The Ideal Law School Laptop Forum

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angiej

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by angiej » Wed May 13, 2009 2:12 pm

amyLAchemist wrote:
angiej wrote:
Spinoza wrote:
amyLAchemist wrote:I liked the Acer Insire as well, but I wanted a) 10 inch screen and b) pink. Acer only had the 8.9" in pink. Boo.
hmmm
That's too bad. I just got the 10inch in black and I love it. I do plan, however, to get purple stickers. 3acp.com has some really cool ones which they claim do not leave a residue and do not void any warranties.
I know, it's kind of a dumb reason, but I have always had a pink computer (or my Macbook dressed up in it's pink plastic case), and I like pink. I am still debating. Sigh.
I totaly understand, everything I own is purple or I paid $$$ to have it converted to purple.

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jake768

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by jake768 » Wed May 13, 2009 3:07 pm

anyone holding out for Windows 7? For those of us who'd rather not deal with the RC version, is there any reason to wait, or just get it when it comes out? Is Vista really that bad? I still have XP.

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djshack

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by djshack » Wed May 13, 2009 3:27 pm

jake768 wrote:anyone holding out for Windows 7? For those of us who'd rather not deal with the RC version, is there any reason to wait, or just get it when it comes out? Is Vista really that bad? I still have XP.
I'm using Vista. I like it MUCH better than XP, but I have a powerful (new) computer. However, Windows 7 is MUCH better than Vista, too. I tried the RC, but I'm going to wait until it comes out and buy it (too many bugs currently).

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angiej

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by angiej » Wed May 13, 2009 3:30 pm

djshack wrote:
jake768 wrote:anyone holding out for Windows 7? For those of us who'd rather not deal with the RC version, is there any reason to wait, or just get it when it comes out? Is Vista really that bad? I still have XP.
I'm using Vista. I like it MUCH better than XP, but I have a powerful (new) computer. However, Windows 7 is MUCH better than Vista, too. I tried the RC, but I'm going to wait until it comes out and buy it (too many bugs currently).

Is Windows 7 out already to the general public?

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superflush

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by superflush » Wed May 13, 2009 3:42 pm

angiej wrote:Is Windows 7 out already to the general public?
No

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jake768

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by jake768 » Wed May 13, 2009 3:48 pm

what size hard drive are people generally getting? if i'm using mainly for school, 160GB 5400rpm is sufficient, right?

and do people generally recommend getting office/one note preloaded?

how about antivirus? what's the crowd favorite?

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superflush

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by superflush » Wed May 13, 2009 4:05 pm

jake768 wrote:what size hard drive are people generally getting? if i'm using mainly for school, 160GB 5400rpm is sufficient, right?
I think 160gb is fine for a netbook. But I would go 320gb on a notebook.
jake768 wrote:and do people generally recommend getting office/one note preloaded?
Getting it preloaded?? That might cost more.
For Windows, Office is $60 through: http://www.microsoft.com/student/discou ... fault.aspx
For Mac, you can get it with the education discount, but I don't think preloaded
jake768 wrote:how about antivirus? what's the crowd favorite?
For Windows, AVG Free: http://free.avg.com/
For Mac, none really needed

bigben

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by bigben » Wed May 13, 2009 4:13 pm

djshack wrote:
kevinm wrote:
coolkatz321 wrote:Well, I just ordered a Thinkpad...amazing computer and at a great price (just under $1,000). For anyone looking to purchase a Thinkpad, get it through the Lenovo Contractor program--

http://www.lenovo.com/cpp

The password is 'familyandfriends'
Also, you can get an addition 5% off by using the code "USETSAVINGS"

It saves way more than the normal Lenovo site...I think my total savings were around $720.
I've had the T42 and currently have a T61...Thinkpads are outstanding machines; I've been using them for around five years. The one concern I have is with overheating...the lenovo batteries have the propensity to become EXTREMELY hot, making the entire computer anything but a "lap" top. But seriously, the overheating is my only concern...in high school, I used a toshiba, and everyone in my family currently uses a dell. Out of all of those, the thinkpad has blown me away in terms of usability and reliability. They can also withstand a beating!

