person might not matter to another. What really makes the difference is the software you have on it, not the shell. </p>
<p>I own a Dell latitude D600, which I use for work. It's fine. It has more things than I use (I never use the touchpad). The controls are easy to find and manipulate, etc. Good for me. </p>
<p>I also own a an older Toshiba. It, too, is fine. It's slower only because it's been attacked by so much spyware. A re-image is in order.</p>
<p>We also have 2 desktops....one HP and one that we had built at a show. Both are slow because my S uses them and has them loaded with music. </p>
<p>If you plan to customize your laptop or upgrade it, as jmmom's son has done, you should look for something that is easy to change.</p>
<p>We have a friend who just bought the new 17in screen Sony. It's awesome.....lots of fancy bells and whistles (the screen adjusts automatically to the lighting in the room, etc). But, for $2,500, I would expect that.</p>
<p>Bottom line....the big difference is in the support you get from the company. This is especially valuable if you don't know much about computers. </p>
<p>Other than that, they're all fine......as long as you load the right software to protect them from viruses and spyware. I run my spyware programs once every 2-3 days.....and they always find something!</p>
<p>H is a computer whiz and it is Dell all the way with our family's laptops (we have 4). The small Dell (I think it is the 400) is a perfect size for hauling around and I have found it very reliable.</p>
<p>My older son has used a Dell Inspiron for four years of college, and he likes it a lot. He did have to get a new hard drive after three years and has a few other minor problems, but he loads it up with games and downloaded videos, so it has pretty heavy use.</p>
<p>My younger son is also planning to get a Dell.</p>
<p>Along these lines, my younger son's college has "special deals" on computers, but they actually seem more expensive than the deals offered in brochures we get from Dell. I think the difference may be the three year on-site repair option added to the campus offer. Does anyone think this is worth paying extra for?</p>
<p>When comparing prices, be sure that you are comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges.</p>
<p>For example, the Dell educational series (Latitude) comes with a 3-year on-site service plan (usually handled through the college IT department) and Windows XP Pro. The Dell consumer series (Inspiron) and the Best Buy/Circuit City retail machines (HP, Compaq, etc.) come with a 1-year warranty and Windows XP Home.</p>
<p>I think you will find that the cost of upgrading the warranty and XP Pro on the retail/consumer models changes the initial price comparisons rather dramatically. The XP Pro upgrade is about $80 at retail. A couple year service plan at the retail stores is several hundred dollars. I'm not usually a fan of extended warranties, but it has some merit in a college laptop and the colleges usually have access to the priority service departments. While not essential, XP Pro has some definite advantages over XP Home in a large network environment, such as a college campus.</p>
<p>If you compare apples to apples, I don't think the Inspirons or Circuit City boxes will be cheaper than the edu discounts on the Dell Latitudes. I could not match the price.</p>
<p>One other option. We bought a Latitude and a desktop through Dell's Outlet Center website. These are customer returns/cancelled orders that change daily. If you have a specific configuration in mind, you can equal the Edu discounts, but get an upgraded package -- more memory, bigger hard drive, or whatever. Both of the machines we bought were in brand new condition.</p>
<p>Both my kids got better deals with Dell through their respective school promotions than I would have been able to get as an educator through my school (all better than those in Dell mailings or advertised online). S just recently bought Inspiron600 with free shipping (typical perk), free 4 year warranty, huge $ rebate (through uni), upgrade of RAM (512) and hard drive (60), XP Pro and mini-version of MS Office. After rebate and with sales tax he ended up at about $1200. My education discount would have put it at about $1400. The warranty was important to him as he's been brutal on his prior 2 laptops through 6+ years of undergrad/grad. I understand that Dell is discontinuing the Latitude series that I currently use for work.</p>
<p>There are some really great software deals for students at most colleges - especially for Microsoft Office (Mac or Apple version) and Microsoft operating system software.</p>
<p>I sent son off with my Mac iBook freshman year. He was used to using Windows desktops at home. Laptop got stolen sophmore year - long story and I am sure the school would not be thrilled if I published the details - and given the choice he asked for another iBook. He said all he friends were constantly plagued by viruses.</p>
<p>Anyway I don't want to get into the Mac Windows wars. I did recently see a really cool HP laptop with a touch screen and really good handwritting recognition. The screen could either pop up like a regular notebook or swivel around so the whole thing was like a notepad and you could then write with sa stylus on it. Only drawback was I don't think it had a CD reader. The thing was so cool I am sure it made Steve Jobs green with envy.</p>
<p>interesteddad--What worries me is the the Indiana website (that's where son is going) says their computer dept will no longer be servicing Dell, so I don't know where the service will come from. IU also has free downloads of MS Office for their students, so that would not be a factor.</p>
<p>I will have to compare more closely to see the differences.</p>
<p>BTW, any student (inc. High School) with a valid school ID can purchase the Academic versions of Microsoft Office, etc.</p>
<p>As for Indiana U, what brand will they be servicing? I wasn't necessarily recommending (or not) Dell. Just making the observation that it can be tricky to compare prices without making sure that you include the sometimes expensive extras like extended warranties, XP Pro, etc. What looked like "great deals" at Best Buy proved to not be so sweet once those were added in.</p>
<p>I happen to like Dell because they include the regular CD-ROM versions of Windows and other software unlike some of the Rube Goldberg installation discs that Compaq has been known to provide. Those things drive me to drink everytime I want to do something simple like re-install a piece of software.</p>
<p>Looking at the IU website, it looks like they won't be doing warrenty repairs for any of the major PC brands (though they will still repair Mac's). </p>
<p>What will you be using your laptop for? If you intend to play some of the most popular video games, its best to stick with a Windows based PC.</p>
<p>I've always preferred Dell computers and will be ordering one for myself in the next couple weeks. On the few occasions that I've needed Dell tech support, it's been quite useful, though I've heard that since they started outsourcing their tech support calls, the quality has dropped. </p>
<p>Also, Dell has some really great deals avaliable. Google "Dell coupon codes" and you'll find codes for offers like $500 off of $1600 and $750 off of $2000. One day last week, they even had a 35% off your order coupon. These offers are sometimes even better than the ones avaliable through college. The major difference will be tech support (1 yr for public purchase vs 3 yr when bought through college) and operating system (XP Home vs Pro). As a side note, do colleges use a domain based network system that requires XP Pro? If not, the I bet the majority of users will be fine with XP Home. </p>
<p>As for getting software, check with your university IT department. Like interesteddad said, all students can buy the academic version of many applications. However, many colleges have even cheaper versions for students. For example, UTexas sells XP Pro and Office (for both PC and Mac) for under $15, and Susantm said that IU offers Office free for students.</p>
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As a side note, do colleges use a domain based network system that requires XP Pro?
