Laptops and Notebooks?

[jenarelJAM]

Okay, so I'm going off to college next year, and I'm starting to do laptop research, figure out what I want to buy. I'll be (probably, unless I switch) majoring in engineering, and so will need the laptop to be usable for cad and stuff(I don't know exactly what, just whatever I need for school), as well as be able to take it to classes for notes and work, etc. I'm not interested in a desktop, and I'm also not interested in buying a separate screen to plug it into back at the dorm for a higher resolution screen.

Okay, the first thing that comes to mind is price. I don't need to keep it super cheap, ie $700. I'm thinking more along the lines of a $1500 or $2000 laptop, possibly more. My dad is "buying me a laptop," but I'll definitely be paying for what he doesn't want to, because I'll want something higher end. At this point, basically all of my income is disposable, so it's just a matter of how much I want to work extra this summer to pay for it. I'll probably end up paying everything over the $1000-1500 mark, but then again, I'll have a summer job to pay for it. It's just money I would otherwise have to spend on something else. (I don't need it for paintball, lol, I play pump now)

Oh, and price means computer + OS. Software like Office will be separate. I've already got licenses for most of it anyway.

I figure that $1500-2000 is the absolute least I'd have to pay for something with a decent screen resolution. I've got a (17" or 19", I can't remember) 1440x900 screen for my desktop at home, so that is an absolute minimum. I don't want to downgrade. I want the higher resolution for cad. 1680x1080 or 1920x1200 would be amazing. My dad also agrees that I should have pretty good screen resolution.

Intel core 2 duo is also a must. Again, I'd like to get something higher than the minimum speed, as I'm planning on using this computer for my entire college experience and want to be able to at least run programs that come out in a few years.

2gb ram also seems like a minimum, especially with vista.

I'm not an extreme gamer, but occasionally would like to be able to plug in a game. I've heard a decent video card may be required for rendering 3d models in cad? For this reason, I'd also like a decent video card, although it doesn't have to be the absolute best.

Sound doesn't matter to me.

Okay, now, screen "size"... I'd actually really like some input here. I'm not sure if I want to go with a 15.4" screen or a 17" screen. I really don't want to go lower, as the resolution is a big thing for me, but I'm going to be carrying this around with me between classes, so I'm not sure if the extra weight/size is going to be a pain with the 17". If anyone has experience with both in a college environment, it would be greatly helpful.

Finally the harddrive. Space is not really an issue. I mean, I could get by with a 40GB harddrive if I needed to. I'm not one to put tons of media on my computer, just my music, and that's ~6GB. What I'm wondering though, is would it be worth it to upgrade from the standard 5400 rpm to a 7200 rpm? I'd be paying a bit more, but I understand it would increase my boot time and time burning cds/dvds, etc?

Also, I'd like to have the little goodies like bluetooth and wireless connectivity thrown in.

Anything I haven't mentioned apparently wasn't important enough to stick out in my head, so probably unimportant.

Right now I'm looking at the Asus G1S or the G2S, the difference being harddrive space and screen size. The G2s is $100 more expensive ($2000 and $2100). http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/06/asus-g1s-and-g2s-gaming-notebooks-with-santa-rosa/ (ignore the prices on that page) The G1S just came out, and the G2S will be out soon. Do you think this is a good choice?

I won't be actually buying this computer for at least a month, maybe 2-3. My dad thinks it's a good idea to wait for more vista updates and of course, prices come down when you wait, and new technology comes out.

What do you guys know about laptops, technology, weight vs size, vista, college, that might help me?

[robnix]

Your dad is right. I've had some showstopping issues testing Vista, including mind numbingly slow tranfers over my 1GB LAN at home and blue screens. Get XP now, wait a bit with Vista.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/

The ASUS laptops are nice, but you may Look at the boutique laptops made by Clevo, that are distributed by companies like Sager.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=91510

I had a Sager 5760, which was a bit large, but was a fantastic gaming rig with a beautiful 17" 1920x1200 screen.

