Best Law School Laptop for the Money Forum

[03121202698008]

I truly am the master at inadvertently derailing threads.

[Sogui]

I truly am the master at inadvertently derailing threads.

This is why I avoid analogies on the internet, they are like WMD's for threads.

[hoopsguy6]

I think it's hilarious some posters here are throwing such hissy fits about brands, when nearly all laptops are made by the same three or four Asian ODMs (Quanta, Compal, Wistron, etc). Even the fancy Macbook Pros are made by Quanta, who also makes Dells, Sonys, Lenovos, and about a third of the laptop's in the world. The only major brand that manufactures their own laptops is Asus.

And Chevy makes both the Cobalt and the Corvette. Just because the same company makes them, or even the same factory, doesn't mean they use the same quality control or components. Especially when you are talking about custom motherboards. They aren't putting the same motherboard in two different brand laptops. They are custom designed by those companies and assembled in the plant.

Not really my point. We're not comparing Cobalts with Corvettes. More like regular Cobalts and Cobalts with slightly shinier paint. Some posters are acting like every Dell is going to explode after a month, while bragging about their fake "Thinkpads", when they both bought budget laptops. Most people who buy Dells are pretty satisfied with them, and most will last 2-3 years without any major issues, just like any other modern budget laptop.

It's just kind of a poor analogy. Car factories need to be differently tooled to produce Corvettes and Cobalts. The same assembly line can put together computers whose only similarity is the basic Von Neumann architecture (if that.) The same kitchen (factory) can turn out slop or a gourmet meal, depending on the recipe (design) and food quality (parts and QA) and skill (training level of the assembly workers as required by the client.) It's not directly comparable to a production line that is physically only capable of producing a certain car platform with one or two different configurations.

This logic basically reduces to "all computers are the same because workers assemble them on very similar production lines." Not so.

REALLY? The ONLY similarity between computers is that they have the same basic architecture? Nevermind that they have the same exact CPUs from Intel, same motherboard chips from Intel, same LCD panels from Chimei, same hard drives from Hitachi, same RAM chips from Samsung or some Taiwanese ODM, etc etc. Nowhere did I say all computers are the same. Obviously a $1500 Macbook Pro is better built than a $500 Inspiron (they're also made by different ODMs). You get what you pay for. I was simply pointing out it's absurd to say "every laptop from company A is crap, and every laptop from company B is great".

Also, a random study on failure rates:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09 ... 4th.place/

Asus is #1 according to this study . Makes me feel better for buying an Asus. Also, Lenovo has higher failure rates overall than Dell.

[ResolutePear]

I truly am the master at inadvertently derailing threads.

This is why I avoid analogies on the internet, they are like WMD's for threads.

WMD's are pretty impressive in their own right, though.

For instance, people think of all WMD's being nukes. That's simply not the case. Biological agents, if fierce enough, can be considered a WMD.

An example: Ebola or HIV. Ebola is just a beast at what it does - kills fast and painful. HIV kills slow - but more than half of some countries in Africa are infected. Those infected are walking dead, especially because they can't acquire education for prevention or medicine. Killing half a country is def. quantifiable as a WMD imo.

[kalvano]

US policy, I believe, is that a nuke is a chemical is a bug. All are WMD's.

Neither Ebola nor HIV count as they are naturally occurring and not manufactured and spread as an act of war.

[ResolutePear]

US policy, I believe, is that a nuke is a chemical is a bug. All are WMD's.

Neither Ebola nor HIV count as they are naturally occurring and not manufactured and spread as an act of war.

Hey, who says the Soviet Union didn't plant patient 0 on us?

[kalvano]

They weren't that advanced. I actually don't discount the possibility that AIDS / HIV was engineered (it's just so exceptionally effective and clever), but I don't think the Soviets had the scientific wherewithal to do it.

[ResolutePear]

They weren't that advanced. I actually don't discount the possibility that AIDS / HIV was engineered (it's just so exceptionally effective and clever), but I don't think the Soviets had the scientific wherewithal to do it.

Well, possibly it was us then. I just refuse to believe that somebody was butt-banging monkeys followed by dude-on-dude bare backing.

[kalvano]

What bothers me is the cleverness of it. A disease that attacks the very mechanism you use to fight diseases?

[ResolutePear]

What bothers me is the cleverness of it. A disease that attacks the very mechanism you use to fight diseases?

If a society were to remain monogamous and practice abstinence with careful testing and we come up with a new needle for druggies - we'd breed it out.

But then again, we're all dirty dumb whores.

[Chris_cpb]

I'm now debating between the Latitude E6400 and the ThinkPad T400. The bulky, high-end Dell I currently own has proved to be unreliable, and reliability is the number one thing I am considering as I shop. Although the E6400 is a Dell, it really impressed me when I rented one from my UGI. I want something that is reliable, fast, energy efficient in terms of battery life, and not flashy.

[ResolutePear]

I'm now debating between the Latitude E6400 and the ThinkPad T400. The bulky, high-end Dell I currently own has proved to be unreliable, and reliability is the number one thing I am considering as I shop. Although the E6400 is a Dell, it really impressed me when I rented one from my UGI. I want something that is reliable, fast, energy efficient in terms of battery life, and not flashy.

Well, you heard our opinions on the Latitude vs Thinkpad debate. At this point, people are really just trying to find a way to justify their purchase and you will find it. So just go ahead and buy it.

[Chris_cpb]

I'm now debating between the Latitude E6400 and the ThinkPad T400. The bulky, high-end Dell I currently own has proved to be unreliable, and reliability is the number one thing I am considering as I shop. Although the E6400 is a Dell, it really impressed me when I rented one from my UGI. I want something that is reliable, fast, energy efficient in terms of battery life, and not flashy.

