Hi All:

I’m in the market for a notebook computer for my daughter, who will be starting college this Fall. Unfortunately, my knowledge and experience with laptops is almost nil. The breadth of experience on this board seems to be quite wide, so I'm hoping that there is some collective experience I can tap into.

Some specific areas where I could use advice include:

 Manufacturer: Any experience with HP vs. Dell vs. other? Any model seem more physically robust than others? I assume that an Apple product is asking for interoperability/support issues in a college environment.
 General usage: Any manufacturer’s keyboard/pointer particularly good, or bad for daily use? Is a mini-mouse an absolute necessity?
 Processor Type: Just how fast a processor is really needed? (AMD Turion vs. AMD Athlon vs Intel Processors. Dual core vs single core?)
 Screen size, and format. 14” vs. 15” vs. 17”? Widescreen vs. 4x3?
 Screen type: Matt vs. Glossy
 OS: Oh, the many flavors of Vista. Plus, would I regret choosing XP in a couple years?
 RAM: I assume she’ll need 2GB for Vista…or should I splurge and get 4GB?
 Disk Size: 80 vs. 120 GB. I assume bigger is always better.
 Wireless: A vs. G vs. N, which is most likely to work at a college center?
 Batteries: 6 cell vs. 9 cell vs. whatever. Is a spare battery a good idea?
 Docking Station: Is it needed to connect an external monitor/keyboard/mouse? If so, is it worth an extra $150 or so, or is she more likely to use the laptop stand-alone while at her desk? How do you use your laptop at your desk?
 Cases: Anybody here a student or have a kid in college with a laptop? Do you use a case/backpack for it, or would it simply collect dust?

If it makes any difference, she is entering a cirruculum in Music Education. However, I may be in the market for a second computer for my other daughter who is in a Speech/Language Pathology program.

Thanks for any advice you can provide.

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"That's Not Blight. It's New Jersey" - The Wall Street Journal

My, My...trying to quantify all those variables can be completely mind boggling.
I've never really considered any factors quantifiably...always gut feel.
Ask yourself this...
What is your minimum?
How much more are you willing to spend?
Spend it, everything will be insufficient in a year anyway, and you'll end up kicking yourself.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

I am far from an expert. I have used Dell's for many years at work, because that is what the company buys. I think they are OK. My first one went through 3 motherboards (all under warranty - these were around 2001-2002), but the third one worked like a charm for five years and gave me no further problems. My current unit is a couple of years old and seems ok.

As far as keyboard/pointer - my best advice is to test drive some at a store and see what your daughter likes. Some people love the touch pads, some the little "eraser head" pointer, some hate them all. I personally can use the touch pads, but I can work much faster with a mouse.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009

My wife and two daughters each have tablets, and they like them a lot. One is an HP (and 700 other high school and middle school students are using them), one is an Lenovo X41, the other X61. All students at the state university are required to purchase laptops through the university program, but my daughter wanted a tablet--they usually only allow grad students that option (go figure). Other students have noticed how much lighter and less bulky it is (but smaller). I used a Toshiba tablet last Spring for a few months, and I liked it--it was bigger, but seemed sturdier, even though I've seen a lot of cracked screens on them.

None of the three have CD/DVD drives, but we have a docking station with a drive. Two of them use the pens mostly (there is cursor pad and a titmouse as well) but the other got a wireless mouse as well.

I've noticed musicians tend to favor Apple over Microsoft when it comes to selecting an Operating System.

Hmmmm...perhaps a call to the college IT dept would be in order.

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"That's Not Blight. It's New Jersey" - The Wall Street Journal

She'll be fine with just about anything you can find for her. Seriously, price and weight are just about your only concerns as long as the machine is functional and carries the hardware extras and software she's going to use.

If she's going to be moving around with it a lot, the lighter the better. The longer the battery-life between chargings the better.

You want a minimum of 1GB of RAM for XP, 2GB for Vista. Do not accept less under any circumstances. If you're buying windows, try hard to get a machine with XP and not Vista. You may want to consider a Mac of some kind. Sarongsong is right about musicians. They do tend to prefer Macs. There's a bit more on offer for artsy-specific software.

Generally speaking, the larger the hard drive, the better. You have to give her room for her .mp3 and video collection. (But I'm only half-kidding.)