My one suggestion is that you uninstall almost all of the crap the factory installs--you don't need the lenovo software at all. Frankly, I'd recommend reformatting immediately and just installing the necessary drivers and whatnot...the wireless hotspot management bs IBM provides is utterly worthless and freezes up 90% of the time.
The T400 stays AMAZINGLY cool to the touch (and the fan rarely, if ever, goes on). I read a review prior to buying on notebookreview.com stating the T400 may have one of the best laptop cooling systems ever. I had a MacBook prior to this, and the MacBook was significantly hotter to the touch, and the fan went on a lot more often (which is still less often than cheap laptops).

If you're looking at the T400, overheating should not be a concern whatsoever.
This is correct.

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Spor

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by Spor » Wed May 13, 2009 4:26 pm

superflush wrote:
angiej wrote:Is Windows 7 out already to the general public?
No
Yes it is.

It's a release candidate, which means it is still a "test" version; but from what I have heard it works extremely well with basically zero issues. I've been running the 7-beta on my current laptop for months and haven't had a single issue. I plan to put the Windows 7-RC on whichever laptop I get for law school.

It's free and will work until March 2010.

https://www.microsoft.com/windows/windo ... nload.aspx

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mr.smurf

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by mr.smurf » Wed May 13, 2009 4:31 pm

superflush wrote: Getting it preloaded?? That might cost more.
For Windows, Office is $60 through: http://www.microsoft.com/student/discou ... fault.aspx
For Mac, you can get it with the education discount, but I don't think preloaded
If you buy a macbook from their online education store, you can get Office preloaded. You should buy Office through your respective academic tech stores, though, it's cheaper.

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superflush

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by superflush » Wed May 13, 2009 4:33 pm

Ah okay, I knew that was out. But I didn't know it was available to anyone on Microsoft's website. So I guess it is.

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superflush

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by superflush » Wed May 13, 2009 4:35 pm

Spor wrote:
superflush wrote:
angiej wrote:Is Windows 7 out already to the general public?
No
Yes it is.

It's a release candidate, which means it is still a "test" version; but from what I have heard it works extremely well with basically zero issues. I've been running the 7-beta on my current laptop for months and haven't had a single issue. I plan to put the Windows 7-RC on whichever laptop I get for law school.

It's free and will work until March 2010.

https://www.microsoft.com/windows/windo ... nload.aspx
But thats a pre-release version that will expire, so it might not be the best solution to use as a primary OS.

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Spor

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by Spor » Wed May 13, 2009 4:46 pm

superflush wrote:But thats a pre-release version that will expire, so it might not be the best solution to use as a primary OS.
Sure, and that's a good point to make. The word on the street is that it will actually release sometime in late 2009 - early 2010 and it will be able to upgrade from the 7-RC. If you aren't comfortable with the fact that this might not happen and you might have to swap your OS come March 2010, then don't use it.

Anyone who has an external hard drive and has reformatted a PC more than once shouldn't really be worried about it though.

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angiej

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by angiej » Wed May 13, 2009 5:01 pm

Can anyone recommend a good portable hard drive or do they all pretty much do the same thing?

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superflush

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by superflush » Wed May 13, 2009 5:52 pm

angiej wrote:Can anyone recommend a good portable hard drive or do they all pretty much do the same thing?
Portable as in to carry around frequently? A good portable one is a hard drive that is really small, and can be bus-powered by the notebooks usb (rather than have its own power cable). I've been using Acomdata. The small Lacie drives also look pretty nice.

