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Laptop for College

post #1 of 3
7/17/12 at 11:49pm
Thread Starter 
I will be starting College in the fall and need a computer for school. Unfortunately I have next to no experience with laptop buying and would appreciate some help.

The school recommended that the laptop have a Four year warranty with accidental coverage.

I only have a few requests for the computer,
-SSD boot drive
-A great screen
-Gaming ability
-Good amount of Ram

Thanks for the help.

EDIT: There has been two laptops I have been looking at, the Lenovo Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 and the Clevo/Sager NP6165 if this helps at all.
Edited by Bullet Oracle - 7/17/12 at 11:54pm
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post #2 of 3
7/18/12 at 7:01am
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Just a little general support on a laptop for college (because I don't follow models, etc on laptops):

1) If you plan to bring it to class, you will care more about how big the laptop is than how heavy it is. An extra couple pounds won't bother you as much as it being 3" thick, asymmetrical and 18" diagonally.

2) Battery life is your friend; people always overlook battery life on their laptop and essentially just end up with a mobile desktop because they always have to be plugged in. If you don't care about being tethered to a wall, don't worry about this point - but again, a lot of college class rooms have poorly located power outlets and taking it to class will be harder.

3) Accidental damage warranties are your friend. At the end of the warranty, a lot of people drop them intentionally just to get a new laptop for the cost of the warranty - even if you don't do this (because you have integrity) that warranty is your friend because it's not usually you who will break your laptop (after years of working in Geek Squad I can tell you this for a fact). If it does break, all you tell them is "I dropped it" or "it got wet" and do not elaborate about anything if you can avoid it. These warranties can have some ridiculous loop-holes in them and you don't want to get caught in one.
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post #3 of 3
7/18/12 at 7:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CTRLurself View Post

Just a little general support on a laptop for college (because I don't follow models, etc on laptops):
1) If you plan to bring it to class, you will care more about how big the laptop is than how heavy it is. An extra couple pounds won't bother you as much as it being 3" thick, asymmetrical and 18" diagonally.
2) Battery life is your friend; people always overlook battery life on their laptop and essentially just end up with a mobile desktop because they always have to be plugged in. If you don't care about being tethered to a wall, don't worry about this point - but again, a lot of college class rooms have poorly located power outlets and taking it to class will be harder.
3) Accidental damage warranties are your friend. At the end of the warranty, a lot of people drop them intentionally just to get a new laptop for the cost of the warranty - even if you don't do this (because you have integrity) that warranty is your friend because it's not usually you who will break your laptop (after years of working in Geek Squad I can tell you this for a fact). If it does break, all you tell them is "I dropped it" or "it got wet" and do not elaborate about anything if you can avoid it. These warranties can have some ridiculous loop-holes in them and you don't want to get caught in one.

All good suggestions. I have a Lenovo Thinkpad, and it is very well-built, quick, and I've had no complaints whatsoever. Sager also has a great reputation, though I have no personal experience. It may be a cheaper option to find a laptop with a normal HDD and buy your own SSD, and use the HDD as an external you can leave at your desk.

Battery life is HUGE. If you want it to actually be a laptop, you will want a minimum of about 6-8 hours of battery life, and it will hopefully last for 3-4 when you actually use it for things.
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Stack Master
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I Can Totally Play Games...
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pow3rtr1p's Closet-Cleaning Audio Sale
$3.50 (USD) or best offer
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Rana 425 x3 (x4 @ 3.01GHz) Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 Gigabyte 560ti 448-Core 4x4GB Patriot Gamer 2 Div. 4 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOS
Western Digital 640GB Caviar Black Western Digital 160GB Velociraptor Western Digital 160GB Velociraptor Windows 8 Release Preview 
MonitorKeyboardPowerCase
Samsung 1600x1200 20.1" Microsoft  Corsair GS600 Cooler Master Stacker 832 
MouseMouse Pad
Logitech MX518 Icemat  
View all
CPUGraphicsRAMHard Drive
AMD E-350  AMD HD6310  2x2GB DDR3 1333 320GB 5400 RPM 
OSMonitorCaseMouse
Crunchbang 10 / Ubuntu Studio 12.04 xfce 11.6" 1366x768 Lenovo X120e 11.6" Notebook Razer Abyssus 
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