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ok, i have a lot on my mind when it comes to thinking about this new laptop, and i may forget a few things but i ll add those later or something.
first off, i will be commuting to school (UCI). if i buy a laptop (more info later), it will become my primary computer. i am currently a biomedical engineering major, although i want to change to Chem E. i also might take a few EE classes cause EE is so cool. i know that will need to use Matlab; i am unsure if i ll need any type of CAD software, although that seems to mostly be the realm of CE and MEs.
i do NOT want a huge ass 17 inch notebook or anything. im not picky about screen size, but ive been looking at something in the 14-15 inch range. right now, im on an older desktop (3700+ OCed) with a 22 (or 24...?) inch wide screen. i like this monitor/mouse & keyboard i have now, so i plan on simply plugging it in and using this widescreen and keyboard. as a result, it MUST have a video out (more later). i have a 5.1 logitech sound system around this comp, although only the 2.1 part is plugged in. id like to keep it (the laptop speakers will probably be too weak) although i duno how that will work.
in terms of what i plan on doing, its mostly work/internet/movies. the most intense thing i plan on doing is watching HD movies (planet earth in 1080p... yum). i also have a 57ish in rear screen DLP in my living room that i want to be able to hook up my laptop to (if i want to watch movies with friends on the couch). the DLP only has a vga & HDMI input; im not sure how sound will work in terms of input/output. even though im watching some HD movies, i duno if there is a real difference between the VGA and HDMI in terms of picture quality, but im not anal about the best picture. so long as it doesnt look like sh*t, i ll be fine. the same question applies to me hooking up my laptop the my 22 in widescreen (it only has dvi and vga). my eyes arent super sensitive, so the "best" imagine isnt a huge thing.
in terms of gaming, i have a wii and plan on picking up a 360, so i dont plan on gaming on this laptop. i may run a few emulators (n64/psx/dreamcast are probably the most intensive ones). id love to get a ps2 emulator to run, but considering everything else i plan on doing, i ll find it hard to justify a real graphics card just to run a ps2 emulator.
i hardly ever use dvd roms or anything, so if the machine didnt have one on the system itself (and had to use a USB drive or something), i would more then ok (maybe even happier cause it'll cut down on weight).
assuming it meets my needs, the other factors are weight, price, and battery life (wow what a surprise...). i could give a rat *** about "looks" or any other crazy paint jobs (ala dell XPS line, i prefer functionality). i dont have a hard cap in terms of price, but im looking to keep it under $12/1300 (US), although i could go above it if the performance/features justified it.
i keep hearing about how nice the tablet PCs are, and i do want to try them out. if im doing math/science classes, i dont want to be typing up notes with all those equations in word. im open to consideration (x61 line?)
in terms of laptops ive been considering, i cant say much as the IBMs seem to be the best fit, although i haven't gotten a chance to handle any in person.
what ive seen is the
IBM: x61, r61, t61 --- i need to do more research, and am looking for outside opinions.
Dell: vostros- unsure which model specifically, although they seem to be very functional and will get the job done.
Sony: these machines seem so horribly over priced, but whenever i stop my bestbuy, i love the feel of some of their machines.
Apple: considering the price i want to stay in, it doesnt seem realistic for me to buy apple, but they are nice, and if i had the $$, i might consider it (very unlikely however).
two other notes:
1) id love to run a hackintosh on this machine. i got it to run on my current machine, but the comp was a 3700+ single core with only a gig of ram-->too slow. its not a huge priority, and so much verys from comp the comp, person to person, i cant really make it a demand.
2) if it turns out i need to run CAD or something, i would probably just rebuild my desktop (costing in the area of $700). a laptop is not a must, and if i do rebuild my desktop, i might not get a laptop entirely (or simply pick up an EEE PC or used/cheap tablet to simply take notes.)
if i can think of anything else, i ll post/edit.
