Originally Posted by Leeoku

this is what i suggest.

1. you do not need a mac. mac is garbage for its price. it is merely a nice shell and looks fancy but the actual components are junk. sure it may be a bit smoother operating system (compared to msdos) and arguably has less viruses (only cause people dont bother making them for macs, too small of a population). if you can afford it or just love the look, be my guest. arguably, macs are only needed for art/communications related study since mac does own adobe and aton of that stuff

2. DO NOT GET A DELL/HP/TOSHIBA. their components are becoming cheaper and they tend to break really easy. Acer is kinda garbage imo, sony is abit overpriced just like the mac. My recommendation is an Asus

3. Buy ur pc online. Tons of cheap laptops/desktops available. My current pc was bought at around 55% original price. Check websites such as tigerdirect and newegg, usually have good deals

Poster asked for advice not opinion. If your gonna post please post something worth reading. I don't want to populate this thread with useless post so if you have something to say against me for my post please feel free to im me.

Now that, that is out of the way...

Each laptop is made for a different group and everyone has different experiences.

Mac's are great laptops for the people that need it and know how to use it(very important, if your know what ya doing you can fly through stuff with ease). If may not fit your needs but that dosent make it 'garbage'. It has its downfalls but all laptops have that.

Second, Dell has some very nice laptops. There are a lot of complaints about their parts breaking down etc but the XPS series is just fabulous and has known to be pretty reliable. I know quiet a few people that are very happy with theirs.

Acer, similar to dell has some very nice laptops. There is actually a high end, i believe its a bigger 17+ screen though, Acer laptop that is suppose to be really good for gaming and media. Ill post the link if i can find it.

Sony might be a bit overpriced but you are getting quality like with the macs.

I dont have much experience with Asus so im not gonna comment.

Ill agree with you on the Toshiba laptop. But again those laptops are made for a different group. Toshiba has quiet a few decent budget laptops.

And your are deff right about finding laptops cheaper online just watch out for scams.

Happy Laptop Hunting

Vista is completely fine. I personally use it and love it. A friend of mine recently reviewed Windows 7 Ultimate (here: http://eceplayground.com/2010/08/02/...-depth-review/) and I have to admit that some features are pretty neat. BUT, it is not good enough to make the switch from Vista to 7 and dish out $150+.

Most computers now come with Win7, but that jacks up the price alot. Stick with Vista if you can, you can't really go wrong.. I know I havent.

well one thing that came to my attention is that most preformance laptops dont last more than 3-4h battery life, but i have classes going for 6h straight... now if im correct no lecture hall has a outlet at each desk, so how would i make a laptop that last for 3-4h go for 6h.....

Originally Posted by Zuchowski

well one thing that came to my attention is that most preformance laptops dont last more than 3-4h battery life, but i have classes going for 6h straight... now if im correct no lecture hall has a outlet at each desk, so how would i make a laptop that last for 3-4h go for 6h.....

http://www.bixnet.com/suslloruntie.html <-- external battery? EDIT : -----the post below me has a better suggestion on this----

what kind of specs ya looking for?

i7?
how much ram?
hard drive?
Graphics?

Originally Posted by Zuchowski

well one thing that came to my attention is that most preformance laptops dont last more than 3-4h battery life, but i have classes going for 6h straight... now if im correct no lecture hall has a outlet at each desk, so how would i make a laptop that last for 3-4h go for 6h.....

Back up battery is one option. Mine was 70$. You can switch your battery between one of the classes.

You can also just look for outlets and plug your laptop in, consider carrying a outlet splitter with you. That way you are almost always guaranteed a plug, the only time you aren't is if you can't sit close enough.

Backup battery works, but one online for $50-70

I never liked Acer but dammnn check this out. http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/ca...fixedco de=WW
Amazing specs for that price.

• 2.26GHz Intel Core i5-430M processor
• 4GB DDR3 memory
• 500GB hard drive
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 graphics card with 512MB dedicated memory

If I didn't spend my money on an iphone4 and gtx 460, I would definitely buy one.

Even better idea is to buy a desktop and rent McMaster library laptops for studying

Originally Posted by Bobby66

I never liked Acer but dammnn check this out. http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/ca...fixedco de=WW
Amazing specs for that price.

• 2.26GHz Intel Core i5-430M processor
• 4GB DDR3 memory
• 500GB hard drive
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 graphics card with 512MB dedicated memory

If I didn't spend my money on an iphone4 and gtx 460, I would definitely buy one.

Even better idea is to buy a desktop and rent McMaster library laptops for studying

But then you cant game in class.

