Best Law School Laptop for the Money Forum

[Mr. Matlock]

Has anyone heard any rumors as to when Apple will be updating their macbooks? I just have this nightmare that if I decided to go apple then the day after I buy it they will announce they are upgrading in the next week or two.

The Macbook Pro lines just got a refresh.


The two Macs I'd bet on getting a refresh are the Macbook Air and the white Macbook.

Go update your slickdeals alerts so you don't miss out on future deals.

As Superflush pointed out above, white macbook got the upgrade today. Dual-Core 2.4 GHZ, Nividia GE Force 320M Graphics, 10 hour battery life, 2 GB DDR3 memory, and the 250 GB Hard Drive.

[superflush]

Anyone have the Dell Studio16 XPS?

No.

[Matthies]

Anyone have the Dell Studio16 XPS?

I have the XPS 13, but the 16 looks like a decent computer, like the dual drives

[Mr. Matlock]

OK kids, I'm whittling down. The latest Macbook was the update that I was waiting for. The competition I have for it is the 'ole reliable Lenovo T410 (basic unit = i3, 250 GB HD and 2GM Ram. Price wise, it's $829 vs $999 but I'm not sure what the EDU discount will be for each. Spec wise, the lenovo edges the mac out, but all in all, IMHO, they're still fairly comparable. In addition, I think I've also been talked into an extra monitor. Best Buy has this ACER 20" for $140: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+-+20%2 ... Id=9754465
Plus, I'll be getting a new Laser Printer for around $100.
Also, will probably break my promise to never buy extended warranties and get 3 years.

Random Thoughts:
If I go with the Mac and wait till the EDU sales, I can get an itouch. However, I'm thinking, from what I've read here, that I'll probably have to upgrade to 4GB RAM considering the need to run boot-camp/parallels/whatever for the exams and OneNote. (I could be wrong on needing the 4GB, but throwing it out there) So there is actually more $$ for that.
I'm leaning this way.... but I'm still worried.

If I stick with the PC, I'm on much more familiar turf. I know how to navigate around in Windows and the T410 is built like a fucking tank. I need this purchase to last THREE YEARS!!!! It's more than likely going to cost a bit less, but not a huge difference from what I can see, especially if you figure in the cost of the itouch.

Fuck.... decisions, decisions. Thank GOD I have 2 and 1/2 months to go back and forth on this!

Opinions are welcome.

[Matthies]

OK kids, I'm whittling down. The latest Macbook was the update that I was waiting for. The competition I have for it is the 'ole reliable Lenovo T410 (basic unit = i3, 250 GB HD and 2GM Ram. Price wise, it's $829 vs $999 but I'm not sure what the EDU discount will be for each. Spec wise, the lenovo edges the mac out, but all in all, IMHO, they're still fairly comparable. In addition, I think I've also been talked into an extra monitor. Best Buy has this ACER 20" for $140: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+-+20%2 ... Id=9754465
Plus, I'll be getting a new Laser Printer for around $100.
Also, will probably break my promise to never buy extended warranties and get 3 years.

Random Thoughts:
If I go with the Mac and wait till the EDU sales, I can get an itouch. However, I'm thinking, from what I've read here, that I'll probably have to upgrade to 4GB RAM considering the need to run boot-camp/parallels/whatever for the exams and OneNote. (I could be wrong on needing the 4GB, but throwing it out there) So there is actually more $$ for that.
I'm leaning this way.... but I'm still worried.

If I stick with the PC, I'm on much more familiar turf. I know how to navigate around in Windows and the T410 is built like a fucking tank. I need this purchase to last THREE YEARS!!!! It's more than likely going to cost a bit less, but not a huge difference from what I can see, especially if you figure in the cost of the itouch.

Fuck.... decisions, decisions. Thank GOD I have 2 and 1/2 months to go back and forth on this!

Opinions are welcome.

You should be able to get 2gig stcik of ram for 50-70 bucks, but need to find out if mac book runs 2-1gigs or 1-2gig

[superflush]

You can easily click the Education Store at the bottom of store.apple.com to get the education pricing.

[Matthies]

Opinions are welcome.

