laptop needed for college

DarthJonny

DarthJonny

New Member
so i need a laptop for college, manily cause i cant carry around my huge desktop every where:P
it needs to be windows because the programs im gona be using are windows based, at this point i dont know what programs i will be using exactly but i know there will be alot of 3d design and stuff like that.
this is the requirments the school says i need:

Minimum of 2.x
Core 2 Duo processor or AMD Equivalent
(Intel Virtualization Technology-x or AMD-Virtualization enabled)
4GB ram
min. 120 GB hard drive
256 MB video ram

i wll be using this laptop for atleast 3 years. so i think ill need a bit more power than the schools recomondation.
would like it to be a decent size (atleast 15")
i light up keyboard would be awsome but not really needed :P
also my absolute max spending limit would be 2 grand but would like to go cheaper, maybe around 1500?

anyways thanx in advance for your help :)
 
Minimum of 2.x
Core 2 Duo processor or AMD Equivalent
(Intel Virtualization Technology-x or AMD-Virtualization enabled)
4GB ram
min. 120 GB hard drive
256 MB video ram
Click to expand...

Holy $h!t - are they gonna pay for it? What school is this and what are you studying!?

I'd be infuriated if those were the requirements for my laptop at the school I went to - I didn't even have one when I was in college until my senior year b/c I couldn't afford it! And I was a computer science major!

Anyway - if you've got the $$$ more power to you - I'm sure you can get a very nice machine for $1500-$2000 - beyond the reqs posted - but that's a pretty tall order for where I come from.
 
im doing mechanical engineering, the school used to provide laptops but there were problems with too many students bringing their own or something so they were just like screw it everybody buys their own. ya it required for my program too, i was pissed cause i just spent almost 3 grand on my desktop :(
 
ya it required for my program too, i was pissed cause i just spent almost 3 grand on my desktop
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I'd get a dolly and a generator and tote that sucker around - that'd blow their mind! :P :D :cool:

"How's this for mechanical-engineering, bitches!"
badass_smiley.png
 
I'd suggest customizing a Dell Latitude. I like the E6500 series myself, as that's what I have for college. They are extremely reliable and come with a standard 3 year warranty. They also have the option for a backlit keyboard ;)

Mine is a little less than a year old, but I got:
C2D 2.40Ghz
4GB RAM
250GB HDD
nVidia Quatro 160M
Vista Business with XP Pro downgrade

Oh, and the 9-Cell battery :D

It performs really nice. When I saw they made backlit keyboards for them (mine didn't have the option) I just went on eBay and ordered one.

http://www.dell.com/us/en/business/...04&~oid=us~en~4~laptop_latitude_e6500_anav1~~
 
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I think this notebook is the best one and price isnt so big.
ACER AS5940G-724G50WN
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium , Intel® Core™ i7 processor 720QM(1.6GHz, 1333 MHz FSB), 4GB Memory, 500 GB HDD, 15.6" HD Acer CineCrystal™ LED LCD, Blu-ray Disc™/ Blu-ray Writer /Super-Multi DL combo drive, ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4650 (1GB DDR3 Memory), Multi-in-1 card reader, Acer Nplify™802.11a/b/g/n, Acer Crystal Eye HD webcam ,Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR, Acer fingerprint reader
good luck
 
tsameti said:
I think this notebook is the best one and price isnt so big.
ACER AS5940G-724G50WN
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium , Intel® Core™ i7 processor 720QM(1.6GHz, 1333 MHz FSB), 4GB Memory, 500 GB HDD, 15.6" HD Acer CineCrystal™ LED LCD, Blu-ray Disc™/ Blu-ray Writer /Super-Multi DL combo drive, ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4650 (1GB DDR3 Memory), Multi-in-1 card reader, Acer Nplify™802.11a/b/g/n, Acer Crystal Eye HD webcam ,Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR, Acer fingerprint reader
good luck
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Acer = junk

If you need a laptop for college I wouldn't rely on an Acer.
 
