What kind of computer is best for LS? Forum

[beach_terror]

i cant believe a thinkpad isnt a option the poll.

get a thinkpad. end of thread.

What's so good about them? I know next to nothing about Lenovo.

I've had a Mac for the past 2 years and loved it. Just got a new MacBook about 6 months ago that I will leave at home with my wife and I'm going to get a new computer. I don't think another Mac is necessary as all I'll really be using it for is internet and word processing. Lenovo is the right pick for that?

Also, I'd love to learn more about the OneNote application that was mentioned in this thread. I read up about it online, but would like to hear what people think from experience.

the thinkpad was originally from IBM but it was sold to Lenovo. Thinkpads are very reliable. a friend of mine is still using his thinkpad that he bought over 5 years ago. the services, quailty and reliabilty of the thinkpad are reasons why a lot of businessman use it.

In my shopping, I've seen a lot of Lenovo Ideapads. Is there a difference?

Ideapads are geared towards people who are interested in multimedia/games primarily. They have more memory and a real gfx card. They're nice, but for LS, I don't even want a laptop capable of gaming . A friend of mine just got the y550 (I think) for like 500$ cheaper than it lists on the site because they're running an additional 20% off ontop of their current sale. They also have free shipping right now, it's a great time to buy a Lenovo.

[am060459]

well the thinkpads are the best from Lenovo. as for the ideapad i dont know much but i would go with the Y series and preferably one that has a good processor (i5 processor or up) and a lot of memory (4 gb or more).

[am060459]

'Ideapads are geared towards people who are interested in multimedia/games primarily. They have more memory and a real gfx card. They're nice, but for LS, I don't even want a laptop capable of gaming . A friend of mine just got the y550 (I think) for like 500$ cheaper than it lists on the site because they're running an additional 20% off ontop of their current sale. They also have free shipping right now, it's a great time to buy a Lenovo."

gaming computers are good becuase games require a lot of memory and fast processors. but some may be enticed to play games more than usual lol.

[thekingiv]

i cant believe a thinkpad isnt a option the poll.

get a thinkpad. end of thread.

What's so good about them? I know next to nothing about Lenovo.

I've had a Mac for the past 2 years and loved it. Just got a new MacBook about 6 months ago that I will leave at home with my wife and I'm going to get a new computer. I don't think another Mac is necessary as all I'll really be using it for is internet and word processing. Lenovo is the right pick for that?

Also, I'd love to learn more about the OneNote application that was mentioned in this thread. I read up about it online, but would like to hear what people think from experience.

the thinkpad was originally from IBM but it was sold to Lenovo. Thinkpads are very reliable. a friend of mine is still using his thinkpad that he bought over 5 years ago. the services, quailty and reliabilty of the thinkpad are reasons why a lot of businessman use it.

Which kind of ThinkPad do you recommend? Is the cheapest one good enough? There are too many different series to choose from. I just want something with word processing, internet, and a really long battery.

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... e=Overview

[am060459]

i cant believe a thinkpad isnt a option the poll.

get a thinkpad. end of thread.

What's so good about them? I know next to nothing about Lenovo.

I've had a Mac for the past 2 years and loved it. Just got a new MacBook about 6 months ago that I will leave at home with my wife and I'm going to get a new computer. I don't think another Mac is necessary as all I'll really be using it for is internet and word processing. Lenovo is the right pick for that?

Also, I'd love to learn more about the OneNote application that was mentioned in this thread. I read up about it online, but would like to hear what people think from experience.

the thinkpad was originally from IBM but it was sold to Lenovo. Thinkpads are very reliable. a friend of mine is still using his thinkpad that he bought over 5 years ago. the services, quailty and reliabilty of the thinkpad are reasons why a lot of businessman use it.

Which kind of ThinkPad do you recommend? Is the cheapest one good enough? There are too many different series to choose from. I just want something with word processing, internet, and a really long battery.

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... e=Overview

if money is an issue i would go with the T series. if not then go with the W series.

[TCScrutinizer]

I paid $1,100 for a new Mac notebook in 2004. In 2005, the motherboard burnt out (apparently not under warranty after one year), and customer service told me that it would cost $1,200 to replace the motherboard.

I instead took that $1,200 and bought a top-of-the-line Dell desktop (OK, other than the $3,000 gaming rigs) with a 4-year warranty, and I just posted on it now. Only two major problems in five years of ownership... and it would only cost me about $500 in hardware upgrades to match most high-end gaming PCs.

[nascent]

I had Toshiba laptop for 3 years how and it hasn't shown any problems so far... Will it stay stable and without problems during law school? The world may never know.

[GobiasIndustries]

I paid $1,100 for a new Mac notebook in 2004. In 2005, the motherboard burnt out (apparently not under warranty after one year), and customer service told me that it would cost $1,200 to replace the motherboard.

