get a lenovo thinkpad sl300 or something.
13.3" 4.5lbs core 2 duo 2.0ghz
1gb ram self upgrade to 3gb
LED screen
webcam
decent graphic card 9300
all for less than 710 already with tax included.
just got to find the right coupon and they always have 20% off coupon everytime
also you probably can get microsoft office for free if your sch provide them
at the moment i post this, i do so from a 2 year old Gateway M series. i mean im no tech god by any means… i just need something future ready, somehting that will last, ect. i had a wonderful exp with Dell while in college, i have just heard iffy things about the nVIDIA GPU overheating in the XPS series.
As for apple… yeah very nice computers, but out of my price range for sure 
plus. i dont know that i would want to teach myself an entirely new OS before school (yes i know you can upload a windows of sorts).
the problem is that the market is so saturated! there are TONS of options for everything. im NOT a gamer, but i do enjoy a nice screen, a nice keyboard, connectivity options, warranty. those are my quirks.
unfortunatly i dont believe my school provides software for students.
ive been seriously researching laptops for months now haha
seriously, get a dell studio from delloutlet.com
I would definitely go with a dell studio 15 (17’s pretty bulky), or a lenovo T400/T500, or Ideapad 5XX/4XX.
Wait for coupons for either, they will come up and will save you money.
Warranty support for dell and lenovo are very comparable, we use both for our business. The dells are a bit cheaper for the same specs, but the product is also a bit cheaper feeling and performing.
edit: buying your own ram from tigerdirect/newegg/cdw will be cheaper than buying from the manufacturer, so don’t be too concerned with what it comes with from the MFG. You can upgrade to 4GB for ~$40 in most cases which is the max you can use without going 64bit
thts another good issue to question… vista 32bit vs 64bit. though i suppose i might derail my own thread…
lol, honestly for normal office apps like you are going to use it for 64bit is not needed, but it also wont hurt. if you get a good deal go 64bit, all though its likely you wont even have any 64bit apps.
IMO, stick to dell/lenovo, find a good deal on some of the laptops i listed and you will be happy. Keep an eye out on slickdeals.net, and techbargains.com, they actively post current coupons.
edit: i used to say stay XP, i finally went back to using vista again on the new laptop i picked up a few weeks ago and vista 64bit has been extremely stable. I abandoned it a while back (pre service pack 1)… but it seems to be pretty decent now.
there is currently $250 off a studio 15 $1099+ coupon:
Dell Home Coupon $250 off Dell Studio 15 Laptops $1099+ Coupon Code: 0TT7M$DD72RV37
if you specced out a $1099 studio 15 it would be pretty much fully loaded.
As far as lenovo:
Lenovo coupon USPMADNESSDEAL [Exp. 04/06] for:
yeah its loaded, but you throw that warranty on there with ms office… haha someone teach me to torrent
i do miss my dell. ill see what i see. are you not a fan of the xps series? the studio only comes in 15 and 17
My dell studio came with vista 32x… but also came with 4gb of ram.
so, I just downloaded a copy of vista 64x, installed it using my existing windows key (it’s still home premium, regardless of what bit), updated my drivers (all the 64x drivers are available on dell.com) and BAM. works great.
watch slickdeals.net and techbargains.com
There are usually WAY better deals on there.
I just bought a intel dual core machine with a 22 inch lcd (desktop) for 450 bucks. Its stupid what dell is selling them for now.
So much HP hate. If you get a decent model (8510w here) they are incredible.
Dell’s feel so plastic and cheap. The only model I ever liked was the m1330.
I didn’t see your needs but if all you plan to do is browse the Internet, listen to music, write papers, and do no gaming seriously just get a Macbook. Especially from CamaroJoe’s discount sales going on now.
HP Fucking Sucks. BAD. I bought my sis a new one 4 months ago. HD took a shit.
Friends 3 month old had intermittent screen issues.
Another friends 1 year old totally failed. The motherboard overheated and fried. Common problem that HP extended the warantee for… only if you took the time to research.
Dells are built cheap and flimsy. Had one.
Lots of features and pretty is worth nothing is it doesnt work.
They are having a sale. Get an Ideabook. LED screen and quality that lasts.
can i ask a general question? i look up lenovo (and fujitsu while im at it) and the processors are SO low compared to alot of others. (1.6g vs say 2.0). why? a better combo of ram and hd? the ram combos are lower as well. and from the bench mark tests i see…much lower scores than MANY other comparable models. but the cost is high. starting at 12 or 1300
Just remember ram and hard drive upgrades are dirt cheap. Figure $150 will get you a 320GB 7200rpm hard drive and 4 GB ram (from Newegg).
Go out and try something you like the screen and body on since those are the fundamentals of a laptop you don’t upgrade.
Maybe HP’s home based laptops are shittier than their business based ones, but we switched from Dell to HP and couldn’t be happier all our 8510w’s have been solid. No issues here. One of our guys spilled coffee on the laptop and fried the motherboard and even though it was user error they still fixed it free of charge for us (but we also have given them like 100k+ in laptops the past year so they should)
I know plenty of people with a positive hp experience. :shrug: My only complaint is they put a lot of bullshit on that you have to uninstall but that’s not such a big deal. I love the feel of the keys on my hp, and having a number pad is a big plus in my book.
the impression i get is that there are two camps
1- people who like their laptops, LOOOOOVE their laptops and are fiercely dedicated
2- people who have had a negative experience, and will forever hate the brand
Oh, I totally agree on that, but what big business (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc) don’t install 50,000 bullshit items by default.
I wipe every new laptop first anyways and then install our image on it to get rid of all the bullshit that come pre-installed.
A hard drive failing has nothing to do with the company. It’s probably a Fujitsu or something. Believe it or not hard drives DON’T last forever, so that’s not necessarily HPs fault. Some laptops will overheat if not vented properly…most often caused by a user and is no fault to the laptop manufacturer. My girlfriends laptop is a Dell and going on probably 4 years old…works great.
If you (anyone in general) can’t take care of a laptop don’t get one. I have an HP laptop and haven’t had any problems with it.
There are just certain models that are qualified pieces of shit 
and then other models that are solid. Each company has each.
Hey Retard. READING COMPREHENSION.
What part of Common Problem did you not understand?
If you lack the intellect to understand what you read then you are too stupid to offer advice.