[Pneumagger]

I've been where you are right now. IMO, your best computing option is to get a kickass desktop for $1000, then pickup a middle of the raod laptop for $600-$700. That gives you the raw power and upgradablilty of the desktop - with mobility of a laptop if needed. The best laptops will be outdated in a year and there is little you can do to upgrade them in any capacity - whereas a desktop with the best CPU and chipsets can always be upgraded to be top of the line for much longer. Plus screens are bigger, and you get way more RAM and storage capacity.

I went through 3 laptops through my 4 years of college, and I never really NEEDED a laptop. Looking back, I wish I would've went with a powerful desktop and a midrange laptop. Remember, dorm rooms are small - get something that can have the tv tuner built in to save room and to watch tv on an lcd screen. Also, most colleges have great savings on computers through their technology webstores - my college does and I'd be willing to share my webstore info.

A sweet Dell lattitude back in '03 that was $1600.
A $1000 Small G4 iBook in '04 because I wanted to give a mac platform a trail.
A $400 HP (Best Buy thanksgiving sale) Laptop, that I still have - I couldn't stand the mac.

All three of my laptops ran CAD just fine and every other program I've wanted to - even my $400 laptop that has 512MB memory and shared video memory (no video card) runs solidworks 2007 great. For the record, my '06 $400 HP laptop is more powerful than the '03 $1600 Dell was on all fronts except the video card. Laptops technology gets outdated real fast and they can't really be upgraded. Keep this in mind.

[Warwitch]

Yeah, I have to say having a laptop is more of a pain in the arse than its worth. I have a decked out IBM G41 and I would much rather have my home as the powerhouse. I agree with Pneumagger, get a nice desktop and a mid-range laptop to do your word processing.

[neppo1345]

I agree 100% with pneumagger.

Get a nice desktop and a cheaper laptop.

Laptops are lose-lose.

If you get something to use as an everyday computer; you want a big monitor, but then it gets heavy and you lose portability.

If you get something to use thats super portable its going to be small and not something you want to strain to look at on a daily basis.

You also lose scaleablilty.

If I had to do it again, I would build a desktop and buy the smallest laptop I could find.


However, if you still decide to get nothing but a laptop, heres some things I've learned:

You will end up buying external speakers or nice headphones.

HDD size will matter. You might have 6 gigs of music now, but you'll go to school and discover TONS of new music. Your taste will change. You're also an engineer so you'll be downloading lots of porn. You'll be studying while everyone else is getting laid.

You won't do half as much cad work on your computer as you think you will.

There will be at least one occasion when something hits/breaks/destroys/spills on your machine. Get something with a replacement plan (IE Dell).

You will forget your charger. Get an upgraded battery or multiple batteries.

I'll add more as I think of them.

[Pneumagger]

Your taste will change. You're also an engineer so you'll be downloading lots of porn. You'll be studying while everyone else is getting laid.


OH my god - lol, we need signatures. Neppo is wise beyond his years. :rofl:

[jenarelJAM]

However, if you still decide to get nothing but a laptop, heres some things I've learned:

You will end up buying external speakers or nice headphones.

HDD size will matter. You might have 6 gigs of music now, but you'll go to school and discover TONS of new music. Your taste will change. You're also an engineer so you'll be downloading lots of porn. You'll be studying while everyone else is getting laid.

You won't do half as much cad work on your computer as you think you will.

There will be at least one occasion when something hits/breaks/destroys/spills on your machine. Get something with a replacement plan (IE Dell).

You will forget your charger. Get an upgraded battery or multiple batteries.

I'll add more as I think of them.
I :rofl: 'd so hard...

HDD space, I can always get an external. They were selling 500 GB drives at fry's yesterday for ~$110 iirc. I'd rather just have a faster drive for booting. And BTW, I wasn't actually planning on only having 40GB. The G1S 7200 HDD is 100GB I believe.

Speakers... maybe. I find it more likely headphones though. Maybe speakers for my dorm, but then again, I'm really not enjoying the idea of leaving stuff in my dorm. I really want portability.