If you are going to get a Mac, get the extended AppleCare warranty (3 years from purchase date). Something like this is totally free. My girlfriend's 2007 MacBook has had 2 major operations that cost her nothing. It's worth it.

[TCScrutinizer]

I paid $1,100 for a new Mac notebook in 2004. In 2005, the motherboard burnt out (apparently not under warranty after one year), and customer service told me that it would cost $1,200 to replace the motherboard.

If you are going to get a Mac, get the extended AppleCare warranty (3 years from purchase date). Something like this is totally free. My girlfriend's 2007 MacBook has had 2 major operations that cost her nothing. It's worth it.

Yeah. Once burned, I now always invest in the warranty. I find I'm unusually hard on my environment.

[mirpanda]

As a reformed ex-pc user, I vote Macbook pro. Intuitive, stable, sturdy, low risk of viruses, and snappy. I opted for a 15" screen simply because I dabble into graphics, web design, and video editing and needed more screen space than the 13" provides and more portability than the 17" affords. A 13" should suffice for the average user, however, if you're like me and leave several apps and windows open at a time and switch between them often, then you might like the extra screen space of a 15" when you do the 4-finger swipe to view all of your open windows.

I've had my mac pro for roughly 7-8 months and I adore it!

[Rand M.]

I'm picking up one of those 15" MBPs on Friday. Can't wait; this will be my first Mac and will hopefully see me through law school.

[nascent]

I might actually give into mac before starting my law school career. Does anyone know when Apple is going to start back to school promotions?

[jetlagz28]

--ImageRemoved--

[sullidop]

I'd just stick with a 13" MPB. I went down in size from a 15" Dell and I haven't regretted it at all. Aside from one problem (mentioned below) it's been the best laptop I've ever had.

The extra bulk/weight of a 15" isn't worth it and the 13" now gets 10 hours of battery life as opposed to the 15's 8 hrs. Unless you're doing some HEAVY media compression/decompression chances are a dual core processor is fine and you don't need the new i5/i7 chipsets.

More important than screen size though, GET A TIME CAPSULE!!!! I know a bunch of people who had their harddrives fail during the year and they lost all of their notes (even I lost a HDD after only 4 months of use on my mpb...it's a freak occurrence but it happens--brought it to an apple store and they replaced the drive in an hour). The time capsule is great, it's integrated into OSX via time machine, wirelessly syncs with your laptop every hour or so, is a solid network drive and an awesome router. There was some concern about them dying after 18 months, but as long as you have applecare they'll replace it for free.

[Rand M.]

I'd just stick with a 13" MPB. I went down in size from a 15" Dell and I haven't regretted it at all. Aside from one problem (mentioned below) it's been the best laptop I've ever had.

The extra bulk/weight of a 15" isn't worth it and the 13" now gets 10 hours of battery life as opposed to the 15's 8 hrs. Unless you're doing some HEAVY media compression/decompression chances are a dual core processor is fine and you don't need the new i5/i7 chipsets.

More important than screen size though, GET A TIME CAPSULE!!!! I know a bunch of people who had their harddrives fail during the year and they lost all of their notes (even I lost a HDD after only 4 months of use on my mpb...it's a freak occurrence but it happens--brought it to an apple store and they replaced the drive in an hour). The time capsule is great, it's integrated into OSX via time machine, wirelessly syncs with your laptop every hour or so, is a solid network drive and an awesome router. There was some concern about them dying after 18 months, but as long as you have applecare they'll replace it for free.

For me the 15" is pretty much a must. I do some on site photography editing and the tools necessary take up a lot of screen real estate. Everyone has different needs in computing. For me a 13" would just not get the job done. Plus going from 30 mins. of battery life to 8-9 hours sounds like a win. Not to mention the fact that I'm a pretty big guy; I think I can get by carrying the extra pound.

[sullidop]

Apple just released the updated MacBook Pros today. That sealed the deal for me.

It wouldn't have killed them to upgrade to the i3 processor for the 13" macbook pro. They really didn't do shit for that model.

Curiously Steve Jobs weighed in on this grievance.

--LinkRemoved--

Also, they upped the base memory, disk size, and CPU clock speed. Also they added a new battery to squeeze 10 hours out of a charge instead of 8. They also got Nvidia to build a chipset specifically for the 13" mpb that boasts at least 30% more speed than the previous generation.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10 ... g_out.html

[sullidop]

I'd just stick with a 13" MPB. I went down in size from a 15" Dell and I haven't regretted it at all. Aside from one problem (mentioned below) it's been the best laptop I've ever had.

The extra bulk/weight of a 15" isn't worth it and the 13" now gets 10 hours of battery life as opposed to the 15's 8 hrs. Unless you're doing some HEAVY media compression/decompression chances are a dual core processor is fine and you don't need the new i5/i7 chipsets.

