Laptop recommendations?

[minnie56]

My DD is heading off to University this fall and we want to get her a laptop. Any suggestions on a good one?

She wants one with long battery life potential, DVD and something called a 'docking port' I think it is? I think that can also be added after?

Hubby doesn't care for Compaq...
All help appreciated!

 

[PoohBWV]

We got our dd a Dell Inspiron 500m. It has a 20GB hard drive, dvd/cd-rw, 48W primary battery etc. She is very very happy with it. Now DH is jealous! LOL. BTW, they were a great company to work with!

 

[DSNY FN]

I had an Inspiron 8000 top of the line Dell notebook and was very unhappy with it felt way to fragile. I have an Acer Travelmate series now and it is great nice and sturdy and a fairly long battery life none of them are going to last an extremely long time especially if you are using the cd rom/DVD drive alot. I would reccomend a Toshiba best warranty in my opinion in case anything does happen or the Acer line probably your best bet as Compaq and HP are one company now.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I have a Dell Inspiron 4100 and it is the best thing i've ever purchased - it was a present to myself for getting into law school. My battery lasts just over 3 hours, so you CAN get good battery life from a laptop. Some of the new Dells have processors that are like regular desktop computers, and thus also have heavy duty batteries to power the computers. What does she need the docking port for? Anyway I would highly recommend Dell. Mine does not feel fragile at all, on the contrary it is quite sturdy. Dell runs weekly/bi-weekly specials and you can sometimes find quite a good deal. For example, I got my CD-ROM upgraded to a DVD-ROM drive. I also got free shipping and a 3 year onsite service warranty for only $11 extra. You can play around with the configurations to get the price you like.

 

[minnie56]

and my knowledge is 'limited' to say the least...that she needs the docking port for a separate keyboard/mouse for when she wants regular use and not everything small...I suppose when typing major assignments etc??

Now...we saw a Toshiba Satellite today...60GB...loads of memory...Intel Pentium processor....wireless keyboard/mouse (i guess that's the docking port thing??

Going back now to have a look with hubby..oh, I hate decisions!
Stay tuned..

 

[DSNY FN]

No need for a docking station all you need is to get a wireless mouse and keyboard one will plu into the PS2 port and the keyboard portion of the reciever will plug into a USB port problem solved no need for docking station. IMHO get the Toshiba the sattelite is nice the Tecra is better

 

[minnie56]

Just back..

We were looking at the Toshiba Satellite 1950 it has the wireless keyboard/mouse
The salesman and my husband advise against it as other laptops, cell phones etc..anything with the same or close frequency can interfere with your laptop signal and send it haywire!
So..we are still looking...

Now totally confused..you see my daughter is entering Engineering and may need to load some pretty hefty programs requiring much memory and good speed, on the other hand, the sales guy warned of rampant theft in University for laptops, so now I am worried! Don't want to set my daughter up for any probs!

Tell me about this Tecra? Who has it? I'm at the point where I am just considering a PC upgrade and nix the laptop.

Thanks again!!

 

[lilsonicfan]

laptops are easily stolen, so your daughter will want to be extra careful with it - ie, don't leave the desk you are studying at in the library even to go to the washroom if your laptop is there.

i have a mouse for mine that just goes into the mouse port (so i don't have to only use the tracking pad, although Dell laptops have tracking pad and the little mouse joystick.) as for keyboards, since my laptop is not that small i have not found it too difficult to use.

if she is not anticipating bringing a computer to class, or studying a lot in the library - ie, she'll be doing a lot at home/in res, i would say that a laptop is not essential. you can do a PC upgrade for much less $, and probably will worry less about theft etc. but, there are ways you can protect your laptop - and of course she should remember to back up all her data as often as possible.

 

[DSNY FN]

To be honest if she is going to be doing some heavy work with the machine a laptop really isn't the way to go they tend to be slower than desktops and yes theft is really bad at University and it isn't usually other students it is others that come into the libraries etc looking to steal them. Very large market for stolen laptops. As for the Tecra it is more a business notebook lots of bells and whistles and usually quite powerful in comparison to the average run of the mill notebook ie (more for power users) also if there is going to be alot of graphics done with the machine you may want to look at a MAC far superior to any PC and yes I am a PC user but if my job warranted it I would own a MAC. You can have a desktop machine built at most reputable shops for well under what it would cost for most laptops and the desktop will by far outperform the laptop even though they may have the same processor speed listed notebooks have what is called speed stepping and if bing used on battery power it cuts processor output and speed by about 1/3 so you really are not getting all the speed and performance you pay for. Even plugged in notebooks are still slower than ther desktop counterparts and yes as you can tell I work with computers everyday building them and repairing them etc so in closing if it isn't necessary to take a notebook to class etc with her just get a good desktop machine and be much happier.