For all who are saying desktop, I understand what you mean. I realize that laptops become obsolete almost the moment you buy them, and have virtually no upgradability. Maybe I'll need to buy a second laptop (or third) before I graduate. I'm more willing to do that than deal with finding the space (dorm rooms are small) for a desktop, and I also really don't like sitting at a desk. I want to be able to use it on my lap, on the bed, etc. Part of the reason I'm looking into the nicer screens is because I really don't want to have a second monitor left behind in the dorm. I'm not really worried about people stealing it, I just want everything in one.

For carrying, the G1S/G2S, at least, come with a backpack. I don't know what all I'll need for my classes, but I assume I'll be able to significantly cut down on the number of physical binders I take to class, leaving my backpack almost exclusively for my laptop. Maybe I'll need to bring a small folder as well, and some pencils/pens. I write (type) much faster on a keyboard, so would definitely use it for notes. Bye bye notepaper.

I think I'll maybe get an external power source, not a spare battery. My dad has one, works pretty well, and then I can just leave that in my backpack and plug my laptop into it if I need to.

Comes with a 2-year warrantee, I'd look more into that when it comes time to buy the computer.

The problem is that nothing comes with XP anymore. It's pretty much Vista... or... Vista. I'm sure that in a few months, Vista will be a lot more solid. XP had the same sort of problems when it first came out, and then it was patched, and patched, and patched, and now it's pretty good.

Let me take a look at the Sager notebooks, I've heard them mentioned before too...

[Pneumagger]

I just bring my same 5 subject notebook, a pencil, and laptop to all my classes in a medium size laptop carry case w/ shoulder strap. If your doing engineering (and plan on actually attending class) I recommend never taking your lappy to class.

a) Technical lectures involve lots of equations/diagrams. Although you can type fast, equations are always difficult to type succinctly and diagrams are darn near impossible unless your the ascii-picasso phenomenon.

b) www.addictinggames.com will own your soul. Lectures are boring and often unnecessary.

If your dead set on a nice laptop, the HPs and toshibas have great bright screens. Typically, the smooth glossy screens are much nicer than the matte lcd screens, especially outside in the sun. Screens larger than 15" widescreen start to become very not fun to carry around. Resolution is way more important than overall size. In fact, I'm sure you already know this, but a very large screen with average resolution will look very crappy as the size only magnifies the average resolution. Be sure to get a laptop with a fullsize keyboard, you will loathe those goddamned micro sized keyboards. Mouse trackpads are better than point sticks - dell comes with both. And the replacement plan dell offers is totally awesome - dell once replaced my lappy no questions asked. Other than that, as long as it's a centrino dou core powerful and has a nice videocard, it should be very nice.

for $1900, our school has a dell lattitude d820 with the core2 Duo 2.33GHz 4MB L2 Cache processor , 3GB RAM, 8x DVD burner, 160GB HDD, Gigabit ethernet card (1000Mbit/sec), and top of the line 512MB NVIDIA Quadro graphics card with 15.4 WUXGA LCD. The computer will rape everything (as well as your wallet). Depending on what options you want though it can be as cheap as $1400 through my school. Lemme know if want to purchase it through my college.

[geekwarrior]

I would reconsider what has been mentioned already....nice desktop, mid laptop. With flat screen monitors, a desktop doesn't take up much room. And that way if one of your machines goes down, you have the other one to work on.

I and everyone I knew in college who had a latop used there laptop for pretty much everything but academic purposes. Maybe taking notes here and there.....which as pnuemagger said, normally ended up as notes/pocket tanks.

[WaffleBaron]

You'll be studying while everyone else is getting laid.

Pffft... engineers are slackers too. So the correct phase should be "You'll be *insert inane task here* while everyone else is getting laid."

[jenarelJAM]

*insert inane task here*
Actually getting to know, respect, and love a woman, while everyone is having mindless sex with a flesh and blood blow up doll?
:cheers:
(no hard feelings)

[Pneumagger]

Actually getting to know, respect, and love a woman, while everyone is having mindless sex with a flesh and blood blow up doll?
:cheers:
(no hard feelings)

dude, your going to fail at College with that sort of crappy attitude. :p

[bornl33t]

CAD+taking notes in class leaves you with 2 options. A wall outlet or serveral batteries. High end laptops ALL have low battery life. You can't have both, period.