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by bigben » Wed May 13, 2009 6:08 pm

superflush wrote:
angiej wrote:Can anyone recommend a good portable hard drive or do they all pretty much do the same thing?
Portable as in to carry around frequently? A good portable one is a hard drive that is really small, and can be bus-powered by the notebooks usb (rather than have its own power cable). I've been using Acomdata. The small Lacie drives also look pretty nice.
Yeah. And if you don't need it to be really small, you can just get an enclosure and turn one of your old internal hard drives into an external hard drive like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817145132

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misteranthro

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by misteranthro » Wed May 13, 2009 7:03 pm

coolkatz321 wrote:Well, I just ordered a Thinkpad...amazing computer and at a great price (just under $1,000). For anyone looking to purchase a Thinkpad, get it through the Lenovo Contractor program--

http://www.lenovo.com/cpp

The password is 'familyandfriends'
Also, you can get an addition 5% off by using the code "USETSAVINGS"

It saves way more than the normal Lenovo site...I think my total savings were around $720.
Thank you so much for this! I wasn't able to get the second USETSAVINGS password to work, but the discount from the contractor program made it possible to fit everything I wanted into the $2000 alottment UCLA gives for laptop reimbursement!

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bigben

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by bigben » Wed May 13, 2009 7:04 pm

misteranthro wrote:
coolkatz321 wrote:Well, I just ordered a Thinkpad...amazing computer and at a great price (just under $1,000). For anyone looking to purchase a Thinkpad, get it through the Lenovo Contractor program--

http://www.lenovo.com/cpp

The password is 'familyandfriends'
Also, you can get an addition 5% off by using the code "USETSAVINGS"

It saves way more than the normal Lenovo site...I think my total savings were around $720.
Thank you so much for this! I wasn't able to get the second USETSAVINGS password to work, but the discount from the contractor program made it possible to fit everything I wanted into the $2000 alottment UCLA gives for laptop reimbursement!
By "gives" do you mean "loans?"

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superflush

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by superflush » Wed May 13, 2009 7:09 pm

bigben wrote:
superflush wrote:
angiej wrote:Can anyone recommend a good portable hard drive or do they all pretty much do the same thing?
Portable as in to carry around frequently? A good portable one is a hard drive that is really small, and can be bus-powered by the notebooks usb (rather than have its own power cable). I've been using Acomdata. The small Lacie drives also look pretty nice.
Yeah. And if you don't need it to be really small, you can just get an enclosure and turn one of your old internal hard drives into an external hard drive like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817145132
True, although that wouldn't really be "portable", plus I don't know if it'd get a cheap one on newegg.

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by bigben » Wed May 13, 2009 7:22 pm

superflush wrote:
bigben wrote:
superflush wrote:
angiej wrote:Can anyone recommend a good portable hard drive or do they all pretty much do the same thing?
Portable as in to carry around frequently? A good portable one is a hard drive that is really small, and can be bus-powered by the notebooks usb (rather than have its own power cable). I've been using Acomdata. The small Lacie drives also look pretty nice.
Yeah. And if you don't need it to be really small, you can just get an enclosure and turn one of your old internal hard drives into an external hard drive like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817145132
True, although that wouldn't really be "portable", plus I don't know if it'd get a cheap one on newegg.
Yeah that's why I said "if you don't need it to be really small."

There is no better place in the world to get a computer part than on NewEgg...they have absolutely perfect customer service and return policy, as well as extremely fast shipping and usually the best prices. Of course you should always get a product with good reviews if you want to make sure it's great, but that's true no matter where you buy.

Also, the one I linked is not a cheap one...it is 31 dollars but it has the absolute best reviews. The cheap ones are 12.

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superflush

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by superflush » Wed May 13, 2009 7:40 pm

bigben wrote:There is no better place in the world to get a computer part than on NewEgg...they have absolutely perfect customer service and return policy, as well as extremely fast shipping and usually the best prices. Of course you should always get a product with good reviews if you want to make sure it's great, but that's true no matter where you buy.

Also, the one I linked is not a cheap one...it is 31 dollars but it has the absolute best reviews. The cheap ones are 12.
Oh yea NewEgg is great. I just know I've sometimes bought the cheapest stuff on their site and things have broken. I would try to go with a reputable brand. I don't know if that one is. And, yea $31 is actually on par with what you should expect to spend on an enclosure, so not really cheap.