Aslo the corrcet answer is this:




http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebook ... =19&~ck=mn

Speced out like this:

Intel® Core™ i7 920XM 2.0GHz (3.2GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
Win 7 Pro
Dual 1GB ATI Radeon™ Mobility HD 4870 in CrossfireX™
17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
512GB Raid 0 (2x 256GB Solid State HDDs)
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Burner (BR-R, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Intel® Ultimate N WiFi Link 6300 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology
ExpressCard Digital TV Tuner
Dell UltraSharp U2711 27-inch Monitor

Yes it will cost you $6k plus
yes it will weight 75 pounds
Yes you will need a rooly bag for it
Yes the battery will last less than four mins

But, when you plug it in in the class room, the lights will dim, everyone else will loose power, the Mac kids will cry, and you will be the only one able to take notes. For the few kids left who hand write, you set the red lights to flash at strobe level and they will go in to a seizure within mins.

This is the ultimate Law school laptop

[zeth006]

--ImageRemoved--

[Highkick1]

Asus UL 80VT

[vexion]

Aslo the correct answer is this:

Did Dell buy Alienware?

[Mr. Matlock]

Aslo the corrcet answer is this:




http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebook ... =19&~ck=mn

Me after an hour and a half on this computer:

[kalvano]

Aslo the corrcet answer is this:

No, the correct answer is to completely boycott "Alienware", which is now just an overpriced Dell and will hopefully go down in huge flaming piles of corporate greed, much like HP and Voodoo.

[zeth006]

Aslo the correct answer is this:

Did Dell buy Alienware?

Yes.

[Duralex]

Don't buy an Acer monitor. Buy this monitor instead:

--LinkRemoved-- ($135)

With the nameplate, if you prefer:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... _-24176110 ($200)

check the newegg reviews, and you'll see. It's an unusually nice monitor for the price range. I use them as my side displays at home and my center display at work.

[Duralex]

Aslo the correct answer is this:

Did Dell buy Alienware?

Yes.

Alienware laptops=Sager anyway. Unless Dell has actually started to build them. So just buy a Sager.

Or, do yourself a favor and by a Falcon NW fragbook instead.

http://www.falcon-nw.com/

Their lightweight is nice too, but I'd rather have a MB or a TP.

[vexion]

Alienware laptops=Sager anyway. Unless Dell has actually started to build them. So just buy a Sager.

Or, do yourself a favor and by a Falcon NW fragbook instead.

http://www.falcon-nw.com/

Their lightweight is nice too, but I'd rather have a MB or a TP.

Just stop this gaming-on-laptops nonsense. Build a comparably-specced desktop with more storage and expandability for half the price. You don't need to play Crysis in a coffee shop. We're called "basement dwellers" for a reason, damnit!

[Matthies]

Alienware laptops=Sager anyway. Unless Dell has actually started to build them. So just buy a Sager.

Or, do yourself a favor and by a Falcon NW fragbook instead.

http://www.falcon-nw.com/

Their lightweight is nice too, but I'd rather have a MB or a TP.

Just stop this gaming-on-laptops nonsense. Build a comparably-specced desktop with more storage and expandability for half the price. You don't need to play Crysis in a coffee shop. We're called "basement dwellers" for a reason, damnit!

No, but what the hell else am i supposed to be doing in class?

[odon59]

If you want reliability (which, if you're a 0L like me, you definitely are concerned about), I would recommend a stable operating system (OSX or XP) and a solid state hard drive. Spending the money on a SSD may seem extravagent, however the main reason computers "crash" is because the magnetic harddrive (a big disk that spins around) fails and is unrecoverable. An SSD has no moving parts and is therefore MUCH more reliable.

The justification for a stable OS should be obvious, however I would further argue that the reliability of the computer is also dependent on its vulnerability to viruses, spyware, etc. For this reason I prefer OSX over XP, but XP with proper antivirus software and responsible downloading XP should be fine too. I know nothing about W7.

Also, the Time Machine app on OSX makes it extremely easy to back up your hard drive (i.e. class notes, briefs, outlines, and just about everything your life will depend on) and recover should disaster strike.

