Thoughts on this laptop for university student

[JWL]

On sale for $700 for a couple more days ($100 off)
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10104016&catid=25253

Laptop will be used for office apps, internet, i-tunes. No gaming. I like the HP docking stations that are available for basic level laptops (specialized "plug" vs. USB connected).

Abbreviated Product Details
Approximate Battery Life Up To 3 Hours
Hard Drive Speed/Capacity 250GB
Optical Drive 8X DVD+/-RW DL Super-Multi
Processor Speed 2.0GHz
Processor Type AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core TL-60
RAM 3GB DDR2 (Exp. To 4GB)
Screen Size 15.4"
Graphics Chipset NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M (UMA)
Integrated Video Memory Yes
Native Screen Resolution 1280 x 800
Audio Chipset Integrated
Integrated Bluetooth No
Integrated WiFi 802.11b/g WLAN
Battery - Number of Cells 6-Cell
Battery Type Lithium-Ion
System Bus 1600MHz
Pre-loaded Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium SP1
Notebook Weight (including Battery) 2.4 kg

[desi_eng]

This thing only has the normal 6 cell battery (stated life is only 3 hours). If you're going to leave the laptop plugged in on your desk in your dorm room all day then thats fine, but if you're going to be taking it to class and typing up notes and stuff, then you'll most like want a 12cell or 9 cell battery at the very least. But if you go with the bigger battery, you should probably go with a smaller screen (14.1 or 13.3 <--Although these are sometimes priced a bit higher), to offset the extra weight from the bigger batt.

The other specs seem fine for your described usage.

But IF you can wait until end of July/August time frame, FS and BB usually have really good back to school deals on laptops. (Sometimes they'll sell the laptops for like $5 over their cost or sometimes below cost, but they also push the warranty you on heavy). Just watch their sites/flyers over the next couple of weeks and see how it goes. I remember last yr, I went through 3 laptops before settling on one (ended up going with MacBook, but that's another story). I bought one one week, then next week, they would have a better deal, so I exchanged it, and did it over and over. :lol:

[matkun]

It's not bad, not particularly hot either. You can price out a Dell for pretty much the same price and have it in whatever colour you want, etc. You can get Dell docks also.

For university though I would:
1. Get a 13 inch or 14 inch. The 15 inch will be heavy and annoying to carry around to classes and all day.
2. Get a 9-cell battery.
3. Wait for the back-to-school deals.

[JWL]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

I'd read other comments indicating that you won't take your laptop to class as often as one might think. My daughter's major is Science so I doubt she would be taking notes on the laptop.

The other thing is that a 15.4" monitor might be OK as a primary monitor, but anything else is too small and would require a desktop LCD monitor.

[matkun]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

I'd read other comments indicating that you won't take your laptop to class as often as one might think. My daughter's major is Science so I doubt she would be taking notes on the laptop.

The other thing is that a 15.4" monitor might be OK as a primary monitor, but anything else is too small and would require a desktop LCD monitor.

I graduated from Physics at Waterloo in April, so I can tell you, for Science classes, laptops are useless in class other than for distracting you from a boring lecture.

If it's going to be a desktop replacement, then yes, 15 inch is fine. I did find having my laptop with me in the study room useful for doing homework and looking stuff up, making graphs, doing integration with Maple, etc.

[bokep]

buy a laptop during back to school season, you'll get much better deals.

otherwise a 15" sounds good if it's gonna stay in the room.

[Keas]

looks like a good buy if you need it now - otherwise i agree with the others and wait for back to school sales.

as for this one it has a above average harddrive space, above average memory 3 gigs and better graphics (i hate intel graphics). it isnt a core 2 duo but amd isnt that bad for budget and as for battery you might find it better to buy a second battery later on if you find you need more battery life.

i recommend getting the extended warantee since 1 year isnt that great and notebooks do break down especially if you carry it around a lot.

if i had the cash i would have been looking for something like this but i had to finance mine so i went dell and for that price i couldnt get anything close to this.

so grab it if you need it now otherwise wait if you can til back to school sales.

[sfu_lifer]

I'd seriously look at a tablet PC if I were a student.

It really does come in handy when you're note writing and for figures.

[Lava]

I'd seriously look at a tablet PC if I were a student.

It really does come in handy when you're note writing and for figures.

+1, tablets are perfect for students, but look into that ones that don't require you to actually push the screen. There are some laptops which you can use your fingers or whatever to write on them, but you have to push again the screen quit hard, making it hard to write notes etc. So look into something like the IBM x60t which uses a special pen. They work amazingly, the harder you push against the screen, the bigger the line is, really cool stuff.

[board123]

I find tablets to be completely useless for taking notes in lectures. It's not nearly as practical as paper and pencil. They're great for things like presentations, but not note-taking.

[b-side]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

I'd read other comments indicating that you won't take your laptop to class as often as one might think. My daughter's major is Science so I doubt she would be taking notes on the laptop.

The other thing is that a 15.4" monitor might be OK as a primary monitor, but anything else is too small and would require a desktop LCD monitor.

True and not true. No, she probably won't be using it much for her lectures (more likely she'll writing by hand directly on her powerpoint notes). However, I found my laptop indispensable for labs. Also, it was nice to be able to have a computer at my fingertips in the library and for study groups/ projects. In short, I highly recommend getting a laptop. Definitely comes in handy.