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by bigben » Wed May 13, 2009 9:46 pm

superflush wrote:I would try to go with a reputable brand. I don't know if that one is.
Ideally, I think it's better to rely on product-specific reviews rather than discriminating by brand. Reputable brands often make crappy products, while innovative new companies continually come up with better ones. This is especially true when you get into more technical and obscure products, where offerings by well-known brands, if any even exist, are likely to be among the worst options on the market.

Relying on reviews might involve giving 100% credence to an expert who conducts thorough reviews and is indisputably qualified and correct on the topic, for example if you had to buy a power supply you would look no further than this guy: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/410
Aggregated user reviews can also be useful, and newegg is the best example of that, since they have a large base of highly proficient users reviewing their products.

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by Sobriquet » Wed May 13, 2009 10:48 pm

Couple of quick questions (still deciding between Lenovo or Mac):
- What is the point of getting Windows Vista Basic v Premium v Business? I know law schools recommend Business, but I haven't figured out why. I am planning on upgrading to Windows 7 when it comes out so I don't want to buy Business if I can avoid it...is there a compelling reason not to get Basic for the first ~6 months of law school?
- How many students use OpenNote for note-taking? I think I could handle taking notes using Word 08 for Mac (there is a decent notebook feature), but I don't want to be at a disadvantage comparing notes with other people. Along the same lines, I've heard that iWork is really cool - but if I'm buying Office 08 for Mac, is there a point in getting iWork?

Thanks in advance!!

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dextermorgan

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by dextermorgan » Wed May 13, 2009 11:08 pm

Sobriquet wrote:Couple of quick questions (still deciding between Lenovo or Mac):
- What is the point of getting Windows Vista Basic v Premium v Business? I know law schools recommend Business, but I haven't figured out why. I am planning on upgrading to Windows 7 when it comes out so I don't want to buy Business if I can avoid it...is there a compelling reason not to get Basic for the first ~6 months of law school?
- How many students use OpenNote for note-taking? I think I could handle taking notes using Word 08 for Mac (there is a decent notebook feature), but I don't want to be at a disadvantage comparing notes with other people. Along the same lines, I've heard that iWork is really cool - but if I'm buying Office 08 for Mac, is there a point in getting iWork?

Thanks in advance!!
Vista Business has a lot of networking and other features which make life easier for you and IT. If your school only "recommends" Business and doesn't require it then you should be fine until 7 ships (which should be by Christmas according to Microsoft).

iWork works MUCH better than office 08 on the Mac. Office 08 is buggy and unstable (fully patched/updated). I wouldn't bother wasting several hundred on Office for Mac when iWork is ~$70 with the student discount (unless your school provides office for free which is likely). I use OmniOutliner for note taking (in UG, but it's common among law students too) and would definitely recommend it over any word processor.

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by superflush » Wed May 13, 2009 11:25 pm

bigben wrote:
superflush wrote:I would try to go with a reputable brand. I don't know if that one is.
Ideally, I think it's better to rely on product-specific reviews rather than discriminating by brand. Reputable brands often make crappy products, while innovative new companies continually come up with better ones. This is especially true when you get into more technical and obscure products, where offerings by well-known brands, if any even exist, are likely to be among the worst options on the market.

Relying on reviews might involve giving 100% credence to an expert who conducts thorough reviews and is indisputably qualified and correct on the topic, for example if you had to buy a power supply you would look no further than this guy: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/410
Aggregated user reviews can also be useful, and newegg is the best example of that, since they have a large base of highly proficient users reviewing their products.
Okay, fair enough. I'm not trying to dispute you. I just know that I had an enclosure that I got once from either NewEgg or TigerDirect that was the cheapest and it failed (I'm also had other cheap stuff from NewEgg fail). I actually have 2 drives in enclosures that I got from NewEgg, from a cheap brand. So far they've been good, but they get kinda hotter than I'd like. I may eventually upgrade to Acomdata enclosures (I think you can get em at NewEgg for $30) if I don't find something to put em in.

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