I'm clueless when it comes to laptops.. I'm going into lifesci this year, and was wondering if there are any specific features i should be looking for in terms of a laptop. Also any suggestions would be great! I don't have a set price that I'm willing to spend- it all depends on the quality, and amount of time that i would be able to use it

welcome to mMacinsiders! I am confused by the question as it seems as though it should read " Help using the search function".

yeah there are so many posts about this exact same question.
if you only use your computer for
microsoft office
internet browsing
flash based games
movies / music / videos

any i3 / i5
with 2GB+ of ram
and 320 GB + hard drive
and you'll be good. like good to kick ass on some google chrome angry birds.

I wrote a really, really really long response to this outlining the pros and cons of what I think are your two best options. I clicked away from this screen and its all gone and theres no way Im re-writing all that. I can only bring my self to write a summary.

If you want to pick something up tomorrow, there are great ~$500, 15.6 acer laptop at bestbuy right now. It has really good specs (6gigs RAM, i3, decent graphics card), a great keyboard (mac book style) and strong plastic build. Acer is NOT the crappy break-down brand it used to be. This one is the best bang for your buck, and you can compare it to all of the more expensize HP and toshibas in the store.
http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/... 7f1a0d986en02
http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/... 7d6310e52en02

If you have a little more cash there is a little known laptop secret. Dell has a business line that is cheap enough for regular consumers. Its called the vostro line. The build quality is amazing (real metal body, good plastics). Very sleek, nice, professional design. Light and thin. Starts at $540 and you can add an amazing 3 year, on site, accidental damage warranty for $250 (basically so you can accidental break your laptop in 3 years and get a brand new one). Unless your doing heavy gaming, the base trim is all you need. I reccomend the V3450 line, its 14 inches. Small enough to be very portable, big enough to be your main computer.
http://www.dell.com/ca/business/p/vo..._VI EWSIZE_IN

i was on a thread similar to this last night for many hours and im going into first year life sci as well. From what i learned, you should get something along the following lines:

- Decent battery life (5 hours +). Most life sci. schedules i've seen usually have one day during the week where there's 4+ hours of class straight without any meaningful breaks. If you're planning on taking notes on the laptop...you should make sure that you'll actually be able to turn it on after using it for 3 straight cores

- The general consensus seems to be that everyone buying a new laptop for university should stay away from HP. Their service doesn't seem to be the greatest and many get the feeling that they're being built to barely outlast their warranty (which is usually for 1 year)

- The processor should be an i3 or i5. You don't need an i7 and stay away from anything with an AMD processor. You can literally fry an egg on anything with an AMD - that's how hot they get.

- Size wise, something around 13.3'' should be great. They'll be big enough to work on with some level of comfort, but small enough to fit in your bag along side your chem, bio, and math textbooks.

- Price wise... if you don't have a limit, it's great. Personally speaking, i really dont see the point in getting something over ~ $ 600.00. Every couple of years there's something much better on the market and Apple comes out with something new every time the sun shines on Silicon Valley.

In the end, you have to find something that's right for you.

In case you haven't found something yet, this is the one i'll probably end up going for:

http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/ca...affixedcode=WW

There are a ton of similar threads. Here are a few you might find helpful:
http://www.macinsiders.com/showthrea...ons-34023.html
http://www.macinsiders.com/showthrea...ghlight=laptop
http://www.macinsiders.com/showthrea...ghlight=laptop
http://www.macinsiders.com/showthrea...ghlight=laptop
http://www.macinsiders.com/showthrea...ghlight=laptop

ASUS rocks life !

In Life Sci, the necessity of a laptop is so minimal that you can get by with anything [imo]. Even a smart phone has enough power and functionality to carry you through your classes.

What I'm getting at is that if you are intent on buying a new computer for school, look for features that you'll need for other aspects of your life. Whether it be gaming, watching movies, portability or long-lasting battery life, look for things that will you'll find beneficial outside of your classes.

Also, don't think that you HAVE to take notes on a laptop during your classes (that's what I thought going into first year lulz). Pen and paper works fine and for some people, myself included, it works much better in some classes. Aside from some minor doodling space, it's also much less distracting. If you think this might be what you'll end up doing, a desktop might be more suitable.

Hope this helps!

Originally Posted by AngieC

ASUS rocks life !

Hey man, your going to want buy a laptop with a good hard drive (nowadays they probably are 500gb or more). You also want at least 4gb of RAM. You need at least an i3 processor with wireless N capabilities.

Pretty much anything for $600 or more at any futureshop or bestbuy is a good purchase for a laptop for school.

(I also prefer intel processors over amd - but thats just my bias lol)

You don't "need at least an i3." An i3 will be more than you need - almost everyone would have no problem with a Core 2 Duo. I'm sure most people who have i3s wouldn't even notice if you swapped in a Core 2 Duo (assuming that was possible, but they use different sockets IIRC). Also, you don't need "at least 4GB" of ram. I've got 2GB and it does the job, although 4+ certainly is nicer, but is not at all a necessity. I wouldn't say 802.11n is necessary either, 802.11g is still good enough unless you're routinely transferring large files over the local network, in which case you're probably going to want a wired connection anyway.

Originally Posted by RyanC

YOU BROKE MY MONITOR!