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<p>Yes. When I talked to the IT geeks at D's school, that was the big advantage of XP Pro. Because of the security features, they can make an XP Pro machine a permanent part of the domain. An XP Home based machine has to log-in as a "guest" to the network, like logging in with a user-name and password from a public computer in the library.</p>
<p>It's not a big deal and the same functionality is available: file storage on the network, printer sharing, publicly licensed software, etc. It's just that XP Pro is a cleaner, simpler installation on large domain-based networks.</p>
<p>That's why the schools all specify XP Pro in their recommended configurations. The differences in the two versions are almost entirely related to features useful in large networks.</p>
<p>In that case, XP Pro is definately the better option. However, if you're getting your notebook from outside (not from the college), it might be cheaper to buy the notebook with XP Home, buy XP Pro from the schools IT department, and upgrade it yourself. (The only question there is if the manufacturer will still provide tech support if you change the OS). If you buy the OS upgrade from the college, you'll also get a copy on CD incase you ever need to reinstall or repair your machine. (Dell used to ship with copies of the OS, but now, they just include a program on the PC that allows you to burn one copy of the OS onto CD.. if you get a Dell, make sure you burn that copy so that if a problem ever arises, you'll have it handy)</p>
<p>My suggestion is to avoid the larger screens, like 17" in a laptop. That makes them much bulkier and less portable. My son and I both have 12 inch Powerbooks, chosen specifically with portability in mind. For more screen real estate at a desk, have external monitors, keyboads, mice, external hard drives, etc. Without getting into the mac vs pc arguments, it'll probably depend on what the school supports. I think most support both platforms, but it needs to be looked into. However, with Office and standard interfaces, my mac works just fine as my work machine in a pc-centric environment. And with a UNIX-based OS-X, freezes, crashes and restarts are absolutely a thing of the past. I also do not have any anti-virus/anti-spyware software on my computer and have never had a virus or a problem. I wouldn't count on that for the future, though.</p>
<p>Word to the wise: DON'T BUY DELLS!!</p>
<p>They're terrible: they break down after a year or so, always have operating system problems, crash often, and are expensive and hard to fix.</p>
<p>calidan: Your experience with Dells does not mean everyone has or will have the same issues. I'm not particularly wedded to Dells - it's just that being in education, they seem to have the better deals for us. We did have 4 desktops and 1 laptop from Gateway for business and personal use from the early nineties until the late nineties when we switched to Dell because of the same problems you credit to Dell.</p>
<p>I've been using the same Latitude laptop for work and personal use for three years and all I've needed is a new battery because it's used about 15 hours/day. The only thing that bugs me about it now is that most of the keyboard letters have been rubbed off by my constant use, even though I also have a keyboard and docking station at work.</p>
<p>As a family, we've had Dell laptops and desktops. My S is the only one who has had his share of problems, but they were due to his brutal treatment (ex: laptop screen became detached, AC adapter plug broke off). I've been after him for years to get a really good backpack/briefcase to protect his computer, but he has always gone for the cheapest alternative. Still walking around with a bag that has a duct-taped shoulder strap. Fortunately, his deals included the three year warranties.</p>
<p>Patuent: The HP you saw was probably the HP TC4200 Tablet PC. Here is a link to a early review of this Tablet: <a href="http://www.tabletpcreviewspot.com/default.asp?newsID=235%5B/url%5D">http://www.tabletpcreviewspot.com/default.asp?newsID=235</a></p>
<p>True, the HP requires an external dvd/cd-rw. This is to save some weight. The great benefit of Tablets is their ability to allow students to take notes in class by just writing on the screen. </p>
<p>Apple did have something like this years ago (the Newton) which gave users a pen input. It didn't catch on. Later on, PDAs from Palm took off. Apple recently got some design patents for something that might be a Tablet, but nothing in the foreseeable future... </p>
<p>More parents ought to consider Tablets for their college bound kids.</p>
<p>What about the IBM ThinkPad? I have owned 2 over the last 10 years and have not had any problems.</p>