College! Time for a Laptop

So... I'm going off to college next year and i need to start looking around for laptops.

Anyone have any suggestions on what kind of laptop to get?

I don't want some super laptop to play Guild Wars 24/7 maybe just a decent laptop. (Midrange most likely)

So yea any help would be greatly appreciated

THANKS!

Other info:

I live in United States.

I'm going to be a computer science/engineering major.

Budget?

Couple mid-range choices..

Dell Vostro 1500/1700 (15" or 17" screen)
Dell XPS 1330 (13" screen)


The XPS is one of the best 13" models going. Both are available with dedicated graphics cards (8400 or 8600)

I heard Dells break down a lot or something?

No... not if you take care of it. Vostro is mainly for businesses.... try focusing on the upper end Inspirons or lower end XPS to get the best bang for the buck.

Since you're going to college, I would assume you would carry this laptop around campus. I would recommend a Macbook. Or if you have some more cash, get a Macbook Pro (if you need the dedicated graphics card for more "heavy" games).

I have a White Macbook. The specs are:
Processor - 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM - 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM
Hardrive - 80 GB
Graphics Card - Intel GMA x3100 (Integrated)

My Reasons for a Macbook:
Other than needing a Unix OS so I can compile all my programs, I had several reasons for buying a Macbook. First, It was very compact and light. Which meant it was good for my back (I used to have back problems). Second, It had very good battery life (about 3-4 hours when taking notes, chatting, facebook, myspace [yes I use myspace sadly =/], and watching videos [no not porn]). I always plugged in when playing video games. Third, the Apple Care Service is really great. It costs about 200$ for like 4 years, but it's worth it. Why? Well, since you're carrying around that laptop, you're bound to see some wear and tear, and it's good to know you have Apple Care. Apple Care is really great. You just go in and say "0MFG my 1ap70p is !3R0K3N!!!!@@!111" and then just take it and fix it for you, with no questions asked. However, they erase everything on you're drive so backup everything before you go and fix it (small price to pay when getting excellent service).

I can run Guildwars really well on my Macbook. Granted I had to use Bootcamp 1.4 (Free) in order to run my "Barebones Windows XP Pro w/ SP2", which enabled me to run Guildwars.

EDIT: Also I know the Intel GMA x3100 is and Integrated Graphics Card with 64 MB of memory. However, it is the top of the line for Integrated Graphics, or so I hear. Additionally, it will use of additional memory on RAM to increases it's memory up to 144MB as needed. Trust me, I run Guildwars really well on my Macbook.

eh, macs = overpriced

and you can compile programs in windows too :P

I like like Asus G1S-A1, they have a G1S-B1 now though. You might want to wait until like July or August even to buy it. If you buy it before then the price will decrease, or a better on will come out for the same price and you will be kicking yourself in the ass for buying it.

Get one with an integrated GPU, not the onboard crap.

Even a Radeon X1200 or Nvidia 7300 Go is better than the onboard built in crap out there.

I recomend looking for at least a Nvidia 7600, or X1600. If you go Nvidia 8000 series, look 8600 if you can.

I know many people who have had good luck with HP laptops. I know 2 people who have nice Gateway laptops and are quite happy with them.

If you are not interested in playing games at all, you can get the ASUS EEE. Small and portable, should fit your college needs. (This is assuming you are taking a non-engineering/science courses)

Best notebook for a reasonable price is the XPS 1330. Over here you can pick one up an entry spec machine for £500-600.

Checked out the US Dell site $1500 for the 1330! Damn your currency is worthless

I'm a hard core linux user, but I own a mac (for linux and mainstream desktop use), and I dual boot OS X Leopard and Windows XP (the XP partition was made for guild wars). I run GW on full blast (graphics, sound, shading) etc... and it runs smoothly on my Intel Macbook (released 2006).

I'd go with a macbook and dual boot.

Get an Asus or an Acer. I've seen so many Dell's in the shop it's ridiculous. Don't see many Gateways. I've only ever seen one Acer in the entire time working there.

Totally avoid any Mac. For your needs you'll need a Windows based notebook and you'll do a lot better with it. Why do I say that? Well, you can read the full story about Apple Sued Over Deceptive "Millions of Colors" Advertising.

I prefer the new Sony's over acer, toshiba, asus. The one i have is almost 6 months old and i havent got any troubles with it. The screen is just very cool (X-black) and it isnt very expensive. (Around €1100 for a VGN-FZ21E). Standard memery 2GB, 160GB HDD, Geforce 8400GT, CPU Intel Duo Core T7250. The only thing that sucks is that the OS is Vista Home.

