Computers for Law School 2011 Forum

[23402385985]

This has been such a big damn debate for me.

I was all set to go with a MBA or a Samsung Series 9. Wanted super thin and relatively powerful. Now I am pretty sure I am going to go 15" MBP.

Figure I will buy it at the lowest end model for the 15" line and replace the HD myself with a Vertex 3 240GB SDD. Upgrade the RAM as well. Probably do the screen upgrade for the HD screen with anti-glare.

[dreadlawks]

thinking about a macbook pro, and came across this:

http://www.macmall.com/p/Apple-MacBook- ... dp.gaijech

this looks to be an older version of the macbook pro but with 3 more hours of battery life (up to 10 hours total). Can anyone explain what they did here that made the difference?

[ZFB]

I really like the idea of the Lenovo X120e, but I would like to find one in a store to get my hands on the keyboard first.

Same size as other Lenovo keyboards. Anything smaller wouldn't work for me either.

thinking about a macbook pro, and came across this:

http://www.macmall.com/p/Apple-MacBook- ... dp.gaijech

this looks to be an older version of the macbook pro but with 3 more hours of battery life (up to 10 hours total). Can anyone explain what they did here that made the difference?

Lied? If you're going to get a laptop you'd want one with Intel Sandybridge or AMD Fusion. The older ones won't have the same battery life.

[chrisnashville]

I own a Toshiba Portege R700 series laptop. Love it. Read about it on Engadget while I was in the market for one, and went to Best Buy to try it out. Very light, perfect screen size, good specs for the money. (The model I bought had to be bought at Best Buy, which was a pain in the ass. No, I don't want Geek Squad services, an extended warranty, or to pay you $50 to run Windows Update for me.)

Here's the link to their review. I don't think this particular model is for sale anymore, so the price might have bumped up, but you might get better specs, docking ability, etc. But here's their conclusion:

Remind us to thank Toshiba for celebrating its 25th year in the laptop business with the R705. Despite some heat issues, the $800 Portege R705 was simply impressive. Flat out, consumers haven't been able to get such a feature-packed ultraportable at such an affordable price until now, and the cheaper price tag doesn't result in a shoddy build as we expected it might. If you're looking for a thin and light 13-inch laptop under $900, the R705 beats all the others on the market – and that's not something we say often. Hey, Toshiba, how do you feel about celebrating every birthday this way?

[lhlee]

Thoughts on ssd? Necessary, helpful, or waste of money?

[bk1]

Thoughts on ssd? Necessary, helpful, or waste of money?

For a law student? Waste of money. They are pretty sweet and from what I've heard can make a machine fly but they are not worth the cost and definitely not necessary.

[ZFB]

Thoughts on ssd? Necessary, helpful, or waste of money?

Used but not needed for gaming, high-end graphics, video editing, etc. Not at all useful for law students. In a laptop you'd have more frustration with lower storage than you'd benefit from faster read/write.

[lhlee]

All right! I wad about to drop a couple hundred for an ssd. If its not too useful, I'll o with a regular hard drive.

[ZFB]

All right! I wad about to drop a couple hundred for an ssd. If its not too useful, I'll o with a regular hard drive.

Try to get one that is 7200RPM, that will help compared to 5400 and there should be very little price difference.

[geoduck]

All right! I wad about to drop a couple hundred for an ssd. If its not too useful, I'll o with a regular hard drive.

Try to get one that is 7200RPM, that will help compared to 5400 and there should be very little price difference.

Though that IS at the expensive of battery life. If you are going to be editing video or very large photo files or playing lots of games, get the 7200RPM. Otherwise, the 5400 will do fine. The SSD will be faster than either and more energy efficient, if you want to drop the cash.

[absolutazn87]

thinking about a macbook pro, and came across this:

http://www.macmall.com/p/Apple-MacBook- ... dp.gaijech

this looks to be an older version of the macbook pro but with 3 more hours of battery life (up to 10 hours total). Can anyone explain what they did here that made the difference?

Nothing actually changed. They just used a more stringent test that put the computer under more realistic usage conditions.

[rebelx13]

I have decided to keep the Alienware m11x over the iPad + keyboard combo. Hope it works out in terms of weight/battery life.

[twozeroseven]

For anyone who's interested: The Ideapad Y470 get released into the wild on May 19 if that interests anyone. Price will probably be high, but not MBP territory. I think that's my target.