[billybob_81067]

Pffft... engineers are slackers too. So the correct phase should be "You'll be *insert inane task here* while everyone else is getting laid."

*dicking around with equipment in the machine shop*

:)

[Warwitch]

dude, your going to fail at College with that sort of crappy attitude. :p


Dont worry, beer will change his tune :cheers:

[StygShore]

your friend...

www.techbargains.com/

Or www.Cheapstingybastard.com


I saved 700.00 off the cost of my laptop from Dell with one of the coupon codes.


Styg

[WaffleBaron]

Actually getting to know, respect, and love a woman, while everyone is having mindless sex with a flesh and blood blow up doll?

I sure did... married her too.

[geekwarrior]

I sure did... married her too.


dude...you married a blow up doll?

[neppo1345]

I just spit water all over my laptop.

[thecavemankevin]

dude...you married a blow up doll?

you're surprised?

[jenarelJAM]

I've done a bit more research, and I'm still seeing the G1S as the obvious choice for me... except for this: http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=C90S

Add the E6700 processor, 3GB ram, 160GB 7200 rpm HD, wireless card, one additional AC adapter, Windows Vista Home Premium, Hardware Install and 2 year Warrantee, comes to $1947.

This is a "laptop" that apparently uses a lot of desktop components (for instance, it uses the faster desktop E series processor), that when upgraded to slightly better stats than the G1S, is $50 cheaper. :P

Now the downside is that it's not out yet, so no reviews, and I'm also worried about the battery life because it does use a desktop processor, but I think we'll see whether it works well as a laptop or not pretty soon, as it's scheduled to release in late may (hehe, it's june 1st)

The idea behind the C90S is that it's a desktop replacement, as in, it can be upgraded just like a desktop. While I think that would be cool, as long as the thing works fine when I buy it, I wouldn't begrudge upgrades never becoming available. I've heard that laptop upgradability has been tried many times before and always fails, so we'll see on this one. I haven't been around long enough to see...

Anyway, thoughts on the C90S?

[Pneumagger]

the battery life will suck horrendously. 2, maybe 3 hours if you got the screen turned down and use low poer applications. That's just the nature of laptops - either you get the super mobile 6hour stripped down laptops or you get the full blown desktop replacements thatpoor life.

Another thing to consider is the faact that laptop batteries are only good for about 150 charges before they start to lose thier charging capability. So if you have it out and about everyday, you'll need a new battery before the end of the school year.

[bornl33t]

2-3 hours? Try 30 min

[StygShore]

Core Duo processor in general uses a lot less juice and puts off a lot less heat that the standard processors though, so you should get some time off the battery.

I have a 9700 Dell with big 17" monitor and all kinds of toys, and I got it abotu 3 weeks before the new processors came out - it sucks down batteries hard, but I can still watcha 2 hour movie and check emails on it.

The new batteries dont really suffer the memory effect anymore, mine has maybe drpped in total usae time like 20 minutes over 4 years.


Styg

[robnix]

Core Duo processor in general uses a lot less juice and puts off a lot less heat that the standard processors though, so you should get some time off the battery.

I have a 9700 Dell with big 17" monitor and all kinds of toys, and I got it abotu 3 weeks before the new processors came out - it sucks down batteries hard, but I can still watcha 2 hour movie and check emails on it.

The new batteries dont really suffer the memory effect anymore, mine has maybe drpped in total usae time like 20 minutes over 4 years.


Styg

The video card in that laptop is what will suck up the juice.

[robnix]

ASUS makes nice laptops, the CPU and the Video Card are both upgradeable. If you're paying extra for the warranty, (which is a good idea with a laptop), make sure you're getting next day on site. Make sure it's a 7200 RPM drive. Otherwise that'll be a nice rig.

