Mobile Desktop for College

[XTS_Moto]

Hey, I will be using this laptop when going to school at suny buffalo for the upcoming fall semester. I have narrowed it down to three and I would like some advice. I basically figured to get a nicer laptop because it would be better than my desktop now, so it's not worth lugging my desktop from home to there and back. I would bring my 20'' widescreen monitor to use with it as well. I will be taking the laptop to lectures, as well as playing games, and writing papers, etc and using it as a desktop.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220519

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220525

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220521

They have mostly the same specs, so i was just wondering what you guys thought of them. My budget is about $1000. So, any other suggestions would be great too.

I was looking at some MSI ones as well. Which would be best fitting?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Ben

 

[yee245]

From my own experience with using a laptop at school, I personally think laptops over 14" are often too big to use in lectures, though, it really depends on the model. I used my 700m and my M90 in various lectures, and the M90 was just a bit too big for my tastes. For writing papers and gaming and multitasking, having a bigger screen and having a secondary monitor is very useful. For the most part, though, I didn't really use my smaller laptop in lectures all that much and preferred writing in a spiral notebook, which worked out better for me, and also kept me from using a computer as often in some classes.

 

[450]

15" and larger is usually annoying to use. My 15.4" laptop doesn't fit on many desks, and I'd really prefer a 12.1 or 13.3.

 

[SBB]

Just get a shuttle for your main pc and a cheap small laptop for work etc, anything over 15" is not portable at all

 

[XTS_Moto]

My brother had also given me the same advice, as he as a 14'' as well. So, perhaps I will just look for one with a 14'' or smaller screen and have my larger lcd with it.

Thanks

 

[iceredwing]

i basically agree with the advice given. As a graduate student (which means i've been doing this for awhile), I can tell you that for a laptop for school you won't need more than a netbook unless you are doing heavy calculations.

What I did for my brother was I made hima a gaming desktop for $700 & just bought a netbook for school. He's able to program in java & c fine on his netbook and do a few light gaming (WCIII / Diablo II) just fine.

And if you are the kind of student who hauls a lot of books, the netbook makes a huge difference in terms of luggage. That's why when I opted to get my netbook and sell my m1330 (which is quite small) i decided to go with a HP Mini 1000 just because it feels nothing more than a notebook (no pun intended)

 

[SILVR 6]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220495

If you can fit that into your budget that would be my choice in terms of something decent all around that you can use for college, still small but powerfull enough to be useful.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4923

I agree with everyone about a smaller notebook for school, netbooks didn't exist when I was in university but I started with a 15" notebook and by the time I was done 5 years later I was using a 12" so the size does become a pain in the ass too,

 

[batteriesnotincluded]

You may want to look at getting a notebook with a docking station capability. Especially if you're going to have to unplug and plug in more than a power cable and USB cable.