Originally Posted by blackdragon

But then you cant game in class.

I rather game then sleep.

but i just have this need to spend my mom's money.....

Well this is my advice:

If you're not getting a Mac (and really, you should try to avoid them if you know what you're doing on a PC), $1500 is way too much to be spending on a Uni laptop.

If you want to PC game in Uni:
Most gaming laptops are at about the level of lower to mid end gaming PCs, which means they'll be behind the curve in about 2 years and with their low battery life (I've seen some as low as 2 hours claimed, but only about 1.5 realistically) and weight they'll generally suck to carry around and result in you constantly fighting for the handful of plugs that are available in most classes (the 300 student capacity classes in MDCL has 6 sets of plugs IIRC). Also, when these begin to fall behind the curve you'll have to spend another $1500 to replace it.
For Uni PC gaming, build your own gaming PC (you can get something that'll run all the latest games at HD or near HD res for about $1000: http://www.hardware-revolution.com/600-gaming-build/ <- with an HD monitor, a solid speaker set, and Windows 7 would be perfect) and spend $400 or so on a netbook, you can find a few netbooks out there that are small, light, have great keyboards, and claim 14 hours battery life (http://www.amazon.ca/ASUS-Seashell-1... 54266&sr=1-4). Also, in about 2 years when this PC is starting to fall behind the curve it'll only cost $159-$200 to replace the GPU rather than $1500 to replace a gaming laptop.

If you don't care about gaming:
Look for a solid ULV/CULV laptop (you can find some that boast 8-10 hours of battery life for less than $1000), if you want to use you laptop for taking notes in all your classes a convertible tablet like the HP Touchsmart Laptops or the Leveno Thinkpad X series (though that can get a bit pricey) might be worth taking a look at.


TL;DR
Gaming Laptops suck at being laptops

I'd go with tails' advice or the Asus laptop in the first post. Your call.

nice to find another passionate Apple hater

Originally Posted by Tailsnake

Well this is my advice:

If you're not getting a Mac (and really, you should try to avoid them if you know what you're doing on a PC), $1500 is way too much to be spending on a Uni laptop.

If you want to PC game in Uni:
Most gaming laptops are at about the level of lower to mid end gaming PCs, which means they'll be behind the curve in about 2 years and with their low battery life (I've seen some as low as 2 hours claimed, but only about 1.5 realistically) and weight they'll generally suck to carry around and result in you constantly fighting for the handful of plugs that are available in most classes (the 300 student capacity classes in MDCL has 6 sets of plugs IIRC). Also, when these begin to fall behind the curve you'll have to spend another $1500 to replace it.
For Uni PC gaming, build your own gaming PC (you can get something that'll run all the latest games at HD or near HD res for about $1000: http://www.hardware-revolution.com/600-gaming-build/ <- with an HD monitor, a solid speaker set, and Windows 7 would be perfect) and spend $400 or so on a netbook, you can find a few netbooks out there that are small, light, have great keyboards, and claim 14 hours battery life (http://www.amazon.ca/ASUS-Seashell-1005PE-PU17-BK-10-1-Inch-Netbook/dp/B00322PYZO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s= electronics&qid=12816 54266&sr=1-4). Also, in about 2 years when this PC is starting to fall behind the curve it'll only cost $159-$200 to replace the GPU rather than $1500 to replace a gaming laptop.

If you don't care about gaming:
Look for a solid ULV/CULV laptop (you can find some that boast 8-10 hours of battery life for less than $1000), if you want to use you laptop for taking notes in all your classes a convertible tablet like the HP Touchsmart Laptops or the Leveno Thinkpad X series (though that can get a bit pricey) might be worth taking a look at.


TL;DR
Gaming Laptops suck at being laptops

DAMMIT u hit me hard there man.... well yea i built my own computer 2 years back, cost 2,000 and its still above anything dell can send at you, and FINE ill get a cheeper one that hast a longer batterly life, well then i raise the question about a tablet I ALWAYS wanted to get a tablet since last year and ive been looking at Notion's ADAM Ink (http://www.notionink.com/), But i doubt it will come out in time, but with tablets, see my handwriting is >1st presentile, i have an LD and i can barely read my own handwriting, and tablets boast about having the ability to transfer its hand written stuff into typed stuff, but would it be able to do so with my horrible handwriting?... and got any sugestions for a good tablet? =D also, just wondering, is it recoomnded or just a norm to bring textbooks to your classes?

Tablets are awesome, you can buy the real apple ipad for 200 bucks CAD. People get shipments directly from china's foxconn and sells it to you.