[jenarelJAM]

Battery life, from what I've heard, is supposed to be 40 minutes on gaming mode and 81 minutes on quiet mode. It also is condusive to overclocking, although I've never done this, and I'd have to look up the pros/cons of it. 2.66Ghz processor overclocked 30% would turn into... 3.46Ghz dual core with fsb of 1066. Man, that would be fast... My current desktop is (I believe) a 2.8Ghz single core ;)

[personman]

You do realize that if you drop 2k on a laptop right now that by the time you actually need it for engineering it will be absolutely RAPED by $700 laptops, right?

You wont be needing a laptop for more than like MSword or something. Im going to be a freshman at Clemson (EE) and I decided to go with the cheapest laptop (that is still worth a damn) I can find. I'm going to build a pretty nice desktop to complement it.
I ended up going with this acer.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115356

After deleting all of the preinstalled BS that Acer put on there, its a pretty decent laptop. Lots of people say only 1 gig with vista is a no-no but it seems to work fine for me. Anyway ram is so cheap nowadays you could upgrade to 2gigs for only like $60. I've had it for a little over a month now. I have had a few problems with vista, some bluescreens, and problems with customized power schemes, but each time I run windows update it gets better. Most of the blue screens were my fault.. like I was a dumbass and decided to force a mcafee installation. Not smart. They dont have vista support yet. Im a tard.

But yeah. Dont get a 2k dollar laptop right now. And definitely not a 17 incher. That thing will weigh about 10 pounds and suck battery life like no other. 14" widescreen is perfect for me. Not bulky and has plenty of room on the desktop. I have a 22" LCD for my desktop anyway :D

[robnix]

Lots of people say only 1 gig with vista is a no-no but it seems to work fine for me.

Tested Vista on machines with 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB of RAM. 512 is unusable, 1GB is OK, 2GB you can notice a big difference from 1GB. Testing was done on the same dual core AMD machine with speedy hard drives so the only limiting factor was the RAM.

[jenarelJAM]

Okay, so I'm starting to come around to the idea of a desktop and cheap lappy...

I don't know what it is... I really don't like the idea of a desktop, but also looking at the specs of laptops in comparison with desktops, I want desktop capabilities. And if I have to have my laptop plugged in 24/7, I might as well just have a desktop...
So now I'm wondering... if I buy a desktop for gaming and media, and use a smaller portable laptop for most of my schoolwork, what would you guys recommend? I guess part of this came from me researching the 8600GT card in the laptop I wanted to get, and realizing that even though it supports dx10, it won't be much more powerful than the GPU in my current desktop. Definitely noticible, but not what I was hoping for. And if it doesn't blow me out of the water now, what about in 2 years... I'm starting to like the idea of a 14" (or so) really light laptop, still with pretty good specs, but more of a mobile machine. Media capable, wireless functions, good for notes and classwork, and the occasional 1996 game of starcraft...

How much would a decent gaming desktop cost? hm... now I have to do all my research over again for desktops...

Not entirely convinced, but I'm getting there...

[personman]

You can build a pretty nice but still reasonable laptop at HP for about 1100. That was still a bit expensive for my tastes but you seem to have a bit more money to blow.
And as for the gaming desktop, you could build a nice one for under 1k. Unless you want to go all out with a new DX10 card (dont, they arent good enough yet. wait till next gen).
It just depends on how much gaming you want to do.
But one things for sure, for the price of your 2k laptop you could get a pretty good laptop AND a sweet desktop.
The desktop im going to build will probably be under 900. I plan on using AM2+ so I have forward compatibility for two whole generations of AMD processors.

Oh, and build your own PC. You'll get ALOT more bang for your buck. Trust me. And its easy to learn if you've never done it before.

[jenarelJAM]

A while ago I bought a 7600GT for my current desktop as an upgrade. Assuming I just rip it out of this computer(it has a backup GPU on the motherboard), and stick it in the next one, buy a good motherboard/processor/ram/power supply, and stuff, and get a good video card later if/when I need it, sound like a good idea? Then I could cut out probably ~$100 for the video card, as the 7600 is plenty for me right now, I just know I'm going to want F.E.A.R. 2 and Starcraft 2, and a video card to play them both...

