new laptop for school

[rdukeman]

Hello. I am looking for a new laptop and I would like some of your guys' expert advice.

Few things here to help narrow it down.

Thinking of a Dell or Macbook, or any other company that will alow me to make monthly payments. I am a student and I have a budget.

It will be used for mostly schoolwork, while working at my security job. I have spurts of downtime so even watching dvds is possible. I am looking for something light weight, and most likely with a 15" monitor. I want it to have wireless access too so I can take it with me to places with networking. I want it to be Vista compatible. Something that doesn't get too hot would be nice too.

Activities I can think of that I will be doing most with it:

MS Word (or other Office apps)
Watching dvds
Surfing the net
Gaming ( but only as the upgrades allow me to, I don't want to spend money to focus on gaming (but, if a video card upgrade would help Vista performace then I would want it).
That's about it!

My budget is anywhere from 600-1000$. I want something that will last me for at least 3 years. I won't be doing any burning or anything of that nature, I have my home computer for that.

Few of my choices right now:

nspiron E1505
http://www.dell.com/content/products/pr...aspx/entnb_e1505?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

the macbook
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/W...a/wo/0.RSLID?mco=A4791B5D&nclm=MacBook

I hear good things about Acer, but newegg doesn't have monthly payments that I know of.

Thanks in advance!

 

[dasRatsel]

you may want to look into a thinkpad: they're sturdy, reliable, light, and have pretty much what you're looking for, with the exception of the gfx card; although i'm not sure how if they have payment plans.

http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/notebooks/thinkpad/r-series/index.html
http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/notebooks/thinkpad/z-series/index.html

I for one still use a 6 year old T22 almost every day, and it still runs beautifuly, so they're definately built to last.

the macbooks seem like sturdy machines, although they're a new line. The Dell will probably give you the most bang for you buck, although my experiences with Dell is that they're kinda cheeply made.

 

[esun]

I think you'd be happier with the Apple if you're choosing between those. It's smaller, lighter, and built better. A 15" Inspiron is not as portable as you may like (my dad bought one, unfortunately at my recommendation, and doesn't take it around much because of its size & weight). A Thinkpad would also be a good choice. I would go with a T-series if possible, since they have a strong history of being build to the best standards (I own one and use another at work and love both). They are a bit above your budget, though. IBM does have payment options, though.

 

[ai42]

I just got a T60 with Radeon X1300 and I'm really surprised how well it games. It can run UT2004 with a few eye candy items turned on quite well. Right now Lenovo until the end of the month has a $200 rebate on most T60s. you can pick up a T60 from CostCentral and with the rebate be under a grand and there is no question of weather it will last as it is built like a tank.

 

[Commodus]

There are some catches, but I would recommend the MacBook myself as long as you don't need to use Windows-only apps often (there's not much point to getting an Apple notebook only to stay in Windows all of the time). It's thinner, it's lighter, and it's more intelligently designed. There's no physical latch or drive tray mechanisms to break, for example. About the only catch for the physical design is that it gets hot on the bottom, but it's easy to either use the system on a desk or on your laptop case.

You won't be able to play the latest 3D games, but at your stated budget you shouldn't expect that even if you custom-order the E1505 with dedicated graphics; the X1400 that you can order on the E1505 is still a low-end dedicated chip. Neither system will be great for games within year, in fact - which is why you should focus on the system outside of gaming. That's where I think the MacBook wins: you don't have to maintain a tight lid on security or run defragment tools to keep the MacBook running smoothly in OS X.

Just remember that the MacBook is $1049 with educational pricing, and that Office 2004 for the Mac is currently $99 (NeoOffice, a Mac-native port of OpenOffice, is free if you want to try that instead). You'll also definitely want to top up any laptop you get with 3rd-party RAM if it has less than 1 GB standard.

 

[evilbix]

I'd personally go with an IBM thinkpad. They are great machines. If it dies on you for any reason IBM is very quick to fix it and get it back to you. The warranty is more than worth it, we have a few IBM machines in our physics lab and they are incredibly quick to fix any hardware problems we run into.