Laptop Recommendation

[MJOLNIR]

I want to say what I'm looking for in a laptop and get input from the W7 community on what I should buy. I'm not that brand specific, but usually I buy from Dell.

I already have a home laptop, and it's sure to stay home even though I know it's meant to be portable, but I want it to be home-exclusive.

Now I want a laptop mainly for college, since I'm going to be there for a few more years. This laptop could also be work-related, if I get a job that requires the use of a laptop. Some occupations even provide you with them, but I'm guessing not all. This laptop would then be for that, but mainly like I said, for college.

If it helps, I'm an Information Systems major, which is pretty much business but focuses on using computers.

I'm not sure what kind to get, a "home" or "business" laptop. I'd prefer something about 15" screen-wize. Aspect ratio isn't a big concern since I'd imagine widescreen and fullscreen makes no difference when you're not using it for entertainment and for school/work instead. Widescreen you'd want on a home entertainment laptop for watching things. I also think 4:3 is the usual business display. So you could say I'm stuck between a home and business laptop. Only reason being, I notice a trend where a home laptop is the usual choice for a back-to-school or college laptop. I see that people combine their activities into one home laptop and making it multi-purpose, as in, they would use it for watching movies, playing games, and at the same time, learning and using it in school. I personally want to keep them separate and not be carrying my home laptop all over the place, despite the higher cost. I pretty much see it as my home TV and gaming consoles in a way.

Thanks for any help.

 

[TrainableMan]

Everything is widescreen these days; nothing 4:3, any laptop you could find that wasn't is too old to want.

screen 17 or 15.6, 4GB, i5 or i3, 500GB HD or better, biggest battery you can find, wifi-n/wifi n w/ bluetooth is even better, a minimum of 3 USB ports, HDMI port, esata or USB 3 port, case either buy with or after market

 

[Nibiru2012]

1. Stay away from DELL, their customer service is horrible and their computers aren't too good either. Toshiba, Acer, Sony Vaio or Lenovo are all excellent notebook computers.

2. There really isn't much difference between a "home" notebook or a "business" notebook, except for the number of applications installed. Usually the hardware is the same. Also nearly all notebooks configured to the end-user's personal tastes.

3. Since you're an Information Systems major, it would probably be best to follow the Trainable Man's recommendations. Those are spot on IMHO.

 

[TrainableMan]

You might check out this article regarding Dell from a year ago. It doesn't mean they haven't improved or that their new machines are faulty but it's quite possible Dell won't help you even if they know their machine is bad.

 

[MJOLNIR]

Well I'll say one thing, HDMI, any HD bigger than than double digit GBs, bluetooth etc. I'm not going to use. I just want one that is about 15", internet that isn't intolerably slow, some version of Windows 7, and...I think that's it. I guess I can just go for a base model of something.

Thanks for the home and business laptop bit. Appearance-wise I prefer business laptops since they have a stronger build and have less curves in general (I hate displays with rounded corners for some reason, doesn't seem to fit with the rectangular display). Also I disagree about the aspect ratio. Apparently there are a lot of business ThinkPads that are 4:3 so it's not an outdated thing. Aspect ratio is just as new/obsolete as screen size, they don't become obsolete. 16:9 is mainly an entertainment display and I believe that's why it was even invented.

Finally what's trainable man?

 

[TrainableMan]

The bluetooth is nice for adding an external mouse/keyboard but as I said it's optional.

You said it was for possible future business use - if you ever need to put on a presentation etc you can easily plug an HDMI cable into your laptop and show it on a big monitor so I stand by my recommendation.

You won't even find a new laptop under 250GB HD, many are 320GB and as I said 500GB is the minimum I would want any more. I think you are naive about the space requirements if you think 100GB is enough.

TrainableMan is a play on words. The humorous meaning is that I am the world's first man that can be trained, implying "by the right woman". It has a dual meaning because I also collect and occasionally sell miniature HO-scale trains. My avatar is a picture of the pride of my collection: The Mark Twain Pioneer Zephyr from Samhungsa.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Some things you should note, plus do your homework on Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks, you may learn a thing or two.

1. ALL ThinkPads come in Widescreen format now, the 4;3 aspect ratio is a thing of the past as no one want them anymore, no demand so therefore they're not being offered or built at all.

2. Internet speed is a function of the LAN port and wireless card in the notebook. All can handle 54 Mbps, which is way faster that nearly all IP connections available today except for a few fiber optic connections. Having adequate RAM is the biggest help for a speedy internet session or browsing.

