The Ideal Law School Laptop Forum

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coolkatz321

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by coolkatz321 » Fri May 15, 2009 2:41 pm

I would just like to emphasize the importance of a discreet graphics card...the PC will run much, much better. Also, having an LED screen will drastically increase your battery life.

Bankhead

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by Bankhead » Fri May 15, 2009 3:00 pm

coolkatz321 wrote:I would just like to emphasize the importance of a discreet graphics card...the PC will run much, much better. Also, having an LED screen will drastically increase your battery life.
Worth $150 more? I will really notice the difference?

EDIT: Now I'm hearing that the integrated gives longer battery times and keeps the computer temperature cooler...

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thesealocust

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by thesealocust » Fri May 15, 2009 3:29 pm

Edit: n/m
Last edited by thesealocust on Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by bonesinger » Fri May 15, 2009 3:39 pm

nitsurdx, thesealocust: both are right, discreet cards will a) eat up more battery life b) are uneccesary for normal web surfing/docs etc..

if you want to play games (real games like call of duty, not fkn solitare) get a more powerful card BUT i would not suggest it because any cheap gaming desktop will outperform your average laptop.

integrated cards don't have the horsepower, but they aren't bad either, you can still play most games today, just not with all the high end graphics etc.. you see in videos.

as for helping in playing videos, i highly doubt that as a normal user you would take advantage of the gfx card. You will use it for video playback when you play HD and higher quality + you need to configure a video player to even use hardware for playback.
Last edited by bonesinger on Fri May 15, 2009 3:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Bankhead

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by Bankhead » Fri May 15, 2009 3:40 pm

Heh. I love how I said I wasn't going to shop around 3 hours ago, but now I'm completely caught up in researching and obsessing about every detail.

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Bankhead

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by Bankhead » Fri May 15, 2009 3:41 pm

Another question: are you guys springing for Vista Premium (or Professional/Ultimate), or is Vista Home Basic good enough? The law school I'm attending says Home Basic is fine, but the one I'm waitlisted at says Home Premium is recommended, but not required.

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misteranthro

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by misteranthro » Fri May 15, 2009 3:46 pm

I thought I had it figured out a couple of days ago, but now I am getting more and more unsure about what I want to do. I am thinking Lenovo, but their battery life kind of sucks and they don't have any current platforms that support a dual battery system. The T400 seems best, but with a SSD, 9 Cell Battery and LED display I still don't know if I will get 4 hours out of a charge. Anybody have any anecdotal experiences about battery life you want to share?

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Rsrcht

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by Rsrcht » Fri May 15, 2009 3:47 pm

For techies, undervolting extends battery life.

Also, partitioning the drive saves battery life.
Last edited by Rsrcht on Fri May 15, 2009 3:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

1000bmr

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by 1000bmr » Fri May 15, 2009 3:47 pm

thesealocust wrote:
coolkatz321 wrote:I would just like to emphasize the importance of a discreet graphics card...the PC will run much, much better. Also, having an LED screen will drastically increase your battery life.
Disagree. Helps it run games, and MIGHT help with movies run off of a DVD drive, but it's not going to do a damn thing for word processing, net surfing, etc. On the other hand, it will make the computer more expensive, and might influence battery life (though I hear there's a switch to turn it off on some lenovo models)
Microsoft recommends discreet graphics on Vista systems (you would at least have to turn off Aero to run it). Discreet graphics WILL improve DVDs/videos, photo viewing/editing, etc. For power comparison purposes, you're not even going to be able to run 10 year old games satisfactorily on integrated graphics, whereas a 256mb+ card will run most modern games very well. I'd recommend a 128mb card for anybody who has even the slightest notion that they might use their computer for non-work purposes.

Of course this will affect battery life, but every single piece of hardware or software that you choose to use affects battery life. I'd rather have a computer that fulfills my needs for 5 hours rather than a computer that sucks for 6 hours.

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1000bmr

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by 1000bmr » Fri May 15, 2009 3:52 pm

nitsudrx wrote:Another question: are you guys springing for Vista Premium (or Professional/Ultimate), or is Vista Home Basic good enough? The law school I'm attending says Home Basic is fine, but the one I'm waitlisted at says Home Premium is recommended, but not required.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista_editions

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Rsrcht

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by Rsrcht » Fri May 15, 2009 3:54 pm

1000bmr wrote:
nitsudrx wrote:Another question: are you guys springing for Vista Premium (or Professional/Ultimate), or is Vista Home Basic good enough? The law school I'm attending says Home Basic is fine, but the one I'm waitlisted at says Home Premium is recommended, but not required.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista_editions
Laptop battery life: With the new features of Vista, criticisms have surfaced concerning the use of battery power in laptops by Vista, which can drain the battery much more rapidly than Windows XP, reducing battery life. With the Windows Aero visual effects turned off, battery life is equal to or less than Windows XP systems. "With the release of a new operating system and its new features and higher requirements, higher power consumption is normal," as Richard Shim, an analyst with IDC noted, "when Windows XP came out, that was true, and when Windows 98 came out, that was true."

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by Bankhead » Fri May 15, 2009 3:58 pm

1000bmr wrote:
nitsudrx wrote:Another question: are you guys springing for Vista Premium (or Professional/Ultimate), or is Vista Home Basic good enough? The law school I'm attending says Home Basic is fine, but the one I'm waitlisted at says Home Premium is recommended, but not required.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista_editions
I know, I've read that. I'm just not sure if that extra stuff is necessary.

