Best Law School Laptop for the Money Forum

[giantsnumb1]

Does anyone know anything about the Asus k50ij-bnc5? Bestbuy has a good deal on it, but I can't seem to find any reviews of it.

[hawkeye22]

For any gamers out there Dell is offering the MX11 for $750:

http://slickdeals.net/?pno=37336&lno=1&afsrc=1

But its too heavy for my taste. I just broke down and bought the Acer 1830t; Amazon finally got it back in stock.

[RMstratosphere]

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any substantive reviews. Does anyone have experience with a Toshiba Satellite L630-BT2N22?

[Grad09]

I know there are a ton of laptop questions here, but I want to add another....

Samsung Q430-11 looks really nice.

Its got a lot of great features. My favorite was the aluminum casing, complete LED screen (looks badass), and it was only 5.3 lbs. Its a PC with an Apple feel to it.

Any thoughts? Its $829 and I am almost about to buy it. Is it worth the money?

[laureng05]

I know there are a ton of laptop questions here, but I want to add another....

Samsung Q430-11 looks really nice.

Its got a lot of great features. My favorite was the aluminum casing, complete LED screen (looks badass), and it was only 5.3 lbs. Its a PC with an Apple feel to it.

Any thoughts? Its $829 and I am almost about to buy it. Is it worth the money?

That looks like a pretty nice machine. Cnet gave it a pretty good review too. I was looking at the asus ul30 or ul80, but i'm afraid the features on those computers may seem especially obsolete in 3 years. I'd love to hear what someone knowledgeable in computers thinks of this samsung.

[farewelltoarms]

For any gamers out there Dell is offering the MX11 for $750:

http://slickdeals.net/?pno=37336&lno=1&afsrc=1

But its too heavy for my taste. I just broke down and bought the Acer 1830t; Amazon finally got it back in stock.

Gaming on a laptop...... why would you punish yourself so? Desktop are where its at, you don't really need to be playing games on the go. I just built a new comp for starcraft 2, and I'll probably buy a notebook for like 200 bucks for school. I think thats the best way for gamers to go, rather than some flashy alienware laptop which not only lacks the performance of a desktop, but has a high possibility of getting swiped.

[Duralex]

Don't buy a (budget!) Dell gaming laptop. Just take $1000 out of your checking account and set it on fire instead. This is roughly analogous to the ownership experience you'll be forgoing, but much more efficient.

That Samsung looks pretty nice for the price in terms of specs and design. You've seen the CNet review, so you know it lacks Bluetooth. (They also say it could use more ports.) I can't speak to Samsung build quality.

Toshiba has been a business-world standby for a long time. As far as I know the Satellite series is still a reliable choice, if a bit clunky.

[cranberry]

I know nothing about Apple... is the 13" MBP significantly better than the regular "MacBook?" Is Lenovo Thinkpad a better/worse choice?

[Duralex]

MBP is much more powerful...whether or not you need it is another question.

Apple vs. Windows gets into religious war territory, but the pre-Lenovo IBM-originated Thinkpad designs still in production are good machines in my opinion. I forget the models off-hand--just be diligent in reading comments/reviews and you should be able to differentiate the continued model/lines from the newer rather less awesome stuff. (Or buy an older Thinkpad refurbed or on the 'Bay.)

[cranberry]

Is the MBP worth the $$$? Configured the way I want it's almost $1700. Lenovo is only $1000. Yikes

[ResolutePear]

Is the MBP worth the $$$? Configured the way I want it's almost $1700. Lenovo is only $1000. Yikes

Are you a multimedia/art major? Something of the sort except Architecture? Then chances are the MBP is going to be right for you. Otherwise, you're going to end up with an overpriced PC when you have to run Bootcamp for the next 3 years because you rely on OneNote and other tasty Microsoft products.

Everybody else, do yourself the favor and get a Thinkpad. Sure you won't be "trendy", but you can prob. buy a thinkpad + desktop for $1700.

[Duralex]

Or, you know, the regular Macbook. If you want OS X, too.

[cranberry]

I'm looking at the 14" Thinkpad Edge and there is a sale until August 4 for students. The special Thinkpad warranty seems a little indulgent, no? Do most people just get a basic warranty?

[Duralex]

I have no idea what Lenovo's warranty packages are like. Back in the day, IBM's extended warranties for TPs through the business channel were pricey but awesome. Next day on-site repair and all that jazz. But these days laptops are a lot cheaper.

Read the terms carefully and see if what they offer is worth it to you, I suppose. Since you'd be foolish not to be making regular backups, it's really down to whether you'd prefer to have the machine fixed if something goes very wrong, or just chuck it and replace it (and so whether you want to pay for the warranty up front, or just let it ride.)

[03121202698008]

Is the MBP worth the $$$? Configured the way I want it's almost $1700. Lenovo is only $1000. Yikes

Are you a multimedia/art major? Something of the sort except Architecture? Then chances are the MBP is going to be right for you. Otherwise, you're going to end up with an overpriced PC when you have to run Bootcamp for the next 3 years because you rely on OneNote and other tasty Microsoft products.

