new laptop for med school

D

DruSi3r

Gawd
Joined
Nov 4, 2002
Messages
937
guys,
my gf just got into med school and needs a new laptop. the minmum specs are laughable, but here's what we've come up w/:
processor- pentium m 1.5 or above, A64
memory-512mb
hd-60gb (is 7200rpm worth it?)
networking-802.11g & ethernet
connectivity-USB 2.0 & possibly firewire
monitor-above 1024x768 (she thinks widescreens are sexy)
drives-cd-rw/dvd
video-atleast ati9200
windows xp home w/ a minimum amount of other software

the budget is $1400 +- $200.

she just got accepted from the alternate list and needs to find this laptop w/in 1 week.

thanks everybody for your help!
 
May i recommend this http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...49703&productCategoryId=cat01174&type=product

If she's not doing digital contenet creation or games, i recommend saving the money on the harddrive and getting eaither a 60gb 5400rpm or 80gb 5400rpm (sometimes, the 60gb 7200 is the same price as an 80gb 5400rmp).

I recommend the AMD athlon64 3000+ over the pentium M 1.5ghz

This has everything you wanted in your specs, it meats your price, and in some cases its better then your specs (and it also springs for some extras you asked for, such as a SEXY widescreen).

Normally i would shy away from e-machines, but when they make a good computer........................... for a good price ..........................

http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=eMachines_M6810

The main diffrence between the M6810 and the M6805 is that the 6805 uses the AMD64 3000+, while the M6810 uses the AMD64 3200+ (with the mail in rebate, ide go with the 3200+).

Best thing for you, is that many local stores in the US carry these, such as best buy, circuitcity, and Compusa.... so you can pick one up at any time basically.

~Hope this helps
 
one more question, would buying a lappy at bestbuy (or similar) be more beneficial than buying online. In other words, does having warrenty performed instore outweigh the option of a better deal online.
How are the new emachines (I know im reading up atm)
 
DruSi3r said:
one more question, would buying a lappy at bestbuy (or similar) be more beneficial than buying online. In other words, does having warrenty performed instore outweigh the option of a better deal online.
How are the new emachines (I know im reading up atm)
Click to expand...

As for the e-machines, i know a few people on this forum have them, and liked them when they first came out (one of the first companies to offer then AMD64 in a laptop.) ill see if i can find those posts.


In most cases, the "basic" warranty for the stores is usually not better then the Computer maker (usually 30 days, or 14 days for opened boxes... with returns of the same item only), and they usually charge for an upgrade warrenty ~_~ It is nice though to buy one from a store, and if it is broke when you get it, just bring it back and return it from the same one.

Also, with buying at the store, you can get it as fast as you get to the store, with online it might take them a few days/weeks to ship one out.

If it were me, and there was'nt a big price diffrence between online and instore (sometimes, in-store prices are cheaper then emachines.com), i would pick one up at the store to get that added 14 or 30 day return policy.

~Hope this helps

Edit: No matter where you buy it form though, all e-machines have this
One-year guarantee on Parts and Labor.
One-year technical support via telephone*.
Click to expand...
 
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=722447&highlight=M6805

That's a thread on the M6805

On a side note, the HP zv5000z and Compaq R3000Z (both are basically same thing... blagh what awful names) also offer the AMD64 for cheap prices. On their websites you can even customize the laptop. Might be an alternitive option to the e-machines.

Oh well, those are a few of the cheap AMD64 options.

The only other option i would consider, would be the intel centrino (not Pentium 4-M), it might offer a little better battery life. But those things run hotter then the AMD64's.... My Pentium M1.7ghz gave me burns when i had that thing on for hours. ~_~
 
DruSi3r said:
guys,
my gf just got into med school and needs a new laptop. the minmum specs are laughable, but here's what we've come up w/:
processor- pentium m 1.5 or above, A64
memory-512mb
hd-60gb (is 7200rpm worth it?)
networking-802.11g & ethernet
connectivity-USB 2.0 & possibly firewire
monitor-above 1024x768 (she thinks widescreens are sexy)
drives-cd-rw/dvd
video-atleast ati9200
windows xp home w/ a minimum amount of other software

the budget is $1400 +- $200.

she just got accepted from the alternate list and needs to find this laptop w/in 1 week.

