Laptop for college

[Black Six]

At one point I had my G5 running for over 100 days with no issues. Most PCs I've used tend to develop memory leaks and slow down within a week. I haven't really used Vista or Windows 7, so maybe they've fixed that. But I'd say overall that I tend to have more crashes and issues with computers running Windows than with those running Mac OS, and I've spent more time overall using the latter. So from my experience, they're more stable and reliable.

[Jongamer]

No, I disagree.

It is called, hitting the Restart button in Windows, or on the front of your case.

BAM, it is all fixed again.

Plus, Mac Mice suck complete ass (really poor DPI, Scroll ball breaks easy, 1 Button mice are lame), and they get really nasty if you don't clean them often, same thing goes for the keyboards.

Like someone said before, you pay up the ass for Upgrades.

[Triton]

At one point I had my G5 running for over 100 days with no issues.

so? our crap vaio desktop is usually left on 24/7 unless a power surge or something resets it and it works fine (windows 2000)

[limpport]

So I'm basically stuck right now. I need to decide between the Toshiba Satellite bicostp recommended, or the new white Macbook with a 160 or 250gb hard drive. I can install the 4 gigs of ram myself, so that won't be a problem. I also like the idea of using boot camp with the Mac.

So I need your opinions, not how long you've been running up your electric bill

[vskid]

So I'm basically stuck right now. I need to decide between the Toshiba Satellite bicostp recommended, or the new white Macbook with a 160 or 250gb hard drive. I can install the 4 gigs of ram myself, so that won't be a problem. I also like the idea of using boot camp with the Mac.

Based on specs alone, I think the Macbook would be faster (I'm pretty sure its GPU is faster than the Toshiba's). On the other hand, the Toshiba is several hundred dollars cheaper.
If you're gonna need the extra graphics power, go for the Macbook, if you need moneys more, get the Toshiba.

[Black Six]

No, I disagree.

It is called, hitting the Restart button in Windows, or on the front of your case.

BAM, it is all fixed again.

Plus, Mac Mice suck complete ass (really poor DPI, Scroll ball breaks easy, 1 Button mice are lame), and they get really nasty if you don't clean them often, same thing goes for the keyboards.

Like someone said before, you pay up the ass for Upgrades.

I consider that a loss of time where I could be getting stuff accomplished.
Guess what, you can buy third party mice. Just about any mouse on the market will work on a Mac.
Upgrades are a lot if you buy them from Apple. They use the same hard drives, memory, etc, that PCs use, so unless Windows users are paying "up the ass" then Mac users aren't.

At one point I had my G5 running for over 100 days with no issues.

so? our crap vaio desktop is usually left on 24/7 unless a power surge or something resets it and it works fine (windows 2000)

I was just saying from my experience I find them more reliable. I used to have a Vaio laptop running Windows 2k and as I recall it was quite horrible about getting slow after a day or so of uptime. I apologize if it sounded like I was speaking for all Mac users about all Windows computers, but I'm just relating my experiences using Macs and Windows computers. And I prefer the Macs.

If anyone has any further questions or comments they can PM me about it.

limpport, you said you were going into science or engineering. Do you have a desktop that you'll be using as well? If not, I wouldn't recommend the MacBook or the Satellite as they both have integrated graphics which are going to hurt if you ever do any CAD, simulations, or many other engineering tasks. My personal suggestion is a MacBook Pro, but since I believe that's out of your price range maybe look into the Dell Latitude line, their business-class notebooks, you can probably find one with a discrete graphics chip that isn't too expensive. Check out the Vostro 1510, it looks like it might fit your needs.

[Jongamer]

No, I disagree.

It is called, hitting the Restart button in Windows, or on the front of your case.

BAM, it is all fixed again.

Plus, Mac Mice suck complete ass (really poor DPI, Scroll ball breaks easy, 1 Button mice are lame), and they get really nasty if you don't clean them often, same thing goes for the keyboards.

Like someone said before, you pay up the ass for Upgrades.

I consider that a loss of time where I could be getting stuff accomplished.

Woo a whole 2 mins to boot up, MAN that is a LOOOONG time, not sure I will be able to get any work done today.

i guess the is the time to roll out a strip from my favorite Webcomic.

[Rekarp]

2 minutes? My PC takes 3 but the silly raid controller (RAID 0 FTW) takes forever to start up. Thats why I never turn it off. I think its been running since Monday....No slow down. If anything its gotten "faster".