Don't worry too much about the processor speed or video support. This isn't a gaming box, and as long as the machine is reasonably current, this is a non-issue. In general, the smaller the processor and video support, the longer your battery will last between recharging and the cooler the box will run. So don't be afraid to aggressively low-ball the processor.

The screen-size shouldn't matter too much. Bigger is generally better, but smaller screens draw less power. As long as it's comfortable for your daughter, anything goes. Same with pointing devices. Some like the nib-mouse. Some prefer pen-tablets (Wacom, for example). Some prefer track balls, some prefer traditional mice. A decent laptop will accommodate any pointing device you can scrounge up. Comfort is the priority.

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In Fallout 3, 'happiness' is a warm junkyard dog and a loaded gun. It's mostly the loaded gun.
- Moose's one-line review.

"your going to regret that one. You are now a colonoscope...
- Chrissy, corrupting PraedSt's wish.

Laptop screen resolution demystified:

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My advice is get a cheap one that meets her needs and give it her only after she presents you with her back-up schedule and an emergency plan in case it breaks down just before a big assignment is due. The better the laptop is the better games and stuff it can play, so getting her a good one may actually be counter productive. With the money you save getting her a cheap one you can buy her a new one when hers gets stolen. (A lot of laptops get stolen at universities and pretty much everywhere.)

System restore disks are often not included anymore--they're behind a partition on the hard drive. You can make system restore disks for your personal use, and there are directions included with your system somewhere, in case the hard drive completely fails.

What she will need is regular backups of her assignment work in a place where they won't be stolen at the same time her laptop is. The information can be kept on disk, little USB drives, space can be rented on a server, backups can be kepts at a friend's place and so on. The important thing is for her not to get into a situation where a theft or breakdown could result in a failed unit.

I just meant system restore could be added to the backup plan and schedule

My advice is if you are going for something such as a cheap Dell, never put Vista on it unless you have more than 1 GB of RAM.

Its good to know what she will be using her laptop for. Is it for making/viewing presentations or using a text editor. Is it for viewing videos/pictures and listening to large collections of music? Is it for playing video games? Is it going to be running large applications? All these factors can contribute to the specifications you may need.

My advice is to get a (preferably wireless) mini mouse. Its can get annoying to use the touch pad and a mouse can really speed things up.

And a USB thumb drive (or portable hard disk) is always a good idea. These are usually cheap and almost impossible to destroy. Get something more than 2 GB preferably.

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And so it was, however late . . .

If you don't play games, I'd skip Vista and go with a solid Linux distro, such as OpenSuse, Ubuntu, etc...

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"Those are the people that wonder how a thermos knows whether to keep something hot or keep something cold." ~ NeoWatcher

I've had a dell laptop for the past couple of years, and its worked just find (though it is not subject to any heavy duty work).

First thing you should do, as others have suggested, is check with the school IT department. In addition to advice, they may also have a purchasing program that includes a student discount (oh, and if she wants Microsoft Office, definitely get that through the school. The student discount on that is usually quite steep).

I'd go wide-screen, if you think she'd ever watch movies on her laptop.

Skip the spare battery. Unless it comes with a separate charging station, the battery has to be in the computer to charge. If your daughter isn't plugging the laptop in often enough to keep the primary battery charged, odds are she'll eventually have two discharged batteries.

First thing is to check with the college's IT department. If the college has a computer store there, check with them to see what makes/models they sell and more importantly, service. Not all places can service just *any machine*. I work in such a college computer store, for background.

I've had good luck with Dell Latitudes. They are fairly rugged, and are better built than the flavor-of-the-week Inspirons, but are a bit pricier. Apples to not break down as often, but usually have catastrophic meltdowns, such as being dropped, or subjected to liquid spills. Most campuses work with Apple and a PC vendor or two.

I like using a mouse with a laptop, but most trackpads are pretty decent.
The processing speed required depends on the student's usage. Typical processing speeds are 1.83 to 2.4 GHz. I recommend Intel, as they tend to run a bit cooler. Dual-core processors are pretty cheap now, too.