And if I end up having a desktop as my main powerhouse, then would it be worth it to start looking at more of the ultra-portable laptops? Does anyone have experience with these? I want decent screen resolution (?I don't know if this exists on the smaller screens), easy internet browsing, bluetooth, wifi, and the ability to watch DVD's (good battery life would be really nice for this). Also, since vista is recommended by my school, I'd like 2Gb ram, or at least 1.5GB, and anything else needed to make it compatible with schoolwork.

Okay, so more questions... now about building a desktop...

I understand power supply is (most?) important, but I haven't researched it at all yet, so if you've got things I should know, I'm all ears, but I'll be looking into these soon.

GPU - covered

CPU - Should I wait for the quad core technology to become more available/cheap, or should I just invest in a faster core 2 duo?

HDD - Um... any differences besides disk space and speed?

RAM - Gotta look into the benefits of different speeds. I see a lot of 2x1GB at 667... Thinking of maybe going a little higher than that though, depending on cost/benefit. Any favorite brands?

Motherboard - Okay, here's where I spent several hours today, and I'm still completely lost. What is it I should be looking for in a motherboard? I've looked up stuff about ASUS motherboards (my computer-oriented friend loves asus motherboards), and they've got a new P35 chipset that runs DDR3 ram, but then I read a fairly in-depth review about DDR3 ram that made it seem very much not worth it at this stage. So what should I be looking for here? I know that I have to get either an intel-compatible or an ATI-compatible motherboard, depending on the processor, or vice versa. Are there other compatibility issues?

Again, I'll try to look this up for myself, but does anyone have a list of all the parts I'll need to build a complete computer? So far... power supply, case, optical drive, motherboard (usb ports are included on the motherboard, right?), cpu, gpu, bluetooth, wifi(possibly), hard drive. I'm sure I'm missing something... or several somethings...

Oh, and about my "pockets." Again, I'm 18, going to work all summer and pitch in for a large portion of this. I tend to like to buy things more high-end the first time because I can't stand the feeling of "if I had only spent $50 more..." And then wanting to upgrade right away. So I save up and buy the higher-end stuff straight off. That said, I'm also 18. Money saving's good. For instance, I'd much rather get 80% the value for 50% the price. I don't need the absolute top of the line...

Thanks guys, your help has been invaluable :hail:

[geekwarrior]

pc mech (http://forum.pcmech.com/)

build you own forum (http://forum.pcmech.com/forumdisplay.php?f=43)

a great place to find info on building.

don't know what your budget is, but i built the following for under $1000

Asus P5B-E Mobo
Duo Core E6600
2 Gig Corsair ram (667, dont need the 800 unless your planning on overclocking)
7600GX 512MB video card
Corsair 520 power supply
Liteon dvd/cd rw
Thermaltake Armor case
300 GB Seagate Harddrive (make sure you get some version of SATA)

and look at newegg for parts...great prices, fast shipping. :cheers:

[Lenny]

OH my god - lol, we need signatures. Neppo is wise beyond his years. :rofl:
That's exactly what I was thinking!

/Yeah, I know I'm alittle late.

[personman]

A while ago I bought a 7600GT for my current desktop as an upgrade. Assuming I just rip it out of this computer(it has a backup GPU on the motherboard), and stick it in the next one, buy a good motherboard/processor/ram/power supply, and stuff, and get a good video card later if/when I need it, sound like a good idea? Then I could cut out probably ~$100 for the video card, as the 7600 is plenty for me right now, I just know I'm going to want F.E.A.R. 2 and Starcraft 2, and a video card to play them both...

And if I end up having a desktop as my main powerhouse, then would it be worth it to start looking at more of the ultra-portable laptops? Does anyone have experience with these? I want decent screen resolution (?I don't know if this exists on the smaller screens), easy internet browsing, bluetooth, wifi, and the ability to watch DVD's (good battery life would be really nice for this). Also, since vista is recommended by my school, I'd like 2Gb ram, or at least 1.5GB, and anything else needed to make it compatible with schoolwork.

Okay, so more questions... now about building a desktop...

