laptops

[Tommy 17]

i know theres a ton of people on here that know alot about computers...


i'm lookin for a good laptop for college for mechanical egineering... it has to be able to run lots of programs at one time (many autocadd and inventor programs)...


any suggestions on a good brand or a certain model that would be good for me... price doesn't matter...

[MOFO]

My suggestion would be Dell or IBM Thinkpad. As for performance...just like anything else, the more performance you want the more money it costs.... so your wallet is the limit.... but I've had Dell and IBM Thinkpads....both seem very reliable and durable.

[Syrus]

Well buying pre-packaged computers are a waste of money, custom build your computer. For reasons below..
1)You'll save money.
2)You know what your getting.
3)You can set it up to what u want, and what ur needs for the computer are.

And so on.. But if u dont have the time and know fk all about computers, id go with an IBM Laptop, there a very good brand.

[Tommy 17]

i know alot about desktops and whats good but i never looked into laptops...


i'll have to look into customizing them like i did my desktop... money really isn't a problem over 2,500 or so mayb a lil more...

[LTandRaptorider]

Like Mofo said, Dell and IBM are pretty good. Go to www.dell.com and pick what features you want. You'll want to get as much memory as you can afford to run multiple programs. Also a good graphics card for your CAD program. Or, I can pick one for you! :D

I've always wished I could use that phrase... Money is no object! :p

[mark26]

i've been looking at laptops and have it down to the ibm thinkpad r50 and dell 5150. There both good computers but its hard to pick one.

[cudaman]

Originally posted by Syrus
Well buying pre-packaged computers are a waste of money, custom build your computer. For reasons below..
1)You'll save money.
2)You know what your getting.
3)You can set it up to what u want, and what ur needs for the computer are.

And so on.. But if u dont have the time and know fk all about computers, id go with an IBM Laptop, there a very good brand.

im not rippin on you or anything, but you dont custom build laptops lol. just a lil fyi :) but dell has a 9100 or something that rips. its a gaming laptop but itll work cause they build the crap outa gaming comps so give that a look. it has hyperthreading technology in the chipset which i THINK is made for multitasking plus just remember oyu want a LOT of memory if your running multiple powerful programs or youll just lagg all day and not get anything done lol. lol lemme know what you choose

[cool 300ex]

From what my friend tells me and he's going to school for computers. He says Sonys are one of the top and i forgot what othe rones he said are good. But i know he says he wishes he would have never got his COMPAQ.

[Tommy 17]

Originally posted by LTandRaptorider
I've always wished I could use that phrase... Money is no object! :p


me 2 haha... actually its for my friend (mark 26) he just asked me to post on here bc people know their stuff...

[cudaman]

sony laptops are also one of the top in performance but i have heard many reliablility issues with them. as in stuff breaks and messes up a lot. idk specifics but if i was buying a laptop i would buy a sony if i could afford or dell

[MOFO]

I missed the "money is no object"....

My brother just picked up this laptop... all handmade, GREAT support and performance that is second to none!

Sweet Laptop - Alienware (http://www.alienware.com/Configurator_Pages/area-51m.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-AREA51-M&SubCode=SKU-EXTREME)

3.4 Ghz P4
1 Gig RAM
60 Gig HD
ATI 9700 128MB Video Card
DVD Burner
...and a bunch of other crap.

He gave me a demo of it the other day.... he was converting 1 full lenght movie, burning another movie, had photoshop open editing photos and showed me a demo of Half Life 2.... that damn thing NEVER missed a beat....unreal!

This is the fastest and nicest (well built) laptop I've EVER used or seen. They are a tad heavy, but they are built like a brick chit house and will take the abuse! If I had extra dough laying around, this would be my laptop!

[remlapr]

Those alienware's are sweet. My work laptop is a Dell and my personal laptop currently is a Dell. The widescreen models from Dell are sweet, but they're pretty heavy for hauling around all the time. Dell definately makes quality stuff.

[JLanphear]

If money is no object, SURELY go with Alienware...they are indeed the best in my opinion.

I really like Sony also, BUT the first thing I'd do if I got one is format it and reload everything from scratch. They put so many junk programs and trial software on there it's a joke.

Some Dell laptops are fine, but others have issues....the company that I work for used to deal with Dell a lot, but we ran into a couple series of them that werent' good for much more than the scrapheap.

At home I have a low cost Compaq and I'm actually very happy with it....got it last year for $699 brand new....I never liked HP, and now that Compaq and HP are the same thing, I'm suprised I like it.

IBM are okay...that is pretty much what we use all the time now. They are a little pricey and wouldn't be my first choice, but they are one of the better brands out there.

Go Alienware though.

