mormonme20
And I have heard that you shouldn't buy them on e-bay is that true? Oh, I am looking to spend no more than $800.
Answer
I have purchased two laptops off e-bay and they have been awesome computers. One person worked for microsoft and was a programmer.... the other was a grad student in computer science and just was given a new laptop by her new employer. The trick with e-bay is to TALK to them on the phone when you're dealing with a large purchase. You can get an awful lot of information about the person.
As far as a computer, DO NOT get a celeron or cheesy chip... they burn hot and you don't want XP with less than 512 mg ram. Personally, I'd rather look for a used computer with at least a Intel P4 chip, 512 mgs ram and an awesome display. The dell 1210 or 1405 are both really good machines for college students, especially the 1405. It's the perfect size, will fit in a backpack. You should search e-bay for a 14" laptop. The mfg doesn't really matter as long as the chip is a good one, and it has a minimum of 512 of ram. You can buy Office 2003 very cheap off e-bay also. I used to sell computers.....
Also, don't get Vista... and don't try to load it on a normal computer. All these people with a lot of problems is because they're loading Vista over XP - without the proper Ram or video card. It takes a hefty computer to run it properly.... so get XP, keep it simple... maybe Office 2003 and a wireless connection... and then save your $$ for a bigger better. I teach computers and have 3 computer homes all with Pentium 4 chips, 512 mg and wireless. They are 'working' computers, not for videos, downloading movies or anything like that. They run all my office applications, no problems with pictures. You don't need a lot for college. Both my laptops were LESS than $500 (with shipping) so seems to me you should be able to get Office and some bells & whistles for $800.
I have purchased two laptops off e-bay and they have been awesome computers. One person worked for microsoft and was a programmer.... the other was a grad student in computer science and just was given a new laptop by her new employer. The trick with e-bay is to TALK to them on the phone when you're dealing with a large purchase. You can get an awful lot of information about the person.
As far as a computer, DO NOT get a celeron or cheesy chip... they burn hot and you don't want XP with less than 512 mg ram. Personally, I'd rather look for a used computer with at least a Intel P4 chip, 512 mgs ram and an awesome display. The dell 1210 or 1405 are both really good machines for college students, especially the 1405. It's the perfect size, will fit in a backpack. You should search e-bay for a 14" laptop. The mfg doesn't really matter as long as the chip is a good one, and it has a minimum of 512 of ram. You can buy Office 2003 very cheap off e-bay also. I used to sell computers.....
Also, don't get Vista... and don't try to load it on a normal computer. All these people with a lot of problems is because they're loading Vista over XP - without the proper Ram or video card. It takes a hefty computer to run it properly.... so get XP, keep it simple... maybe Office 2003 and a wireless connection... and then save your $$ for a bigger better. I teach computers and have 3 computer homes all with Pentium 4 chips, 512 mg and wireless. They are 'working' computers, not for videos, downloading movies or anything like that. They run all my office applications, no problems with pictures. You don't need a lot for college. Both my laptops were LESS than $500 (with shipping) so seems to me you should be able to get Office and some bells & whistles for $800.
Need help on laptop for Graphic Design in college?
Wyatt Smit
I need a laptop for school in the fall. I am going to college to become a Graphic Designer. And my budget is kind of at a 500-550 range right now. Im kind of on a budget being a kid and all :P. And he recommends i have 6gb of ram but to get that much ram i know you would have to spend a lot. and the software they use is Adobe Creative Suite, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and After Effects. So if you guys could help me it would be greatly appreciated :) Thanks!!!!! ~sincerely, broke ass college student~
Answer
It is going to be hard at that budget.