I understand power supply is (most?) important, but I haven't researched it at all yet, so if you've got things I should know, I'm all ears, but I'll be looking into these soon.

GPU - covered

CPU - Should I wait for the quad core technology to become more available/cheap, or should I just invest in a faster core 2 duo?

HDD - Um... any differences besides disk space and speed?

RAM - Gotta look into the benefits of different speeds. I see a lot of 2x1GB at 667... Thinking of maybe going a little higher than that though, depending on cost/benefit. Any favorite brands?

Motherboard - Okay, here's where I spent several hours today, and I'm still completely lost. What is it I should be looking for in a motherboard? I've looked up stuff about ASUS motherboards (my computer-oriented friend loves asus motherboards), and they've got a new P35 chipset that runs DDR3 ram, but then I read a fairly in-depth review about DDR3 ram that made it seem very much not worth it at this stage. So what should I be looking for here? I know that I have to get either an intel-compatible or an ATI-compatible motherboard, depending on the processor, or vice versa. Are there other compatibility issues?

Again, I'll try to look this up for myself, but does anyone have a list of all the parts I'll need to build a complete computer? So far... power supply, case, optical drive, motherboard (usb ports are included on the motherboard, right?), cpu, gpu, bluetooth, wifi(possibly), hard drive. I'm sure I'm missing something... or several somethings...

Oh, and about my "pockets." Again, I'm 18, going to work all summer and pitch in for a large portion of this. I tend to like to buy things more high-end the first time because I can't stand the feeling of "if I had only spent $50 more..." And then wanting to upgrade right away. So I save up and buy the higher-end stuff straight off. That said, I'm also 18. Money saving's good. For instance, I'd much rather get 80% the value for 50% the price. I don't need the absolute top of the line...

Thanks guys, your help has been invaluable :hail:
The 7600GT is a pretty good card, I built a computer for my brother with it and its doing great. I'd say it would be a good idea to keep that card until the next generation of video cards come out. Starcraft 2 probably wont be that graphics intensive from what I've seen but ill bet FEAR 2 will be crazy.
As far as powersupplies go, a favorite seems to be the Corsair power supplies. They've gotten excellent reviews. They are a little pricey, but a good power supply is essential.
HDD isnt really all that important of a choice. Just get 7200rpm or higher and get one that has good reviews :p
For ram you can go with ddr2 667 or 800. I wouldnt go 533. Im personally going with 800 because I dont think theres much of a price difference. Again, check out reviews.

I'm not sure if I would go quad core. There arent many programs out there that can fully utilize a dual core processor, much less a quad. Then again I have heard alot of things about future games using multiple processors to their advantage. I'm going to wait until I see more conclusive benchmarks, personally.

Check out hardforum.com. Great forum with generally very knowledgeable people.

[jenarelJAM]

Okay... so I talked to my dad, and he's kinda against the whole desktop idea. He really wants to get me a high-end laptop only so I don't have to deal with syncing the two machines. To that end, if I can get the C90S and ability to upgrade it in the future, and I can keep it plugged in basicly 24/7, I think it would be a good compromise... gr... I wish I had more space in the dorms. From your guys' experience, is it possible to plug your laptops into a floor socket or something in class? Or would I need it to run off the battery? That really would influence my decision a lot...

I was starting to really like the idea of a desktop and lappy though...

[jenarelJAM]

Real quick question about motherboards... if it has four 240pin memory slots, does that mean I could use 4x 512MB to make 2GB? Or should I still go 2x1GB? or could I go 4x1GB?

[jenarelJAM]

Hehe... I think I finally found something...
Okay, so my friend's advice was originally to get a laptop for schoolwork and get a console for video gaming, and I was kinda hesitant at first, but after realizing that laptop gaming is problematic at best, I started thinking (just in passing at first) about laptops with integrated graphics. I started looking specifically at the Lenovo (IBM) line of laptops, for their build quality, and saw the T series, which looked pretty interesting. Definitely high end and very compatible with what I'd need for school. Then just for kicks, I browsed the rest of the lenovo website, and came across the X61 Tablet.

