Best Law School Laptop for the Money Forum

[09042014]

Computers are my hobby, and my sideline biz. I have 2k laptop that is a dedicated ripper/utoornet machine running 24/7, a work laptop Dell Admao (its cute OK), a MBP that's a second work laptop for when I do stuff for lawyers who use mac, a third older laptop that's a proxy sever/firewall, an older HP 311 netbook, a Windows Home Sever machine, an HTPC, and a primary/gaming rig that cost more than some new cars. I run SSDs as my primary HDD on all my computers and then 12TB of HDDs. I tend to buy bleeding edge and upgrade every six months or so and repurpose the old ones. I'm on my computer pretty much solid 12+ hours a day doing work of some type, and most are on 24/7 doing something else when I'm asleep so I demand allot from my systems.

I'm a huge tech nerd myself (though I prefer desktops, I like my laptops light and cheap because I can't customize nearly as well).

But you need to realize most people aren't. A 800 dell will run office, starcraft2 and firefox just fine.

[JollyGreenGiant]

Holy hell there is a lot to sift through in this thread.

I have ~$1500 to spend. I'm going to be using my laptop to surf the web, type documents, take notes in class, and play Starcraft 2. I'm leaning towards getting the new Macbook Pro, but I've never had a Mac before and I'm a bit unsure.

Anyone got any recommendations for me?

Why are you spending so much?

LOL I'm a cumputer snob, but $1500 for a laptop I would classfiy as 'cheap"

Not when you going into a lot of debt for law school. Unless someone else is paying for him that 1500 will be earning interest for a long time.

He can buy a laptop that will do everything he wants for under 1000.

What are you doing that makes a 1500 laptop 'cheap'? Gaming? Video editing? 3D CAD?

If you are spending 2K on a laptop to surf the net, write docs, and watch video you are wasting a lot of money.

Someone is nice enough to give me a gift.

[Matthies]

Computers are my hobby, and my sideline biz. I have 2k laptop that is a dedicated ripper/utoornet machine running 24/7, a work laptop Dell Admao (its cute OK), a MBP that's a second work laptop for when I do stuff for lawyers who use mac, a third older laptop that's a proxy sever/firewall, an older HP 311 netbook, a Windows Home Sever machine, an HTPC, and a primary/gaming rig that cost more than some new cars. I run SSDs as my primary HDD on all my computers and then 12TB of HDDs. I tend to buy bleeding edge and upgrade every six months or so and repurpose the old ones. I'm on my computer pretty much solid 12+ hours a day doing work of some type, and most are on 24/7 doing something else when I'm asleep so I demand allot from my systems.

I'm a huge tech nerd myself (though I prefer desktops, I like my laptops light and cheap because I can't customize nearly as well).

But you need to realize most people aren't. A 800 dell will run office, starcraft2 and firefox just fine.

Command Central:



Note _ IT director overseeing drive array

edit resize fail

I'm a big fan of Dell's myself, so long as you fix most stuff yourself, there cases are built like tanks

[JollyGreenGiant]

matthies, would I be silly to get a macbook pro? I don't want a Dell. I have one currently and I'm not impressed.

I'd like something durable, long-lasting, smooth-running, and able to do the things I've listed before. I've never had a Mac before.

[Matthies]

matthies, would I be silly to get a macbook pro? I don't want a Dell. I have one currently and I'm not impressed.

I'd like something durable, long-lasting, smooth-running, and able to do the things I've listed before. I've never had a Mac before.

This is the KEY. macs are great, but I've never been able to make the switch completely because i just know PCs much, much better. I can do things on PCs that i would have no idea how to do on a mac, or really want to learn. Plus I run a bunch of legacy software. My advice is do you know someone with a mac that will let you borrow it for a few days? Do a test run, see how you like working in Mac, read the "switching to mac" thingy on the apple website, If you can't borrow one then go to the Apple store and play with one for a awhile, I mean a few hours, they won't care. But if you can test run it if your totally new to macs. i like my mac, but i just won't ever switch totally away from PC.

[09042014]

matthies, would I be silly to get a macbook pro? I don't want a Dell. I have one currently and I'm not impressed.

I'd like something durable, long-lasting, smooth-running, and able to do the things I've listed before. I've never had a Mac before.

[strike]You'll have to boot into Windows to play starcraft anyway. Might as well get an Asus or toshiba.[/strike]

spoke too soon.

[camstant]

Is it justifiable to spend ~$1000 on a ThinkPad T410/T410i over the ThinkPad Edge for ~$700? I just cant decide...

[Matthies]

Is it justifiable to spend ~$1000 on a ThinkPad T410/T410i over the ThinkPad Edge for ~$700? I just cant decide...

stats? uses? how long do yu plan to keep it?

[Matthies]

matthies, would I be silly to get a macbook pro? I don't want a Dell. I have one currently and I'm not impressed.

I'd like something durable, long-lasting, smooth-running, and able to do the things I've listed before. I've never had a Mac before.

