Help picking out a laptop

[Jonesy]

I don't know a lot about computers but I do know enough to get me by. I am in need of a laptop for college, but don't really know what all options I need, and the other specs I should look for.

Went to Best Buy and the guy told me that I should look into something with at least these specs. 512 ram, 60gb hd, 2+ gHz processor speed, 15"+ screen, dvd burner. He also recommended the AMD Athalon 64 bit processor over any of the other chips.

I plan on using this for viewing dvd's, burning music cd's, surfing the internet, word processing, running autocad 2004, solidworks, and master cam on. The only holdback I have is that I'm limited to about a $1200 budget.

I've looked on ebay but am kinda leary about buying something so expensive at an online auction. What about buying closeout or refurbished laptops from the manufacturer?

Any suggestions, link, ideas, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

JT Jones

[Hyperwarrior22]

We just bought a compaq computer for like 600 off of circuit city and it works great i know their a cheap computer brand but for the money we paid the computer is awsome

so i would recomend anything made by compaq!

[ak_stick]

I've got the HP zd8000 pavilion, and I couldn't be happier.

3.0 Gig P4 chip, with a gig of ram and 60 gig hard drive, the bit 17 in screen, and large batter ran be about 1500 several months ago. I'd look into it now, I'm sure its cheaper now.

Sounds like a good reccomendation from him, I wouldn't go below 2 gig anymore, nor 512 mb of ram.

I'm a bit partial to the AMD chipset too, but I cant complain about my P4 in the slightest.

I would stay away from compaq or dell, you get what you pay for with computers, I'd save a little or find a way to spend a little more and go with a sony, HP, or somthing of that nature.

Remember, this is school, spending now will save you later.

[Jonesy]

What about something like this one (http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-Pavilion-Notebook-PC-DV8110US-/sem/rpsm/oid/141421/catOid/-12963/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do) ?

Thanks for the help already.

JT

[ak_stick]

thats a good comp but I'd look for somthing with more power if I was gonna be running alot of CAD on it....

Bought an Acer laptop from circuit city, awesome!!

[ak_stick]

hmm, we had a guy over here who bought one, and it fried out about after about two-three months of constant use.

I'd stick with a big box name, but thats just me.

Igot a micro PC refurbished laptop off ebay and have been using it like crazy for about 5 months now and its AWESOME. Only spent $700 on it too.

It has: P4 2.2ghz, 40gb hard drive, radeon 32mb graphics card, 256mb RAM ( I upgraded to a GB though for another $100, Windows XP pro, 15" LCD screen

Ebay Item #: 8747026272 I'd wait forhim to list one that comes with an OS and a CD/DVD but this is what it is. It is PERFECT for me in college and I havent seen any best buy or circuit city store come even CLOSE to selling something like this for this low of a price and you can say all you want about name brand crap but everythings the same inside

[dirtmomma]

Got a friend that refered me to www.pcmall.com they have some good deals there plus re-furbished ect I have a Dell Inspiron 7500 & LOVE IT had it 5 yrs & it's WAAAAYYYYYYY outlasted our HP desktop that always seems to have issues!!! I cna't remember exactly all the memory it has ect :o

Originally posted by ak_stick
hmm, we had a guy over here who bought one, and it fried out about after about two-three months of constant use.

I'd stick with a big box name, but thats just me.

I've heard of Dells frying, HP's frying, Compaq's frying, etc. That's what extended warranties are for! Bought my son one in August, it's been awesome and it's 2/3 the price of the well known brands too! Actually Acer has been in the PC manufacturing business for a long long time!

[tater_kamik]

i bought an dell inspiron 6000, good laptop for the price and no probs here

[thomps6s]

IBM thinkpad's are great
Dells are also good
If you want to buy one from Best Buy or Circuit city, etc.... I would reccomend Toshiba.

MAC!!!!!!

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/5828/picture19fs.png

Originally posted by MXFourTwoEight
MAC!!!!!!

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/5828/picture19fs.png HELL NOOOO

[SGA]

Dell makes a good laptop.
All MAJOR Mfg's do unless you beat the crap out of it.
I am very impressed with Compaq's/HP's cutomer service, they have come a long ways in the last 4 years!
We have a Dell and a Compaq and a Averatec.

About two months ago, some kids pulled and broke some keys off the Compaq ( 10 months old), I called and said some keys just came loose and fell off ;)
Compaq did a next day fed ex pick up, next day aired it from Georgia to California, Installed a new keyboard same day and next day aired it back, NO CHARGE. Three days total coast to coast!
I was like dam! :eek:

It seems to be a well built computer with a strong case, so is the dell.

Stay away from Averatec! Case is flimsy, horrendous customer service! Gone twice for service in the first year, three weeks each time, and I had to pay shipping to the repair center.:grr:

Originally posted by MixMasterMike
HELL NOOOO Macs own all. Virus? Whats a virus?

[Disaster]

17 inch screen mac or Dell XPS laptop :D

i have a IBM Thinkpad R50P but they are like $3000. if you find the right person, the right rebates or get it on ebay, you could get it for $1500 or so. they are super quick. i have photoshop and some other programs that take up the same space as autocad and this thing runs real quick. im on DSL. its wireless and can attach to pretty much anything. it comes with a dvd burner already on the computer.

yata yata yata

[photodangerous]

I have been a Mac advocate for years and use them for all of my work. I am a photojournalist, and MACs are good for artistic and page-layout work for programs like photoshop and indesign. However I was also once an aspiring draftsman myself and I have to tell you with that the software you are looking to run, you would be better served with a pc-based laptop instead of an apple. I speak from experience. There is however the just released intel-based macs that look like they may be promising, but they are totally unreasonable for someone on a college-student budjet. But also keep in mind that associates from b-but oe circuit city work on commission, so their insight might be tainted. Good idea to bring it up in a forum! Best idea is to contact your perspective teachers that host a computer-heavy course and ask them what they recomend, they are not biased and will give you an honest opinion.

[MOFO]

If your working with Autocad, I would suggest you get the most memory you possibly can get. I would say 1 gig would be a minimum. Also make sure the video system is pretty beefy and you have a nice big display.

My company always gave us Thinkpads, and they are great laptops, but on our newest batch, we went with Dell. So far, so good.... I'm actually impressed with it so far.

[XCAdam89]

Dell, or IBM is all I will buy. The new IBM think-pad's are awesome if you want a great laptop, without spending a wallet-load. If you want to spend a little more, the higher end models of the Sony Vaio are good as well. I'd spend good money on a laptop, after all if your going to be using it alot, you don't want something that will fry after the first week.