Originally Posted by Leeoku

my friend tells me that because theres only one circle on the side speakers, it would miss alot on the mid range frequency level. is that true, aka would sounds of that level come out muffled or is it hard to hear?

If you are going to be using the speakers just to watch movies off your laptop and such, there isnt going to be much of a different.

Now, if you have a nice tv setup with like a 50" LED TV or something, then yeah, you probably want to spend a bit more and get a 7.1 surroundsound system lol

thanks blackdragon for the suggestions. I'll look into them. also, what is your opinion on this in comparison to the ones you suggested?
http://www.amazon.com/N53SV-XE1-15-6...ref=pd_cp_pc_1

Thats actually a pretty decent laptop. Good graphics card, good processor, and it has USB 3.0 which is what the industry is shifting towards now.

usb 3 is out for awhile but industry wont "fully support it" till late 2011, which is soon and good

blackdragon,

I'll be coming to McMaster for Computer Science (if you didn't know yet), and I'm actually really confused as to which laptop I should get after doing some research. I'm pretty sure Netbeans doesn't require too much power to run, but I'm not a fan of slow computers/laptops (who is..). I will mainly be using the laptop for school work and just browsing the web in general. It should have optimal battery life and the screen should be between 13" and 15". Anything <$1000 is fine with me as long as it is a laptop which will last for at least 5-7 years if treated properly. I'll be using the laptop for viewing movies on it on certain occassions or will hook it up with my TV via the HDMI port. It should also have a VGA port in it and since USB 3.0 is the up and new coming thing, that would be a plus. Thanks for your help.

the question to u is do u game and if so how much since that is always the deciding factor for a laptop (graphics card)

I don't really plan to game, but if anything, only SCII. So, the graphics card should be able to run SCII on decent settings (not minimum pl0x).

as long as u get a computer with a dedicated graphics card, it will be able to run medium maybehigh on sc2 (should keep on med if ur scared of overheating). trying to look around butjust a note laptop life is dependant on luck from manufacturer. it'll prob last but some parts might start dying early (my luck gave my laptop a bad audio card where the manufacturer of the audiocard shipped a defective line). so in theory most laptops will last that long but expect to replace after uni

Fair enough thanks.
I'm not interested in Compaq, Sony, Acer or HP.
Dell, Asus would be fine.

Originally Posted by herBs

Anything >$1000 is fine

Not often you come across someone with a budget defined by a price minimum...

Originally Posted by Andrew A

Not often you come across someone with a budget defined by a price minimum...

Hmm, I was gonna recommend the Lenovo x120e, but that appears to be below his spending threshold.

What a pity.

Sorry guys, I meant to say less than $1000 xD wrong sign.

I have had a thinkpad for quite a while now(3 years) and I am pretty satisfied with its durability. My question is that, is the quality and durability of ideapads and asus laptops comparable to that of thinkpads?

P.S.

No pointing sticks please.

honestly i would wait for now. laptop sales are alwyas in and out (fathers day is coming up so there should be sales soon) and the school rush has laptop sales. Laptop prices are always decreasing so be patient IMO. With that in mind this is what i would do.

Go to an online store (yes online since it is usually cheaper than future shop/best buy) on sites like newegg, tigerdirect, canadacomputers. Ur "stay away list " is what i would recommend too except sony is actually decent and dell is trash. with that in mind, go on those sites and look for an asus laptop (lenovo isnt bad either people have had good results from it). and browse

First off start with the screen size. Are u getting a 14, 15 or 17?
What processor do they give u? match that up with this list

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

What graphics card are they giving you? Match that up with this list

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

How much Ram are they giving u? 4gb should be what theyre giving and its more than enough
How much Hard disk space are they giving you? Should range from 500GB-1TB (usually stores balance less disk space with a better graphics card and vice versa) What RPM is it? (higher just means faster transfer to external drives)
How many usb ports are u given? Any of those 3.0 (get as many as possible)?

Everything else should be standard such as webcam, battery. u can choose to upgrade battery but like i said before, good computer parts = bad battery life (the battery time they give is usually with like nothing running).

With the above information, i would balance out that table of each laptop and weigh the quality of gfx card/processor highest next to number of usb ports. Hard drives arent that big an issue since there are always external harddrives