college laptops

[footbal07]

next spring i am going to go off to college. i have been looking at picking up a lightweight laptop for some time now and i am wondering if there is going to be anything new for laptops in the next year that would justify waiting. right now i am looking at a 12 inch ibook or a similarly configured pentium m dorthan. would i be best just buying one now or is there any new technologies that would be worth waiting for. i do not plan to spend over 1500 and will be using it for movies/video, along with general usage. batterylife and portability are my main concerns.

 

[wisdomtooth]

Whether or not new things come out next spring, you should wait until you matriculate before you buy, because then you should be eligible for educational discounts offered through your college. Depending on the school, some can typically save you a few hundred bucks when buying a laptop.

My Thinkpad T41 when I bought it last year would have cost me $2000. Got it with my educational discount for $1600.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If you're willing to wait for a year, wait until the next awesome dell laptop deal comes (christmas?)

Just wait until there's some insane $700 or $800 off deal and get a really nice one.

I've found that the student discount is often a joke. I went to my college's website and their links to their "dell student deals" and then configured a similar one at dell home and the dell home one was cheaper. You might be able to get a good student discount, but make sure you compare it to one you just configure on your own to make sure it's really a deal. If you wait for a huge coupon, you will certainly do much better than just a student discount.

 

[RichieZ]

ibook is updated every 6 months, next refresh is in april.

i would not consider it lightweight, at 4.9 lbs I would rather have a thinkpad T40. There is a t42 that can be had for 1045 through the epp discount

the ibook is an amazing deal at 900 after reabtes at amazon, but there are serveral things about it, no dvi out, need a hack to enable monitor spanning, won't work in clamshell mode.

so i recently bought a powerbook

 

[footbal07]

good point, but if i were to buy now my sister is in college and so i could still get a decent discount. mainly what im asking is are there going to be any significant changes to the ibooks (ive heard the powerbooks are moving up to g5s soon but nothing about the ibooks), is the turion going to be much of a competitor to the dorthan in smaller notebooks, and are there any planned revisions to the pentium m core. i wont be gaming or doing many cpu intensive tasks on whatever i get as i will be bringing a desktop/workstation computer with me, but maybe light photoshop and video editing when im out and about.

 

[RichieZ]

Originally posted by: footbal07
good point, but if i were to buy now my sister is in college and so i could still get a decent discount. mainly what im asking is are there going to be any significant changes to the ibooks (ive heard the powerbooks are moving up to g5s soon but nothing about the ibooks), is the turion going to be much of a competitor to the dorthan in smaller notebooks, and are there any planned revisions to the pentium m core. i wont be gaming or doing many cpu intensive tasks on whatever i get as i will be bringing a desktop/workstation computer with me, but maybe light photoshop and video editing when im out and about.

education discount on the ibooks are pathetic, it still costs more than the amazon price and you have to pay tax. the only good thing is you can configure them, at amazon you are stuck with the default configs.

no from what i've read the ibooks aren't supposed to get anything new, except for a minor speed bump. no idea when the powerbooks are going to go g5, but you wouldn't want a Rev A powerbook anyways, they always have a few kinks to be worked out

and another thing, you don't even need to be a student to get the discount at apple. you can just order off the website. in store they do photocopy your student id though.

 

[footbal07]

richiez how well does the powerbook fair in terms of battery life. what i meant by light weight was that i do not want a desktop replacement with a big screen and a chain to the power outlet.

 

[RichieZ]

Originally posted by: footbal07
richiez how well does the powerbook fair in terms of battery life. what i meant by light weight was that i do not want a desktop replacement with a big screen and a chain to the power outlet.

i don't know, mine will arrive on tuesday or wendsday. but i've read its not that spectacular, about 3.5hrs max with light usage. my ibook gets more than 4.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Just so you know what you might be missing if you get one of these ibooks:

My sister got a
3.0ghz pent 4 (800 fsb)
512mb pc3200
mobile radeon 9700pro
60 gig hdd
cd burner/dvd-rom
wireless networking
15.4" widescreen
for $800

This was in a desktop replacement config, but if your budget is twice that, when the next deal comes around I'm sure you could get something even better in a lighter platform.

 

[RichieZ]

ah i just saw your budget, for that amount you could get a great T42/T43. A new 15" powerbook would be more than that.

 

[footbal07]

i have been leaning towards the 12in ibook because i have heard they are well built and get 4-6 hours battery life. of course i wouldnt mind an ibm if i can find one with comparable batterylife, but i will not even consider anything with a p4 the like. remember at worst i will be bringing an a64 rig with me if not dual opteron so power is not a priority. i need something that i can take with me and not have to worry about charging every 2 hours.

 

[RichieZ]

Originally posted by: footbal07
i have been leaning towards the 12in ibook because i have heard they are well built and get 4-6 hours battery life. of course i wouldnt mind an ibm if i can find one with comparable batterylife, but i will not even consider anything with a p4 the like. remember at worst i will be bringing an a64 rig with me if not dual opteron so power is not a priority. i need something that i can take with me and not have to worry about charging every 2 hours.

six hours is quite a stretch for an ibook, i believe the T4X can do it with the 9 cell batteries though, if i where to spend 1500 on a laptop i would problaby get this and get the 9cell battery and upgrade the warranty:

ThinkPad T42 (IBM Think Express Program)
2378FVU
Customize & buy
Your price
$1,199.25*
IBM Web Price
$1,599.00*
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
256 MB
40 GB
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 735 1.70GHz
14.1"
1400x1050
64MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600
4.6-4.6
UltraNav
Ultrabay Slim
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo
None
One year parts and labor (system battery: one year)
Integrated Intel PRO/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
56K V.92 designed modem
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG
IBM Embedded Security Subsystem 2.0

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I meant that in the more mobile rig you'd be getting a pentium m. That would a offer some nice battery life (I think, I'm not a huge laptop fan )

 

[footbal07]

yea i kinda read your post a little quick. dont get me wrong at one time i was a fan of the northwood p4s. i nowadays live in houston and dont need a laptop with a built in space heater.

 

[mhillary]

Originally posted by: RichieZ

Originally posted by: footbal07
richiez how well does the powerbook fair in terms of battery life. what i meant by light weight was that i do not want a desktop replacement with a big screen and a chain to the power outlet.

i don't know, mine will arrive on tuesday or wendsday. but i've read its not that spectacular, about 3.5hrs max with light usage. my ibook gets more than 4.

Even i have a thinkpad and it cool