You'll have to boot into Windows to play starcraft anyway. Might as well get an Asus or toshiba.

there not going to relase a mac version? poor macs

[09042014]

matthies, would I be silly to get a macbook pro? I don't want a Dell. I have one currently and I'm not impressed.

I'd like something durable, long-lasting, smooth-running, and able to do the things I've listed before. I've never had a Mac before.

You'll have to boot into Windows to play starcraft anyway. Might as well get an Asus or toshiba.

there not going to relase a mac version? poor macs

NM, they are making a mac version.

[camstant]

Is it justifiable to spend ~$1000 on a ThinkPad T410/T410i over the ThinkPad Edge for ~$700? I just cant decide...

stats? uses? how long do yu plan to keep it?

T410: i5, W7 Pro, 2 GB, 250G @ 5400 - $1039

T410i: i3, W7 Pro, 2GB, 250G @ 5400 - $919

Edge: i3, W7 Home, 3 GB, 320GB @ 7200 - $729

I want it to last the full 3 years of LS at least, although being able to keep it for another couple after that would be nice. I doubt I'll have time to be playing a bunch of games or anything like that, but I'd like to be able to watch movies on it and all of my school work.

[barkingbug]

Is it justifiable to spend ~$1000 on a ThinkPad T410/T410i over the ThinkPad Edge for ~$700? I just cant decide...

stats? uses? how long do yu plan to keep it?

T410: i5, W7 Pro, 2 GB, 250G @ 5400 - $1039

T410i: i3, W7 Pro, 2GB, 250G @ 5400 - $919

Edge: i3, W7 Home, 3 GB, 320GB @ 7200 - $729

I want it to last the full 3 years of LS at least, although being able to keep it for another couple after that would be nice. I doubt I'll have time to be playing a bunch of games or anything like that, but I'd like to be able to watch movies on it and all of my school work.

If you use the correct education link and discount codes, all of those prices should be at least $50 less. I cannot imagine needing more than the last model, or spending the extra $190 to get less ram and HDD.

[camstant]

Is it justifiable to spend ~$1000 on a ThinkPad T410/T410i over the ThinkPad Edge for ~$700? I just cant decide...

stats? uses? how long do yu plan to keep it?

T410: i5, W7 Pro, 2 GB, 250G @ 5400 - $1039

T410i: i3, W7 Pro, 2GB, 250G @ 5400 - $919

Edge: i3, W7 Home, 3 GB, 320GB @ 7200 - $729

I want it to last the full 3 years of LS at least, although being able to keep it for another couple after that would be nice. I doubt I'll have time to be playing a bunch of games or anything like that, but I'd like to be able to watch movies on it and all of my school work.

If you use the correct education link and discount codes, all of those prices should be at least $50 less. I cannot imagine needing more than the last model, or spending the extra $190 to get less ram and HDD.

Where are the education links?

[Matthies]

Is it justifiable to spend ~$1000 on a ThinkPad T410/T410i over the ThinkPad Edge for ~$700? I just cant decide...

stats? uses? how long do yu plan to keep it?

T410: i5, W7 Pro, 2 GB, 250G @ 5400 - $1039

T410i: i3, W7 Pro, 2GB, 250G @ 5400 - $919

Edge: i3, W7 Home, 3 GB, 320GB @ 7200 - $729

I want it to last the full 3 years of LS at least, although being able to keep it for another couple after that would be nice. I doubt I'll have time to be playing a bunch of games or anything like that, but I'd like to be able to watch movies on it and all of my school work.

On stats alone the last one seems like the winner to me. Can you upgrad on these or are these stock buys? I've never even looked my self at Levnos, so don't know. For me if you can upgrade that model to 4gig ram and 500gig HD @72000 that should keep you viable for 3 years. Is it discrete video?

[camstant]

Is it justifiable to spend ~$1000 on a ThinkPad T410/T410i over the ThinkPad Edge for ~$700? I just cant decide...

stats? uses? how long do yu plan to keep it?

T410: i5, W7 Pro, 2 GB, 250G @ 5400 - $1039

T410i: i3, W7 Pro, 2GB, 250G @ 5400 - $919

Edge: i3, W7 Home, 3 GB, 320GB @ 7200 - $729

I want it to last the full 3 years of LS at least, although being able to keep it for another couple after that would be nice. I doubt I'll have time to be playing a bunch of games or anything like that, but I'd like to be able to watch movies on it and all of my school work.

On stats alone the last one seems like the winner to me. Can you upgrad on these or are these stock buys? I've never even looked my self at Levnos, so don't know. For me if you can upgrade that model to 4gig ram and 500gig HD @72000 that should keep you viable for 3 years. Is it discrete video?

As of right now, you cant customize the edge models. There is a slightly more expensive one with 4gig and W7 Pro, but then they downgrade you to a 250@5400. All of those models are integrated graphics

[barkingbug]

Look for education at the bottom of the Lenovo home page... the discount code will then be displayed at checkout - I know that edge model is $665... but I do not believe that you can factory upgrade that one though... a bummer. Ideally, I'd like to get that model with 4GB, i5 for under 1k. I think that 320 GB HDD is way more than you will ever need for school.

