Need help on choosing a new laptop.

[Haxxors]

College starts for me on the 23rd of September and I need to get a laptop mostly because of the invaluable convenience of having one while in college.

I'm looking for something that I will be able to write my papers on, but also be able to play upcoming games such as Diablo 3 and SC2.

Any ideas?

 

[Tru_Power22]

What's your price range?

 

[Haxxors]

700-1000$

I was chatting with a sales rep from Dell (I know I know) about finding a laptop for school and for gaming and this is what she recommended.

Intel core 2 duo 7350 processor
4 GB memory
320 GB hard drive
512MB 4570 ATI video card (Dedicated)
Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, excel
CD/DvD burner
2 year warranty
Windows Vista home Premium operating system

All for 929$. This looks good to me, and these specs look like it will be able to run things like SC2 very nicely when it comes out.

I know it is a dell though :/

What do you guys think?

 

[Slapshot136]

what's the size and screen resolution?
id compare it to this

pros:
$30
fingerprint reader
bluetooth
better graphics card
ddr3 memory

cons:
slightly weaker CPU
70GB of HD space, but probably faster (7200 rpm), since they dident specify, id guess the dell's would be 5400
no MS office, but you can buy the ultimate version for $60 as a student here, or just go with open office

 

[Haxxors]

what's the size and screen resolution?
id compare it to this

pros:
$30
fingerprint reader
bluetooth
better graphics card
ddr3 memory

cons:
slightly weaker CPU
70GB of HD space, but probably faster (7200 rpm), since they dident specify, id guess the dell's would be 5400
no MS office, but you can buy the ultimate version for $60 as a student here, or just go with open office

Im not sure about the size and resolution, that really doesn't matter much to me.

If I did buy the one you linked i'd spend the 30bucks to upgrade the hard drive to 500GB 5400rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive . So the price would be the same.

I'm thinking the orignial one is still better because I can get Microsoft Word included in the price.

However, If I used the open office program, would the specs of the computer you linked me be superior to the specs of the one that I asked about?

How much difference is there between the two of them performance wise?

 

[Slapshot136]

the one i linked you to is better on average, and try open office and see if you really need to buy MS office (you can have them both installed on the computer your using right now, it does pretty much everything MS office does (atleast as far as word, powerpoint, and excel))

the dell is weaker as far as gaming goes, and both of them are more then plenty for word/email/etc, and the dell is slightly better at converting/compressing/etc. for media-related stuff

unless you really need that extra space i dont think it's worth getting a 5400 drive when you could have a 7200 one, especially if you plan on playing games on it, it's generally a lot cheaper + better to just have more space on a desktop and save more stuff there

 

[Haxxors]

Ok so really unless I absolutely want to have the Microsoft word I should just go with the one that you linked me and use open office?

Do you know of any other laptops that are comparable (of course slightly worse) to the one you linked me that I could get for any cheaper?

I'm not a max out graphics kinda guy and I have no problems playing WoW or SC2 or Diablo 3 on the lowest settings provided I get 30+FPS.

 

[Tru_Power22]

Look at:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220565
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834147919

Both of those are pushing the 1000$ dollar mark, but they have great video cards, and a good amount of ram.

 

[Slapshot136]

for $800 is probably go with this and then go over to msdnaa for a copy of windows

 

[Icyculyr]

Hey, I always recommend Mac, Apple have a back to school deal on Macs such as MacBook Pro's and MacBook's (others too),
so I think you get some cash off and apparently you get a free iPod Touch too, although I've not read the fine print, might wanna have a look?

It looks like you get $200 off the MacBook Pro, which I'd say is a nice deal. Not sure if you qualify for this or not.

Here is the link. Looks pretty nice to me.

This is almost the cheapest setting @ $1299 with (not including rebate):

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.26GHz Processor, 4GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM
GeForce 9400M 256MB graphics card, 160GB 5400 rpm hard drive,
and a 13 inch screen.

You can look at more detailed specs of everything included with the Mac here: mac tech specs

NOTE: offer ends 9/8

Apparently you buy the Mac & iPod then submit some form for a rebate or something :O

PS I might add, you'll either have to buy Mac versions of the games, or dual boot into Windows XP/Vista
(or 7 when it's released) to play them, which I recommend you have at least 300GB+ storage for having enough room on Windows)