<p>I was wondering what type laptop people are getting for college. I understand the perfect model differs for each person since everyone has different needs, but I want some pointers. So far, Ive seriously considered the Sager and Compal laptops.</p>
<p>Personally, I'd go with a Dell. Keep in mind that I am on a heavy budget, so I need something cheap and fairly good quality. I have yet to see any other laptop brand cheaper than Dell. If you actually have time to shop around, you can hang around Slickdeals.net and find coupons or a special deal that Dell is having. </p>
<p>My needs: Using office, web surfing, watching videos (my needs are so simple yet my comp is a C2D 1.8ghz w/ x1400 vid card). I also bring my desktop to dorm/apt, so I don't need a laptop for gaming (not that I do that anyways, but just in case).</p>
<p>Btw I got the e1505. </p>
<p>I've seen so many e1505 or e1405 on campus.</p>
<p>phy sci major, english minor, pre-medicine</p>
<p>my needs:
-a lot of memory to store many essays and pictures from my digital camera
-microsoft word big time: storing lots of creative writing, including a 200 pg memoir
-fast internet: e-mail, facebook, research, etc.
-portable enough to bring to the library, etc, but won't be taking to class unless i need it to research
-convenient hookup to printer in my dorm room</p>
<p>i'd say a little more than half of the time it will stay in my room, so i don't need a super small screen.</p>
<p>what do you think about those cool dells where one can pick a color? i'm not a techie and i need advice.</p>
<p>dell inspiron? 1420/1720/or 1501?</p>
<p>Oh wow, Dell changed their laptops a little bit (design). </p>
<p>For the most part, any HD will suffice for essays and pictures. Essays hardly cause a space issue, and the same can be said, for the most part, about photos (unless you own like a crazy digital camera or something). </p>
<p>Most of the standard laptops will have enough hard drive space for your essays and pictures, they should have word (or you can always get it through other means =P), the internet speed should depend more on your location (dorm/apartment line/etc) than the computer, and all laptops should be convenient to hook up to a printer (put in a usb plug). </p>
<p>I wouldn't recommend the 1720 because its pretty big. If you love to watch high quality videos on your screen and need gaming/multimedia, you would want the 1720. Your needs sound more basic so I wouldn't go with the 1720. It's big and not that portable.</p>
<p>I would advise for the 1520/21 series or the 1420. The 1501 is the older model and doesn't even allow you to choose Intel C2D. The 1420s and 1520s can be built similarly, so it depends on what you want more. Do you want it to be a little more portable but with a smaller screen, or be a little less portable with a bigger screen? </p>
<p>When I was deciding against the 1500 or 1400 series, the killer for me was a lack of a video card for the 1400 series. I wanted a video card just in case I wanted to play any game. Since you don't need gaming capabilities, you can just choose between portability or a bigger screen.</p>
<p>just to let you know, if you plan to order one of the new dell laptops, there's a huge delay. Some people have waited 36 days for their laptop. The color lids and screens are backordered. I ordered a green 1420 and there's a 16 day delay.</p>
<p>Check out <a href="http://www.notebookreview.com%5B/url%5D">www.notebookreview.com</a> They have people there who will help you decide what laptop to choose if you want more opinions.</p>
<p>Yeah, it never hurts to read reviews. </p>
<p>Check out <a href="http://www.slickdeals.net%5B/url%5D">www.slickdeals.net</a> for coupons or any good deals on laptops. Never hurts to get 10% off a laptop :).</p>
<p>I heard dell is easier to get broken than sony and hp... well at my dads company they buy like 20 laptops at a time and all the dells ends up breaking down first... but the price of dells are definately better...</p>
<p>also i wanna store sound after i record lectures...would dell inspiron 1420 or 1520/1521 still be suitable?</p>
<p>As for large memory to store your document: really, how large is a typical .doc anyway? 50-100KB? Think about it... compared to say, 80GB storage space... </p>
<p>Pictures? How large are your photos when you store them from your SD card? 1.10 MB? OK from an SLR - it's a lot bigger. For the typical user though - how large is it? </p>