ASUS laptop.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230987
Core i5 3230M(2.60GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory DDR3 1600 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce Dedicated 2GB GT 610M 1 Year Accidental Damage/30-Day Zero Bright Dot
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230416
Core i5 3210M(2.50GHz) 14.1" 8GB Memory 750GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce Dedicated 1GB GT 620M
Two HP that can be customized to what you need, Bump the APU up to A8 or A10
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/B5Y73AV;pgid=c7twGfjc0ptSRpIq7ZUcoGXQ000046kL18cI;sid=9zDf3cQuLykz6ZWxCIeGSR0hwywaiPAyMmXy0Rex_etSdk9VLxt6fHwh?HP-ENVY-dv6z-7200-Notebook-PC Starting at $530
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-Pavilion/B6C46AV;pgid=c7twGfjc0ptSRpIq7ZUcoGXQ0000ptFcn-Ce;sid=UfkUk5vYup7bi8p-xu5OB0LXZeXRxq_ElKxaT319WyKZOCFLk0_Q5UIX?HP-Pavilion-g6z-2200-Notebook-PC Starting at $460 Your choice of 5 colors
These are not customizable and above your budget but worth looking at
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/C2K91UA;pgid=c7twGfjc0ptSRpIq7ZUcoGXQ0000ptFcn-Ce;sid=UfkUk5vYup7bi8p-xu5OB0LXZeXRxq_ElKxaT319WyKZOCFLk0_Q5UIX?HP-ENVY-Sleekbook-6-1110us
HP SleekBook AMD Quad-Core A8-4555M APU AMD Radeon HD 7600G 4 GB DDR3 500 GB SATA (5400 rpm) $700
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/C2N66UA;pgid=c7twGfjc0ptSRpIq7ZUcoGXQ0000ptFcn-Ce;sid=UfkUk5vYup7bi8p-xu5OB0LXZeXRxq_ElKxaT319WyKZOCFLk0_Q5UIX?HP-ENVY-dv7-7230us-Notebook-PC
17" DV7-7230US laptop AMD Quad-Core A8-4500M APU AMD Radeon HD 7640G 6 GB DDR3 750 GB SATA (5400 rpm) $750
Brand buying advise
You get what you pay for. Systems with high end parts with low prices are to be viewed with suspicion. They have to cut corners somewhere to get the price down.
Apple makes a good quality laptop. The problem comes when it requires service or minor upgrades. It is near impossible to do anything with them. They even glue the battery and hard drive down so you can not change it. They solder the ram to the logic board so you can not increase it. They lock up most of the software so your stuck with what they approve.
Lenovo has serious stand behind their product problems. They bought IBM PC division and proceeded to drive the quality of the system into the ground. Their customer service is well below par. They even makes Dell customer service look good. The last and final thing to remember about them is they are a Chinese Government own company. It is up to you if you want to trust them.
Toshiba, Panasonic, Sony should be avoided because of their heavy modification of Windows and the drivers. If you remove some of the bloat they install, you can cripple the system.
Acer, Gateway, and eMachines should be avoided period. Low end system that are driving the race to the bottom.
Dell once made a good system and fell from grace. They are now struggling to regain their place in the market. Customer service is one of many problems with this company.
Alienware are glorified Dells and are more name then product. Priced extremely high for what you get. They do perform but you can get the same for less by looking around, just not packaged to be eye candy to the gamers.
Samsung has a history of using cheap parts in critical areas. Capacitors has been one area Samsung has a known history of going cheap, causing units to fail early. For that reason I would avoid them.
ASUS and HP do not modify Windows as bad as the other manufacturers. They have excellent build quality. They might add a lot of bloat but they also makes it easy to get rid of it.
Ultrabooks are the higher end of Wintel laptops but they have some of the same concerns as Apple. They make it next to impossible to change any hardware in them. Service of them will have to be done by the manufacturers. With most of them, you can not change your own battery or hard drive. They are designed to catch your eye but they are not any more special then other laptops except for the fact that they are slim or thin. Your paying for it being thin and slim. For the money your going to spend on it you can buy a much better laptop with more power.
Hybrids are the worse of the worse. The flip or detachable touch screens are just a disaster waiting to happen.
Never buy an All In One. They are far worst then laptops of any kind to service and they have a higher failure rate. My experience with them are limited because the few I worked on made me think they were designed in such a way as it would take a blow torch and a jack hammer just to disassemble them.
Choose wisely.
It is going to be hard at that budget.
