The Ideal Law School Laptop Forum

[356a]

Hey all, I'm considering switching to Mac and have been looking at the Mac Book Pro 13" and 15". I currently have a 15" screen laptop so I'm wondering if a 13" is too small. Anyone out there have a 13" screen and feel like it's not big enough? Anyone with a 15" think their laptop is too heavy?

bump - was hoping to get some more opinions on this

go to macrumors.com lot's of posts on this there.

[ubermensch]

Just got my t400 this week and I love it. No keyboard flex, screen is really bright, great battery life, quiet, and not too warm.

[nontradintexas]

Just got my t400 this week and I love it. No keyboard flex, screen is really bright, great battery life, quiet, and not too warm.

I've been toying with configurations for a T500. Did you select the Turbo Memory hard drive cache? Anyone know pros/cons? I figure for $40 it can't hurt, just haven't seen this option on any other manufacturer.

[ubermensch]

Just got my t400 this week and I love it. No keyboard flex, screen is really bright, great battery life, quiet, and not too warm.

I've been toying with configurations for a T500. Did you select the Turbo Memory hard drive cache? Anyone know pros/cons? I figure for $40 it can't hurt, just haven't seen this option on any other manufacturer.

Nope. The only upgrades I got were the 6 cell and the LED screen. It's already much nicer than my previous setup, and I can upgrade RAM and other stuff later.

[Skadden Stairs]

One of this week's AmEx sales is an HP Mini 2140 for $198. I want an Asus Eee PC 1005HA, but this is so tempting for half the price.

[LawandOrder]

Lenovo sponsors F1, and that's enough reason to get me to buy it (if I were in the market).

--ImageRemoved--

[malagueno]

Hey all, I'm considering switching to Mac and have been looking at the Mac Book Pro 13" and 15". I currently have a 15" screen laptop so I'm wondering if a 13" is too small. Anyone out there have a 13" screen and feel like it's not big enough? Anyone with a 15" think their laptop is too heavy?

bump - was hoping to get some more opinions on this

I had a 17" before. Recently bought the 13" Macbook Pro. I don't seem to have any problems with screen size. Personally, I wouldn't want to be carrying anything bigger to class every day.

[missv463]

FYI... pre-order of the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade is on Amazon now for $50

[tome]

FYI... pre-order of the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade is on Amazon now for $50

If you bought your computer after 26th of June, you get a free upgrade. I got one in the box with my Timeline.

[lucydog]

FYI... pre-order of the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade is on Amazon now for $50

If you bought your computer after 26th of June, you get a free upgrade. I got one in the box with my Timeline.

How do you like your Timeline? I am thinking about getting one, but I am concerned about running Windows 7 on a low speed single core processor.

[dachillchick]

I just ordered my T400 and plan to upgrade the memory immediately (from 2GB to 4GB). Can anyone comment on/ suggest which one to buy? I'm currently looking at Kingston. Thanks much!

[tome]

FYI... pre-order of the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade is on Amazon now for $50

If you bought your computer after 26th of June, you get a free upgrade. I got one in the box with my Timeline.

How do you like your Timeline? I am thinking about getting one, but I am concerned about running Windows 7 on a low speed single core processor.

It is great so far. Super light, Super long-life, and Super cheap. I was under the impressions that if you could run a 64 version of Vista, the Windows 7 of the same version will run better. If not, I would be reasonably happy to stay with Vista.

Certainly, though, single core processors are thing of the past, given how people tend to use their computers, and multitasking is likely to be a huge part of law school. You could just get the duo version of the Timeline --LinkRemoved--. Of course, this costs $300 more at $900, sort of nullifying the Super cheap motivation for getting a Timeline in the first place.

[coolkatz321]

I just ordered my T400 and plan to upgrade the memory immediately (from 2GB to 4GB). Can anyone comment on/ suggest which one to buy? I'm currently looking at Kingston. Thanks much!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820148192

Knock yourself out.

[MSachmorov]

I ll be using my one two punch. In the dorm/ at home, ill be using my HP Pavillion and in class Ill be using my Acer Aspire One
http://www.amazon.com/Acer-AOA150-1447- ... 698&sr=8-2

I am definitely looking into the one two punch idea...I was wondering how is the battery life on those tiny laptops? Also do you feel like it would be a problem switching from that for everyday and the big one for finals??

[UNC2009]

I just ordered my T400 and plan to upgrade the memory immediately (from 2GB to 4GB). Can anyone comment on/ suggest which one to buy? I'm currently looking at Kingston. Thanks much!

I bought the X300. I had a 2GB stick of RAM that I bought for another PC. It was Crucial brand. It was like $20 on NewEgg.com.

[sbcity24]

I ll be using my one two punch. In the dorm/ at home, ill be using my HP Pavillion and in class Ill be using my Acer Aspire One
http://www.amazon.com/Acer-AOA150-1447- ... 698&sr=8-2

I am definitely looking into the one two punch idea...I was wondering how is the battery life on those tiny laptops? Also do you feel like it would be a problem switching from that for everyday and the big one for finals??

