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So... I'm not much of a laptop person, in general... (mostly due to the fact I thrive on having dual screens)... so I don't own one.

I know having a laptop in law school is essential, for note-taking, etc...

But do I need a Dell XPS or MacBook Pro? Can I get away with having just a simple laptop that's functional and affordable?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MMLV7VQ/ref ... B00J49ZH6K

I'm thinking of buying this... Let me know!

A good laptop is not essential for note-taking, it's highly recommended.

A good laptop IS essential for taking final exams. I had a classmate who's old Dell laptop failed them on test day. You do not want this to be you. It doesn't have to be a Mac or Lenovo, but get a reliable laptop. It's worth the investment. I've had my MB Pro for 4 years and it still works like the day I got it and, more importantly, hasn't failed me on an exam day (yet).

Also, if you get a powerful enough laptop, you can run two screens from it seemlessly.

sandwhich wrote:A good laptop is not essential for note-taking, it's highly recommended.

A good laptop IS essential for taking final exams. I had a classmate who's old Dell laptop failed them on test day. You do not want this to be you. It doesn't have to be a Mac or Lenovo, but get a reliable laptop. It's worth the investment. I've had my MB Pro for 4 years and it still works like the day I got it and, more importantly, hasn't failed me on an exam day (yet).

Also, if you get a powerful enough laptop, you can run two screens from it seemlessly.

Oh I had NO idea you used your own laptop for exams in class... O.O

This changes things a bit... LOL

The problem with Chromebook is that most schools use Exam4 for test taking and it is only available on PC or Mac. I had a friend who used a Chromebook for everything and just borrowed his girlfriend's PC laptop for exams.

I'm in a similar situation (I have a powerful desktop and am looking for something cheap and simple for law school) and saw that ExamSoft will not work with Chromebooks unfortunately. I have been looking at some of the cheaper Lenovo ThinkPads (E455, T440, etc) though, and they look like they will get the job done just fine. Plus I've heard good things about their keyboards.

I think cheap business quality laptops with windows os are probably our best bet.

no you cannot. you will perish immediately upon purchase.

acijku2 wrote:The problem with Chromebook is that most schools use Exam4 for test taking and it is only available on PC or Mac. I had a friend who used a Chromebook for everything and just borrowed his girlfriend's PC laptop for exams.

Here we use a program called 'Bluebook,' but it's the same in that it only runs on PC or Mac. I didn't realize a chromebook was one of those 'netbooks.' Don't buy one of those. If you only plan on using it for law school, I'd recommend a macbook Air or one of those new tiny macbook pros if you can afford it. I have one of the full-size MB pros and it's powerful, but heavy.

You don't need a "powerful" laptop, or something super sleek or new. It has to be

1) functional/reliable
2) capable of running whatever exam software your school uses.

Anything that meets that, and you're good. It sounds like a Chromebook might actually be a problem for #2 though.

MoonSugar wrote:I'm in a similar situation (I have a powerful desktop and am looking for something cheap and simple for law school) and saw that ExamSoft will not work with Chromebooks unfortunately. I have been looking at some of the cheaper Lenovo ThinkPads (E455, T440, etc) though, and they look like they will get the job done just fine. Plus I've heard good things about their keyboards.

I think cheap business quality laptops with windows os are probably our best bet.

I had a Lenovo Ideapad for years and it was great. Incredibly reliable although a bit bulky and heavy. Only issue I had with it was that I dropped it on it's side one day and it just happened to land in a way that loosened the charger port.(because it was plugged in) They were able to fix it but it always came loose again after around a year. A couple weeks ago, I upgraded to a Thinkpad T450 after the charger port came loose again on the Ideapad rather than paying to get it fixed again.

Anyways, long story short, I love the Thinkpad and I loved the Ideapad. Lenovo makes great laptops and I highly recommend it if you find one for a good price. The keyboard is great for exams and the computers (from my experience) are extremely reliable.

Ok guys thanks for the advice... TBH I think I'll go with my original choice of the Dell XPS 13... I just like that the screen is actually as big as the 15inch Mac Books (due to the small bezel) and that it's really light (I don't want to lug a giant brick around)...

Sigh!