thanks everybody for your help!
Click to expand...
I would highly reccomend an ultralight. She's going to be taking the laptop to class every day - and nobody wants to be carrying a heavy laptop to and from class. My sister is in law school and has a Dell 500M (~5lb) and even that is a bit heavy for her. Also - when mobile - chances are that she won't need an optical drive, floppy drive, or any of that stuff. That's just extra weight she'll be carrying around. Also - why a 60GB hard drive? I personally only use about 5-10GB of my 40GB drive. I have a 200GB drive in an external enclosure for media storage and whatnot - but you don't need much storage for class. I reccomend a 5400 rpm drive at least. a 4200 is a little bit too slow, but it would be fine too. If I were to set your gf up with a computer, I'd get her an IBM ultralight, like this one: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=34-146-039&depa=0 and I'd get her a cd-rw/dvd combo drive and put it in an external enclosure, and if she needs more storage get her another external enclosure along with a hard drive.
 
i don't know about you, but IBM laptops always look interesting, with that fancey red button and those colored keys... and who can forget that nice colored IBM logo.

BUT, if your on a budget, IBM is not the best choice IMO... they tend to be some of the most expensive for what you are getting.

As with the weight, that's something she needs to consider, and it would be a good idea to try diffrent weight laptops. I know my Dell 8600 was maybe around 8lbs... and it was a little on the heave side, but if you carry them in one of those special laptop bags, its unnoticible (it might just seem like another college Bio book ^_^)

As for the recommendation of 20gb, i shutter at the fact. Ploop on a Windows OS, add a few office applications and other software, plus a few documents and maybe a little other stuff, and the 20gb drive would be filled in no time (or at least with me). But then again, only she can decide how much she wants. Especially with that windows XP restore, and all that other stuff.

Lastly, about the built in optical drive. The built in ones are flimsy.... but its always handy to have it.
There are some laptops that have the optical drive removeable... so that means if you did'nt need the CD-rom you could just ploop a spare battery in there. Yes, maybe 1 more pound.... but unless your don't like to carry stuff around......... i see no reason not to get one.

Laptops are funny. There are people who feel it should be used as this extra light portible computer, and others think it should be used as a "normal" computer, that you can carry around.

Like i said, my best recommendation is to goto a local store, lift a few, carry them, and see if you mind the extra 0.8 pounds ^_^
 
I dont know if this will fit in your budget. But what about a tablet? Thats what i would want. Especially for those times when she is on the hospital floor and havin to walk around and stand behind doctors and such. It would come in hand for notes then.
 
towert7 said:
i don't know about you, but IBM laptops always look interesting, with that fancey red button and those colored keys... and who can forget that nice colored IBM logo.

BUT, if your on a budget, IBM is not the best choice IMO... they tend to be some of the most expensive for what you are getting.

As with the weight, that's something she needs to consider, and it would be a good idea to try diffrent weight laptops. I know my Dell 8600 was maybe around 8lbs... and it was a little on the heave side, but if you carry them in one of those special laptop bags, its unnoticible (it might just seem like another college Bio book ^_^)

As for the recommendation of 20gb, i shutter at the fact. Ploop on a Windows OS, add a few office applications and other software, plus a few documents and maybe a little other stuff, and the 20gb drive would be filled in no time (or at least with me). But then again, only she can decide how much she wants. Especially with that windows XP restore, and all that other stuff.

Lastly, about the built in optical drive. The built in ones are flimsy.... but its always handy to have it.
There are some laptops that have the optical drive removeable... so that means if you did'nt need the CD-rom you could just ploop a spare battery in there. Yes, maybe 1 more pound.... but unless your don't like to carry stuff around......... i see no reason not to get one.

Laptops are funny. There are people who feel it should be used as this extra light portible computer, and others think it should be used as a "normal" computer, that you can carry around.

Like i said, my best recommendation is to goto a local store, lift a few, carry them, and see if you mind the extra 0.8 pounds ^_^
Click to expand...

IBMs can work for somebody on a budget. The one I linked to is within the given budget. You could also buy used and save a couple more bucks.

I'm a guy in good shape, and I find my 5 pound 600M to be annoyingly heavy after carrying it around all day - so I think she should definitely aim for something lighter than that.

Also - I just checked - and I am using 5.73GB on my 40GB hard drive. As I said earlier - all media (nearly 200GB worth) is kept off of my hard drive. 20GB is more than enough.

As for optical drives - I've never that I can remember used mine away from my room, and even there I hardly ever use it. Pretty much the only thing I'll ever use it for is burning a CD. DVD playback is a joke - as it runs your battery life down so damn fast.

atomic3 said:
I dont know if this will fit in your budget. But what about a tablet? Thats what i would want. Especially for those times when she is on the hospital floor and havin to walk around and stand behind doctors and such. It would come in hand for notes then.
Click to expand...
AFAIK - med school students don't spend much time in hospitals. They would only start spending much time there during their residency. But she should check out a tablet that has a keyboard as well - she might end up liking it.
 
i see now bestbuy offers 2 mail in rebates on that e-machines, which will bring it down to 1150$US ^_^, not bad for what your getting.

