Best Law School Laptop for the Money Forum

[lawduder]

Sorry to do this, but 13" MBP > all.

[motiontodismiss]

In three years the 1500 dollar mac book and the 500 dollar Accer will both be extremely outdated, but you'll be paying a 1000 dollars in law school debt back on the apple. Not worth it.

That assumes the $500 Acer lasts that long. I had a $2k Acer a few years ago. The value of the repairs that I had to do on it was $3k until it literally crumbled into mangled plastic. The tech people at my high school got so sick of doing repairs on it they started ordering dells. Almost literally half of them were lemons.

Don't get Acers, they're absolute crap.

[GobiasIndustries]

I'm planning on getting a 13" MacBook Pro sometime in the next few months. I can't decide whether I should buy now and take the outdated technology hit (they've got 2.2/2.5 C2D's in them still) but know that I'm getting a reliable machine that they've been making for almost a year, or wait until the summer, when they'll probably be updated, possibly to Intel's iX series, but will be brand new. Those processors would be overkill for me, but I get the skeeves from buying old tech on principle.

This puts me in the $1100-1500 range, and I'm ok with that.

EDIT: If you want a Mac but price is scaring you, their entry-level white MacBook is $899 with the educational discount. Maybe still a little high, but not bad.

[09042014]

In three years the 1500 dollar mac book and the 500 dollar Accer will both be extremely outdated, but you'll be paying a 1000 dollars in law school debt back on the apple. Not worth it.

That assumes the $500 Acer lasts that long. I had a $2k Acer a few years ago. The value of the repairs that I had to do on it was $3k until it literally crumbled into mangled plastic. The tech people at my high school got so sick of doing repairs on it they started ordering dells. Almost literally half of them were lemons.

Don't get Acers, they're absolute crap.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/17/lapt ... -hp-fails/

Yea they kinda suck. But it's not like Acer is total garbage and Apple is total win. You are talking about 6% more chance of a failure over three years, but with truly significant cost savings.

OP can go buy a Dell or a Toshiba instead if they want.

I'd just find the best deal, because the difference in risk is small.

Also, don't buy a 2000 dollar laptop unless you have a need for real performance while mobile. For the average businessman or lawyer, the cheap disposable laptop is the better bet.

[adrib]

so, if we get extra loan money for a laptop, do we have to wait to get the money to buy the computer, or can we get reimbursed after the fact?

[steven3579]

Are there computer loans for law school? At my undergrad you just had to submit the application with a printout of the laptop you wanted.

[342848386278]

Acer Timeline series. The new versions should be released soon and on paper get 12+ hours of battery life.

+1

I have a 13.3" Acer Timeline 3810t (dual core intel su9400 chip) and easily get 7hrs batter life with wifi running linux (windows can average 8 or 9hrs). Small, very light, incredibly portable, cheap, comfortable keyboard, and powerful enough to do everything I need. Make sure you get one with the dual core low voltage chip instead of the single core su3500 solo chip - the dual core offers equivalent power usage with marked increase in performance (of particular note, my dual core su9400 has no trouble with full screen flash or hd video, whereas I've heard reports of the single core being a bit too underpowered to handle hulu).

[adrib]

Are there computer loans for law school? At my undergrad you just had to submit the application with a printout of the laptop you wanted.

UT will give you 4k more in loans one time to get a laptop. hmmmm.

[kalvano]

Related question: is there any disadvantage to using a Mac at law school? I've noticed a few schools require that you have a Windows-equipped laptop to run their software. This struck me as strange, but I'm wondering if it's actually pretty common. I'm a life-long Mac geek and loathe to give it up.

Bootcamp.

[Sangiovese]

I'm probably in the minority, but having a real, full-sized keyboard and enough screen real estate is more important to me than a pound or two difference when going between classes.

I just bought my lawschool laptop... a 16" toshiba with a 12-cell battery, 4BG ram, Core i3 processor, and 500GB HDD, for $650. It has everything I need to feel comfortable relying on it to perform smoothly. And it comes at a price that I can live with if it turns into a doorstop in a few years. The thinkpads and macbooks are nice, but IMO they didn't offer nearly enough to justify the extra cost.

IMO, as long as you're comfortable with the screen size and it can run MS Office without hiccups then the most important quality is your comfort with the keyboard. I sat in the store and typed on the the keyboard for 10 minutes straight before I bought mine. It wasn't an exam simulation or anything, but it was a long enough test for me to decide that I liked the feel of the keyboard and could type on it without having issues.

[Italia8183]

I'm probably in the minority, but having a real, full-sized keyboard and enough screen real estate is more important to me than a pound or two difference when going between classes.

I just bought my lawschool laptop... a 16" toshiba with a 12-cell battery, 4BG ram, Core i3 processor, and 500GB HDD, for $650. It has everything I need to feel comfortable relying on it to perform smoothly. And it comes at a price that I can live with if it turns into a doorstop in a few years. The thinkpads and macbooks are nice, but IMO they didn't offer nearly enough to justify the extra cost.

IMO, as long as you're comfortable with the screen size and it can run MS Office without hiccups then the most important quality is your comfort with the keyboard. I sat in the store and typed on the the keyboard for 10 minutes straight before I bought mine. It wasn't an exam simulation or anything, but it was a long enough test for me to decide that I liked the feel of the keyboard and could type on it without having issues.

+1 on this. I just bought a new HP with the exact same stats (except that my laptop has a 15" screen). The model is an HP G62 and is available from Best Buy for $599.00. I'm extremely satisfied running Windows 7 and very happy with my purchase.

I'm a former Mac owner and still love Apple's products but their products are just too expensive for the cost conscious law student. Laptops and computers, at least for the general user, seem to be becoming more and more of a commodity as well. For me, the 1K savings was worth it. This may not be the case for everyone.

