College Notebook!?

[Ludea]

So I made a thread a while back about getting a desktop, well I got it the 8th of this month.. august.
I had 30 days to decide if I want to keep it or not, im sending it back for being sloppy and I didn't really need some stuff.

Well, I now realize that I'm in my senior year and I should really focus on getting a laptop for college.
So I'm sending this beast desktop back and ill have like 4 grand, any tips? I totally new to laptops.

Are graphics really restricted? Can I still play windowed Counter Strike while seeking!?
Should I get like 13-15 inch? My dad has like a 20 inch and it looks huge, I don't like it.

Please and thank you! :D

[Sigi]

Requirements vary college by college... so hold out till you enroll!
Other than that... expect about 300-400$ to be spent on warranty, because you NEED complete care (accident protection), and onsite service is a good choice.

Check out Dell (there's special offers setup for college students)

[Ludea]

So I've been looking at this ASUS G1S-A1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220182

What do you think? 5400 rpm HD is a downer and im not too sure how big 15.4" looks.
Is it HUGE!?

[Sigi]

like Xbox.

It's the equivalent of a 17" CRT monitor.

[Boyiee]

15.4 isn't too bad, do. not. go. above. this. size. My dad has a 15.4, I play ffxi/wow on it sometimes, it's really not all bad, but i will never get anything larger than a 14.

The smaller you go, the more you pay for the same specs. 12.1's are amazing, 13.3's are great, and 14.1's aren't too bad. Some 12.1's and below you can get tablet/touchscreen equipped too, depending what you'll use it for. You're better off waiting till college, but you probably wont be spending much more than 2500, so maybe you can put some of that beast pc money elsewhere for the time being. Dell has some great warranties, but their systems can cost alot sometimes. I never liked laptops for playing games like CS, but it shouldn't be THAT bad.

Portability is absolutely amazing, every one of my friends laughed at me when I was looking at small laptops and they bought their 17inch ones lol. After a few months, weeks for one other, they were bitching and crying about how heavy it was, how large it was, how annoying it was, how much harder it was to drag around. And when one's girlfriend cracked the monitor, it was a ton to replace.

[Isiolia]

To qualify a little...I'm a systems admin for a college athletics department. Part of (at times a lot of) what I do is setting up, distributing, and supporting laptops for student athletes.

So I'm sending this beast desktop back and ill have like 4 grand, any tips? I totally new to laptops.

Are graphics really restricted? Can I still play windowed Counter Strike while seeking!?
Should I get like 13-15 inch? My dad has like a 20 inch and it looks huge, I don't like it.

First, don't abandon the idea of a desktop. Dorms can be cramped, but it depends on what else you've got in there too. You probably won't want to be making a 40" LCD TV your monitor or anything, but a decent size system shouldn't be a problem.

A desktop is better for gaming, and will -stay- better for gaming because you can toss a new part in now and then. Most laptops are not particularly upgradeable, and throttle down + blast tiny fans once they get moving to prevent overheating.

From an academic standpoint, having a second computer is excellent for redundancy. Shit happens. With a laptop, a lot of what can go wrong will mean a service call, or possibly sending it to the manufacturer. You don't want to be stuck using computer labs or bumming a friend's machine.

If that $4k is all you can spend, then probably still return it. I'd just consider splitting it between a laptop and a desktop. Maybe buy yourself a decent desktop now, and bank the rest to buy a good laptop when the time comes.


Graphics are going to be restricted in much the same way desktop graphics are. Only, you'll have much less selection, and be generally stuck with what you get (some laptops can be upgraded, but they're the exception).
One thing to really watch for with media/gamer laptops is size/weight/power consumption. Well, those are primary things for any laptop, but the point is that usually they're not very good for these kinds of machines.

I'd agree, 15"-ish is about as big as you want to go. 13-14" with modern screen densities tends to look very nice too though.
The Asus you linked to is around 6.8lbs with around 2 hours of battery life spec'ed. Compare that to say, a Macbook, which is 5.1lbs with 6 hours of battery life, according to spec (obviously, depends on conditions for either of them).

That's again a reason to consider maintaining a decent desktop system in parallel to a laptop. You can shop for a laptop that better meets the needs of portability and power consumption if you don't have the caveat of high end 3D graphics.


Definitely, definitely go for extended warranty coverage and accidental damage. The latter tends to just mean fewer questions asked, but a lot of damage does come from poor treatment of the machine. Very little on a laptop is cheap to fix, and very little can be replaced without going to the manufacturer (or finding OEM parts someplace else, like eBay).
Unless it's just unreasonable (like say, $400 plan for a $700 laptop), get the coverage. If you wind up needing it, you'll be very glad you did.

In terms of treatment, use a freaking case. If you don't want to be carrying a briefcase style case, get a backpack that's made to carry a laptop. I see laptops on a regular basis that look like they've been through some major world conflict, and part of what gets them that way is being tossed in a backpack with books and the like.


Definitely also -wait- on your purchase until probably the summer. It is good to get a machine in advance, since you never know if it'll be dead on arrival or crap out on you after a short time. I've had something like 1 out of ever 10 Dells this year need RMA'ing so far. However, that being said, you want to know what specs you need (some programs may require/recommend a tablet PC, or a Mac), and it's just smart to wait on buying a computer if you can. You'll get better specs for the same or less cost.

Then, don't spend like it's the last computer you'll need for 4-5 years. Most likely, you'll at least -want- to upgrade. Also factor in things like software you might need for your major, backup devices, printer, etc.

I guess it turned more into buying a computer for college >_>

[Janeru]

Other than that... expect about 300-400$ to be spent on warranty, because you NEED complete care

lol in college, yes you do