3. Even the base models of the Lenovo ThinkPad have more features than what you claim you desire.

See this product specs PDF: http://shop.lenovo.com/us/ww/pdf/t420_t520_datasheet.pdf

 

[Kougar]

Latops are a peculiar thing... I own a Dell notebook, so I can't comment on Lenovo's or many others. As for that link... that's the same old case from 2003-2005 given in that link, and Dell was just one of many OEMs afflicted with bad caps. Of course their trying to cover it up was despicable, but all of that happened over six years ago and was regarding desktops. I never had any issues getting them to repair my laptop. To be honest I don't think anyone's laptops are particularly well built except maybe the Macbooks, but those tend to cost exceedingly much for it. A person could buy two regular laptops for the same price as the Macbook Pros.

I've been looking at some laptops recently, I really don't like how HP turned the touchpad into a physical left-click button on many models, but that might be me. The battery life figures on the Dell 15 and 15z both are really good, and the 15z is probably the closest thing to a Macbook around, although it runs a little more than the vanilla 15 model because of it.

Either way as Nibiru has said, don't worry about aspect ratio. Almost every laptop should be 16:9 these days, a few are still 16:10. The laptop's LCD resolution is more important.

There isn't much difference between "home" and "business" laptops other than the business models sometimes have better build quality. Off the top of my head, I'd say any business laptop can perform the same functions as a home laptop. Overall, the hardware inside is more important.

You need to figure out what the laptop's main use will be for, then spec it accordingly to match. For example, if you're still going to use a desktop PC then you don't need a beefy or tricked out notebook... usually saves ya a few and you can get a machine with much better battery life that is nicer to cart around.

 

[TrainableMan]

I really don't like how HP turned the touchpad into a physical left-click button on many models, but that might be me.

If you are referring to double-tap working the same as a left click then my nephews eMachine had this same feature and it was easily disabled in settings ... but it was driving me nuts until I realized I could turn it off.

 

[MJOLNIR]

Well the only reason I wasn't looking for much in the laptop was because it was only going to be for school and possible a future job in IT/IS. How much features would you really need? I admit though the bluetooth and HDMI would be pretty handy, but can someone tell why I would need over 300 GB of memory? One of the biggest things I can think of in bit size are HD movies and games, which will not be part of this laptop. Heck I won't have music on it.

 

[clifford_cooley]

can someone tell why I would need over 300 GB of memory?

I think you mean 300GB of storage.

If you are not thinking of using the Notebook for any kind of data storage, you could easily get by with a 60 GB Hard Drive.

 

[MJOLNIR]

Well yeah, I'm using memory as the amount of data it can hold, sorry.

And well it will store files, but I imagine they'll be mostly MS office files, which are...a few KBs?

Heck, I never even came close to filling up my 2 GB flashdrive for school, and I've been in college for over 4 years.

 

[TrainableMan]

Maybe you can find someone that will replace the 320GB harddrive which is pretty much the minimum you will find in a laptop ordered new today and replace it with a 60GB SSD. That would make it faster and cooler and smaller; the first 2 are good qualities and the last should make you happy.

It is your machine; do whatever you want. You asked for recommendations, which is an opinion not a fact, so we gave them and then you tell us we are wrong so why did you ask us in the first place?

My new recommendation is you should find a notebook with orange monochrome display w/ 4:3 AR, a 20GB HD, 128KB ram, and a built-in 14.4 modem. Best of luck with that networking.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Well, then in order to meet your specifications for a notebook computer. Just go on eBay and buy an old eMachines from 2003.

 

[Kougar]

MJOLNIR, I do agree I have no need for much space on my laptop drive, seeing drive capacities these days just makes me shake my head as my laptop is 60GB. I store my data on my desktop and have it backed up to my NAS.

Still, you aren't going to find small drives, as Trainable man has said 320GB is pretty much the "min" spec these days. As he suggests an SSD would suit your needs fine given the small size isn't an issue. Given your requirements you should probably focus on a laptop with good portability and battery life foremost.

If you are referring to double-tap working the same as a left click then my nephews eMachine had this same feature and it was easily disabled in settings ... but it was driving me nuts until I realized I could turn it off.

Nope, I use the double-tap on my touchpad. The HP touchpad I am thinking of is a giant physical, clickable button. Depressing the topleft corner "clicks" the mouse, or can be used to turn the touchpad on and off. It's not a software click, it's a physical button which is the distinction I'm trying to make! Really really annoying, because if it was software I could modify or disable it. Instead, the entire top-left corner of the touchpad actually clicks and depresses like a left-click button on a mouse.