Carley
I'm not tech savvy, so I don't know the first thing when it comes to purchasing a laptop. For the next four years at least, I'll be carrying my laptop everywhere--room, library, around campus, etc. I'm not much of a gamer, but I do listen to a lot of music, so a decent quality for downloading and fast internet is probably needed (since I'm fairly impatient). I'm also a sucker for pretty looking laptops. Also, since I'm not really tech savvy, I need a reliable laptop, because if something goes wrong, I won't have any idea how to fix it. Any suggestions? (and thanks in advance)
Answer
Asus - Stylish Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology - Blue/Black
Model: X83Vb-X2 | SKU: 9172851
Intel® Coreâ¢2 Duo mobile processor T6400; 4GB DDR2 memory; DL DVD±RW/CD-RW drive; 14.1" widescreen; 250GB hard drive; built-in webcam; facial recognition; Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with SP1
$614.99
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9172851&type=product&id=1218044029604
Weighs 5.7 lbs., and i would have preferred a little lighter one, that you mention "carrying my laptop everywhere--room, library, around campus"
Read the 'Customer Reviews' & 'Editorial Reviews' on page to get a better picture.
Handsome looks to boot, and discrete graphics for mild gaming
Asus - Stylish Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology - Blue/Black
Model: X83Vb-X2 | SKU: 9172851
Intel® Coreâ¢2 Duo mobile processor T6400; 4GB DDR2 memory; DL DVD±RW/CD-RW drive; 14.1" widescreen; 250GB hard drive; built-in webcam; facial recognition; Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with SP1
$614.99
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9172851&type=product&id=1218044029604
Weighs 5.7 lbs., and i would have preferred a little lighter one, that you mention "carrying my laptop everywhere--room, library, around campus"
Read the 'Customer Reviews' & 'Editorial Reviews' on page to get a better picture.
Handsome looks to boot, and discrete graphics for mild gaming
What laptop would be best for a college student?
ninja_girl
I need something that can run fast, isn't too big or small, and can do things like Skype without causing a problem.
Like what type and where can I get it?
Answer
This ASUS laptop is a good and steady work horse. Light on graphics (not a gamer). It does have a one year accidental warranty. Great for college and dorm rooms.
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 5.8 lbs
This HP can be customized to what you need. If you want better performance upgrade the APU to a A10, the graphics to AMD Radeon HD 8750M + HD 8000 Series Dual Graphics. and increase the ram to 8GB. That will bring it to $700. Add the 1080p screen for just another $40. Starting at $530
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
This HP can be customized. Upgrade the Graphics to 1GB AMD Radeon HD 8670M Discrete, and 8GB ram should bring it to $640. Do not get this lappy without the graphics upgrade. Starting at $530
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-Pavilion/C8F68AV;pgid=c7twGfjc0ptSRpIq7ZUcoGXQ0000126GzpjJ;sid=wOckgE5TxtvuuRxANE-PCJZc9Pvh1XpPBbJgQ7vGyjypK_TAAlGILMhM?HP-Pavilion-15t-e000-Notebook-PC i5-3230M 4GB DDR3 500GB 5400 rpm HD
This HP can be customized to. Upgrade the Graphics to NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M 2048MB of dedicated video memory, 1080p screen and 16GB ram brings it to $1000. Do not get this lappy without the graphics upgrade. Starting at $870
http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/E4T17AV?HP-ENVY-15t-j000-Quad-Edition-Notebook-PC i7-4700MQ 8GB DDR3 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
None of the HP come with DVDs
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. 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. Lenovo will not allow people to read instruction on how to access the BIOS menu or to get info on their puters on their web site unless you connect to them thru Facebook. They do this so they can spy on their users. 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 than 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. 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.
Chrome books are useless. They are designed by Google to make you dependent on Google. If you can not access the web then you can not do anything.
Hybrids are the worse of the worse. The flip or detachable touch screens are just a disaster waiting to happen.
Always avoid refurbished units. They only come with a 90 day warranty and have a higher failure rate. The service contacts are normally just a one time replace contract.
Choose wisely.
:)
This ASUS laptop is a good and steady work horse. Light on graphics (not a gamer). It does have a one year accidental warranty. Great for college and dorm rooms.
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 5.8 lbs
This HP can be customized to what you need. If you want better performance upgrade the APU to a A10, the graphics to AMD Radeon HD 8750M + HD 8000 Series Dual Graphics. and increase the ram to 8GB. That will bring it to $700. Add the 1080p screen for just another $40. Starting at $530
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
This HP can be customized. Upgrade the Graphics to 1GB AMD Radeon HD 8670M Discrete, and 8GB ram should bring it to $640. Do not get this lappy without the graphics upgrade. Starting at $530
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-Pavilion/C8F68AV;pgid=c7twGfjc0ptSRpIq7ZUcoGXQ0000126GzpjJ;sid=wOckgE5TxtvuuRxANE-PCJZc9Pvh1XpPBbJgQ7vGyjypK_TAAlGILMhM?HP-Pavilion-15t-e000-Notebook-PC i5-3230M 4GB DDR3 500GB 5400 rpm HD
This HP can be customized to. Upgrade the Graphics to NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M 2048MB of dedicated video memory, 1080p screen and 16GB ram brings it to $1000. Do not get this lappy without the graphics upgrade. Starting at $870
http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/E4T17AV?HP-ENVY-15t-j000-Quad-Edition-Notebook-PC i7-4700MQ 8GB DDR3 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
None of the HP come with DVDs
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. 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. Lenovo will not allow people to read instruction on how to access the BIOS menu or to get info on their puters on their web site unless you connect to them thru Facebook. They do this so they can spy on their users. 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 than 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. 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.
Chrome books are useless. They are designed by Google to make you dependent on Google. If you can not access the web then you can not do anything.
Hybrids are the worse of the worse. The flip or detachable touch screens are just a disaster waiting to happen.
Always avoid refurbished units. They only come with a 90 day warranty and have a higher failure rate. The service contacts are normally just a one time replace contract.
Choose wisely.
:)
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
