Is there a Computer Techy in the house? Forum

[Kirk]

Is there a techy in the house that can give me an thumbs up or down on the Samsung Series 7 notebooks? I have heard good things about them (close to a MacPro but cost less). The reviews tend to be mostly pro. The negatives seemed to be limited to: no backlit keyboard, no Bluetooth, no SSD cache (whatever that means). However there was one constant complaint. . . the out of the box partition C drive was only 50G and partitioning the drive was not as easy as 1-2-3. Is this really a big deal to correct?

All helpful comments are appreciated.

[Extension_Cord]

Is there a techy in the house that can give me an thumbs up or down on the Samsung Series 7 notebooks? I have heard good things about them (close to a MacPro but cost less). The reviews tend to be mostly pro. The negatives seemed to be limited to: no backlit keyboard, no Bluetooth, no SSD cache (whatever that means). However there was one constant complaint. . . the out of the box partition C drive was only 50G and partitioning the drive was not as easy as 1-2-3. Is this really a big deal to correct?

All helpful comments are appreciated.

What do you need it for? If your like most law students you just need it to take notes and simultaneously surf facebook. If this is the case do yourself a favor and go to Amazon and buy any $350 laptop, you won't notice a difference.

[LAWYER2]

none of those options will make or break the laptop you're talking about. You do NOT need many bells and whistles for a law school laptop. There's a guy in my class that does ALL his note-taking on an Ipad!
I've been in IT for over ten years, and all I have is a Lenovo Think-pad T60. Its a few years old but works like the business grade laptop that it is. In fact I have two, and if any problems occur I can swap drives in seconds and be on my way.
I save and sync all my notes online (Skydrive w/ hotmail, google docs, etc), so I eliminate any worries of lost data. Save that extra money for supplements

[Eirhoff73]

I have a MB Pro. I enjoy that the viruses that are national news are largely nothing more than a hiccup to a Mac owner. That's not to say that there aren't viruses, but I can say that the MB is worth every penny that I paid for it (two years old and runs like a new puter). I went through PCs like tissue paper on Christmas day. In the last three years, I've owned as many PCs. Let the numbers do the talking for themselves.

Also, consider getting the Dragon Naturally Speaking software. Not only can you write long narratives, but you can record lectures on a voice recorder and transcribe them to written format. It rocks!

Either way you go...good luck in law school!

[CactusPuppy]

I have a MB Pro. I enjoy that the viruses that are national news are largely nothing more than a hiccup to a Mac owner. That's not to say that there aren't viruses, but I can say that the MB is worth every penny that I paid for it (two years old and runs like a new puter). I went through PCs like tissue paper on Christmas day. In the last three years, I've owned as many PCs. Let the numbers do the talking for themselves.

Also, consider getting the Dragon Naturally Speaking software. Not only can you write long narratives, but you can record lectures on a voice recorder and transcribe them to written format. It rocks!

Either way you go...good luck in law school!

I completely agree. My MB pro is one of the most reliable computers I've owned. Non-mac laptops can die as soon as a few months (or slow significantly) whereas MB is good for years.

[Eirhoff73]

I wanted to add that you shouldn't bother buying a Word program. Just get Open Office. I has saved me a ton. I can also save all work in .doc form.

[kalvano]

I wanted to add that you shouldn't bother buying a Word program. Just get Open Office. I has saved me a ton. I can also save all work in .doc form.

I hate all the little odd quirks with Open Office. Anyway, with student discount, you can get real Office for like $60 or $70, if that. It's worth it for OneNote alone.

[kalvano]

Also, consider getting the Dragon Naturally Speaking software. Not only can you write long narratives, but you can record lectures on a voice recorder and transcribe them to written format. It rocks!

I'd be very careful about doing that, most professors specifically prohibit it.

[kalvano]

Is there a techy in the house that can give me an thumbs up or down on the Samsung Series 7 notebooks? I have heard good things about them (close to a MacPro but cost less). The reviews tend to be mostly pro. The negatives seemed to be limited to: no backlit keyboard, no Bluetooth, no SSD cache (whatever that means). However there was one constant complaint. . . the out of the box partition C drive was only 50G and partitioning the drive was not as easy as 1-2-3. Is this really a big deal to correct?

All helpful comments are appreciated.

As to your original question, the Series 7's are nice, but a tad overpriced for what you get. I think you'd be better served by either a Macbook or an Ultrabook. The HP Folio 13 is supposed to be quite nice, and have a form factor similar to a Macbook Air. Very thin and light, fast boot-up, etc.

Whatever you get, make sure you like the keyboard. You'll be typing very long exams on it, so make sure you're comfortable with it.

[Danny Mothers]

There is no reason to spend more than $500 on a laptop.

[zeth006]

Is there a techy in the house that can give me an thumbs up or down on the Samsung Series 7 notebooks? I have heard good things about them (close to a MacPro but cost less). The reviews tend to be mostly pro. The negatives seemed to be limited to: no backlit keyboard, no Bluetooth, no SSD cache (whatever that means). However there was one constant complaint. . . the out of the box partition C drive was only 50G and partitioning the drive was not as easy as 1-2-3. Is this really a big deal to correct?

All helpful comments are appreciated.

As to your original question, the Series 7's are nice, but a tad overpriced for what you get. I think you'd be better served by either a Macbook or an Ultrabook. The HP Folio 13 is supposed to be quite nice, and have a form factor similar to a Macbook Air. Very thin and light, fast boot-up, etc.

Whatever you get, make sure you like the keyboard. You'll be typing very long exams on it, so make sure you're comfortable with it.

Not sure you couldn't say the same about Macs unless OSX is alone to justify the price difference for a law school laptop. An equivalently specced MBP comes out to twice the price or more.

[Kirk]

Thank you for your inputs. I went ahead and bought the Samsung Series 7. Turns out they addressed the major complaint of the C drive only partitioned for 50G. The fix is when you start the computer for the first time you can allocate the size of your partition, the C-Drive default is 250G.

I have not noticed major speed change, going from 4G to 6G. Actually, I haven’t noticed any change for that matter. I blew $800 just because I became nervous around exam time that my 2/3 year old Sony might bite the dust.