And yea, i know what you mean about DVD playback eating the battery. But, some people will do that on flights, just bring a backup battery.

DruSi3r said that it need at least a ATI 9200. Most slim laptops come with a built in grapics, such as the Intel or the ATI rage which share memory with the physical memory.

The only reason i don't like laptops yet is because they don't have the "best" of audio. Lol, i pluged my Sennheiser HD590's into my Dell 8600 and it screwed up the sound ~_~. I don't know if it had enough power to drive them.

Oh well, im die'ing to see what DruSi3r has to say.

~Keep us posted.
 
Have you looked at the 12 inch ibooks from apple? They are light, powerful, and reliable. And she could get a student discount i'll bet; which would bring the price to $999.

edit: i meant ibooks not powerbooks.
 
as for apple, no thanks. When there r problems, im sure im the one thats going to get that 1am phone call "omg my laptop lost my document...i hate this thing!". Im a windows guy and can help with that...But apple does make good products. The ultra light is a good idea and ive recommened it to her. However this will be her only computer (desktop replacement) and I think she needs atleast 1.5+Ghz of M power. We are going to BB tomorrow to "try out" laptops (weight, widescreen, ect). We did pick out a nice HP on newegg (~1500) and I think thats at the top of the list. Ive decided 5400rpm is all she needs for HD speed. Toms hardware had a great review and i dont think the xtra heat/price is worth it. I do think she can get by with 40gigs and add an external in a few months. I wish she was getting a desktop then I could put this thing together quick. Its hard for me to help here cause I would het the widesreen with 9800pro gig o ram, 2.0 dothan 7200rpm drive and build it myself. Anyways sorry for the lack of sentence structure (i just got done with organic II final). I will report back tomorrow. We need to hurry because I dont want her dad to get her something she is going to regret(he think the celeron is good). Anyways thanks so much for the input.

can some1 link me to this cl56 i keep hearing about...
 
Don't take this the wrong way man, I had to learn this with my sister.

It sounds like you're trying get her a gaming laptop. Thats not what she needs. I agree that speed and battery power should be at the top of your list, but so should things like reliability. Things like ram, HD speed, and video are not the most important factors. Especially since more ram can be added later. The reason Im pushing the iBook is the same reason that I am pushing the ibook on my sister. unless your GF is dramatically different from my sister, she is not going to remember to update and run her ad-ware and antivirus, and update windows. And you know with windows, spyware and viruses can make that new laptop run like crap. Apples are for the moment, immune to that crap.

My english teacher in highschool needed a powerbook for when she was working on her PHD. I helped her get a G3 powerbook. the thing was rock solid for 2 years, and when it did hiccup, she figured out how to fix it herself.

would you rather be fixing and updating windows once a month, or would you rather have an update about once a year?
 
thanks your right guys, i dont think she is going to be playing doom3 on this thing (she does enjoy Tetris though)...and i just reinstalled windows (on my machine) and had 51 critical updates sheezz i hope sp2 comes out soon...anyways thanks again guys i let you know how things go tomorrow.
d
 
CodeWaste said:
Don't take this the wrong way man, I had to learn this with my sister.

It sounds like you're trying get her a gaming laptop. Thats not what she needs. I agree that speed and battery power should be at the top of your list, but so should things like reliability. Things like ram, HD speed, and video are not the most important factors. Especially since more ram can be added later. The reason Im pushing the iBook is the same reason that I am pushing the ibook on my sister. unless your GF is dramatically different from my sister, she is not going to remember to update and run her ad-ware and antivirus, and update windows. And you know with windows, spyware and viruses can make that new laptop run like crap. Apples are for the moment, immune to that crap.

My english teacher in highschool needed a powerbook for when she was working on her PHD. I helped her get a G3 powerbook. the thing was rock solid for 2 years, and when it did hiccup, she figured out how to fix it herself.

would you rather be fixing and updating windows once a month, or would you rather have an update about once a year?
Click to expand...


Did you know, if you use Microsoft DOS 1.1, you don't have to worry about viruses, spam, and exploits? Its ture! (it even has an interface for a keyboard!!!)

