Laptop for a college student..

[Gimmpy]

Im not exactly sure what I should be looking for in a notebook.

I am majoring in mechanical engineering and minor in computer programming, so what should I look for in a laptop that would help me in these areas?

I will probably be doing a lot of CAD work and I already love to do programming.



Im looking for something that will last me a few years at least, im not exactly looking for a gaming notebook just because if I am going to be playing something on the go itll be something old school like Quake 3 or Star craft.


So any ideas?


Thanks all!

 

[Oil]

A T61 with the Quadro NVS 140M or 570M would suit you if you do a lot of 3D CAD work

 

[alimoalem]

um...budget? screen size preference? will you be using it in class? what do you care about? can you be a little more specific?...

i would add a dell latitude D630 or D830 for laptops to consider, although the T61 is an excellent candidate.

 

[Gimmpy]

Ya I will be using it in class.

Id like a larger screen size just because I hate to squint lol.

As for budget, id probably say nothing over $2,000.

something in the 1500 range is preferable but not really required .

TY for the quick responses too.

 

[TheStu]

OK, well, large screen size and using it in class sort of limits you to a 15".

Anything smaller and you won't have the resolution that you will want/need for CAD. Any larger and you have trouble using it in class.

Also, just for the record, it isn't small screens that make you squint, it is high resolution.

So... Maybe a 15" with at least WXGA+ resolution (1440*900 in case I got the acronym wrong), maybe even WSXGA (1680*1050) but nothing higher than that due to the pixel density.

 

[onlyCOpunk]

What about emailing the head of your department and asking what kind of laptop or requirements that they recommend. Afterall, they might have a requirement you could possibly overlook when purchasing on your own.

 

[Gimmpy]

I'm a freshman right now and I am planning to transfer schools, to which I am unsure of right now.

I probably wont be doing any actualy CAD work for school until next year, so I was looking for maybe something that would be used rather often.. I used CAD as a hobby and planning case mods etc.

I think ill go ahead and shoot some emails to the schools im looking into.


Also, are these laptops pretty decent for game programming (Java, C#, C++)? This too is a hobby and im planning on minoring in it so I was hoping to get a laptop I could use for both purposes .

 

[Oil]

Originally posted by: Gimmpy
Also, are these laptops pretty decent for game programming (Java, C#, C++)? This too is a hobby and im planning on minoring in it so I was hoping to get a laptop I could use for both purposes .

Any decent Core 2 Duo will be enough for those tasks

 

[Lord Banshee]

i would agree with the Lenovo T61p with a quadro 570M card, 2GB+ RAM, 2.2GHz Core2Duo, 15.4 WSXGA+ will be fine, 9 cell battery is a must (i wish i got one) it only stick out ~.5" from the back and it just works great without effecting the laptop angle/position (cough dell cough). The only thing to think about is the OS, CAD programs still do not like vista (not because of MS but ATI and Nvidia have not perfected their vista opengl drivers). But if you will not be doing CAD for a year i would get vista and if you had to later just buy a oem XP and dual boot (my university gives XP and vista away for free w/ MSDNAA for engineering students.) All this would be around 1600-1800 dollar right now on http://shop.lenovo.com

But i have to ask, what are you majoring in? 3D CAD + Programming is a really strange mix for majors. To me that is Software Engineering + Mechanical Engineering (thats a long time in school lol). But serious what is your intended major or are you still debating it ?

*edit* just read the minoring part for software (sorry missed that during first read)

*edit2* would stay away from NVS quadros for 3d Work