Well, you heard our opinions on the Latitude vs Thinkpad debate. At this point, people are really just trying to find a way to justify their purchase and you will find it. So just go ahead and buy it.

Is there any way that I could get footnotes on the debate? This is my 1 hour to unwind

[ResolutePear]

I'm now debating between the Latitude E6400 and the ThinkPad T400. The bulky, high-end Dell I currently own has proved to be unreliable, and reliability is the number one thing I am considering as I shop. Although the E6400 is a Dell, it really impressed me when I rented one from my UGI. I want something that is reliable, fast, energy efficient in terms of battery life, and not flashy.

Well, you heard our opinions on the Latitude vs Thinkpad debate. At this point, people are really just trying to find a way to justify their purchase and you will find it. So just go ahead and buy it.

Is there any way that I could get footnotes on the debate? This is my 1 hour to unwind

Without getting into the details: Thinkpad T400. You're not going to drop it on exam day and have the screen fly off it's hinges.

[Chris_cpb]

I'm now debating between the Latitude E6400 and the ThinkPad T400. The bulky, high-end Dell I currently own has proved to be unreliable, and reliability is the number one thing I am considering as I shop. Although the E6400 is a Dell, it really impressed me when I rented one from my UGI. I want something that is reliable, fast, energy efficient in terms of battery life, and not flashy.

Well, you heard our opinions on the Latitude vs Thinkpad debate. At this point, people are really just trying to find a way to justify their purchase and you will find it. So just go ahead and buy it.

Is there any way that I could get footnotes on the debate? This is my 1 hour to unwind

Without getting into the details: Thinkpad T400. You're not going to drop it on exam day and have the screen fly off it's hinges.

Yeah I've spent around $300 on my XPS M1710 and there's an additional $350 in damages that had to do with it overheating due to low-powered fans on a high-powered unit. I feel like IBM appears to stress reliability.

[Duralex]

Also, a random study on failure rates:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09 ... 4th.place/

Asus is #1 according to this study . Makes me feel better for buying an Asus. Also, Lenovo has higher failure rates overall than Dell.

That's not a random study of all notebooks sold. It's a self-selected sample of 30,000 units w/a SquareTrade warranty and only failures reported to SquareTrade are counted. So, it's interesting but not really great data.

Also, it's the ThinkPads with IBM heritage that are being endorsed by people here, not the newer Lenovo designs.

[ResolutePear]

Also, a random study on failure rates:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09 ... 4th.place/

Asus is #1 according to this study . Makes me feel better for buying an Asus. Also, Lenovo has higher failure rates overall than Dell.

That's not a random study of all notebooks sold. It's a self-selected sample of 30,000 units w/a SquareTrade warranty and only failures reported to SquareTrade are counted. So, it's interesting but not really great data.

Also, it's the ThinkPads with IBM heritage that are being endorsed by people here, not the newer Lenovo designs.

Hence: The T-series.

[Sogui]

I truly am the master at inadvertently derailing threads.

This is why I avoid analogies on the internet, they are like WMD's for threads.

WMD's are pretty impressive in their own right, though.

For instance, people think of all WMD's being nukes. That's simply not the case. Biological agents, if fierce enough, can be considered a WMD.

An example: Ebola or HIV. Ebola is just a beast at what it does - kills fast and painful. HIV kills slow - but more than half of some countries in Africa are infected. Those infected are walking dead, especially because they can't acquire education for prevention or medicine. Killing half a country is def. quantifiable as a WMD imo.

I'm pleased to see you guys took this and ran with it.

[ResolutePear]

I truly am the master at inadvertently derailing threads.

This is why I avoid analogies on the internet, they are like WMD's for threads.

WMD's are pretty impressive in their own right, though.

For instance, people think of all WMD's being nukes. That's simply not the case. Biological agents, if fierce enough, can be considered a WMD.

An example: Ebola or HIV. Ebola is just a beast at what it does - kills fast and painful. HIV kills slow - but more than half of some countries in Africa are infected. Those infected are walking dead, especially because they can't acquire education for prevention or medicine. Killing half a country is def. quantifiable as a WMD imo.

I'm pleased to see you guys took this and ran with it.

Anytime.

Talking about running, did you guys check out the lifehacker post on the best running app?

http://lifehacker.com/5609564/best-mobi ... -runkeeper

[Duralex]

What is this "running" you speak of? The only apps I need for 'running' are bash, ps and maybe nice.

--ImageRemoved--

[Xnegd]

HP G62-219WM Laptop PC with Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4500 Processor & Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Edition

--LinkRemoved--

For $448, is this any good?

I'm looking for a laptop for school. Beside basic school functions, I want it to be able to use Hulu, Skype, and Steam with out problems.

[Duralex]

I'd have serious reservations about HP, especially in that price range. Also, I wouldn't expect flawless HD playback on an Intel graphics chipset w/o dedicated VRAM and 3GB of RAM.

[Sogui]

Got my Dell Inspiron 15R today, really nice, and the hinges are still working too! I was hoping for the matte finish but this looks nice too.

The keyboard feels comfortable and I'm loving this i3 processor. The VGA out works great with my other monitor, and having 2 monitors up just feels sexy.

[Duralex]

Sogui, glad you like it. Uninstall the bloatware ASAP and don't forget to burn a restore CD if they didn't include media.

xnegd: what is it that you want to run in Steam?

Because Intel gfx is not for gaming.

[Sogui]

Used PC decrapifier to get rid of the bloatware, unfortunately I got rid of McAfee which had a nice built-in recovery disk utility.