PokerPacker Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 I know other people have had threads about laptops and stuff, but i wanted my own OK, so here's the deal, i'm looking at a new laptop for college. I'm Majoring in Computer Engineering and they haven't exactly told be the recommended specs for a computer in that class. I'd kinda like to know what kind of specs i should be looking at for that major. Some things that i'm certain about is that it should be running Microsoft Windows XP professional and I want Core 2 duo processors. I'd really like to hear some recommendations from our resident laptop experts as well as other Computer Engineering majors for some help in finding the right laptop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. S Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 how much are you willing to drop? I need a laptop but only for basic functions like Office. I decided on a Dell Inspiron 1520 or something. I guess you'd probably want one of the faster Core 2 Duo processors (like the 7100 or higher) and close to 2 gb of RAM. Maybe you should go for the Dell XPS route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadowplay Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Macbook Pro with Boot Camp. Nuff Said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 According to Consumer Reports the Mac is top, next in line are several Toshibas, the satelite series seems to be very highly rated and quite a bit less expensive. I bought one recently (too new to know if there are any problems) with 2 gigs of Ram and 200 gigs hard drive for only 650. It also had its own dedicated video chip and not an integrated one. Good luck and do your due dilligence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slacky McSlackAss Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Some schools require tablet PCs for engineering. Make sure you get your specs from the school before you buy it. Even then, your first 2 years of Comp Engineering you dont need anything superb, just enough to get basic stuff done. Im going in to my third year of Computer Engineering at Penn State and am yet to use the full ability of my laptop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackest Eyes Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Macbook Pro with Boot Camp. Nuff Said Couldn't have said it better myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 I'm looking to spend probably around $1,300 or less According to Consumer Reports the Mac is top, next in line are several Toshibas, the satelite series seems to be very highly rated and quite a bit less expensive. I bought one recently (too new to know if there are any problems) with 2 gigs of Ram and 200 gigs hard drive for only 650. It also had its own dedicated video chip and not an integrated one. Good luck and do your due dilligence. i noticed the toshibas tended to be cheaper. i was worried there might be a longevity problem with them. i'll have to read some reviews on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjcdaman Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Macbook Pro with Boot Camp. Nuff Said Couldn't have said it better myself. Is there a reason this thread still exists??? :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 Is there a reason this thread still exists??? :laugh: because macs cost more for what you get. It is an absolute necessity that i have XP on my computer to be compatible with the school-systems. so not only will i be paying more for a mac in general, i'll be shelling out even more to buy a copy of XP to have installed on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 Some schools require tablet PCs for engineering. Make sure you get your specs from the school before you buy it. Even then, your first 2 years of Comp Engineering you dont need anything superb, just enough to get basic stuff done. Im going in to my third year of Computer Engineering at Penn State and am yet to use the full ability of my laptop. what kind of system are you using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfitzo53 Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Where are you going to school? Like others have said, I'd check with your school first. If there isn't a "new student" section of the website that has some info, try calling the office of the Engineering department. At this point I wouldn't get anything less than 2 gigs of RAM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 Where are you going to school?Like others have said, I'd check with your school first. If there isn't a "new student" section of the website that has some info, try calling the office of the Engineering department. At this point I wouldn't get anything less than 2 gigs of RAM. I'm going to George Mason. My next step is to contact my course adviser, there are basic minimum specs they have available but they are for students in general. There is a computer school on campus that SHOULD have had information, but of course they were of no help. i figure that Computer Engineering not only will have higher minimum requirements, but i'd rather have at least the recommended specs instead of the bare minimum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slacky McSlackAss Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Im running XP Pro at the moment. 2.16 Ghz Core 2 Duo with 2 GB RAM and a 60GB HD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 Im running XP Pro at the moment. 2.16 Ghz Core 2 Duo with 2 GB RAM and a 60GB HD. who made it and how much did it run you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbooma Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Some schools require tablet PCs for engineering. Make sure you get your specs from the school before you buy it. Even then, your first 2 years of Comp Engineering you dont need anything superb, just enough to get basic stuff done. Im going in to my third year of Computer Engineering at Penn State and am yet to use the full ability of my laptop. If I was going to college today I would get a tablet. The program OneNote has completely changed my ability to organize and just love it We use Fujisu's a little pricey but very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSUHeckler Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 I have a Dell. I heard some people have problems with installing software/printer/other with a Dell, but I have yet to have a problem. You get to pick and choose exactly what you want in them, can get a cheap (Dell) printer to go with it during checkout, and check your school for details, but I know they have discounts for us at Penn State. Check websites too for coupons. Occasionally they'll have crazy rebates or "(buy this computer) get this free, or a free upgrade" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slacky McSlackAss Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Dell Inspiron 6000, MSRP $1700 but i had a $750 coupon. I also had a 256MB NVidia GeForce Video Card put in it as well as a DVD-RW drive. But honestly, these guys are right about the macBooks. ill be buying one in a few months. (Done with XP, giving it to my sister.