More important than screen size though, GET A TIME CAPSULE!!!! I know a bunch of people who had their harddrives fail during the year and they lost all of their notes (even I lost a HDD after only 4 months of use on my mpb...it's a freak occurrence but it happens--brought it to an apple store and they replaced the drive in an hour). The time capsule is great, it's integrated into OSX via time machine, wirelessly syncs with your laptop every hour or so, is a solid network drive and an awesome router. There was some concern about them dying after 18 months, but as long as you have applecare they'll replace it for free.

For me the 15" is pretty much a must. I do some on site photography editing and the tools necessary take up a lot of screen real estate. Everyone has different needs in computing. For me a 13" would just not get the job done. Plus going from 30 mins. of battery life to 8-9 hours sounds like a win. Not to mention the fact that I'm a pretty big guy; I think I can get by carrying the extra pound.

Nice, I like it when people actually use mpbs for what they were made (hardware and software) to do, media production, unlike myself who just uses it for notes and games. Sounds like you made the right choice.

[mmmadeli]

Question:

I already have a MacBook that I got as a graduation present in May. I don't really plan to get a "new computer" for law school. However, I hear the cry for something a little lighter and smaller to carry to class, and I also know that I'd probably have to somehow install Windows on my Mac to run the exam software on it, wherever I went to school. So what I'm wondering is, could I solve both of these problems by getting a fairly cheap (definitely like <$500, preferably around $350 maybe) little netbook that runs windows? I've really never played with netbooks before, but I'm thinking something totally barebones, light and small, purely for taking notes in class. Would something like that be capable of running the exam software? Is this a viable solution? I don't even know if this would work, but I figured it would be worth asking, since there's no sense in replacing my Mac, which I love anyway, but it seems like it would be useful to have some Windows capabilities.

[sullidop]

Question:

I already have a MacBook that I got as a graduation present in May. I don't really plan to get a "new computer" for law school. However, I hear the cry for something a little lighter and smaller to carry to class, and I also know that I'd probably have to somehow install Windows on my Mac to run the exam software on it, wherever I went to school. So what I'm wondering is, could I solve both of these problems by getting a fairly cheap (definitely like <$500, preferably around $350 maybe) little netbook that runs windows? I've really never played with netbooks before, but I'm thinking something totally barebones, light and small, purely for taking notes in class. Would something like that be capable of running the exam software? Is this a viable solution? I don't even know if this would work, but I figured it would be worth asking, since there's no sense in replacing my Mac, which I love anyway, but it seems like it would be useful to have some Windows capabilities.

Everyone I know has windows on their mac via bootcamp (typically ONLY used for examsoft). If your school has examsoft they'll probably load it on your comp for free. Not worth the hassle of having to sync the two so you can keep notes up to date.

[mmmadeli]

Everyone I know has windows on their mac via bootcamp (typically ONLY used for examsoft). If your school has examsoft they'll probably load it on your comp for free. Not worth the hassle of having to sync the two so you can keep notes up to date.

Oh, really? I figured it would cost me an arm and a leg.

[forty-two]

I'm picking up one of those 15" MBPs on Friday. Can't wait; this will be my first Mac and will hopefully see me through law school.

I'm sure it will...my 6 year old iBook is still going strong.

[am060459]

i plan on spending roughly $5,000 on a lenovo thinkpad for law school.

ThinkPad W510

Processor: Intel Core i7-920XM Processor Extreme Edition (8M Cache, 2.00 GHz) 1
Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 1
Operating system language: Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 US English 1
Display Panel: 15.6" HD+ Anti-Glare Display with LED Backlight and WWAN Antenna 1
System Graphics: NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M Graphics with 1GB DDR3 memory 1
Total memory: 16 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (4 DIMM) 1
Keyboard: Keyboard US English 1
Finger Print Reader: UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader 1
Camera: Camera, 2.0 MP 1
Hard Drive: 128 GB Solid State Drive, Serial ATA1
Optical device: Multi Recorder Optical Drive (12.7mm) 1
System expansion slots: Express Card Slot & 5 in 1 Card Reader & Smart Card Slot 1
Battery: 9 cell 2.8Ah Li-Ion Battery - Dual Mode 1
Power cord: Country Pack North America with Line cord & 135W AC adapter 1
Bluetooth: Bluetooth w/ antenna 1
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters: Intel Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 62501
Wireless WWAN accessories: Integrated Mobile Broadband (Gobi 2000 3G with GPS) 1
Language Pack: Language Pack US English 1
Microsoft productivity software preload: Microsoft Office Basic 2007 - English 1
Accessories and options:
3Yr Onsite Warranty + 3Yr ThinkPad Protection 41C9338 $349.00 1 $349.00
3Yr Battery Warranty 55Y2645 $139.00 1 $139.00

[beach_terror]

i plan on spending roughly $5,000 on a lenovo thinkpad for law school.

If you have that kind of cash to blow on a laptop, more power to you.

[Lawl Shcool]

13' macbook pro FTW

[ArtVandelay]

Do Macs need antivirus software? Are there any good ones out there? (If I have to get Norton, it's not even worth switching from Windows)