What do I need for laptop...help me out.

[Jmac 10+ year member]

For small, light, and durable, I'd say:

Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad

Panasonic Toughbook

Toshiba Tecra/Portege

Sony VAIO SZ series (Kicks copious amounts of ***, but pricey)

Dell Vostro (XPS to a lesser degree)

 

[SSS 18734 5,000+ posts]

The Dell Precision Series are built like tanks. Metal casing, beefy joints, etc. They can be had through the Dell Outlet and on ebay for relatively cheap.

 

[Hintzyboy 5,000+ posts]

A lot of universities will require you to have a separate computer for your schoolwork. Your best bet is to just save up your money and ask the department what to get right before you start school next year. If you buy it now, it will be half way to obsolete by the time the semester starts

 

[Hintzyboy 5,000+ posts]

Here are the specs on my Dell Vostro 1500

Core2Duo 2.2 Ghz processer

3GB of ram

160 gb 7200rpm HDD

nVidia GeForce 8600M GT 256mb graphics card

15.4" Glossy 1680 x 1050 screen

XP Pro

Bluetooth

DVD burner

Big battery

Got it for a warranty exchange on my old Inspiron 6000. I think it prices out to around $1700 or so.

 

[Selkies 10+ year member]

My system:
R61 15.4"

Core2Duo T8100 (2.1Ghz)

2 gigs of ram

160 gig HD

High Res 1440x900 screen

Blue Tooth

XP Pro

Was $786...

nG

That's a hell of a deal for $800. I might have to get one for myself as my R40 is on its last leg (after 5 years tho, I would expect it to be).

 

[cha0 10+ year member]

A lot of universities will require you to have a separate computer for your schoolwork. Your best bet is to just save up your money and ask the department what to get right before you start school next year. If you buy it now, it will be half way to obsolete by the time the semester starts

exactly. my fiancees sister goes to rose hulman engineering school and they HAD to buy a laptop from the school. they are dells. i would check into that.

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

That's a hell of a deal for $800. I might have to get one for myself as my R40 is on its last leg (after 5 years tho, I would expect it to be).

Oh yeah, it was 40% of MSRP...

Will be here next week.

nG