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Mojo
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Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/
#8103366 - 03/04/08 08:57 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Its time, I just can’t be without one any more. They're just too damn convenient.
I need a laptop that will serve mostly for school work but it also need to be able to perform intense MATLAB operations and stuff like CAD. I’m an Engineering major.
Small and portable a must. Im not looking for a portable desktop. I need something convenient to carry around.
Right now im thinking about the HP Pavilion tx2000z series. Any thoughts?
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dill705
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oriented/ [Re: Mojo]
#8103390 - 03/04/08 09:02 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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I got a Dell Inspiron 1520 for $1270 after upgrading the processor and memory, but it started at less than a grand.
It works great and I have no complaints.
Definately recommended
-------------------- My advice is to find those things that give pleasure and do them often without too much attachment and relax and wait for the show to end. -Icelander- I like free markets and all. Truly I do, at least in general, but there needs to be some kind of oversight in recognition of sustainability. Life works the same way, on a bunch of sustainable systems. Why not honor what made us what we are and take some lessons? Nature FTW! ~dill705~
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DieCommie


Registered: 12/11/03
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: Mojo]
#8103449 - 03/04/08 09:09 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Mojo said:I need a laptop that will serve mostly for school work but it also need to be able to perform intense MATLAB operations and stuff like CAD. I’m an Engineering major.
Ha, I was running Maple, MATLAB, and XP on an old PIII w/368MB RAM as little as a week ago.
Power supply went, so I got a Lenovo T61 ThinkPad. I love it. I got a screaming deal off of ebay because it has one dead pixel.
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Mojo
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: DieCommie]
#8103555 - 03/04/08 09:32 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Hmm,
Im running a compaq AMD Turon 64 797MHz, 384 MB Ram and matlab is severly holding up the system. So much so that when it bogs down, the program just terminates and i loose shit that i havent saved.
I want something that will run very smoothly. This PC strugles to even open Word 2003.
Edit to ask
Are Tablet PCs over rated. Or do they have some good use?
Edited by Mojo (03/04/08 09:39 PM)
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the man
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: Mojo]
#8103600 - 03/04/08 09:43 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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dont be fooled by specs get a mac
-------------------- And Moses Said "Let my mushrooms grow!"
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Mojo
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Registered: 07/12/07
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: the man]
#8103662 - 03/04/08 09:57 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Macs are too expensive. I think I have made up my mind, I think ill go with the tx2000z series bought from sams club with a three year service agreement that starts after the warranty runs out. That will cover me in case the HP fucks up on me. Plus in a few years I can short the damn thing out and get a new one of equal value.
Seems like the smartest choice ATM. That is unless someone can convince me otherwise...
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dill705
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: Mojo]
#8103707 - 03/04/08 10:11 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Dude, I made my laptop purchase after reading 5 different articles comparing laptops and the Dell inspiron is one of the best for the money.
Like I said, I upgraded some stuff based on my uses for the computer, but for just school stuff these should be great. Comes with all kinds of software for school use as well.
Good luck man, hope things go good with the new laptop you purchase. Keep us updated, I'd like to learn more about some different companies
-------------------- My advice is to find those things that give pleasure and do them often without too much attachment and relax and wait for the show to end. -Icelander- I like free markets and all. Truly I do, at least in general, but there needs to be some kind of oversight in recognition of sustainability. Life works the same way, on a bunch of sustainable systems. Why not honor what made us what we are and take some lessons? Nature FTW! ~dill705~
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the man
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: dill705]
#8108199 - 03/05/08 08:38 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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you get 100 off for being a student so 1200 gets you a machine that will run vista better then any dell. if you wanna do that. no virus no spam. and customer service is really good.
-------------------- And Moses Said "Let my mushrooms grow!"
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Mojo
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: the man]
#8108792 - 03/05/08 10:15 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Ok so if i get the black Macbook for 1500. Will it run windows just as well as any other brand??? Can it connect to networks for non macs. Like will it connect to my home network? Can i transfer files to it over the network.
