Hey everyone!
In the fall I will be going to college (woohoo!) and I KNOW I cannot live without a computer. I would really like a laptop but I just don’t know if there is a certain brand that is better than all the rest. I will be attending Washington University in St. Louis and I have been accepted into a group that will analyze the environments problems and I know I will be using my computer a lot for that. They have recently sent me a list of criteria I should be looking for in a computer, but said they do not endorse a certain brand. So… I need help! Let me know what you think, what notebooks are REALLY good and which ones SUCK! Thanks so much!
So what does the criteria list say? I’m sure you will receive all sorts of opinions, but you stand a better chance of getting some really thoughtful and relevant opinions if you share the criteria list.
CPU 1.2 GHz or higher
Memory 256 MB RAM or higher
Display 17-inch monitor
Graphics card accelerated w/32 MB
Hard drive 40 GB or more
Multimedia CD read/write / DVD drive, 16-bit wave audio, powered speakers
Operating system Windows 2000 or XP
Network 10/100 twisted pair Ethernet support
Software Microsoft Office XP (Standard Edition)
I’ve outfitted a few friends kids going off the college with these lists in hand.
A brand name desktop and good monitor in that class will run around - 700 - 1000 + or so. Dell is a good bet for an affordable machine.
A brand name notebook in that class (with 20 + gig drive and 14.1" or 15" screen) would run around 1300 - 1600 or so.
I’ve picked up a few new, very nice Compaq notebooks from Circuit City in that class for around $ 900 - $1100 after stacking rebates, open box discount and powerful Astro wheedling is figured in, and flipped them on Ebay for a few hundred dollars profit, so deals are out there.
Assuming that the college wants XP Pro because they are running an NT network be aware that few retail notebooks come with the XP Professional OS (usually a 100 upgrade) or the XP Office Suite ( 300- $500 typically) so unless you’ve got a connection these wil cost extra $$. Microsoft does have a $ 150. Office XP deal for students.
I do wonder why they would spec a 32 meg video card and CD writer as a must have for a college desktop? FWIW I’m going to bet that that spec is set a bit high and if you want a notebook that will do the job a 600+ Mhz machine with 128 megs RAM and a 10 gig drive and a network card would probably work fine. I’ll also wager Win ME would also work fine on the college NT network.
A new notebook is still your best bet if you can afford it.
Dot Commie, that list is a load of bunk and completely useless. The person who put that list together is an idiot.
You do not buy the computer. You buy the software you need and get the computer that runs it. The list only mentions two pieces of software (and poor choices at that). As per the other questions, it really doesn’t address what you need to run on their network, etc. It is highly unlikely though that Win-NT class software would be needed at a college. For student access I’ve only seen and heard of good old TCP/IP. (Which runs on practically anything.)
A 17" monitor rules out standard notebooks of course, and therefore should be ignored. Ditto CD-R/W and DVD.
Power speakers? What possible educational requirement is there for power speakers??? If anything they need to be banned from dorms.
The real question is: what software is used by people in your major? Then get the equipment to run that software.
My fellow CS profs and I have run around and around with admins that want to force students to buy MS-DOS PCs when they would be almost useless to our students that use Sun workstations. They could only be used to dial-in or network to the computers to get their real work done. (And some stuff requires X-windows which is non-trivial to setup for a bunch of students).
Music majors need certain software and hardware. Mech. Eng. other.
Software first, then hardware.
(And for CS folk, it’s nearly all *free/i].)
I knew the list was bogus the moment they didn’t list a Mac option. 
Maybe the guy who assembled it is a gamer trying to build an ultimate Quake III tournament on campus?
"Operating system Windows 2000 or XP "
Ouch. I’m with rjung and ftg here. I was going to suggest the eMac, or a tricked-out iMac.
OSX and some major gigs of music storage (neither is a laptop, but awesome machines).
Or a titanium iBook. Use the force, Dot Commie.
The screen size yes, but not necessarily the drive. Your average iBook comes with a CD-RW/DVD, and so did the Dell notebook my father just got. Sure, not many of the lower-budget notebooks will have 'em, but it doesn’t rule out notebooks entirely.
Notebooks are very useful for their portability, but they are also quite theft-prone and not very upgradeable – meaning that if you do get one, get something powerful enough that it’ll still serve you well in a coupla years, and get a security cable and such. Also be aware that the screen on a notebook can be rather fragile and VERY expensive to replace. According to my mother (who used to work for Toshiba) if the screen breaks, it’s often cheaper to replace the whole machine.