Wow. This seems almost too perfect. Now, admittedly, it would be completely unable to play games, and it is a bit more expensive than the G1S I was looking at before... but it's ridiculously small, still with a 1400x1050 resolution screen, touchscreen(with special pen) decent processing power (L7500, 1.6Ghz core2duo), tons of communications options, and did I mention it's ridiculously small? 12.1" with SXGA+ resolution is incredible imo... maybe that's just me. Batery life is advertised at 7.5 hrs, but by reviews it gets more like 7 max, and more like 5 with regular use. Still pretty good.

And that would take care of the whole bringing paper to class for notes issue that was addressed earlier in the thread. It would be much much much more convenient to keep all my notes organized on the computer (I understand there is software to do this, a free limited version and then a full version)

Configured with Vista Ultimate, 2GB ram, 100GB HD at 7200 rpm, intel turbo memory, wireless WIFI, Ultrabase(like, a docking station) with DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer optical drive, it comes out to $2,263. Now, I can save $70 if I go with vista business instead of ultimate (need business for tablet, I think, premium isn't an option), and I can save $100+120 if I opt out of the ultra base with optical drive, but then the computer wouldn't have an optical drive, and I'd have to use an external one. Also, I could save $50 if I chose not to have the turbo memory, which I still have to look up some reviews on, but looks like a decent idea to me.

So... Thoughts anyone?

[d4m4don3]

Personally I think tablets are at their infancy. If you were a businessman a tablet would work for many situations but note taking using the windows journal to me is still problematic. The hand writing recognition software will take some time to get used to if you want to translate your notes to doc or text format. Stick with a compact laptop for now and bring a notepad/binder with you for your notes. It's still a bit hard to draw images with a tablet pc pen. I feel its still a compromise. It's like taking notes on a palm pilot or pocket pc.

As for the laptops Lenovo and dell makes some great laptops with a caveat. You get what you pay for, the entry level laptops tend to break more often than not. Thats what I see more being serviced than the medium and higher tiered laptops. If you do get a low end make sure you have the better warranty that has a no questions asked policies that they have. That way you don't have to deal with the support technicians over the phone as much. Good luck with your choice. :)

[jenarelJAM]

Personally I think tablets are at their infancy. If you were a businessman a tablet would work for many situations but note taking using the windows journal to me is still problematic. The hand writing recognition software will take some time to get used to if you want to translate your notes to doc or text format. Stick with a compact laptop for now and bring a notepad/binder with you for your notes. It's still a bit hard to draw images with a tablet pc pen. I feel its still a compromise. It's like taking notes on a palm pilot or pocket pc.


Are you talking about Wacom technology? Not all tablets have it, but the X61t does. I saw a video of it being used side by side with a touchscreen input, and it looks practically as good as pen and paper. Definitely looks usable.
See here: http://www.gottabemobile.com/LenovoThinkPadX60TabletPCMultiTouchAndUltrabase.as px
The video is for the x60, but it's the same computer, just with better components.

[jenarelJAM]

Another update:

I went to Fry's Electronics today, to test out one of their display tablet models, just to make sure I liked the way a tablet felt. Other than the sales associates knowing absolutely nothing about the computer, or computers in general for that matter, I found the tablet idea to be a great success. The penstroke was very fluid, and actually made my handwriting more legible. I don't know how to explain it other than that there is a very small delay on the cursor following the pen around the screen, so it smoothes out the pen strokes. You'd have to try it, but it's immediately obvious, and very nice. It was incredibly easy to write on the tablet, as well as navigate menus and options.

One thing I was incredibly impressed by was actually the handwriting recognition software. Now, I don't have neat handwriting by any means. It's generally legible, but I was amazed when it picked up my handwriting right off the bat. I wrote www.automags.org into the address bar in IE and it turned into type right away. The tablet I used was running XP, and I'm told that the recognition software is even better in Vista...

So... now I'm 99.5% sure I'm getting the X61. I tested a Fujitsu 4215, which was very lacking in components, as well as screen resolution, and just functions and options in general. I'm looking forward to the release of the X61.

Thanks for all your help guys.