Computers for Law School 2011 Forum

[fatduck]

beach terror, do you prefer the T series or the X series? Is it worth it to upgrade to a 9 cell battery?

the X series has considerably better battery life, even with the 6-cell (google for various tests). i know the X220 (and maybe other X-series) also supports the "slice battery" addon, which attaches to the docking port and drastically increases battery life. i think it mostly hinges on whether you find the smaller screen acceptable.

[risktaker]

fatduck, do you think a 12.5 in is too small for law school exams and work? My current laptop is a 14 in. I don't mind small screens as long as they don't get in the way of me being able to type/work efficiently.

[northwood]

how are sonys? decent, or dont bother?
same for toshiba and asus.

as for individual models, all im looking for is one for typing and exam taking. not a gamer( with as large of a screen as possible)

[fatduck]

fatduck, do you think a 12.5 in is too small for law school exams and work? My current laptop is a 14 in. I don't mind small screens as long as they don't get in the way of me being able to type/work efficiently.

i think of all the laptop specs this is the one that really comes down to personal preference. i currently have a 13" macbook, and i have no problem with the size at all. i would check out some videos/pics of the laptops you're looking at (if you can't get your hands on one in person). it's hard to say what would work for you.

edit: however, i believe that every model of thinkpad has a full-sized keyboard, with no tiny escape/enter/shift keys or any of that nonsense.

[risktaker]

thanks fatduck.

http://slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sd ... &t=2985309

Seems like this laptop is even better than the x220 and comes with a free xbox. Should I get this one?

[23402385985]

Just bought a nice 23" LG LED display as a 2nd monitor for my macbook for $140. Now just gotta by a usb mouse and I'm good.

I think I am just going to use my 37" LCD TV as my monitor.

Figure the bigger the better at home.

[geoduck]

Just bought a nice 23" LG LED display as a 2nd monitor for my macbook for $140. Now just gotta by a usb mouse and I'm good.

I think I am just going to use my 37" LCD TV as my monitor.

Figure the bigger the better at home.

Even though technically TVs are screens, they tend to use panels that aren't really all that great for text. Working on an LCD TV can be really fatiguing. I tried it on my 42 and gave up fairly quickly. I do use my tv for a production monitor and for games though

[23402385985]

Just bought a nice 23" LG LED display as a 2nd monitor for my macbook for $140. Now just gotta by a usb mouse and I'm good.

I think I am just going to use my 37" LCD TV as my monitor.

Figure the bigger the better at home.

Even though technically TVs are screens, they tend to use panels that aren't really all that great for text. Working on an LCD TV can be really fatiguing. I tried it on my 42 and gave up fairly quickly. I do use my tv for a production monitor and for games though

I'm going to give it a shot for a bit. It's cheap enough where I can buy a cheap monitor pretty quick if need be. I was working on my TV the other day and it wasn't that bad on my eyes. granted, my monitor downstairs is also a LCD TV. I may just be used to it.

[Mike12188]

Just bought a nice 23" LG LED display as a 2nd monitor for my macbook for $140. Now just gotta by buy a usb mouse and I'm good.

I think I am just going to use my 37" LCD TV as my monitor.

Figure the bigger the better at home.

Even though technically TVs are screens, they tend to use panels that aren't really all that great for text. Working on an LCD TV can be really fatiguing. I tried it on my 42 and gave up fairly quickly. I do use my tv for a production monitor and for games though

I'm going to give it a shot for a bit. It's cheap enough where I can buy a cheap monitor pretty quick if need be. I was working on my TV the other day and it wasn't that bad on my eyes. granted, my monitor downstairs is also a LCD TV. I may just be used to it.

Yea I was going to use my 32" lcd but I think the 23" is the perfect size.

[beach_terror]

My 26'' Samsung LCD monitor was the best purchase ever. More useful when I used to game, but it's awesome. Bose desktop speakers in a close second.

[gothamm]

My 26'' Samsung LCD monitor was the best purchase ever. More useful when I used to game, but it's awesome. Bose desktop speakers in a close second.

[beach_terror]

My 26'' Samsung LCD monitor was the best purchase ever. More useful when I used to game, but it's awesome. Bose desktop speakers in a close second.

Get over it audiophile. Could care less what you think.

[geoduck]

My 26'' Samsung LCD monitor was the best purchase ever. More useful when I used to game, but it's awesome. Bose desktop speakers in a close second.

Get over it audiophile. Could care less what you think.

Couldn't care less. You just said that you care.

And Bose desktop's are actually really clear. Amazing for a paper cone. I can hear the difference, but I'd rather people with regular ears go that way than flatulent bass.

[risktaker]

Ended up getting a x220, 2.3 ghz, 4GB DDR3, 32o GB hard disk drive, 9 cell battery, 72op HD camera, and 12.5" premium HD screen for $854 w/o tax. I am pretty damn excited if anyone cares.

[thecilent]

Just got my $500 asus from ups. Will be weird not having a mac anymore, but can't beat this price.