Acer build quality can be a bit on/off though. Have a play with one in a store before purchasing.

I got an awesome Zoostorm Laptop, they're a little known company, but their products are top notch, and because they aren't well known their prices are lower.

Current specs of my laptop (i also have a zoostorm pc).

2.0 GHz Intel
2Gig of Ram
Vista Premium
120gig H/D
8600 GT.

Overall this machine rocks for a laptop, and it only cost me £550.

That is cheap. What is their warranty/customer service like?

http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3273

wow this laptop definitely looks nice... hm... lets see what others have to say first

Id get http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834227039

IDK about you, but I had a 15 inch HP gaming laptop. I've found that I didn't need the big screen and full potential graphics card (since the games I played weren't very demanding). I actually found myself really wanting a lighter and smaller laptop to carry around and use in class to take notes. Also, I wanted one that had good battery life. People who usually complain about Mac or Apple computers usually hasn't even used it. Every person I know who bought a Macbook or Macbook Pro or any Apple Computer has never ever been unsatisfied with it. The only downside to MacOSX is that it doesn't support many video games and only video games. You can find great free software to do other things on Mac. The problem of the lack of video games is solved through Bootcamp. Don't be mislead by others saying that Bootcamp has problems or sucks. What Bootcamp basically does is automatically partition your Harddrive and install the nesessary drivers for the hardware on your Apple Computer in Windows. You run Windows natively, so you get the full power of your hardware. I play Guildwars and Wc3 on a daily basis and I never experienced any sort of lag or glitch under Bootcamp, and I use Bootcamp 1.4 because I run Tiger which can only support up to 1.4. If you buy a new Macbook, you automatically get Bootcamp 2.0 which should run much better than 1.4. So, I'm sure if I'm happy with 1.4 you should be with 2.0.

Also, Apple may be overpriced. However, it isn't much and there is specific reason to why Apple is overpriced. It's the quality of Apple Computers and Service. I have a friend who throws around his Macbook Pro and never turns it off (he puts it to sleep) and he has never ever had any problems with it. Sure, Apple computers may get hot. However, what laptop doesn't get hot? Also, Apple computers are astethically (not sure I spelled that correctly) pleasing.

Drool!

If only I didn't have anything better to do with my tax refund...

Yeah, but some people buy Macs to avoid the daily dosage of viruses and crashing that Windows would treat you to. Running Windows via Bootcamp will just give you problems that you may have bought a Mac to ignore.

I bought myself a Sony laptop out of high school and lemme tell you, I am in LOVE with it. I've not yet had a single problem with it AT ALL. Sony VAIO's are highly recommended by me if you want a laptop that will run Guild Wars no problem, but also do everything else you want it to do.

Im not a die hard Dell fan, but I've never experienced any problems with my Dell laptop. Dell seems to have the best prices for medium range gaming laptops. The Vostro can handle everything you need to get done in college. I've had to use mine for presentations and schoolwork and it works just fine. Also it can run most games except Crysis smoothly. My Vostro was $1200 not bad for laptop that can run most games. The only problem I can see is getting the business discount from Dell. However its not so bad it can be easily worked around, just tell your parents to use some billing paper from the company they work for to get the discount.

I love Sony VAIOs too. In fact, my desktop is a Sony VAIO, but i don't think i'll have the money to afford that laptop.

Its more brand name over parts.

If I were to do it again I would just buy a nice desktop computer and then a light smaller cheap laptop for the rare chance that I take it to classes.

I got a Vostro 1500 for 600 bucks last year. It should be cheaper this year.
The config I have is:
e5470
2GB ram
NVidia 8400GS
80GB Hdd
DVD-R
15" 1440X900 monitor

For limited budget, I would say Vostro is pretty good choice. Mine doesn't has any problem but only a little heavy. It's actually a black inspiron 1520 but cheaper.

I've had pretty good luck with Dells so far. I'm currently running an XPS M1710 gaming laptop with 7900GTX video card, and it runs GW in hi-def 1200p glory (1920x1200, 60fps, max settings).

My co-worker managed to pick up a 15" widescreen at www.delloutlet.com for 1k even. This unit was marked scratch/dent but looked completely new out of the box. It came with a 2.0 ghz Core2Duo and nvidia 8600M-GT video card with 256MB discrete memory.

The one problem with the Dell Outlet: You have to be fast and stay on top of what's moving through their queue, or you'll miss out on some really good configs. I was looking at the site last week and found an M1530 with 2.8ghz core2extreme, 200MB 7200 rpm HD, 8600M-GT video, and 3gigs RAM. Price tag was under $2k even. I considered it for a few minutes, then hit the web page refresh button -- someone had already grabbed it.