my dad has an acer, i dont really like it.
the asus laptops look really cool. especially the G73JH
http://ca.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=8je5Ot4HBnKOdT81

i think a gaming laptop would be a better choice then i dont have to worry about the specs cause they will be well above what the college recomends even if they change.
and i game alot on my desktop so it would be nice to be able to take some of my games with me
 
Asus for sure, though not the one compp posted. This would be great:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220700

That will handle most games wonderfully, and make short work of any CAD software. The screen is 1080p, which is awesome for a laptop no matter what you're doing.



edit: If you can get hold of a Sager, that would be even better, but the're only sold in the States. As I understand, ordering from PCTorque.com makes it a bit easier as they ship by air. This would be good:

http://www.pctorque.com/sager-8690-gaming-computers.php

If you grab it, stay with the 5870 for the GPU, and make sre to get the 1920x1080 screen. This thing is a monster.
 
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I assume you are going to use the Autodesk products, civil, viz, inventor, etc etc?

Don't get a Dell. I say get an Asus or a Lenovo. Go business class if you can, that is what an engineering firm would give you once you get out in the real world.

Look for any laptops that support the quadro video chipsets from Nvidia, as they are designed specifically for this sort of thing. They don't play games that well though, but this is for college and not for video games right?:D
 
^ Actually, the part about the games is usually a myth...it's been a while since the desktop and workstation versions varied by that much. That was back before the Geforce2 line, IIRC. Usually the workstation card is identical to the desktop version, but with a few more features that make them awesome at CAD. The notebook versions are damned expensive though...$3K at least.

I agree with you (for once :P) on Asus and Lenovo, though..they make some of the highest quality notebooks on the market for field work.

edit: If it's 3D, he'll probably be using SolidWorks as much as any Autodesk products. SW is awesome...MUCH better than inventor.
 
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Drenlin said:
^ Actually, the part about the games is usually a myth...it's been a while since the desktop and workstation versions varied by that much. That was back before the Geforce2 line, IIRC. Usually the workstation card is identical to the desktop version, but with a few more features that make them awesome at CAD. The notebook versions are damned expensive though...$3K at least.

I agree with you (for once :P) on Asus and Lenovo, though..they make some of the highest quality notebooks on the market for field work.

edit: If it's 3D, he'll probably be using SolidWorks as much as any Autodesk products. SW is awesome...MUCH better than inventor.
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Quadro cards suck at gaming compared to gaming cards, that is why Nvidia makes the two separate lines of cards. Quadro cards are built for rendering and 3D work, not built for pumping out frames per a second. I am not even sure if they put quadro cards in laptops though.
 
tlarkin said:
Quadro cards suck at gaming compared to gaming cards, that is why Nvidia makes the two separate lines of cards. Quadro cards are built for rendering and 3D work, not built for pumping out frames per a second. I am not even sure if they put quadro cards in laptops though.
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They put them in high-end workstation laptops like the Dell Precision series, though you do pay through the nose for the privilege!
 
tlarkin said:
Quadro cards suck at gaming compared to gaming cards, that is why Nvidia makes the two separate lines of cards. Quadro cards are built for rendering and 3D work, not built for pumping out frames per a second. I am not even sure if they put quadro cards in laptops though.
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The cards game just fine, with the Quadro cards you are paying for the drivers to support CAD work as well as the extra vram on the cards. And yes, they do put quadro cards in laptops, Dell makes some nice business notebooks with them:
http://www.dell.com/us/en/business/notebooks/precnnb/ct.aspx?refid=precnnb&s=bsd&cs=04&ref=lthp

Toshiba and Lenovo also put out laptops with quadro graphics:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114854
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146730 (I prefer lenovo myself)
 
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Game just fine to who's standards? Quadros are built for rendering and have built in firmware level support for things like CAD, Maya, 3DsMax, etc etc. You're not going to go out and buy a Quadro card to play games on.
 
tlarkin said:
Quadro cards suck at gaming compared to gaming cards, that is why Nvidia makes the two separate lines of cards. Quadro cards are built for rendering and 3D work, not built for pumping out frames per a second. I am not even sure if they put quadro cards in laptops though.
Click to expand...

I can game perfectly fine with the Quadro 160M in my Latitude.
 
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