The battery life on the 6-cell Aspire One is excellent. Around seven hours with the right settings. I'm also planning to use my full size Lenovo at home and the Acer in class. Switching between keyboards is usually only a matter of a 1-2 minute adjustment for me, wouldn't worry about it for finals too much.

[Goal]

I just ordered my T400 and plan to upgrade the memory immediately (from 2GB to 4GB). Can anyone comment on/ suggest which one to buy? I'm currently looking at Kingston. Thanks much!

Just make sure you are running 64-bit Windows, because otherwise only a total of 3GB will be used.

[UNC2009]

I just ordered my T400 and plan to upgrade the memory immediately (from 2GB to 4GB). Can anyone comment on/ suggest which one to buy? I'm currently looking at Kingston. Thanks much!

Just make sure you are running 64-bit Windows, because otherwise only a total of 3GB will be used.

FWIW, I thought this was going to be true for my x300, but it is NOT the case. I am running 32-bit Vista and I am using the full 4 GB.

[Goal]

I just ordered my T400 and plan to upgrade the memory immediately (from 2GB to 4GB). Can anyone comment on/ suggest which one to buy? I'm currently looking at Kingston. Thanks much!

Just make sure you are running 64-bit Windows, because otherwise only a total of 3GB will be used.

FWIW, I thought this was going to be true for my x300, but it is NOT the case. I am running 32-bit Vista and I am using the full 4 GB.

Are you talking about the report in System or the Task Manager (Performance tab)? The numbers in the Task Manager matter because that is where the OS is reporting actual usage. Unless Lenovo tweaked the PAE to 36-bit from 32, I don't think you will see the full 4GB.

[djshack]

I just ordered my T400 and plan to upgrade the memory immediately (from 2GB to 4GB). Can anyone comment on/ suggest which one to buy? I'm currently looking at Kingston. Thanks much!

Just make sure you are running 64-bit Windows, because otherwise only a total of 3GB will be used.

FWIW, I thought this was going to be true for my x300, but it is NOT the case. I am running 32-bit Vista and I am using the full 4 GB.

My Computer will show 4 GB, but the task manager will not. I have a Lenovo T400, and because of the switchable graphics, Windows can only access 2.5 GB (Windows 7 64-bit will take care of that).

[thesealocust]

Edit: n/m

[UNC2009]

I just ordered my T400 and plan to upgrade the memory immediately (from 2GB to 4GB). Can anyone comment on/ suggest which one to buy? I'm currently looking at Kingston. Thanks much!

Just make sure you are running 64-bit Windows, because otherwise only a total of 3GB will be used.

FWIW, I thought this was going to be true for my x300, but it is NOT the case. I am running 32-bit Vista and I am using the full 4 GB.

Physically impossible with 32 bit windows OS, I am sorry to report.

I stand corrected. Am I getting any boost from the additional 2GB stick (I have 2 sticks of 2 GB each) with windows vista 32-bit? Am I getting the use of the additional 1 GB (up to the 3 GB limit)? Thanks for the clarification

[Spor]

I stand corrected. Am I getting any boost from the additional 2GB stick (I have 2 sticks of 2 GB each) with windows vista 32-bit? Am I getting the use of the additional 1 GB (up to the 3 GB limit)? Thanks for the clarification

Yes, up to around the 3GB. Technically a 32bit OS is capable of addressing the entire 4GB of ram and actually does so. What keeps you from actually benefiting from the entire 4GB is that the OS reserves a portion of the address space for hardware like the BIOS, video card memory, and other such resources. Since this space is reserved it can't be used by your regular everyday use programs. But you are able to take advantage of any memory of that 4GB that isn't reserved.

[littleboyblue]

ok so i tried to read through most of this thread but it gets pretty technical.

i just bought the standard 13" macbook pro. with just the 160gb hard drive, 2gb memory and 2.26ghz processor. i don't do any gaming (and can't imagine i will do very much over the next three years). i have some video (off my iphone or flip mino stuff), some pictures and some music (i haven't and won't ever download my cd collection!). i can't imagine blowing through the hard drive (i should be able to save 20,000+ pictures - right?) but i assume i can always buy an external.

is this ok or do i need to return and upgrade???? i am freaking out a little with all this upgrading stuff you guys are talking about.

please help and thanks!

[Goal]

ok so i tried to read through most of this thread but it gets pretty technical.

i just bought the standard 13" macbook pro. with just the 160gb hard drive, 2gb memory and 2.26ghz processor. i don't do any gaming (and can't imagine i will do very much over the next three years). i have some video (off my iphone or flip mino stuff), some pictures and some music (i haven't and won't ever download my cd collection!). i can't imagine blowing through the hard drive (i should be able to save 20,000+ pictures - right?) but i assume i can always buy an external.

is this ok or do i need to return and upgrade???? i am freaking out a little with all this upgrading stuff you guys are talking about.

please help and thanks!

Law school doesn't require much from your computer, except for the ability to run Word or similar software. You should be fine with this option. And if not, you can always sell it and get a new one next year. MacBooks have very good resale value.