Need some suggestions for a laptop for a college student

My nephew is going to college and needs a reliable laptop for his school work. We want to get him something that will last through the durations of his classes since he may not have access to an outlet at all times to recharge the laptop. We had a few models in mind but think that they might be a bit too much for what he will be using it for. We own a Inspiron 1526 which is a decent laptop but the battery life is not that good. Our Inspiron currently uses a 6 cell battery so I figured it would be best to go with an 8 or 12 cell battery for the laptop we were planning to buy for him.

ASUS G Series G50V-X5:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220490

HP Pavilion DV7-1270US:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...ref=noref?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1240782421&sr=1-15

If we were to purchase a laptop with a dedicated graphic card would this effect the battery life in anyway? We figured if we went with a gaming level laptop it would give him a powerful laptop to last him the duration of the time he is in college.

Personally, I would pick the Asus over the HP, one because I think Asus makes better laptops, but also because I think the 17 inch will be a little too big for what he wants. I think the 15.6 inch laptop from Asus would offer better portability than the HP, which is something he will probably want in college.

Dedicated graphics cards definitely do eat up more battery life than those with integrated graphics.
So if you do want to get a laptop with discrete graphics, but you want decent battery life, I would recommend either upgrading to a bigger battery or just buying a second one so he can swap it out when one of the batteries gets low.

Personally, if I were buying it, I would be looking at a T series Thinkpad from Lenovo or an E series Latitude from Dell. Both of them are business class laptops that have excellent build quality that will allow them to survive the beating they will likely be taking while being carried around campus, and it will also allow them to last much longer. Also, these two lines of laptops are top of the line that have powerful components other than the integrated graphics that comes standard in them. In the T series Thinkpad you can upgrade the graphics card if he does want to game on it.

If he plans on doing heavy gaming on this laptop, then I would look at a more consumer level laptop, but if not, definitely take a look at the business class laptops from Dell and Lenovo because they will last a long time, offer good battery life, and have plenty of power.

+1 for the Lenovo, I just got back from my first year at college and the T400 was perfect. with the 3470 it had enough power for the very few games I played. but I probably put less than an hour of game time on it throughout the year, so it didn't really matter

I'd actually suggest a netbook. I just finished up my first year at school and I got a Macbook a while before going into school. I never left my dorm with it and it just sat. I never gamed on it and only used the computer for brief websurfing and writing up papers. I might have taken the smaller netbook out of the dorm but I was honestly to busy with other things (fraternity, sports clubs, work, partying) to have a computer on me all the time or to fully use one like I did before college.. Plus, classes really weren't catered to laptop students.

I think a netbook would be a perfect choice. I think the still reigning champion is the Asus 1000-HE....

I agree that a netbook can be very useful, and be a great thing to have around, but the OP made it sound like this laptop will be his nephews primary computer, and if that is the case, a netbook would not be a good choice. They are useful in addition to more powerful computers, but I would never want to have one as my primary computer

I use a Thinkpad X200 and take it to all my lectures and recitation. The 12.1" WS is awesome. The 9cell battery lasts right around 8 hours during normal class use. The only drawback for some might be the lack of an optical drive; to rememdy it, I bought an external DVD drive that connects via USB.

Get a 12-13" and don't look back.

Laptops suck at being desktops, obsolete long before you can even purchase them, and the big machines are shit for battery life as well. Don't even attempt to get a 'gaming laptop', as it's nothing but setting yourself up for disappointment.

I love my HP Compaq 2510p (now the EliteBook line). Big enough that it has a standard keyboard and I don't have to strain my eyes to see the screen, plus it has enough power to actually be useful (1.2Ghz ULV C2D is fast enough for Photoshop work on the go, doesn't balk at heavy Flash and high resolution video like many netbooks) and runs ~5 hours on my not-at-all-new 6 cell, with an available 9 cell that'd put it nearer to 8 hours. Build quality is exceptional, with a magnesium alloy shell so it's solid and strong. The keyboard is one of the best I've ever used on a laptop, though I will admit that the Lenovo keyboards are a bit nicer.

I'd second the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 recommendation, or an X300 if you're willing to up budget at bit. They're some of the best laptops currently available. Also look in to HP's EliteBooks.

Another thing to consider would be a refurbished Dell Latitude XT if he thinks a tablet would be useful. You can get them for ~$800 with a 3 year warranty through Dell (accident protection is extra, but I would seriously consider it.)