<p>Is there a certain laptop or specific task that the laptop needs to perform required for chemical engineers or other majors?</p>
<p>after doing some research, it got down to this: A Dell Studio XPS 16, HP HDX, or a Macbook Pro. You decide, all three have their pros and cons over each other.</p>
<p>Well, for chemical engineering, you would probably running CAD programs. I dont know your budget but you should be looking into laptops with good processor (Dual or Quad) and with sufficient amount of RAM. Also having a discrete GPU would be a plus.</p>
<p>quadcore laptops, although very good processor wise, have bad battery lives</p>
<p>dual core are easy to get nowadays, as is at least 2 GB RAM</p>
<p>Although, dual core can also depend on the type of processor, such as if it’s an Intel extreme, or intel atom, or AMD athlon, or AMD turion, etc.</p>
<p>Yes quadcore does take in more power and its not a necessity.
id try to get atleast 3 gigs of ram, 4 would be better.
Also since its for laptop, quadcore laptops will be pretty expensive. The CPU itself is already 200+ i believe. So i think you should get atleast a P8600, which is dual core 2.4ghz</p>
<p>i heard vista only uses about 3gigs of ram. 4 wouldn’t make too much of a difference. it won’t utilize the whole 4… maybe only 3.5gigs or something.</p>
<p>I think… if you’re a CHASS student, a basic laptop would be fine. It depends on what fits YOUR needs. Do you want to play games? Battery life? Features? It really depends on you. At first I really wanted a Dell XPS but after configuration, it’ll cost over $1000. Then I thought about what I really need in a laptop… figured I didn’t really need an XPS. I only play CS and do school work with my computer anyway. So… I got a Toshiba Satellite a305 series laptop. I am very happy with it. It was was half the cost of an XPS.</p>
<p>If you’re just do school work, a regular laptop would serve the purpose. If you’re an art/graphics/film student a macbook pro would probably be a good investment. It all comes down to what you need/want in a laptop lol.</p>
<p>vista needs at least 2 GB RAM to operate</p>
<p>For a 4 GB RAM computer you would need the 64 bit version of Vista</p>
<p>only 32bit Vista only uses up to 3gb of ram
64bit allows the pc to read upto 6.5gb</p>
<p>and since she stated chemical engineering, macbook wouldnt be a good option because it cant run couple programs that is used in engineering field</p>
<p>Do a lot of people use 64? I know some drivers aren’t compatible with 64.</p>
<p>if you ask me 3 GB is enough RAM…</p>
<p>more people are switching over to the 64bit version
Im currently running a 64bit vista and I never experienced any driver problems as far as i know
And yea i believe 3GB ram is enough for most people. Now if someone is thinking of running intensive programs or gaming on their computer, they would look for 4+GB</p>
<p>I’m stuck with a budget laptop :(</p>
<p>but no netbook</p>
<p>netbook = death</p>
<p>haha when you get more money later on, just sell that one and buy a better one :)</p>
<p>personally, im looking to buy a laptop that will last me through undergrad so i dont have to looking for a new laptop two years later</p>
<p>laptops generally last from 2 to 4 years right, although if you replace batteries, even longer</p>
<p>I’ve been working with a desktop I got back in 2003 lol</p>
<p>well
I’m considering a 2 GB RAM, 2.1 GHz dualcore, 160 GB hard drive</p>
<p>6 cell battery</p>
<p>so it won’t be that bad lol, except for only 6 cells…</p>
<p>yea generally laptop lasts 2-4 years. high end laptops can stay competitive longer and low end can go obsolete pretty quickly.</p>
<p>Im debating on a 15’4 for about ~$1500 or a 17 for about ~$1800. I usually dont like to pay this much for technology but ones im looking at are user upgradable so when new parts come out i can swap parts.</p>
<p>Whiteclock, how much is that laptop? I can maybe find a better deal for you at same price</p>
<p>Im looking for a pretty strong laptop, even though i am not a gamer. But i use CS4 and sony vegas frequently. </p>
<p>At least 4 gb ram, 250 gb harddrive, 2.5 ghz dual, screen size doesnt really matter that much but at least a 15’, 256 mb nvidia (not sure of model yet) And a 720p or 1080p screen res would be nice.</p>
<p>word of advice, the lighter the better. plenty of 13in laptops out there that pack heat! carrying around a 17in isnt always the best gig. the engineering college has a very extensive network of servers and programs and good stuff. bcoe students have special access to a whole lot of software and goodies via their laptops by connecting into the engineering college’s system. plus access to bceo only labs, and a whole lotta gooood stuff! so dual and 3+ gig is perfect! </p>
<p>oh, most of my engineering buddies that write codes and do programming opted for super highend laptops that have full numberpad and everything, huge laptops, and a pain to bring over to my place hahah </p>
<p>@op, im a chem major, only diff from chem engr is that you get more toys to play with.</p>
<p>I’m at around 450 dollars with those specs</p>
<p>15 inch screen</p>
<p>I might need a bigger hard drive later on though, I managed to eat through 60 gigs with music and movies in the past several months…</p>
<p>well, since I’m a chem major though, I’ll probably only need high specs for games rather than work. I should get one of those portable fan thingys too lol</p>
<p>and mebbe convince my parents to bring along my desktop, but that’s pushing it lol</p>
<p>yeah, i was considering about taking my desktop too. But i think itll be best at home lol</p>
<p>the heat will probably fry it…</p>