[Matthies]

One more thing I'll mention about computers for LS. If you're a study at home type person rather than a study at school type person, getting a docking station or hub and monitor, full-size keyboard and mouse is a LIFE SAVOR. So much easier to type, research, have several things open at one when you have full-size stuff to dock your laptop to at home. if you're the study at school type then don't worry about it.

BUT DO GET YOURSELF A LAPTOP LOCK. Campus thieves know LS and biz students have laptops and would hang out in the library to steal laptops. Never leave your laptop alone for even a few seconds unless you lock it to a chair or table or something. Every single semester someone got their laptop stolen, usually with all their notes on it. You don't want to be that guy/girl.

Also backup ur shit. If you want to do it cheap get a free dropbox account and set it to synch your my docs folder. Also Windows Live Sych works great if you have two computers (also free). Windows Live Office gives you five gigs online for free, and Windows Sky drive gives you 20 gigs online for free.

[Matthies]

As of right now, you cant customize the edge models. There is a slightly more expensive one with 4gig and W7 Pro, but then they downgrade you to a 250@5400. All of those models are integrated graphics

To me 250 gigs is just too small (unlesss your also useing an extrenal HDD, then no problem) Ram you can allways add later, so not as big an issue. You can also repalce the HDD in a laptop too, but not usually worth it.

[Matthies]

Also this is a great deal for office 2007 (not sure how the upgrade will work to 2010 thought) http://www.microsoft.com/student/discou ... fault.aspx

[camstant]

Our school has some deal with Microsoft, and I was able to get a copy of Office 2007 for $10 in anticipation of buying a new laptop

[zeth006]

Even an i3 would be an upgrade. I'm praying they do a 13" refresh before the fall.

Only if you need the raw processing power for photo editing, video rendering, or the 2-3 games out there that actually utilize the raw power. Otherwise for normal use, no. It's a downgrade. Go check notebookcheck's benchmarks.

[cardnal124]

As of right now, you cant customize the edge models. There is a slightly more expensive one with 4gig and W7 Pro, but then they downgrade you to a 250@5400. All of those models are integrated graphics

To me 250 gigs is just too small (unlesss your also useing an extrenal HDD, then no problem) Ram you can allways add later, so not as big an issue. You can also repalce the HDD in a laptop too, but not usually worth it.

250 GB hard drive too small? I literally had 2-3 days of continuous video data stored on my hard drive and it was 80 GB. Plus 15GB music, so I had way too much memory.

I know you have high standards for computers, but that seems a bit too much for LS. I mean seriously, what else will you have on a hard drive than music (maybe 60GB) and files (<5GB) on a laptop just for law school?

[zeth006]

Holy hell there is a lot to sift through in this thread.

I have ~$1500 to spend. I'm going to be using my laptop to surf the web, type documents, take notes in class, and play Starcraft 2. I'm leaning towards getting the new Macbook Pro, but I've never had a Mac before and I'm a bit unsure.

Anyone got any recommendations for me?

Why are you spending so much?

LOL I'm a cumputer snob, but $1500 for a laptop I would classfiy as 'cheap"

Not when you going into a lot of debt for law school. Unless someone else is paying for him that 1500 will be earning interest for a long time.

He can buy a laptop that will do everything he wants for under 1000.

What are you doing that makes a 1500 laptop 'cheap'? Gaming? Video editing? 3D CAD?

If you are spending 2K on a laptop to surf the net, write docs, and watch video you are wasting a lot of money.

Fox, if we had a repping system like many forums out there do, you'd get one from me. The ignorance surrounding specs and the misperception that the average person will ever experience any performance gains with the i5 processors is hysterical.

Matthies is probably one out of maybe 100 people I know who gets a powerful notebook because he actually has a use for it. The other 99 people who bitch and whine about specs are the ones I see lugging around 7-8lb monsters and wondering why us ultraportable users seem so satisfied. One guy I knew in uni got back problems from carrying around a 9lb 17" desktop replacement to and fro class. There wasn't a whole lot going for his supposedly powerful Core 2 when he wasn't a hardcore CSer and used it mostly for notes.

[zeth006]

matthies, would I be silly to get a macbook pro? I don't want a Dell. I have one currently and I'm not impressed.

I'd like something durable, long-lasting, smooth-running, and able to do the things I've listed before. I've never had a Mac before.

You'll have to boot into Windows to play starcraft anyway. Might as well get an Asus or toshiba.

there not going to relase a mac version? poor macs

NM, they are making a mac version.

I haven't kept up with the news on SC2, but Blizzard has traditionally made their games Mac-compatible, which isn't good for me. The temptation to jump into "Wings of Liberty" when I should be at the library studying will always be strong!

[zeth006]

Our school has some deal with Microsoft, and I was able to get a copy of Office 2007 for $10 in anticipation of buying a new laptop

Really? You might as well buy Office now then. Microsoft has a promotion going on in which you can buy a copy of 2007 and get a free upgrade to 2010 when it gets released. Just make sure the Office 07 box you're buying comes with some kind of sticker or document saying you're eligible.