As for which notebooks are good, the Toshiba notebooks my mother has worked with seemed pretty good (try the Satellite series – Porteges sacrifice a few things for small size, and the massive Tecras have had some issues). I’ve got a Toshiba T1000SE from the days before laptops had hard drives, and it still works fine, assuming whatever I want to do will fit on a floppy. My dad’s Dell also seems pretty well-made, and I’ve heard some good things about Gateway. Whatever you buy, desktop or laptop, get a good warranty.
As a side note -
Assuming he gets a new machine, that new machine will likely come with Windows XP HOME version. If that is the case something Dot Commie needs to pay attention to is that MS has crippled the HOME version of XP and many NT networks (if that is what the college uses) will not allow it to easily log onto their domains even with the appropriate passwords. You need the PRO or CORPORATE versions to do this which are $ 100 extra for the upgrade.
Win98 and ME are not crippled in this fashion and will log onto NT domains (with appropriate passwords) with no problems.
Perhaps the school Dot Commie will be attending does not support Macs? Browsing the university’s web site, it appears their computing operations is quite diversified with some schools not even acknowledging the existence/support for Macs while other schools include them in their listed support options.
<hijack>
When I ran a computer helpdesk for a large international university, the university made the strategic decision to eliminate all Mac computers. Among one of the “reasons” quietly mentioned was Mac machines were no longer financially, technically nor “politically” an option for the university. Many schools of the university received substantial funding from private companies for their computer hardware/software. Using a Mac machine would be of no use to a student where upon graduation, the field they were seeking employers did not use Macs, full stop. </hijack>
Then the people responsible for that decision should be shot before their ignorance and/or stubbornness infects the gene pool. As the current round of KLEZ virus emails and Microsoft security loopholes show (yet again), a homogenious computing environment is more susceptible to major damage from a screwup-of-the-week. Heterogenious environments make for a more stable system overall (something that affects computers using System A will have a harder time affecting computers using Systems B, C, and D). And from a Computer Science program point-of-view, having lots of different types of computer systems gives the students a more diverse experience, which can only help once they leave college.
Except for the fact that the school admin now have to deal with a huge number of different machine types instead of one and that gets complicated in a more than linear fashion. Why do you think big buisnesses like Dell so much, you get one good computer, and then you multiply in by 1000.
What if some software NEEDED for the course was only availible on Win/x86?
As for the specs, I am guessing that you will either be working a LOT with multimedia type applications or the IT dept head asked his 13yr old son what good specs for a computer are… probably the second. Although I am suprised that the requirment of it being easily overclockable being on the list.
I would be very careful getting anything shiny and attractive. especially if you are living in shared accommodation such as halls of residence, you’ve not got to think that just 'cause you will be among other students you will be living among totally decent and honest people, get that right out of your head, some of them have no conscience whatsoever and care only about themselves.
It’s all too easy to forget and leave your laptop in some lecture hall or something.
Get yourself something that can run your average office type stuff and maybe a presentation package, and make sure that it is relatively low specification. Also make sure that you are the only one who can access the contents, be well protected.
If the worst should happen you will be able to replace it easily, money is often an issue with students, you end up constantly surprised at the unplanned of unexpected expenses that the student life generates.
Most important is make sure you have a spare removable hard drive to store your work on, and only install and use it when you need to access it, use drive mirror too, so many students have huge problems because their hard drive went down, or the computor was stolen, and if it happens during your final year when you are writing your dissertation you will wish you had followed my advice, or you’ll be eternally grateful to me if you do.
Get yourself a printer too, you will be in much demand, trust me, it will make you very popular.
I think Dot Commie should write or call to the department he/she majors in, and inquire about what sort of software needs to be used. If there is custom software for data acquisition and/or analysis, ask for the hardware specs.
Which is what I pointed out earlier.
But even after consulting with the various departments, the actual choice of a computer is, of course, a matter of opinion.
Off to IMHO.
Hey Dot Commie! Neat to know I’m not the only person headed to St. Louis for school in the fall - I’m starting at Webster University. Wash U’s nice, but no communication program. 
At any rate, as for computers, it really does depend on your preference - Mac v. PC. I doubt there’s much proprietary software that the university uses, so a copy of Microsoft Office should cover you either way, and you’ll be able to access the campus network (read: surf SDMB during class) with either.
