Need a New Laptop

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Bump...

I'm heading to Haskayne in the fall and need to purchase a laptop. Any ideas?

Needs:
-main use will be for school...notes, excel, whatever else you do at business school
-good battery life
-run MS office, including some pretty big Excel spreadsheets/programs
-will also use it for personal/work stuff like Adobe Professional, random programs, photoshop sometimes, lots of internet
-I want to be able to dock it and run 2 monitors
-no plans for heavy gaming, but don't want crappy graphics
-don't want to spend more than $1000
-no crappy HP/compaq type POS. I'd like it to last

Get a Lenovo T410. Go to RFD and look for the EPP thread on Lenovo.

[Frequitude]

Thanks GTF.

Also, just throwing out there...my home desktop kicked as 8 years ago and still can handle itself, but is definitely a little clunky. So this laptop will probably become my main computer.

Any reason to consider netbook?

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Thanks GTF.

Also, just throwing out there...my home desktop kicked as 8 years ago and still can handle itself, but is definitely a little clunky. So this laptop will probably become my main computer.

Any reason to consider netbook?

For a main computer? No way. The screen resolutions are too small for serious work and an undersized keyboard might drive you nuts.

And while it might not be underpowered now, in 4 years it will probably be a different story.

[Frequitude]

Tablet seems like a decent idea for class, no? It might push me a little above the $1000 though...

[rayne008]

I usually recommend people go to staples and get whats on sale. Know that just like your cell, it will have to be replaced in 3 years, so why spend a ton of $$ on it.

I picked up one of these a few weeks ago.. Good sized screen, but still light. Also has a full number pad on the right, which is really useful, and not common on 15 incher's.

Sony VAIO E Series 15.5" Laptop, 1.86GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core P6000, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD (VPCEB21FDBQ)
Save $50
Offer Valid Aug 18 - Sep 4, 2010! Available Online and In-Stores. While Quantities Last. Price After Savings:$649.99

[Frequitude]

Wow, GTF. That RFD EPP+coupon thread produces some siiiiiiiiiick deals. I'm currently pricing out loaded/barebones x201 tablets and loaded/barebone t410 units. We'll see how they look after all the discounts.

If you buy a tablet PC, what OS do you want...Windows XP Tablet PC, or Windows 7 Professional?

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Bump...

I'm heading to Haskayne in the fall and need to purchase a laptop. Any ideas?

Needs:
-main use will be for school...notes, excel, whatever else you do at business school
-good battery life
-run MS office, including some pretty big Excel spreadsheets/programs
-will also use it for personal/work stuff like Adobe Professional, random programs, photoshop sometimes, lots of internet
-I want to be able to dock it and run 2 monitors
-no plans for heavy gaming, but don't want crappy graphics
-don't want to spend more than $1000
-no crappy HP/compaq type POS. I'd like it to last

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...S&promoid=1088

A friend of mine just picked this up. You would have to get an external DVD drive/writer to connect via USB, but it's not a necessity to carry around with you now with flash drives etc.

LED backlit, has a great battery life. Felt responses, graphics card is robust enough to handle games and video. One huge pro is they have a great touchpad as well.

It's thin, light, brushed aluminum exterior.

I highly recommend it.

[wooohooo]

I currently have 3 laptops right now.

HP laptop - POS... haven't touched it in a long time because it's just that bad.

Thinkpad T61 - 14"
Macbook Pro - 13"

I like my Thinkpad, it's a great laptop. Keyboard is awesome, the little red dot is awesome, indestructibleness also awesome. What's not awesome is it looks old, screens not great, and it's clunky. Also I have the upgraded battery so it sticks out another inch.

I now use the macbook all the time as it's way smaller, screens brighter, and does everything just as well. Also the trackpad is way better... trackpad on the thinkpad is tiny. I'm not a mac lover now, but I just prefer it over my thinkpad (age maybe?).

For a little over a 1000 you can get the macbook pro using the student deal. Sell the ipod touch that comes with your laptop and that's an extra 150 bucks you save ontop of the 100 bucks you get off. Pretty sweet deal and you get a free printer, but I just gave that one to my mom.

[Frequitude]

Re: the Macbook. I've never really used a mac, but Excel is too important to me...from VB, to keyboard shortcuts, to overall functionality. I really don't want to sacrifice any of that.

[Rathji]

They have MS Office for Macs, no?