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergasun Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Troll SlickDeals.net and pick up one of the sub $500 laptops for cheap. Then build your own computer. I don't know why they would *require* you to have a laptop, other than useful to take notes... (well worth the money as you can save and store all your notes... provided you type fast enough). You don't want to pay $$$ for a laptop to compile programs on however. If you get that type of laptop you'll end up wasting a lot of money... who is going to do that stuff on a desktop? So if your budget is $1300... you can get a "good enough" laptop and then build a decent computer... especially with the cheapness of DDR2, and the CPU price cuts coming in July. You would use laptop for whatever utilitarian purposes your school needs... but I really wouldn't waste your money buying one top of the line laptop... I know this is contrary to what people have already said in this thread but think it over... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slacky McSlackAss Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 I have a Dell. I heard some people have problems with installing software/printer/other with a Dell, but I have yet to have a problem. You get to pick and choose exactly what you want in them, can get a cheap (Dell) printer to go with it during checkout, and check your school for details, but I know they have discounts for us at Penn State. Check websites too for coupons. Occasionally they'll have crazy rebates or "(buy this computer) get this free, or a free upgrade" Penn state gave some great deals on laptops, but the save $750 deal was more enticing for me. BTW, PSUHeckler, did you get season tickets? I did 2 full years there and was supposed to go back this fall til my parents decided not to pay the tuition bill. Im gonna miss it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slacky McSlackAss Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Troll SlickDeals.net and pick up one of the sub $500 laptops for cheap. Then build your own computer. I don't know why they would *require* you to have a laptop, other than useful to take notes... (well worth the money as you can save and store all your notes... provided you type fast enough). You don't want to pay $$$ for a laptop to compile programs on however. If you get that type of laptop you'll end up wasting a lot of money... who is going to do that stuff on a desktop? So if your budget is $1300... you can get a "good enough" laptop and then build a decent computer... especially with the cheapness of DDR2, and the CPU price cuts coming in July. You would use laptop for whatever utilitarian purposes your school needs... but I really wouldn't waste your money buying one top of the line laptop... I know this is contrary to what people have already said in this thread but think it over... For the experienced computer user its a perfect option. But for the average person its definitely not something i recommend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSUHeckler Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 BTW, PSUHeckler, did you get season tickets? I did 2 full years there and was supposed to go back this fall til my parents decided not to pay the tuition bill. Im gonna miss it. ****s sold out in 59 min - 21,000 tickets!!! Only 2 of my friends got them. I didn't, and what makes me even more pissed is that people are selling them for $800-$1200 just to make money; not even caring about football. Only goodside if we have a poor season, the prices will drop like crazy. Consider this thread highjacked, haha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slacky McSlackAss Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Most of my friends got them, but luckily there engineering majors so alot of them dont have free time. So i can easily buy them from them for face value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergasun Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 For the experienced computer user its a perfect option. But for the average person its definitely not something i recommend.I thought if he was a Computer Engineer, he would have some interest in building his own computer. I'll just say I think most of the processing power is best when used for games and 3d graphics. I graduated in 2003 (which is light years for computers) and got by with a P3 450 MHz... one of my roomates had a worse computer than me, and the other got something around a 800+ Mhz in 2002 which we thought was the ****. Most of our EE work was done in labs... CS work as lot of it was done from home (with some Unix lab work). I still don't know why they would require labtops... unless there are few labs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 I get what you're saying about buying a cheap-o laptop and building a nice computer, but this is one of the few opportunities i have to get my parents to actually buy me some nice technology. I'm not gonna splurge it on the most expensive thing on the market (yes, macbook fans, that means i'm not getting one of those over-priced machine.) I can guarantee that my dad won't put down money for both a laptop AND a desktop even if the laptop is real cheap. It don't do enough hard-core gaming to make a really nice desktop be worth giving up portability for. the most hardware-intensive game i have is Doom3, which runs just fine on my current system that i built for a grand total of $100 (got most of it free, just bought the graphics card on my own). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjcdaman Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 I get what you're saying about buying a cheap-o laptop and building a nice computer, but this is one of the few opportunities i have to get my parents to actually buy me some nice technology. I'm not gonna splurge it on the most expensive thing on the market (yes, macbook fans, that means i'm not getting one of those over-priced machine.) I can guarantee that my dad won't put down money for both a laptop AND a desktop even if the laptop is real cheap. It don't do enough hard-core gaming to make a really nice desktop be worth giving up portability for. the most hardware-intensive game i have is Doom3, which runs just fine on my current system that i built for a grand total of $100 (got most of it free, just bought the graphics card on my own). Translation: My parents are rich and will give me what I want. I only pretend to be some teenage broke, poor guy cuz it helps my standing on ES. In all honesty, if you would read my last post . . . my dad will give me whatever I want cuz I"m spoon-fed. Doom 3: my Mom bought for me. Grand total of $100 for my "current system"??? I "got most of it free" because my parents paid for it. Okay, I have now told you the truth ES. Just messin' with ya PP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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