ASUS laptop.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230987
Core i5 3230M(2.60GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory DDR3 1600 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce Dedicated 2GB GT 610M 1 Year Accidental Damage/30-Day Zero Bright Dot
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230416
Core i5 3210M(2.50GHz) 14.1" 8GB Memory 750GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce Dedicated 1GB GT 620M
Two HP that can be customized to what you need, Bump the APU up to A8 or A10
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/B5Y73AV;pgid=c7twGfjc0ptSRpIq7ZUcoGXQ000046kL18cI;sid=9zDf3cQuLykz6ZWxCIeGSR0hwywaiPAyMmXy0Rex_etSdk9VLxt6fHwh?HP-ENVY-dv6z-7200-Notebook-PC Starting at $530
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-Pavilion/B6C46AV;pgid=c7twGfjc0ptSRpIq7ZUcoGXQ0000ptFcn-Ce;sid=UfkUk5vYup7bi8p-xu5OB0LXZeXRxq_ElKxaT319WyKZOCFLk0_Q5UIX?HP-Pavilion-g6z-2200-Notebook-PC Starting at $460 Your choice of 5 colors
These are not customizable and above your budget but worth looking at
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/C2K91UA;pgid=c7twGfjc0ptSRpIq7ZUcoGXQ0000ptFcn-Ce;sid=UfkUk5vYup7bi8p-xu5OB0LXZeXRxq_ElKxaT319WyKZOCFLk0_Q5UIX?HP-ENVY-Sleekbook-6-1110us
HP SleekBook AMD Quad-Core A8-4555M APU AMD Radeon HD 7600G 4 GB DDR3 500 GB SATA (5400 rpm) $700
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/C2N66UA;pgid=c7twGfjc0ptSRpIq7ZUcoGXQ0000ptFcn-Ce;sid=UfkUk5vYup7bi8p-xu5OB0LXZeXRxq_ElKxaT319WyKZOCFLk0_Q5UIX?HP-ENVY-dv7-7230us-Notebook-PC
17" DV7-7230US laptop AMD Quad-Core A8-4500M APU AMD Radeon HD 7640G 6 GB DDR3 750 GB SATA (5400 rpm) $750
Brand buying advise
You get what you pay for. Systems with high end parts with low prices are to be viewed with suspicion. They have to cut corners somewhere to get the price down.
Apple makes a good quality laptop. The problem comes when it requires service or minor upgrades. It is near impossible to do anything with them. They even glue the battery and hard drive down so you can not change it. They solder the ram to the logic board so you can not increase it. They lock up most of the software so your stuck with what they approve.
Lenovo has serious stand behind their product problems. They bought IBM PC division and proceeded to drive the quality of the system into the ground. Their customer service is well below par. They even makes Dell customer service look good. The last and final thing to remember about them is they are a Chinese Government own company. It is up to you if you want to trust them.
Toshiba, Panasonic, Sony should be avoided because of their heavy modification of Windows and the drivers. If you remove some of the bloat they install, you can cripple the system.
Acer, Gateway, and eMachines should be avoided period. Low end system that are driving the race to the bottom.
Dell once made a good system and fell from grace. They are now struggling to regain their place in the market. Customer service is one of many problems with this company.
Alienware are glorified Dells and are more name then product. Priced extremely high for what you get. They do perform but you can get the same for less by looking around, just not packaged to be eye candy to the gamers.
Samsung has a history of using cheap parts in critical areas. Capacitors has been one area Samsung has a known history of going cheap, causing units to fail early. For that reason I would avoid them.
ASUS and HP do not modify Windows as bad as the other manufacturers. They have excellent build quality. They might add a lot of bloat but they also makes it easy to get rid of it.
Ultrabooks are the higher end of Wintel laptops but they have some of the same concerns as Apple. They make it next to impossible to change any hardware in them. Service of them will have to be done by the manufacturers. With most of them, you can not change your own battery or hard drive. They are designed to catch your eye but they are not any more special then other laptops except for the fact that they are slim or thin. Your paying for it being thin and slim. For the money your going to spend on it you can buy a much better laptop with more power.
Hybrids are the worse of the worse. The flip or detachable touch screens are just a disaster waiting to happen.
Never buy an All In One. They are far worst then laptops of any kind to service and they have a higher failure rate. My experience with them are limited because the few I worked on made me think they were designed in such a way as it would take a blow torch and a jack hammer just to disassemble them.
Choose wisely.
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Title Post: I am getting a laptop for college what would you suggest for someone on a very small budget?
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