Will it be ok for 3d design programs like CAD?
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dill705
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: Mojo]
#8108975 - 03/05/08 11:11 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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I'm not a Mac expert, but CAD seems right up Mac's alley
-------------------- My advice is to find those things that give pleasure and do them often without too much attachment and relax and wait for the show to end. -Icelander- I like free markets and all. Truly I do, at least in general, but there needs to be some kind of oversight in recognition of sustainability. Life works the same way, on a bunch of sustainable systems. Why not honor what made us what we are and take some lessons? Nature FTW! ~dill705~
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the man
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: Mojo]
#8109000 - 03/05/08 11:16 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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well ya that much if you get teh black one i think they charge a bit mroe jsut cause its black to. so try and change teh specs on teh white one to teh same as the black one. will be 100 bucks cheaper also remember after market hard drives are cheap. or get an external cheap to.
yes it will network fine. i have a PC as a hard drive and watch all teh movies on there through my mac. (looks alot better).
yes PC magazine found that a macbook pro ran vista faster then any top of the line Pc laptop.(alienware ect) so if you must run windows(which you wont after you get used to OS x)you can.
dont forget to get the student discount 100$. if you wait till the fall they usually give you a ipod nano or liek ~180 bucks off another type of ipod. to so that really knocks the price down once you sell that to someone.
and dude. they use macs to make like all teh animation cartoons. (be it better ones, but still). and those are pretty nice machines now just updated. and hey will run any program liek that fine. run a search for some Os x versions of what you want.
again there customer service is wicked. take your PC back to best buy see how much bullshit it wil be to get it fixed. Apple will send people to yrou house to fix it and have you ever tried to call windows to talk to someone who knows nothing. i have it sucked. ive called apple less wait way happier to soup you up and help you out. and if you do order ask how long it will take adn be liek well maybe ill just get it from teh store. prob throw you some goodies like a case or somethin.
just my opinion though. prob should work for those bastards. haha
-------------------- And Moses Said "Let my mushrooms grow!"
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Mojo
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: the man]
#8110114 - 03/06/08 08:36 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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The only reason im spending extra for the black one is because its black. I don’t want a white one...
So if I throw windows XP or vista on the MAC book. Can I insert any normal windows disc into the drive and install the program? Is it just like having a windows PC or are there certain consequences.
Will my files made in MS Office Mac edition work on other PC's?
I don’t really plan to use windows exclusively, but if I need it, I would like to have it available.
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the man
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: Mojo]
#8110269 - 03/06/08 09:41 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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yea its normal.
could get a black clip on case.
-------------------- And Moses Said "Let my mushrooms grow!"
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Mojo
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: the man]
#8116335 - 03/07/08 03:00 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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I just stopped by my Campus Computer store and they are liquidating their old stock of Macbook pros. I can get last year ( i Believe the 2007 model) for a mere 1399 Which for a pro edition has me very interested.
These are the specs:
Apple MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo w/15.4-inch Widescreen Display 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM 2x1GB 120GB Serail ATA Hard Drive @ 5400 rpm SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±/CD-RW) NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 128MB SDRAM Backlit Keyboard & Mac OS-U.S. English
I can also get the upgraded one for 1699
Here are its specs: Apple MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo w/15.4-inch Widescreen Display 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM 2x1GB 160GB Serail ATA Hard Drive @ 5400 rpm SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±/CD-RW) NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 256MB SDRAM Backlit Keyboard & Mac OS-U.S. English
And I can get the new 2008 low end model for 1799.
I’m not really considering anything but the 1399 model. I feel it has more than I need... The store is closed till Monday, and they have two of the lower end models left.
Any thoughts?
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dill705
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: Mojo]
#8116561 - 03/07/08 03:53 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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My Dell inspiron has almost the same specs.
I'm trying to find the info right now, but after tax and shipping I paid $1270, so keep an open mind.
Will post when I find my info...