-Josh

[jja125]

i have an IBM thinkpad for work and beat the chit out of it at the jobsite and its worked fine for a year and a half now. i just loaded autocad on it yesterday plus i have a bunch of other crap already on it and it didn't make any noticable difference in speed or anything.

[250EXpwns]

Get a Dell Inspiron XPS. You won't be disappointed. Make sure you get tons of memory too.

[wilkin250r]

Keep this in mind, for laptops. LCD screens (the flat ones on laptops) are not as adjustable as CRT screens you are used to.

The first instinct is to buy the highest resolution possible, especially if you plan on using graphical design programs like AutoCAD. After all, you want the highest quality display, right?

Now, think about how computer displays work. They don't calculate inches, they use pixels. So if something is 200 pixels wide, it might be two inches wide on a low-resolution screen, but only one inch on a high-resolution screen.

Now, what happens if you don't want it to be one inch wide? What if you don't want all your icons to only be 1/8 inch, and you want to make them bigger? On a regular CRT screen, it's no problem, you just change the resolution settings of the monitor. With an LCD screen, it's not that simple. Yes, you can change the resolution, but you severely affect the quality. LCD screens don't like to change resolution. It won't actually hurt the screen, but you lose a LOT of quality.

With a regular CRT monitor, you can change the resolution without problems. A high-resolution (1600x1200) CRT running on a low-resolution setting looks exactly the same as a normal low-resolution CRT. No loss in quality. A high-resolution LCD running at a low-resolution setting looks MUCH worse than a normal low-resolution LCD. If you run a 1600x1200 LCD screen at 1280x1024, it would look much worse than a normal 1280x1024 panel.

I ran into this problem with my laptop. I bought a high-resolution display, thinking that if I need to, I can always set it at a lower setting. I don't have a problem with the high-res and the small icons, but my girlfriend does. She can't read that small, so she has to change the settings, and it looks terrible. If I would have known the problem beforehand, I would have bought a less expensive display to compromise.

[MOFO]

Originally posted by wilkin250r
Keep this in mind, for laptops. LCD screens (the flat ones on laptops) are not as adjustable as CRT screens you are used to.

The first instinct is to buy the highest resolution possible, especially if you plan on using graphical design programs like AutoCAD. After all, you want the highest quality display, right?

Now, think about how computer displays work. They don't calculate inches, they use pixels. So if something is 200 pixels wide, it might be two inches wide on a low-resolution screen, but only one inch on a high-resolution screen.

Now, what happens if you don't want it to be one inch wide? What if you don't want all your icons to only be 1/8 inch, and you want to make them bigger? On a regular CRT screen, it's no problem, you just change the resolution settings of the monitor. With an LCD screen, it's not that simple. Yes, you can change the resolution, but you severely affect the quality. LCD screens don't like to change resolution. It won't actually hurt the screen, but you lose a LOT of quality.

With a regular CRT monitor, you can change the resolution without problems. A high-resolution (1600x1200) CRT running on a low-resolution setting looks exactly the same as a normal low-resolution CRT. No loss in quality. A high-resolution LCD running at a low-resolution setting looks MUCH worse than a normal low-resolution LCD. If you run a 1600x1200 LCD screen at 1280x1024, it would look much worse than a normal 1280x1024 panel.

I ran into this problem with my laptop. I bought a high-resolution display, thinking that if I need to, I can always set it at a lower setting. I don't have a problem with the high-res and the small icons, but my girlfriend does. She can't read that small, so she has to change the settings, and it looks terrible. If I would have known the problem beforehand, I would have bought a less expensive display to compromise.


to sum this up, its called the displays "native resolution"... be sure to ask for this if its a concern. They will give you a resolution of something like 1024x768,1280x1024...1600x1200...etc. The higher the resolution, the smaller your objects will be, but in return you gain more real estate on your monitors display.

[Tommy 17]

thanks wilkin... i understand exactly what u mean...


i'm pretty sure hes leaning towards the IBMs...

[dpizz450]

anyone know a good deskop computer that would fit me? i think im gettin one in my room soon but idk what kind. ill prolly jus use it for like searchin on the internet, get on aim, download music, and play a couple games (counter strike)

[TGW_400ex]

I had a IBM thinkpad for a couple of years then it died but it worked pretty well now i got a dell and it works real well i would recommend those 2

[Guy400]

My work laptop is an IBM T40. So far I'm pretty happy with it. On a daily basis I literally have at least 8-10 programs running at once and I have yet to have it lock up on me.

Eric, my brother is buying an Alienware desktop. He had a 1.3ghz IBM and then I bought my 2.8ghz Dell. He's going to up the ante:D