Originally Posted by Commie8507

Definitely the acer, reason being that toshiba has terrible battery, as a science student you will have a large amount of binders/notebooks/textbooks and the footprint of a 15.6 inch is too large. The acer has a better battery life and a smaller foot print. Do not get a laptop greater than 14 inches. I can't emphasize how important mobility is.

yea, i was concerned about the batter life...especially since i have a day every week where i have 5+ hours of class without any real break. also, with the size of the laptop being small, is typing more difficult or does the keyboard retain it's 'integrity' ...if you know what i mean.

Originally Posted by vinny06

yea, i was concerned about the batter life...especially since i have a day every week where i have 5+ hours of class without any real break. also, with the size of the laptop being small, is typing more difficult or does the keyboard retain it's 'integrity' ...if you know what i mean.

The lecture seats are relatively small and you have little space for your legs. Most of your first year classes will be in BSB 147 and will be full. 13 inches is perfect and gives you a decent amount of leg room. It becomes more of a struggle with the 15 inch displays. I have an 11.6 inch macbook air and it is perfect i type without any strain. Stay within the 11.6-13.3 inch range.

Originally Posted by Commie8507

The lecture seats are relatively small and you have little space for your legs. Most of your first year classes will be in BSB 147 and will be full. 13 inches is perfect and gives you a decent amount of leg room. It becomes more of a struggle with the 15 inch displays. I have an 11.6 inch macbook air and it is perfect i type without any strain. Stay within the 11.6-13.3 inch range.

yea, i didnt want to go too big but i came across the toshiba so i thought i should just make sure. the 13.3 seems like a pretty good size. i just hope it doesnt let me down like the HPs seem to be doing to a good chunk of mac students!

one last thing: does not having a dvd drive matter? do first year students tend to use the dvd drive?

Originally Posted by vinny06

yea, i didnt want to go too big but i came across the toshiba so i thought i should just make sure. the 13.3 seems like a pretty good size. i just hope it doesnt let me down like the HPs seem to be doing to a good chunk of mac students!

acer is an excellent brand that offers an excellent warranty. The machine should last you the 4 years and any problem you do have Acer and it's support team will help.

Originally Posted by Commie8507

acer is an excellent brand that offers an excellent warranty. The machine should last you the 4 years and any problem you do have Acer and it's support team will help.

yea, at this point acer seems like the choice!

any idea about the dvd dilemma? are they necessary/used? because the acer we're talking about doesnt have one...

Originally Posted by vinny06

yea, at this point acer seems like the choice!

any idea about the dvd dilemma? are they necessary/used? because the acer we're talking about doesnt have one...

i dont have a dvd drive either and have never needed one. Movies are streamed online as with shows and music. Software is available online. If you ever need a dvd drive let me know, you can get external ones for 20-30.

alright, i think i've got my head wrapped around this.

generally speaking though, what would you say is the minimum battery life a laptop should have if you're buying it for university use? im just asking because there's another option available at future shop which offers less battery life (5.5 hrs) but more RAM (6 GB) and a dvd drive. the size and the processor are the same.

Originally Posted by vinny06

alright, i think i've got my head wrapped around this.

generally speaking though, what would you say is the minimum battery life a laptop should have if you're buying it for university use? im just asking because there's another option available at future shop which offers less battery life (5.5 hrs) but more RAM (6 GB) and a dvd drive. the size and the processor are the same.

5 is sufficient, however I'm assuming you are referring to the toshiba. Stay away from toshiba, 2 of my friends had Toshiba's and both had issues with heating. Acer is a brand that has something to prove, their products have seen a significant increase in Build Quality/Components. On a more personal note lol I like their business strategy which is why i recommend them to anyone on a budget.

Originally Posted by Commie8507

5 is sufficient, however I'm assuming you are referring to the toshiba. Stay away from toshiba, 2 of my friends had Toshiba's and both had issues with heating. Acer is a brand that has something to prove, their products have seen a significant increase in Build Quality/Components. On a more personal note lol I like their business strategy which is why i recommend them to anyone on a budget.

yes, i was referring to the toshiba. really? i havent used toshibas before and someone else recommended them on the thread earlier (i think), so i didnt think that heating issues would exist amongst them...but i believe you. besides, im sure 4 GB of ram will be sufficient.

ahaha, considering your 'personal note,' i think commerce is perfect for you!

11.6 is kinda small if you're planning to use this on a regular basis not just for notes in class, unless you are planning to have a larger monitor, or your eyes are going to hurt =\

no optical drive- external one might be useful? Some textbooks come with a disk and it might be useful.

pretty good battery life

4gb ram is wasted. It doesn't specifically say windows 7 home premium 64-bit, so it's implied it's only 32. ram maxes out at around 3gb on a 32 bit.

Just a heads up, HP has a tendency of overheating. I'd rethink this one.

Originally Posted by fusionorchid

11.6 is kinda small if you're planning to use this on a regular basis not just for notes in class, unless you are planning to have a larger monitor, or your eyes are going to hurt =\

no optical drive- external one might be useful? Some textbooks come with a disk and it might be useful.

pretty good battery life

4gb ram is wasted. It doesn't specifically say windows 7 home premium 64-bit, so it's implied it's only 32. ram maxes out at around 3gb on a 32 bit.

Just a heads up, HP has a tendency of overheating. I'd rethink this one.

yea, im definitely not going for the HP anymore. I was leaning towards this one at this point: http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/ca...=#revs_content

this one also doesnt specify "64-bit" ...im not really familiar with this stuff so does that mean that the laptop will slow down after some use? clarification would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by vinny06

yea, im definitely not going for the HP anymore. I was leaning towards this one at this point: http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/ca...=#revs_content

this one also doesnt specify "64-bit" ...im not really familiar with this stuff so does that mean that the laptop will slow down after some use? clarification would be appreciated.

i'm no computer expert, but it's just what my friends told me when i went through the process of buying a laptop 2 years ago. It doesn't mean that your laptop will slow down after a while, it just means that even though the specs say 4gb ram, only around 3gb is usable; so it'll just run like any other laptop with 3gb ram. It's not too big of a deal unless you're an intense gamer and find that extra 1gb as extremely necessary.

Originally Posted by fusionorchid

i'm no computer expert, but it's just what my friends told me when i went through the process of buying a laptop 2 years ago. It doesn't mean that your laptop will slow down after a while, it just means that even though the specs say 4gb ram, only around 3gb is usable; so it'll just run like any other laptop with 3gb ram. It's not too big of a deal unless you're an intense gamer and find that extra 1gb as extremely necessary.

oh, alright. thanks for the clarification. I was mainly just planning on using the laptop for notes and watching an average amount of tv shows/movies online so i think the acer will be fine.

Originally Posted by fusionorchid

i'm no computer expert, but it's just what my friends told me when i went through the process of buying a laptop 2 years ago. It doesn't mean that your laptop will slow down after a while, it just means that even though the specs say 4gb ram, only around 3gb is usable; so it'll just run like any other laptop with 3gb ram. It's not too big of a deal unless you're an intense gamer and find that extra 1gb as extremely necessary.

Complete utter nonsense. The amount of ram you have available is contingent on the OS. There are two OS's 32 bit and 64 bit. A rule of thumb is if it comes with 4gb of ram it has 64 bit. 3.75 is stated as how much is available and the remainder is used solely by the system for other tasks. And ram has very little to do with gaming. Gaming is contingent on the GPU.