[ColomboHeat]

what about the also-upcoming Ideapad V470? same

[23402385985]

Thoughts on ssd? Necessary, helpful, or waste of money?

Used but not needed for gaming, high-end graphics, video editing, etc. Not at all useful for law students. In a laptop you'd have more frustration with lower storage than you'd benefit from faster read/write.

It is very much useful for law students because the failure rate due to zero moving parts will be much less than that of a standard HDD. It also will save a decent amount of battery life as well. It's much better technology.

It's better to have an external hard drive if you are really hurting for storage. Keep the music, etc. on that.

[wolverine2014]

For those of you who are Mac users, what are your thoughts on Time Capsule?

bumo

[kalvano]

There is no reason to pay that much more for an SSD with Dropbox around.

[23402385985]

There is no reason to pay that much more for an SSD with Dropbox around.

Being one to have had HD failures in the past, I'd much rather pay more for a better piece of equipment that I know will work.

With that said, if money is tight skip it. It's not required, but some people act as if they are worthless. They are more reliable, faster and generally more efficient. Just really matters if you have the means to spend more on one or not.

[kalvano]

SSD's are usually at least $150 more, if not more than that. Doprbox is free cloud storage with folder syncing.

Everything is backed up nice and quick, and free.

[23402385985]

SSD's are usually at least $150 more, if not more than that. Doprbox is free cloud storage with folder syncing.

Everything is backed up nice and quick, and free.

I use Dropbox now and while it's a great thing, I prefer to have everything on my machine that is important as well. Like I said -- I don't view a SSD as truly essential, but if you can afford the upgrade it is worth it 10x over.

[joeshmo39]

A few words from a 1L who is at least moderately tech savvy:

1. Dropbox is really awesome, as someone above commented. I have 2 computers: a laptop I usually leave at school and a desktop at home. Dropbox seamlessly allows me to have all the latest files everywhere and I don't even think about it anymore. It makes me wish I bought a bigger laptop because now I don't have to lug it home. I have a hard time thinking someone would need more than 2 GBs of files too. I have everything (music, movies, files, programs) on my HD, but all my documents (notes, outlines, memoirs) and only my documents are on the dropbox server too.

2. That said, I recommend the laptop I bought. It's an Asus UL-80 and it's been nice. It's light, snappy, and fairly well-built. I recommend Asus in general. That said, pretty much any laptop on the market is good enough for a law student now. I would really focus on build quality. Don't buy the 15" four-hundred dollar Compaq/HP special to save a few bucks. Get something dependable that is well built. There are a ton of solid laptops out there. I would say 14" is the sweet spot but no bigger than 15". You will type a lot, get something with a full keyboard. I see people with netbooks everyday and it's not a good choice.

3. I think Macs are overpriced. However, their build quality is really good, especially the aluminum bodied ones. In addition, the concerns over compatibility have been eliminated for the most part (at least at my school).

4. Someone earlier said this is grad school and people are mature. Therefore, laptops are not a distraction. That person is wrong. They have also never taken civil procedure.

[geoduck]

Thoughts on ssd? Necessary, helpful, or waste of money?

Used but not needed for gaming, high-end graphics, video editing, etc. Not at all useful for law students. In a laptop you'd have more frustration with lower storage than you'd benefit from faster read/write.

Nobody edits on SSD as a main system. SSD is awesome for making basic seeking actions blazing fast and is great for all users. It also doesn't affect graphics performance. I'd say that if you can afford it, go SSD all the way.

[wolverine2014]

So I want to purchase a monitor for my desktop....was wondering what you guys think of this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... llFullInfo

Note: I am not a gamer.

[bk1]

So I want to purchase a monitor for my desktop....was wondering what you guys think of this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... llFullInfo

Note: I am not a gamer.

I like Dell monitors (and ASUS stuff generally, though I've never tried one of their monitors). That seems like a good price for a monitor of that size from a respectable company with good reviews. I'd say it's worth it if you want a monitor but I haven't really compared any as of late.

[frijoles99]

No matter what happens or whatever you buy, get the square trade warranty with accidental coverage protection. We will be taking our computers to to class every single day. We will depend on them massively for class. I am against company warranties because they are pricier and usually do not include accidental coverage which is the most important aspect. I mean most likely if there is an issue with your computer you more than likely spilled something on it or dropped it. Squaretrade is damn cheap go online and look for coupons. I have it for my cellphone and my laptop and got it for my gf's laptop.