Notes: id love to have drivers available to me if something ever happened. i dont want to have to find the restore disk. not a must though
thanks for helping.
first off, i will be commuting to school (UCI). if i buy a laptop (more info later), it will become my primary computer. i am currently a biomedical engineering major, although i want to change to Chem E. i also might take a few EE classes cause EE is so cool. i know that will need to use Matlab; i am unsure if i ll need any type of CAD software, although that seems to mostly be the realm of CE and MEs.
i do NOT want a huge ass 17 inch notebook or anything. im not picky about screen size, but ive been looking at something in the 14-15 inch range. right now, im on an older desktop (3700+ OCed) with a 22 (or 24...?) inch wide screen. i like this monitor/mouse & keyboard i have now, so i plan on simply plugging it in and using this widescreen and keyboard. as a result, it MUST have a video out (more later). i have a 5.1 logitech sound system around this comp, although only the 2.1 part is plugged in. id like to keep it (the laptop speakers will probably be too weak) although i duno how that will work.
in terms of what i plan on doing, its mostly work/internet/movies. the most intense thing i plan on doing is watching HD movies (planet earth in 1080p... yum). i also have a 57ish in rear screen DLP in my living room that i want to be able to hook up my laptop to (if i want to watch movies with friends on the couch). the DLP only has a vga & HDMI input; im not sure how sound will work in terms of input/output. even though im watching some HD movies, i duno if there is a real difference between the VGA and HDMI in terms of picture quality, but im not anal about the best picture. so long as it doesnt look like sh*t, i ll be fine. the same question applies to me hooking up my laptop the my 22 in widescreen (it only has dvi and vga). my eyes arent super sensitive, so the "best" imagine isnt a huge thing.
in terms of gaming, i have a wii and plan on picking up a 360, so i dont plan on gaming on this laptop. i may run a few emulators (n64/psx/dreamcast are probably the most intensive ones). id love to get a ps2 emulator to run, but considering everything else i plan on doing, i ll find it hard to justify a real graphics card just to run a ps2 emulator.
i hardly ever use dvd roms or anything, so if the machine didnt have one on the system itself (and had to use a USB drive or something), i would more then ok (maybe even happier cause it'll cut down on weight).
assuming it meets my needs, the other factors are weight, price, and battery life (wow what a surprise...). i could give a rat *** about "looks" or any other crazy paint jobs (ala dell XPS line, i prefer functionality). i dont have a hard cap in terms of price, but im looking to keep it under $12/1300 (US), although i could go above it if the performance/features justified it.
i keep hearing about how nice the tablet PCs are, and i do want to try them out. if im doing math/science classes, i dont want to be typing up notes with all those equations in word. im open to consideration (x61 line?)
in terms of laptops ive been considering, i cant say much as the IBMs seem to be the best fit, although i haven't gotten a chance to handle any in person.
what ive seen is the
IBM: x61, r61, t61 --- i need to do more research, and am looking for outside opinions.
Dell: vostros- unsure which model specifically, although they seem to be very functional and will get the job done.
Sony: these machines seem so horribly over priced, but whenever i stop my bestbuy, i love the feel of some of their machines.
Apple: considering the price i want to stay in, it doesnt seem realistic for me to buy apple, but they are nice, and if i had the $$, i might consider it (very unlikely however).
two other notes:
1) id love to run a hackintosh on this machine. i got it to run on my current machine, but the comp was a 3700+ single core with only a gig of ram-->too slow. its not a huge priority, and so much verys from comp the comp, person to person, i cant really make it a demand.
2) if it turns out i need to run CAD or something, i would probably just rebuild my desktop (costing in the area of $700). a laptop is not a must, and if i do rebuild my desktop, i might not get a laptop entirely (or simply pick up an EEE PC or used/cheap tablet to simply take notes.)
if i can think of anything else, i ll post/edit.
Notes: id love to have drivers available to me if something ever happened. i dont want to have to find the restore disk. not a must though
thanks for helping.