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Re: the Macbook. I've never really used a mac, but Excel is too important to me...from VB, to keyboard shortcuts, to overall functionality. I really don't want to sacrifice any of that.

You can get the HD+ screen on a T410 that would be much better for spreadsheets than the 13" Macbook Pro.

While you can run Windows on a Macbook, it's an extra expense to buy it and you might need Windows for some apps you'll come across in school.

[Leon]

I was in this situation last month and ended up buying a netbook. Great price and battery life - perfect for school.

Picked up an Asus 1001PX from memoryexpress.com for 280$ (on their anniversary sale) but you can get it for 320$ and it's still a great deal.

Most PC laptops with heavier hardware have battery life in the 3-4.5 hour range (unless you are boasting something much higher than an 8-cell battery).

[FlamingStuffedTiger]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

For a main computer? No way. The screen resolutions are too small for serious work and an undersized keyboard might drive you nuts.

And while it might not be underpowered now, in 4 years it will probably be a different story.

^^ Pretty much. If your desktop were a little newer and you would be comfortable using it as a main computer for the next X years, then I'd say perhaps it would be worth considering getting a cheaper and more portable laptop/netbook as a supplement. But I would never use a netbook as a main computer right now.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Tablet seems like a decent idea for class, no? It might push me a little above the $1000 though...

Personally, I hate the pen for taking notes in class because I usually can't keep up with some of the profs, especially in speedier lectures. I'm way faster using the keyboard instead. However, I can see how tablets would be invaluable for taking down diagrams/graphs electronically quickly. It is a pretty pricey upgrade if I remember correctly...

[Frequitude]

Ya, I just can't justify the tablet. I'd rather buy a T410 and an iPad for the same price.

No netbooks, I don't think they'll lend themselves well to group work and spreadsheets. The T410 seems like my best bet right now. I'm also only doing the evening MBA program, so portability doesn't matter much.

[gottabekd]

So for all those that say "Stay away from Acer", what exactly was the problem?

I guess this would mean faulty hardware, but is there any other reason? Just feels cheap, poor support if things do go bad, crappy pre-loaded software that sucks. Just wondering what to tell someone when they ask "Why no Acer?"

[silentsim]

Originally Posted by Rathji

They have MS Office for Macs, no?

Yes. The latest version due September/October (2011 Office) is set to have VBA 6.5 in full force.

[Jordan!]

Whatever you get, make sure you get an Intel i7 processor. Thing hauls ass!

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by gottabekd

So for all those that say "Stay away from Acer", what exactly was the problem?

I guess this would mean faulty hardware, but is there any other reason? Just feels cheap, poor support if things do go bad, crappy pre-loaded software that sucks. Just wondering what to tell someone when they ask "Why no Acer?"

All the things you listed. Crappy pre-loaded software that slowed the start up speed to a crawl, ended up giving me corrupted registry errors after proper removal.

Faulty fans that and internal temp registries, extreme hot spots etc.

Just supremely unimpressed.

[FanIn80]

Re: Acer

There are lots of reasons why they are always $200 cheaper than everything else on the market. There's no magical silicon tree that grows circuit boards cheaper than everyone else pays to manufacture them. You wind up getting exactly what you pay for: minimal support, lousy build quality, cheap external casings, 800lbs of bundled crapware pre-installed (mmm... software vendor kickbacks), etc etc.

Hyperbole, yes... but based in truth.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Re: Acer

There are lots of reasons why they are always $200 cheaper than everything else on the market. There's no magical silicon tree that grows circuit boards cheaper than everyone else pays to manufacture them. You wind up getting exactly what you pay for: minimal support, lousy build quality, cheap external casings, 800lbs of bundled crapware pre-installed (mmm... software vendor kickbacks), etc etc.

Hyperbole, yes... but based in truth.

I've had good luck with Acer myself in recent years (Acer was crap 5+ years ago) and found their current build quality to be on par with other builders. If you know what you are doing, it's not awfully difficult to just clean out all the bundled software. My last Acer netbook didn't actually have bundled software anyway. The build quality was excellent, the casing was excellent. I once had the bios corrupt itself but that was an easy fix with a customized bios flashing tool via USB key.

But...I am a guy who does not need support so if support is one thing you value, maybe you should avoid Acer. That bios fix was actually a community fix for a common issue actually, and not even from Acer as their support did indeed suck and people found their own solution because Acer wasn't helping them.