Everybody else, do yourself the favor and get a Thinkpad. Sure you won't be "trendy", but you can prob. buy a thinkpad + desktop for $1700.

Or get a regular Macbook for $1,000-1,300. I know many Mac users who don't rely on OneNote. Microsoft has office for Macs that works just as well as the Windows version.

[ResolutePear]

I have no idea what Lenovo's warranty packages are like. Back in the day, IBM's extended warranties for TPs through the business channel were pricey but awesome. Next day on-site repair and all that jazz. But these days laptops are a lot cheaper.

Read the terms carefully and see if what they offer is worth it to you, I suppose. Since you'd be foolish not to be making regular backups, it's really down to whether you'd prefer to have the machine fixed if something goes very wrong, or just chuck it and replace it (and so whether you want to pay for the warranty up front, or just let it ride.)

The on-site warranty is still available. Although the series changed companies, it's still a series tailored to business professionals.

[ResolutePear]

Is the MBP worth the $$$? Configured the way I want it's almost $1700. Lenovo is only $1000. Yikes

Are you a multimedia/art major? Something of the sort except Architecture? Then chances are the MBP is going to be right for you. Otherwise, you're going to end up with an overpriced PC when you have to run Bootcamp for the next 3 years because you rely on OneNote and other tasty Microsoft products.

Everybody else, do yourself the favor and get a Thinkpad. Sure you won't be "trendy", but you can prob. buy a thinkpad + desktop for $1700.

Or get a regular Macbook for $1,000-1,300. I know many Mac users who don't rely on OneNote. Microsoft has office for Macs that works just as well as the Windows version.

And I know many PC users who don't rely on Final Cut Pro. They'd love to have it, but they don't use it because it's not available to them.

[Duralex]

Can we skip the OS flamewar? It's been done to death.

[03121202698008]

Can we skip the OS flamewar? It's been done to death.

I wasn't trying to start a flame war. Merely pointing out that the assertion that a MacBook will cost you $1700 is flawed.

[op-ti]

I've pretty much made my mind to go with one of Lenovo's T series ThinkPads.

Is this good for law school?

Also, what about the all-in-one desktop? Are they any good from Lenovo?

[Duralex]

Which T-series model?

I didn't even know Lenovo made all in one desktops. To my mind it's silly to buy anything but a minitower (except for HTPC use.) One the main features of a desktop is upgradability/expansion.

[op-ti]

Which T-series model?

I didn't even know Lenovo made all in one desktops. To my mind it's silly to buy anything but a minitower (except for HTPC use.) One the main features of a desktop is upgradability/expansion.

Haven't decided which one, but nothing fancy.

The bit about the PC...what is a minitower? Is that the same as a CPU?

What would you recommend for a desktop then? I want a good desktop. I'm not a gamer or anything...

Apologies for my lack of education on this matter.

[laureng05]

So i think i may go with this computer: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+-+P ... &cp=1&lp=1

It's the toshiba portege laptop Laptop / Intel® Core™ i3 Processor / 13.3" Display / 4GB Memory / 500GB Hard Drive. Does this look like a good laptop? Basically, portability is very important to me, i want a light and thin machine. I have a fairly nice desktop so this doesn't need to be the most powerful laptop, but i'd like it to be more than decent. thoughts?

[ResolutePear]

Which T-series model?

I didn't even know Lenovo made all in one desktops. To my mind it's silly to buy anything but a minitower (except for HTPC use.) One the main features of a desktop is upgradability/expansion.

Haven't decided which one, but nothing fancy.

The bit about the PC...what is a minitower? Is that the same as a CPU?

What would you recommend for a desktop then? I want a good desktop. I'm not a gamer or anything...

Apologies for my lack of education on this matter.

The T-Series are tanks next to anything except Toughbooks. But that's outside of the scope of this thread.

Lenovo does make an All-in-One; I've always hated all-in-one's though because of that difficulty of upgrading or fixing.

I'd probably check out newegg.

[Duralex]

Which T-series model?

I didn't even know Lenovo made all in one desktops. To my mind it's silly to buy anything but a minitower (except for HTPC use.) One the main features of a desktop is upgradability/expansion.

Haven't decided which one, but nothing fancy.

The bit about the PC...what is a minitower? Is that the same as a CPU?

What would you recommend for a desktop then? I want a good desktop. I'm not a gamer or anything...

Apologies for my lack of education on this matter.

The CPU, properly speaking, is the central processor chip. More casually, yeah, it refers to the whole "box" of computer guts (i.e. as separate from the monitor etc. Also called simply "the computer.") So, yes, I'm saying you want a separate CPU--and also you want one that has a "minitower" case, so you can add stuff to it easily (like RAM and hard drives) to make it last.


Like this one:

--ImageRemoved--

I can't believe I'm linking this.....butWalmart has the Lenovo K300 minitower above for $479 (LinkRemoved). It's $607 at Amazon.

This is a dual core 2.9ghz CPU, 6GB RAM, 640GB HDD, Windows 7 64bit. Check prices through your school if they have a direct Lenovo hookup, but that is rather cheap.