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djshack

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by djshack » Fri May 15, 2009 4:40 pm

Graphics: I got my T400 with discrete graphics. It should be known that the T400 w/ discrete graphics features a switchable graphics driver. This means that while in Windows Vista, you can instantly switch between integrated and discrete graphics. With this feature, the only real concern is price. I do have to say that unless I'm playing games, I don't notice a performance difference between the two, in Vista Home Premium.

Windows: Don't get Vista Home Basic. It's horribly stripped down and does not even include the new visual effects ("Aero"). Home Premium should be fine for everything you'll be doing.

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thesealocust

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by thesealocust » Fri May 15, 2009 4:49 pm

Edit: n/m
Last edited by thesealocust on Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

Bankhead

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by Bankhead » Fri May 15, 2009 4:55 pm

Bluetooth PAN. Yes or no?

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djshack

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by djshack » Fri May 15, 2009 5:00 pm

nitsudrx wrote:Bluetooth PAN. Yes or no?
Yes for cell phone stuff and keyboard/mouse if you ever get one that uses Bluetooth. For the $10-$20 or whatever, just get it.

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djshack

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by djshack » Fri May 15, 2009 5:01 pm

thesealocust wrote:
you're not even going to be able to run 10 year old games satisfactorily on integrated graphics
I call bullshit. I bought a macbook (not a macbook pro, a plain 'ol macbook) w/ integrated graphics in 2007 and it ran WoW (3 years old at the time), Diablo II, etc. just fine.

Now, of course discrete graphics will run games BETTER, and for some people it might be the right option. But integrated graphics are just fine for people who know they won't be gaming.
I second that bullshit. I have discrete, but I had integrated only on my Macbook and played many games (well, many for a Mac) just fine. My T400 also runs pretty damn well on integrated mode.

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optimist

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by optimist » Fri May 15, 2009 6:31 pm

Has anyone bought the Compaq Presario CQ60Z laptop ?
Any opinions about it ?

It seems to be about $250 cheaper than the R500 for the same memory, hard-drive upgrades.
For 2gb memory, 250gb hard-drive :
Compaq Presario --> $489
R500 --> $744

I dont play games and so, either processor is powerful enough for me.
The R500 does have the option of upgrading to a 9-cell battery, unlike the Compaq.

Also, they offer Microsoft Home & Student (OneNote + Word + Excel + Powerpoint) for $129.
Would it be cheaper in most campus bookstores ?

Thanks for any help

jetlagz28

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by jetlagz28 » Fri May 15, 2009 6:37 pm

I just don't like Compaq because of battery life. I've never had or heard of a compaq that has good battery life.

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djshack

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by djshack » Fri May 15, 2009 7:00 pm

misteranthro wrote:I thought I had it figured out a couple of days ago, but now I am getting more and more unsure about what I want to do. I am thinking Lenovo, but their battery life kind of sucks and they don't have any current platforms that support a dual battery system. The T400 seems best, but with a SSD, 9 Cell Battery and LED display I still don't know if I will get 4 hours out of a charge. Anybody have any anecdotal experiences about battery life you want to share?
The T400 with those specs should get 8-9 hours of battery life according to every review I've read with a 9-cell. I have a 6-cell, non-SSD hard disk, and on integrated graphics mode I get 4-5 hours battery life.

EDIT: I also have the CCFL display.

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by rwong11 » Fri May 15, 2009 7:27 pm

I'm going to ask my school to adjust my loans to help pay for the purchase of a computer. I have savings I could use towards the purchase, but would prefer to borrow the money.

Can I request the money now, and simultaneously purchase the computer? Or do I have to wait for the money to be approved before buying it?

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crystalhawkeye

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by crystalhawkeye » Fri May 15, 2009 9:33 pm

amyLAchemist wrote:I just ordered:

Image

8.9" screen :)
It's so tiny! And feminine, but that part makes sense. My hands/fingers stretch wider than that on my desktop keyboard.

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thesealocust

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by thesealocust » Sat May 16, 2009 2:43 am

Edit: n/m
Last edited by thesealocust on Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

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superflush

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by superflush » Sat May 16, 2009 6:44 am

djshack wrote:
nitsudrx wrote:Bluetooth PAN. Yes or no?
Yes for cell phone stuff and keyboard/mouse if you ever get one that uses Bluetooth. For the $10-$20 or whatever, just get it.
Yea. It kind of amazes me that some companies have an option for bluetooth and its not just standard.

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Re: The Ideal Law School Laptop

Post by hieveryone » Sat May 16, 2009 5:06 pm

misteranthro wrote:I thought I had it figured out a couple of days ago, but now I am getting more and more unsure about what I want to do. I am thinking Lenovo, but their battery life kind of sucks and they don't have any current platforms that support a dual battery system. The T400 seems best, but with a SSD, 9 Cell Battery and LED display I still don't know if I will get 4 hours out of a charge. Anybody have any anecdotal experiences about battery life you want to share?
Um. Their battery life sucks? I've actually heard based on notebook reviews that the T400 is one of the better laptops out there in terms of battery life. Also, all of the options you just listed extends battery life. the SSD has no moving parts and has less power consumption. The LED screen is more energy efficient as well, if only marginally. And the 9 cell..well that should give you a lot more battery time than the 6 cell as well. So I'm not sure why you're worried. Also, as with all laptops with Li batteries--you don't want to discharge the battery all the way. so you really shouldn't be running your battery to 0% anyways.

edit: you should be getting 8-9 hours with a 9 cell. and switch of the discrete graphics when you don't need it. Assuming you opted for it.

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