The school I'm going to (Fordham) is very mac friendly, and since I converted from PC last year that is what I will be sticking with. I'm not PC-hating at all, but seriously consider what I mentioned above.

[Duralex]

Bleh, get a $7/mo rsync.net filesystem and keep all your stuff there. Mount it over WebDAV using OS X internals or NetDrive on Windows. (last free Novell version still available via the Wayback machine.) Mirror it to a local directory for offline access if required.


http://rsync.net/

If you're really paranoid, get the geo-redundant version. But, really, you don't need it.

[burvowski]

OK kids, I'm whittling down. The latest Macbook was the update that I was waiting for. The competition I have for it is the 'ole reliable Lenovo T410 (basic unit = i3, 250 GB HD and 2GM Ram. Price wise, it's $829 vs $999 but I'm not sure what the EDU discount will be for each. Spec wise, the lenovo edges the mac out, but all in all, IMHO, they're still fairly comparable. In addition, I think I've also been talked into an extra monitor. Best Buy has this ACER 20" for $140: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+-+20%2 ... Id=9754465
Plus, I'll be getting a new Laser Printer for around $100.
Also, will probably break my promise to never buy extended warranties and get 3 years.

Random Thoughts:
If I go with the Mac and wait till the EDU sales, I can get an itouch. However, I'm thinking, from what I've read here, that I'll probably have to upgrade to 4GB RAM considering the need to run boot-camp/parallels/whatever for the exams and OneNote. (I could be wrong on needing the 4GB, but throwing it out there) So there is actually more $$ for that.
I'm leaning this way.... but I'm still worried.

If I stick with the PC, I'm on much more familiar turf. I know how to navigate around in Windows and the T410 is built like a fucking tank. I need this purchase to last THREE YEARS!!!! It's more than likely going to cost a bit less, but not a huge difference from what I can see, especially if you figure in the cost of the itouch.

Fuck.... decisions, decisions. Thank GOD I have 2 and 1/2 months to go back and forth on this!

Opinions are welcome.

don't forget if you buy a Mac with a external monitor (that isn't an Apple display), you have to pay extra for the output converter since Apple decided to use a proprietary format

[burvowski]

What does OneNote offer for note-taking over Word?

can someone answer this question please?

[Mr. Matlock]

OK kids, I'm whittling down. The latest Macbook was the update that I was waiting for. The competition I have for it is the 'ole reliable Lenovo T410 (basic unit = i3, 250 GB HD and 2GM Ram. Price wise, it's $829 vs $999 but I'm not sure what the EDU discount will be for each. Spec wise, the lenovo edges the mac out, but all in all, IMHO, they're still fairly comparable. In addition, I think I've also been talked into an extra monitor. Best Buy has this ACER 20" for $140: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+-+20%2 ... Id=9754465
Plus, I'll be getting a new Laser Printer for around $100.
Also, will probably break my promise to never buy extended warranties and get 3 years.

Random Thoughts:
If I go with the Mac and wait till the EDU sales, I can get an itouch. However, I'm thinking, from what I've read here, that I'll probably have to upgrade to 4GB RAM considering the need to run boot-camp/parallels/whatever for the exams and OneNote. (I could be wrong on needing the 4GB, but throwing it out there) So there is actually more $$ for that.
I'm leaning this way.... but I'm still worried.

If I stick with the PC, I'm on much more familiar turf. I know how to navigate around in Windows and the T410 is built like a fucking tank. I need this purchase to last THREE YEARS!!!! It's more than likely going to cost a bit less, but not a huge difference from what I can see, especially if you figure in the cost of the itouch.

Fuck.... decisions, decisions. Thank GOD I have 2 and 1/2 months to go back and forth on this!

Opinions are welcome.

don't forget if you buy a Mac with a external monitor (that isn't an Apple display), you have to pay extra for the output converter since Apple decided to use a proprietary format

That's a point for Lenovo! I hate getting nickled and dimed to death!!

[beach_terror]

What does OneNote offer for note-taking over Word?

can someone answer this question please?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_OneNote + search function = success

[burvowski]

I'm looking for answers at how it would help in law school specifically, maybe tips from people who use it in ls (and how they use it)

[beach_terror]

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 7&start=25 .. via search.