[Black Six]

How about we stay on topic? Like I said if you have any other comments about the whole Windows compared to Mac thing you can contact me via PM. Any other comments made in this topic will be deleted.

[bicostp]

So I'm basically stuck right now.

Well here's a quick chart with the default features of both listed.



The MacBook has a better CPU* and video card, but the Toshiba comes with a bigger hard drive and more memory. (The aluminum MacBook is the same, except it comes with DDR3 instead of DDR2, and a larger 160 GB hard drive.) Other than that, they're basically the same.

* Yes I know the AMD is clocked higher, but it's architecture isn't as efficient.

[Sparkfist]

Me personally I've used three different laptops for a time while in college. The only factor that really tells you what you need in a laptop is what you are going to be using it for.

Video/Image work, I'd say you can get a Macbook if you have the money, but you can get away with a standard XP machine with the Adobe suite installed.

Web development, a mid-grade machine is fine, you only need the power to run a *AMP server, run java and other online applications.

Linux/UNIX, anything is about good. Just be sure it's a few years recent, too old and it wont be able to do certain jobs that you might want to test on your own machine.

Windows system Admin or Certs. Get a mid to high-grade machine. You'll want a good amount of RAM and you'll want something that can either run multiboot (desktop and server OS), or you can use them in a virtual machine.

I could go on but that's really all you need to know. Just think of what uses it has to fulfill and you'll be able to figure out what you need fast..

-Sparkfist

[limpport]

My personal suggestion is a MacBook Pro, but since I believe that's out of your price range maybe look into the Dell Latitude line, their business-class notebooks, you can probably find one with a discrete graphics chip that isn't too expensive. Check out the Vostro 1510, it looks like it might fit your needs.

What will I need to configure with the Latitude or the Vostro to make it decent for an engineering degree? I am really clueless about what I will exactly have to be doing on it.

And graphics card wise, I want something that can play Spore

[Black Six]

I started with the cheapest Vostro 1510 and here's what I did:
My System Details
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5870 (2.0GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Business, Service Pack 1
No Productivity Software
1 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 1 Year NBD On-Site Service
15.4 inch Widescreen WXGA+ LCD Anti-Glare Display
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R write capability, with Roxio Creator
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS
250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with Free Fall Sensor
Intel 4965AGN Wireless-N Mini-card
Dell Wireless 360 Bluetooth Internal for Vista
No Webcam, No Digital Camera Microphone Option
No UPEKM ® Fingerprint Reader
Service
9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Adobe® Reader
Special offer - Save $35 McAfee Total Protection for Small Business, 15-months

My goal was to keep it under $1000. If you want it even cheaper you can go back to WXGA instead of WXGA+, switch it to the 5400RPM drive (although I find a considerable improvement with the faster drive), remove the bluetooth, or switch back to the 6-cell battery. If you don't mind spending more, I'd invest it into the processor or the warranty. Also, upgrade to 4GB of RAM at some point, Dell charges $125 to go from a 2GB DIMM and a 1GB DIMM to two 2GB DIMMs, which is ridiculous (Apple isn't the only company that charges a lot for RAM).

[bicostp]

I built up a Vostro 1310 to more or less match the cheap Macbook's base features:



EDIT Crap! forgot the Dell's hard drive specs. Well I'm too lazy to edit the image again, but it's a 160 gb 5400 RPM drive.
Also the MacBook's processor is 2.0 ghz.

Here's a screenshot of the printable Dell configuration summary page:


I went with the 1310 because it's a good size for portability. 15" laptops aren't fun to haul around all day.

And graphics card wise, I want something that can play Spore

The 9400 and 8400 should eat through Spore no problem.

[nevermind1534]

I built up a Vostro 1310 to more or less match the cheap Macbook's base features:



EDIT Crap! forgot the Dell's hard drive specs. Well I'm too lazy to edit the image again, but it's a 160 gb 5400 RPM drive.
Also the MacBook's processor is 2.0 ghz.

Here's a screenshot of the printable Dell configuration summary page:


I went with the 1310 because it's a good size for portability. 15" laptops aren't fun to haul around all day.

And graphics card wise, I want something that can play Spore

The 9400 and 8400 should eat through Spore no problem.

Wow, pretty similar. I'd get the macbook and install vista or windows 7 on it.