-------------------- My advice is to find those things that give pleasure and do them often without too much attachment and relax and wait for the show to end. -Icelander- I like free markets and all. Truly I do, at least in general, but there needs to be some kind of oversight in recognition of sustainability. Life works the same way, on a bunch of sustainable systems. Why not honor what made us what we are and take some lessons? Nature FTW! ~dill705~
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dill705
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: dill705]
#8116645 - 03/07/08 04:08 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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If you go to dells website and look at the 15.4 inch laptops, I selected the 1520 and got the middle option, which the call the "better" option. Then I upgraded the Processor and hard drive.
I wish I would have upgraded the cd-drive, because I thought I could burn DVD's but I can't.
But here are my specs at a cost of $1270:
Processor = Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7250 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache) Display = 15.4 inch anti-glare, widescreen Memory = 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz Hard Drive = Size: 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) (Apparently I didn't upgrade, this is the standard, or they changed it on me?) OS = Windows Vista Optical Drive = shit my browser just fucked me...
But anyways, it's been about 5 months since I order my laptop, and the starting price has gone down, and I think that they upped the standard hard drive.
Really, if I were you, I'd check this out. Hope this helps man
-------------------- My advice is to find those things that give pleasure and do them often without too much attachment and relax and wait for the show to end. -Icelander- I like free markets and all. Truly I do, at least in general, but there needs to be some kind of oversight in recognition of sustainability. Life works the same way, on a bunch of sustainable systems. Why not honor what made us what we are and take some lessons? Nature FTW! ~dill705~
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the man
still masked



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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: dill705]
#8116690 - 03/07/08 04:16 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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is your dell that small or light, battery life? does it get viruses spam ware? and same specs or not the macbook pro will run windows faster haha so there.
oh and man make sure they give you leopard os x.
-------------------- And Moses Said "Let my mushrooms grow!"
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dill705
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: the man]
#8116757 - 03/07/08 04:30 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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My battery life is excellent, I also upgraded that, I forgot. For me weight isn't an issue because I don't intend on carrying my computer everywhere I go.
I got free virus protectoin for a year, but there are very good, and free, anti-virus and anti-spyware programs on the web. In fact my college makes you use AVG anti-virus to use their wireless network.
I haven't had any infection of any kind since I got it and I download often and love internet porn.
I understand your dedication to mac, but most people have more of a dedication to there wallet. 
Besides, if the specs are the same(processor and memory), how does mac run windows faster? Kinda seems like a biased comment to me, but if you can back it up with something I don't know, I'll take your word for it.
-------------------- My advice is to find those things that give pleasure and do them often without too much attachment and relax and wait for the show to end. -Icelander- I like free markets and all. Truly I do, at least in general, but there needs to be some kind of oversight in recognition of sustainability. Life works the same way, on a bunch of sustainable systems. Why not honor what made us what we are and take some lessons? Nature FTW! ~dill705~
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DieCommie


Registered: 12/11/03
Posts: 29,258
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: dill705]
#8116922 - 03/07/08 05:10 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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I paid 700 for my Lenovo T61. It has excellent battery life (3-4 hrs), dual core 2.0ghz T300 processor, 2 GB RAM, discrete graphics w/128MB, 7200RPM Harddrive, N Network Adapter, 1440x900 resolution. It pwns. Fuck a mac. They are over priced crap.
Also fuck buying from the school or over priced brick and mortar stores. New Egg and Ebay FTW.
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Mojo
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Re: Best Laptop for 1k. School oreinted/ [Re: dill705]
#8116928 - 03/07/08 05:12 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Your dell was priced with a lower end processor and no stand alone graphics card... Plus the macbook pro has a higher res screen. 1200X800 is for 13.3" screens IMO. The Hard drive and ram can be upgraded cheaply so those were the least of my concerns. I mainly bought it for the standalone graphics card.
But that’s neither here nor there. I bought the damn mac!! But I haven’t opened it yet… How can I tell if it came with leopard os x?
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