Do what you think is best for you and good luck in school!

[kalvano]

How many of you are planning on this computer being your only computer?

[Italia8183]

How many of you are planning on this computer being your only computer?

I've thinking about this myself. I have a friend that brings a netbook to lecture and then syncs the machines later...not sure if it's worth it though...

What are your thoughts?

[kalvano]

How many of you are planning on this computer being your only computer?

I've thinking about this myself. I have a friend that brings a netbook to lecture and then syncs the machines later...not sure if it's worth it though...

What are your thoughts?

I've got a big desktop that I will be using when I am at home, so I am only looking at a new computer as something to use in class and the library. That's why I am leaning towards a Netbook with a full-size or close keyboard.

If it were going to be my all-around computer, I wouldn't even consider a Netbook. But it seems fine for class.

[HBK]

How many of you are planning on this computer being your only computer?

I've thinking about this myself. I have a friend that brings a netbook to lecture and then syncs the machines later...not sure if it's worth it though...

What are your thoughts?

I considered that, but I figure I will be spending a lot of time in the library with my machine and will need to have a comfortable keyboard and a screen that won't make me blind.

I'm going to see if work will sell me my desktop for cheap (It's about 4 years old, but works great). I have a lot of music on the hard drive from an old Dell I bought in '05 (which crapped out in '08), and my girlfriend has a lot of music on her laptop. I was planning on consolidating it all on a desk top.

If they won't sell it to me, then I'll probably only be using the one laptop.

[NU_Jet55]

How many of you are planning on this computer being your only computer?

It will be my only computer, fo sho. Of course, I don't plan to be the typical OCD-plagued 1L.

[Mr. Matlock]

The kids over at CNET love this Samsung, $829.99, for PC's:

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/samsung ... estReviews

Best Buy sells it and there is also a model with the i3 processor as opposed to the i5 for $100 cheaper. Both come with hdmi ports and Blu-Ray.... although no 1080p screen.

I believe I will just be getting the basic White Macbook. Hopefully they'll update it before August.

[Italia8183]

How many of you are planning on this computer being your only computer?

I've thinking about this myself. I have a friend that brings a netbook to lecture and then syncs the machines later...not sure if it's worth it though...

What are your thoughts?

I've got a big desktop that I will be using when I am at home, so I am only looking at a new computer as something to use in class and the library. That's why I am leaning towards a Netbook with a full-size or close keyboard.

If it were going to be my all-around computer, I wouldn't even consider a Netbook. But it seems fine for class.

Definitely for class use only. Other than that purpose, I'm not sure how much use I'd get out of it and if the cost would then be worth it.

[Sangiovese]

How many of you are planning on this computer being your only computer?

I have a nice desktop that I use for my daily grind (video/photo editing, gaming, the occasional work project, etc...). My new laptop is specifically for school.

If it was only taking notes in class, then I would consider a netbook - but since I'll be taking exams on it, I want to be absolutely sure that it is comfortable to type on, has a screen that is big enough to display a page of text, and has enough processing power so that it won't decide that the strain of running the school's exam program is going to cause it to pause/stutter while I'm typing.

I have a netbook that I basically use for surfing and as a portable hard drive for photographs while traveling. Although it can run Word, it is not an enjoyable experience to sit down and write anything much longer than a URL on it Maybe I'm just too old and set in my ways, but I can't see relying on a netbook for anything more important than watching a movie (using an external DVD player... pita) or surfing the net.

[drdolittle]

Just buy the cheapest one you can find in the size you want. Filling the harddrive with music and video will not make it run slower.

If you only need it for web, word processing, and social networking your laptop will be almost disposable. It will have cheaper build quality than a mac or lenovo, but the primary components (CPU, hard drive, and Ram) will be just as reliable.

In three years the 1500 dollar mac book and the 500 dollar Accer will both be extremely outdated, but you'll be paying a 1000 dollars in law school debt back on the apple. Not worth it.

+1

I've always loved Macs and felt they were worth the premium, especially compared to the crap made by Gateway and the like, but today they are way overpriced for the basic laptop user. My new Asus Eee PC has been great (http://www.amazon.com/Seashell-1005PE-P ... =1-1-fkmr0), the quality appears to be very good for the price, the battery life is excellent, and the OS is not too overburdened with a bunch features I would never use. Windows 7 Starter also runs on it well. I plan to stick with it in LS.

[twert]

refurbished MacBooks ftw

[MissCongeniality]

I went through 3 Macs during undergrad, so I will most definitely not be purchasing one for law school. Everything electronic that I own seems to die, though, so it might just be me...

[Fadedjoebreezy]

Macbook Pro by far, although I do not recommend spilling anything on it (the Applecare/Warranty does not cover it). I ruined mine three weeks after purchase, but sold the rest for parts on ebay and got 700. I plan on buying another one and using it at law school. Macs are just awesome machines and worth every penny. Just protect your investment better than I did!

[GobiasIndustries]

I'm going with the MacBook Pro because it's going to my main and only computer for 3 years. I'm still using a 2004 Alienware (before Dell bought them!) that I got for undergrad, and it's aged terribly. So I'm looking forward to a decent upgrade.

And Macs hold their value pretty well when it's time to dump it.

http://completed.shop.ebay.com/i.html?M ... =1&guest=1

[09042014]

Macbook Pro by far, although I do not recommend spilling anything on it (the Applecare/Warranty does not cover it). I ruined mine three weeks after purchase, but sold the rest for parts on ebay and got 700. I plan on buying another one and using it at law school. Macs are just awesome machines and worth every penny. Just protect your investment better than I did!

Exhibit A for why you should buy a piece of shit 500 dollar laptop.