Avoding the problem is not always the best option, Instead just get the OS that you want, not because it has fewer hackors. Use an OS because of the "community" is understandible, but if the OS does not fit someone's needs, then its just not for them, no matter how many graphic artists use it.

Apple uses a file system too, and its jsut as easy for a Computer user to misplace a document in an apple OS as in a windows OS, or so ive seen.

Oh well, maybe i just value the right click over the Ctrl+click. ^_^,


EDIT: I did'nt see where you said Apples are "immune" to that "crap". Actually, there are viruses for the Apple OS. And there are Apple hackors out there.
 
towert7 said:
Did you know, if you use Microsoft DOS 1.1, you don't have to worry about viruses, spam, and exploits? Its ture! (it even has an interface for a keyboard!!!)

Avoding the problem is not always the best option, Instead just get the OS that you want, not because it has fewer hackors. Use an OS because of the "community" is understandible, but if the OS does not fit someone's needs, then its just not for them, no matter how many graphic artists use it.

Apple uses a file system too, and its jsut as easy for a Computer user to misplace a document in an apple OS as in a windows OS, or so ive seen.

Oh well, maybe i just value the right click over the Ctrl+click. ^_^,


EDIT: I did'nt see where you said Apples are "immune" to that "crap". Actually, there are viruses for the Apple OS. And there are Apple hackors out there.
Click to expand...


You brought up soem very good points. But I think that if this girl truely had a preference of OS, she would probably be making the decision for herself.

Also avoiding the problem is never the best solution, you are absolutely correct. But for people like her, getting a Mac is a stop gap measure until Microsoft gets its shit together.

You are also correct in stating that a Mac has exploits, hackers and viruses too. But so does nearly every OS on the planet. But the number of known viruses for macs and the number of known viruses for windows is so far apart, that you might as well say macs are virus free.

And In fact, I'll bet there are more hackers on macs and linux, than windows. But they are usually hacking windows machines (lets be honest).

"Misplacing" a document is not a problem I have seen on any (windows included) OS for a while. And if it happens, its usually a sign of a much larger problem, probably a bad hard drive, not a fault of the OS itself.

Im not saying you HAVE to get the mac. you don't. But there is no denying the fact that the macs are much more worry free than their windows counterparts.
 
CodeWaste said:
You brought up soem very good points. But I think that if this girl truely had a preference of OS, she would probably be making the decision for herself.

Also avoiding the problem is never the best solution, you are absolutely correct. But for people like her, getting a Mac is a stop gap measure until Microsoft gets its shit together.

You are also correct in stating that a Mac has exploits, hackers and viruses too. But so does nearly every OS on the planet. But the number of known viruses for macs and the number of known viruses for windows is so far apart, that you might as well say macs are virus free.

And In fact, I'll bet there are more hackers on macs and linux, than windows. But they are usually hacking windows machines (lets be honest).

"Misplacing" a document is not a problem I have seen on any (windows included) OS for a while. And if it happens, its usually a sign of a much larger problem, probably a bad hard drive, not a fault of the OS itself.

Im not saying you HAVE to get the mac. you don't. But there is no denying the fact that the macs are much more worry free than their windows counterparts.
Click to expand...

Agreed! :D
 
I worked in the health science library. I can tell you there are only brand of laptop.

IBM ThinkPad or Apple PowerBook......won't go wrong with these two.
 
i hate to disappoint guys but i think shes going to get the emachines 6811. I think its the best bang for the buck. She has no desktop to come home to and will be using this thing for 4 years probabely. I let you know how things go....
 
It's no thinkpad, but take it from me, it should serve her well.
 
DruSi3r said:
i hate to disappoint guys but i think shes going to get the emachines 6811. I think its the best bang for the buck. She has no desktop to come home to and will be using this thing for 4 years probabely. I let you know how things go....
Click to expand...


Glad to hear, i think on a budget, this is the best laptop to keep for years to come.

the 6811 is with a DVD-RW drive? i forgot off hand.

I hope she enjoys it, and im sure she will be happy you picked out a nice one for her.

~Enjoy
 
ok she got the 6810 from best buy the 250 3 year service plan and a carrying bag. The difference being no dvd burner and 3200+ instead of 3400+. I didnt think that was work ~200 difference. Anyways...9200 3dmarks(2001) and sandra cpu scores that whoop my P4 2.4 oced to ~2.7. What a great excuse to upgrade....
 
DaWhim said:
I worked in the health science library. I can tell you there are only brand of laptop.

IBM ThinkPad or Apple PowerBook......won't go wrong with these two.
Click to expand...

word!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top