For my part, I’m getting an iBook, but I’m waiting until the fall so 1) I can get the latest version and 2) I can buy it through the university, which offers a substantial discount. You may want to contact the Wash U Computing Services people to see if you can buy a computer through them. And as others mentioned, look to see if there’s any requirements per your major department.
A little research shows that Wash U’s system for ordering Apples is similar to Webster’s… here’s their page, with instructions. Happy shopping!
IBM ThinkPads are truely awesome machines, if you can afford you. They are really well built machines, and I’ve had a lot of luck with various models and I have had a lot of luck with their customer service. A Dell will give you more bang for your buck, but arn’t quite as hard working as ThinkPads.
Stay away from Compaqs and Hewlett-Packards. I mean that. They are nothing but trouble. You will regret it for the rest of your life if you buy a Compaq. I would also avoid Gateway, because their customer service is terrible.
I’d run Window 2000 if you can. Don’t worry about buying any other software quite yet. As a college student you are eligable for some very sizeable student discounts, and depending on your ethical beliefs, it’s pretty easy to get your hands on the software you need. College is a technological babylon, and anything is possible.
The rest of the specs they gave you sound pretty reasonable for the life of a college student. Most students watch movies on their computers, and if you want to borrow a movie from a friend, chances are it will be a DVD. VHS is almost unheard of in universities. Beyond the quality advantages of DVD players, it is nice to watch movies in your room, and in my experience it is a pretty important part of the social scene.
Of course a CD-R drive is nice for music, but it is indespensable for backing up data. Plus cough cough there is a lot of software floating around the dorms cough cough.
And you will want that video card, especially if you are living in the dorms. Online gaming is now a huge, huge part of dorm life, and a decent video card is important.
Printers are really nice to have, but it is perfectly okay to get a really cheap one for printing out papers in black and white, and printing out anything you need to be in color or look nice in a lab.
I guess what I am saying, is don’t scrimp if it is possible. You will have this computer for the next four years. If your college is anything like my college, it will become your way of talking to friends and family, catching up on the news, turning in your homework, watching movies, looking at photos, listening to music, writing papers…just about everything. Things are a lot different now than they were five years ago. College life really is centered around computers and it pays to get a decent one.
I forgot about this in my post, but let me express complete agreement with this sentiment. Do not. EVER. buy a Compaq. Ever. No matter how good of a deal it might seem like, no matter what the machine’s got in it. Just don’t.
I have had lots of experience with Compaq, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Dell and other similar quasi-proprietary desktop machines and clones across classes over the past 15 years as both a purchaser, seller and “Mr. Fixit”. The build quality of the proprietary machines is no worse than that of most clones, and is better in many cases than the mid to lower tier of clones. Having said that, the “all in one” nature of the proprietary machines (and in some cases smaller size) does make them more difficult and expensive to service if a hardware component goes belly up, but overall the reliability of the proprietary machines has been somewhat better over time than even the better clones.
Re support, not a single, smaller clone manufacturer that we/I have purchased from (that I can think of at this time) has survived over the past 10 years while the proprietary manufacturers I mentioned are all still in business. Some of this is moot beyond a certain point because the real world value of a machine older than 3-4 years in most cases approaches door stop status.
There are some doggy machines (IBM’s and Compaq’s adventures with the turtlesque 5.25 Quantum bigfoot drives comes to mind) that the bigger companies have put out, and there is no question that a well outfitted clone will have better audio and higher speed video options available than “all in one” machines, but overall this is a distinction that is meaningless for most office PCs that will crunch numbers, do standard web surfing, and output reports, memos and brochures which is 95% of the work they do. The big name, proprietary machines are perfectly suitable for these tasks.
In most cases the better clones will also be significantly more expensive if outfitted with top shelf components. There is not a decent clone I know of that can touch the Compaq, HP, Dell or IBM deals I can get and include service as well. In addition, getting warranty service on a clone (if available) is often at least as, if not more difficult than getting a big name machine serviced. You pay your money and you take your choice. HP and Compaq make perfectly acceptable machines for the price and the service I have gotten has been satisfactory.
With respect to corporate notebooks I have a fair amount of experience with these as well and Compaq and HP make (or re-sell) some very nice machines that are very price competitive and much higher quality than any clone machine, and no worse (and often better) than anything Dell sells. IBM is a cut above with their better Thinkpads and the price reflects this. The mid tier of Thinkpads is no better in real terms and quality than any other name brand machines like Compaq or HP.