Redbloodx4
I am going to be heading to college this August and I need a laptop. The characteristics they suggest is that it have Intel Core i5 or AMD A8 processor, GB of RAM (or higher), 320 GB hard drive, DVD+RW/CD-RW combo drive, WiFi capabilities, and Windows 7 or 8 (or Mac OS X 10.8). I also like to play online games so something that can run games well would be nice.
Answer
ASUS Laptop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230597
Core i7 3630QM(2.40GHz) 15.6" 8GB Memory 1TB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 635M 1920 x 1080 1 Year Accidental Damage/30-Day Zero Bright Dot
This HP can be customized to what you need, Bump the APU and ram for better performance.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/C9W57AV;pgid=c7twGfjc0ptSRpIq7ZUcoGXQ0000fb8mNv9y;sid=NID2W1inOb6JXwkRbh2qz4GoAJwzDmy78dUe8LW2AJwzDtPc7Kuhl6jI?HP-ENVY-15z-j000-Notebook-PC A8-5550M APU HD 8000 Series Graphics 6GB DDR3 750GB 5400 rpm HD Starting at $500 after rebate
This one is not customizable
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) Under $500 after rebate less then an inch thick 4.5lbs
Brand buying advice
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. What cost you less today is going to cost you more tomorrow.
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.
Choose wisely.
:)
ASUS Laptop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230597
Core i7 3630QM(2.40GHz) 15.6" 8GB Memory 1TB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 635M 1920 x 1080 1 Year Accidental Damage/30-Day Zero Bright Dot
This HP can be customized to what you need, Bump the APU and ram for better performance.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/C9W57AV;pgid=c7twGfjc0ptSRpIq7ZUcoGXQ0000fb8mNv9y;sid=NID2W1inOb6JXwkRbh2qz4GoAJwzDmy78dUe8LW2AJwzDtPc7Kuhl6jI?HP-ENVY-15z-j000-Notebook-PC A8-5550M APU HD 8000 Series Graphics 6GB DDR3 750GB 5400 rpm HD Starting at $500 after rebate
This one is not customizable
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) Under $500 after rebate less then an inch thick 4.5lbs
Brand buying advice
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. What cost you less today is going to cost you more tomorrow.
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.
Choose wisely.
:)
Best Laptop for college?
Brandon
I'm heading off to college in the fall and looking to buy a laptop. My friends all say to get a mac but they're very pricey. Are they that much better than every other computer out there or is there a better purchase?
Answer
Yes, Macs can be pricey. On the other hand, I got a PowerBook G4 back in 2005 when I started college. A lot of my friends got HPs, Dells, Sonys, etc. My PowerBook G4 lasted the entire four years without any problems at all. Most of the people who got Windows laptops are on their second or third one. Two fried their motherboards, one within a year of buying his laptop. Another got a virus that wiped her out. So while my PowerBook was more money up front, in the long run it lasted longer and was much less of a headache than most of the Windows laptops other people were buying. Apple also has a 10% education discount, a free iPod Touch promotion in late May- mid September and $100 toward a printer when you buy a Mac. Factor in those sorts of goodies plus the iLife suite, and the pricing discrepancy isn't that bad.
You should go to a store and try one out, ask questions and see if you like it. Look at comparable Windows machines and make an educated decision.
EDIT: In my experience the compatibility concerns at school were grossly overblown (and usually brought up by people who didn't use Macs). They make Microsoft Office for Mac, and you can convert iWork files to their Office equivalents. I never had problems with Word, Excel or PowerPoint files. I also never had issues logging on to the university network or picking up wireless. The only people I went to school with who had software issues were engineering students who had to use stuff like AutoCad.
Yes, Macs can be pricey. On the other hand, I got a PowerBook G4 back in 2005 when I started college. A lot of my friends got HPs, Dells, Sonys, etc. My PowerBook G4 lasted the entire four years without any problems at all. Most of the people who got Windows laptops are on their second or third one. Two fried their motherboards, one within a year of buying his laptop. Another got a virus that wiped her out. So while my PowerBook was more money up front, in the long run it lasted longer and was much less of a headache than most of the Windows laptops other people were buying. Apple also has a 10% education discount, a free iPod Touch promotion in late May- mid September and $100 toward a printer when you buy a Mac. Factor in those sorts of goodies plus the iLife suite, and the pricing discrepancy isn't that bad.
You should go to a store and try one out, ask questions and see if you like it. Look at comparable Windows machines and make an educated decision.
EDIT: In my experience the compatibility concerns at school were grossly overblown (and usually brought up by people who didn't use Macs). They make Microsoft Office for Mac, and you can convert iWork files to their Office equivalents. I never had problems with Word, Excel or PowerPoint files. I also never had issues logging on to the university network or picking up wireless. The only people I went to school with who had software issues were engineering students who had to use stuff like AutoCad.
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Title Post: What's a good laptop?
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