<p>Fast Internet: Well, you have T1 connections through the dorms... UCLAWLAN (wireless) throughout various campus hotspots...</p>
<p>fast internet is a non-issue...as long as the wireless card supports wireless g and there's an ethernet port, it depends on the type of connection.</p>
<p>Dell is cheap, sure...because it keeps throwing out discounts. probably trying to make up for their abysmal customer service/tech support and dubious quality in some model lines.</p>
<p>take a look at other brands...acer, everex, asus, or sager, for example. last two are more gaming/performance-oriented. or if you'd rather stick with ones that are proven dependable, look at HP, IBM/Lenovo, Apple, maybe Fujitsu.</p>
<p>unless you save photos as bitmaps and/or use ultra-high resolutions, they're not gonna take up much space. it's music and video that suck up space.</p>
<p>if portability is a major concern, anything smaller than 15" probably works best. i also think laptops with normal screens don't seems as bulky as those with widescreens....</p>
<p>i'm probably going to go with a dell inspiron 1520 over the hp dv6500t because dell offers the better graphics card over the dv6500t along with all of the other things that i wanted.</p>
<p>I just configured a Dell Inspiron 1520 (aka the HD 15.4" version) for a friend. Those $300 off $1299 coupons really add to the value of Dell. Another option you may want to consider is the Dell Vostro (Small Business) notebook line. They look as thick or slightly thicker than the Inspirons, but feature no bloatware to slow down your computer AND are more durable due to their magnesium-alloy construction. Small Business customer support is also supposed to be better than regular Home support. </p>
<p>Slickdeals.net had some deals for the Vostro a while back, but I think they've ended. Nontheless, the 14.1"/15.4" Vostro were very good deals for what you received. Make sure you upgrade to Vista Home Premium if you can, upgrade to 2GB RAM, and get as much hard drive space as you can afford.</p>
<p>has anyone looked at fry's yet for dells? how are the inspirons there?</p>
<p>btw, i currently have 120 KB and i plan to write 5x more approx, so 120 x 5 = 600KB. that's one novel. if i write another one, i'll be another 600 KB.</p>
<p>im 99% sure frys doesnt sell dells. dells are catalog/internet order only.</p>
<p>you can look at some HPs if you want to buy in store. i personally think theyre better (looking and quality) than dells.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think the only place that sells Dells is WalMart (quite recent).</p>
<p>dawritingmachine - If you are not a person who downloads massive videos or have a massive mp3 library, you'll never really fill up any HD you are given. </p>
<p>Don't worry about your word documents. They won't fill up your hard drive at all. </p>
<p>The only thing I dislike about Apple, IBM, and Sony is the price. With Sony and Apple, you are really paying for the name. I think my friend bought his Sony for 1799 (suppose to be 1899 I believe, but he used a price error to get the lower price), and I configured the same laptop from dell for 1199.</p>
<p>Yeah, if anything, those files could be transferred to CD-R or DVD+/-R and external hard drives. Probably a safer idea too.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The only thing I dislike about Apple, IBM, and Sony is the price. With Sony and Apple, you are really paying for the name. I think my friend bought his Sony for 1799 (suppose to be 1899 I believe, but he used a price error to get the lower price), and I configured the same laptop from dell for 1199.*</p>
<p>for Sony, you're paying for the name/fashion statement. for Apple, it's that plus the OS and higher-quality build for the MBP. for IBM, you get the most durable and reliable notebooks on the market. for the most part, you get what you pay for, and Apple, IBM, Fujitsu, and Asus might have expensive offerings, but they're the best out there.</p>
<p>Dells have a very small price time constant. It decays to 63% of retail value in probably 1.5-2 years.</p>
<p>Asus is cheap laptops for average quality.</p>
<p>As much as I dislike Apple products, the Mac Book Pro is one of the most expensive laptops (ommiting gaming laptops), but its value does not decay as fast as other laptops.</p>