Most students go with a 14.1" widescreen. 15.4" is also popular. I prefer matte screens, any kind of light (especially flourescent) can create a lot of glare on a glossy screen. Many campuses are switching to Vista, once their software is compatible with the OS. I prefer running XP, but that's mainly because I have a lot of programs that prefer to run on XP. However, Vista is becoming more stable than previously, but it *is* a resource hog. We're running Vista Business Edition, but most editions are fine. It's hard to fin XP anymore, too.

Specs...
I would recommend at least 2 GB. However, you run into a huge spike in cost going up to 3 GB, and especially 4 GB. Many computers come with 2 GB standard, and that is generally sufficient. The hard drive size isn't as big of an issue, as externals are pretty cheap. However, if you daughter likes music, having a big hard drive would be helpful, but most students would never fill an 80 GB drive. As for the wireless card, few places have Wireless-N coverage. A good a/b/g internal card would work fine. Check the IT department to see where wireless hotspots are. The dorms at UVM, for instance, do not have a good signal.

The standard 6-cell battery can usually last between 3 and 4 hours. 9-cell batteries are good for extended trips, but the benefit is lost if the laptop spends most of its time plugged in to the wall.

Most students do not use docking stations. A dock can be useful, most staff/faculty use a dock to make use of dual monitors and peripherals like printers and a bunch of other stuff. A better option would be a computer cooler stand, that way it can prop the laptop up to create a better typing angle.

I see a lot of students running around with their laptops in a neoprene sleeve, it provides a moderate amount of protection, without the bulkyness of a case. Most slip the sleeve into their backpacks.

Extras: I would strongly recommend getting the manufacturer's extended warranty, especially one that includes accidental damage (drops, spills, general mishaps), AND getting it covered under Homeowner's Insurance or Renter's Insurance as a Rider/Floater. That would provide insurance in the event of fire, theft, loss, and pretty much anything else (including accidental damage).

Like I said, this is my job. Hope this helps!

Oh, yeah. Check to see what services/support the IT department offers. Many campuses offer free "Walk-In" services to students, or similar services. It's a good thing to keep in mind, so you don't have to pay the Geek Squad $$$ for a problem that the college techies can fix for free.

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"4th Law of Modern Thermodynamics: Where Mihoshi is, Chaos Reigns." ~W. Hakubi
"Gun control is hitting your target; Recycling is reloading your brass." ~ Lex of Dirty Work.

I am a service engineer, I spend my days fixing Laptops. Dell are very good, Well made and simple to service.

Toshiba are very good as well, but they are a complex machine to dismantle to work on, some of the outer cases have 6 different lengths of screw.

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'The eye can only see what the mind is prepared to accept'

I've had great luck with the dells, but as said before, the Inspirons are probably the worst built of the bunch. Go with a latitude or XPS depending on your budget and needs, and you'll have a well built laptop that's easy to work on (the new XPS M1330 looks like a great little portable one). They are certainly some of the easiest computers of any of them to work on, as everything is clear and easy to access inside.

As for apple? As said before, check with the college IT department.

I like my dell laptop, though I've yet to see one that truly stinks from any manufacturer. Some of the larger laptops cram a number pad next to the keyboard and I really don't like that - it seems to make it a lot harder to type from the few times I've used one like that. As for the mouse, I vastly prefer a mouse to a touchpad, but it is not an absolute necessity. This is mainly personal preference.

One good way to figure out which keyboard style is best for you is to go to a local place such as a best buy or comp usa, and try out a few laptops that they should have on display. This can give a good feel for some of the differences between brands.

Probably the biggest thing to keep in mind here is that the clock speed is not everything when it comes to the actual speed your processor will run. Probably the best currently are the Core 2 Duo Santa Rosa CPU's, which can be found because of their odd numbering (T7100, T7300, T7500, etc), as opposed to the older Core 2 high performance models, which had a slower bus speed and were numbered in even steps (T7200, T7400, T7600, etc). Currently, the Intel Core 2 Duo's tend to run faster and more efficiently than the Turions, but either one is likely sufficient for this application. Also, the more efficient cores would slightly extend battery life, but this is a minor effect (probably only a few minutes worth).

How much is she willing to carry? By their very nature, 17" laptops tend to have higher quality components for the same price, and they also tend to run cooler than their smaller equivalents. They also weigh more and have significantly shortened battery life though. 15" seems to be a popular size around campus here, though I have not had any trouble hauling around my XPS M1710 (17", 8+lbs). On the other end of course is somet