 

[DisneyLisa]

We considered getting DS a laptop last year but decided to see how things went after he got started at WLU. It turned out that he didn't need it for class (he said very few people took them to classes) and he said he was happy not to have a laptop in his room to worry about. Now he was in residence, not apartment style living so that would probably make a difference. He had plenty of room for a desktop & next year he has a huge room so space is not an issue. We asked him a few weeks ago whether or not he wanted a laptop & he said "no thanks...the one I have now is perfect"...so we upgraded the processor & added more memory...just because when I bought my laptop it started a chain of upgrades on the 5 computers in our house (yes, each member has his/her own computer...we're a techie household )

I, on the other hand, just bought my first laptop 2 weeks ago, and as DSNY FN said, it's definitely slower than my desktop, even though it's almost double the processor speed. I was a little frustrated at first but I'm getting use to it now. I wanted it for convenience for my business (real estate) and also to have when I go to Waterloo to pick-up/drop-off/visit DS. ...the friend that I stay with doesn't have a computer ...how can you live without a computer I ask?

There are a few things I prefer about the laptop but more that I prefer about a desktop, so if portability is not an issue...I'd go with a desktop...cheaper & faster. When I'm at home, I attach my regular keyboard & I have a cordless mouse...can't get used to that mouse-pad thingy but I guess it just takes practice. . I'm planning to take it to WDW so I can give you guys "live updates" when I'm there.

I bought an HP by the way and am very pleased with it.

 

[minnie56]

So many people here and on the community (so largely U.S folks) have recommended Dell.

But my DD's Computer teacher advised against them specifically as he said they used inferior components necessitating many upgrades to bring it up to par.He supported IBM...HP and Toshiba.

But so many have told of their satisfaction with Dell and they have some attractive buys on at the moment...

What to do..You hear so many different opinions it's hard to know what to do.We do know she needs a lot of GB as she likes to load computer games as well (optimistic she'll have the time) so we need something gutsy..but beyond that, we really are stumped.

 

[DisneyLisa]

My HP came with a 60G hard drive.

 

[DSNY FN]

If she is a gamer of any level and needs a large HDD get a desktop and do not get a DELL of any type we have had over 50 dells in the store all needing repair or upgrade and as for upgrading them they are hard to get parts for. The problem being is they are going the way of IBM and the suck from the past all parts are to be Dell specific thus a larger cost for upgrade components. These Dell machines are all less than 3 months old to and the people that purchased them have all been very unsatisfied with the customer service and lack of compatability they are getting with the machine. Plus if you own a digital camera as many people do the biggest machine incompatability we hear of from all our digital camera suppliers is the Dell just not a good fit for some reason the Dell doesn't agree with most every digital camera.

 

[minnie56]

The plot thickens...

 

[lilsonicfan]

Well, my Dell has needed no repairs or upgrades in the 10 months i've owned it. And it works fine with my digital camera, which is a Kodak. My friend's Dell works perfectly with her Canon digital camera. Go figure. I think you'll hear these same stories with any laptop manufacturer, so maybe it's just a question of what you prefer the most. Mine has a Pentium-M 4 processor at 1.7 GHz, 30 GB hard drive (option to upgrade at time of purchase), 256 Mb DDRAM, anyway..... it's TONS faster than my desktop. dunno what that teacher meant about "upgrades to bring it up to par" - seems fairly on par for me.

i have a 3 year warranty, so if i experienced problems, i'd call Dell and have them send someone out right away rather than bringing it to a computer store... so i'm not sure why people with 3 month old Dells need such vast repairs. I have heard that some ppl experience trouble with Dell customer service, but i've had good experiences so far.

 

[whtyger97]

just some info -
- hp and compaq merged so regardless which name in on the computer its the same company now

-about inferior parts - i find that to be more true of desktop computers then laptops, the reason alot of desktop computers are inferior is because the sound, video, and other parts are intergrated into the motherboard, making them hard to update, and generally a lessor quality (but not necessarily) on a laptop these parts basicly have to be intergrated for space issues. I know several ppl with dell laptops, and they are really nice, but you get what you pay for and they tend to be more expensive then a hp (or other brand).

-Laptops can be very fragile, within the first year of owning ours we had 2 accidents. The first was beer spilled on the keyboard, the cost of the keyboard itself was $100 and they wanted another $100 to install it (we did it ourselves, but your average computer user wouldn't). The second was a slip picking it up, it dropped about 2 inches jamming the wireless card into the pcmia slot. We had to take the computer apart and clean it out before it would boot again and we still haven't been able to replace the pcmia slot.

My advice is if she NEEDS the portability of a laptop go for it, but if its space issues, look at flat pannels, and maybe see if a local computer shop could build you a micro atx computer. If performace is king, again try a local computer shop, or build it yourself.

 

[minnie56]

Where's IBM?? Weren't they the best at one time??