[beach_terror]

Ended up getting a x220, 2.3 ghz, 4GB DDR3, 32o GB hard disk drive, 9 cell battery, 72op HD camera, and 12.5" premium HD screen for $854 w/o tax. I am pretty damn excited if anyone cares.

Good pick, congrats. The Thinkpad line is by far the TCR when it comes to laptop computers. A friend of mine has an x220 and he accidentally dropped our conlaw book on the keyboard (which would be enough to smash through and wreck the guts of any computer) and all that happened was he lost a few keys.

[risktaker]

Thanks beach, haha. Good to know it's durable. I got a pretty big discount on it, so I am hoping that the price was a bargain and not a rip off.

[23402385985]

My 26'' Samsung LCD monitor was the best purchase ever. More useful when I used to game, but it's awesome. Bose desktop speakers in a close second.

Get over it audiophile. Could care less what you think.

Couldn't care less. You just said that you care.

And Bose desktop's are actually really clear. Amazing for a paper cone. I can hear the difference, but I'd rather people with regular ears go that way than flatulent bass.

Some of the best speakers in the world that win audio competitions use paper cones. Treated paper cones are fantastic if engineered correctly.

[fatduck]

Ended up getting a x220, 2.3 ghz, 4GB DDR3, 32o GB hard disk drive, 9 cell battery, 72op HD camera, and 12.5" premium HD screen for $854 w/o tax. I am pretty damn excited if anyone cares.

nice deal - where'd you find it?

[risktaker]

It was a corporate perks deal through slickdeals.net

[23402385985]

I love how Apple ships everything I ordered separately. Trackpad and keyboard should be here soon. Laptop on the 23rd. Gift card in a few days. HDMI adapter tomorrow.

Hopefully my ram for it will come soon. I went with G.Skill 2x4GB from Newegg. Was going to go with the Kingston HyperX ram, but there's not a huge noticeable difference in the 13" i7 MBP. In the quad core 15 and 17 there is a VERY noticeable difference.

[bk1]

Just bought a nice 23" LG LED display as a 2nd monitor for my macbook for $140. Now just gotta by a usb mouse and I'm good.

I think I am just going to use my 37" LCD TV as my monitor.

Figure the bigger the better at home.

Even though technically TVs are screens, they tend to use panels that aren't really all that great for text. Working on an LCD TV can be really fatiguing. I tried it on my 42 and gave up fairly quickly. I do use my tv for a production monitor and for games though

Agreed, plus their resolution tends to blow. With a 30" LCD monitor at 2560x1600 you can actually have 6 page document up and read all of it at once. A cheap TV is only going to be 720p and an expensive one will still be 1080p. Basically bigger isn't better if you don't have the increased resolution to back it up.

[geoduck]

Get over it audiophile. Could care less what you think.

Couldn't care less. You just said that you care.

And Bose desktop's are actually really clear. Amazing for a paper cone. I can hear the difference, but I'd rather people with regular ears go that way than flatulent bass.

Some of the best speakers in the world that win audio competitions use paper cones. Treated paper cones are fantastic if engineered correctly.

True, but I doubt that they're anywhere near the price point of the Bose 2.1 setup they sell for PC use. For the price, I'd expect much much crappier performance out of paper, but the Bose delivers on clarity and has a pretty nice punch out of the sub. It isn't an "OMFG rattle the glass in your neighbor's kitchen" type of setup so it often gets dissed.

[23402385985]

Just bought a nice 23" LG LED display as a 2nd monitor for my macbook for $140. Now just gotta by a usb mouse and I'm good.

I think I am just going to use my 37" LCD TV as my monitor.

Figure the bigger the better at home.

Even though technically TVs are screens, they tend to use panels that aren't really all that great for text. Working on an LCD TV can be really fatiguing. I tried it on my 42 and gave up fairly quickly. I do use my tv for a production monitor and for games though

Agreed, plus their resolution tends to blow. With a 30" LCD monitor at 2560x1600 you can actually have 6 page document up and read all of it at once. A cheap TV is only going to be 720p and an expensive one will still be 1080p. Basically bigger isn't better if you don't have the increased resolution to back it up.

I always thought that any 1080p TV was a relatively good choice for a monitor.

[geoduck]

Just bought a nice 23" LG LED display as a 2nd monitor for my macbook for $140. Now just gotta by a usb mouse and I'm good.

I think I am just going to use my 37" LCD TV as my monitor.

Figure the bigger the better at home.

Even though technically TVs are screens, they tend to use panels that aren't really all that great for text. Working on an LCD TV can be really fatiguing. I tried it on my 42 and gave up fairly quickly. I do use my tv for a production monitor and for games though

Agreed, plus their resolution tends to blow. With a 30" LCD monitor at 2560x1600 you can actually have 6 page document up and read all of it at once. A cheap TV is only going to be 720p and an expensive one will still be 1080p. Basically bigger isn't better if you don't have the increased resolution to back it up.

Exactly. Especially if you try to use it at regular computer screen distance and start being able to differentiate pixels... really plays havoc on your eyes. 1080P looks great on a 42" screen... from 6 feet away.