Laptop

[Guest Turquoise678]

Hello, everyone. I am seriously considering investing in a laptop for next year and years to come. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what brand/type I should look at? I don't want anything too pricey, but I want to make sure it will have the programs and capability I need.

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated! Especially coming from my fellow meds on a shoestring budget;)

 

Thanks,

 

Turq

[Guest adlinner]

Most common applications for med school reasons:

 

1. surfing internet*

2. opening powerpoint and adobe PDF files

3. printing

4. emailing

5. writing essays (once or twice)

 

*high speed capable, UWO is going wireless and it's wireless in all of MedSci so a use wireless card if you can get it.

 

Right now I'm running a Dell pentium II 400Mhz which is second-hand and at least 5 years old, and it exceeds my needs as a medical student. It cost me $400 3 years ago, and I assume if Moore's Law holds, the cost for your new laptop would be $100, plus perhaps $50 for a wireless card. Hope this answers your question.

 

Best

Daren.

[Guest mdhopeful23]

hiya turq,

 

i was shopping for a laptop a couple months ago, here's some of the things i noticed...

 

the new trend for laptops seems to be bigger screens. i personally dont understand why you'd want a portable device to be larger, but the idea is that people want big screens on their laptops to watch dvds...go figure...

 

centrinos are pretty cool, its a newer technology that is better on battery power and lighter. i ended up with this on my laptop, which weighs about 4lbs. im a lil person, so the weight of carrying one of these around was a factor...

 

some of the places i looked for laptops included dell, sony, office place and good ol future shop. in terms of price, future shop will give you a good deal, but remember they all work on commission. they have a $$ warantee that they'll try to get you to buy. im not so keen on any after service from FT, theyre not the best with customer service, imho. as well, they often will try to sell you a floor model at a discounted price...just be careful.

 

i actually ended up buying my laptop from office place. didnt think i would, but their warantee service was cheaper and seemed much more reliable. im not big on long term warantees, but laptop repairs can be really pricey, i figured it was worth it.

 

dell also has some decent prices. the inspirons are pretty good, and usually they have some sale on where some kind of upgrade comes for free. the only downside is that there is no in-store service. you have to pay for shipping and future repairs could take a while to get done...

 

some of the brands i would recommend looking at are dell, sony, hp, and toshiba. actually, costco also some good prices on laptops, if you have a membership there...

 

hope this helps, if you want more detailed info, give me a shout

[Guest sundinfan]

I bought a Dell Inspiron 600m last year and I love it. It's also got an Intel Centrino processor, and I've become totally addicted to having wireless internet. I've wasted sooo many lectures chatting on MSN! Also, Dell offers very good warrantees... and I've had to use it twice this year. With a laptop, things can break more quickly than a desktop, just cause it's undergoing so much more wear and tear.

[Guest bruhaha]

I actually just ordered a Inspiron 600m today, so I'm glad someone else liked it. I've spent far too long mulling over this purchase, and the best advice I can give you is that you won't beat Dell for price. Most of the computer stores I went to tried to sell me a P4 with a 15.4'' Widescreen some of which weighed more than 10 lbs. I figured if I got one like that it would probably end up on my desk all day, and then I might as well get the desktop. The 600m is ~ 5lbs. and has a 14' square screen and has almost the power of a P4 beast. It ended up costing a little more than I would have liked, what with the warranty, office suite (and this I guess I should have anticipated) sales tax. The Inspiron 1150 might be a bit better value for dollar, but the centrino chip ended up enticing me.

 

I thought the Visionbook's from MDG were also well-priced but I don't know much about them. . .

[Guest Turquoise678]

Hi, everyone. Thanks for all your suggestions. I will definitely look into the Inspiron 600, but I have a question: do all the available Inspiron models come with wireless access?

 

Thanks again for all your suggestions! And mdhopeful, I am also a "lil" person, so I will definitely take the weight of the laptop into account:)

[Guest T dawg 2004]

Make sure you try to get a harddrive that is NOT the IBM Travelstar (my Dell Inspiron 4150 is 2 years old and the HD fried about 0.5 years ago). This piece of hardware is nicknamed the IBM Troublestar - for obvious reasons. >:

 

Also, see if you can get a zip drive or DVD burner so you can have a back-up system. I've learned the hard way that laptops are far more precocious than desk tops.

 

And it's painful watching your computer die...

[Guest mdhopeful23]

hi again,

 

just to reiterate, i really think post-purchase service is an important factor to consider, particularily with laptops. this is basically the reason i chose one location over another. dell might give you a good deal, but their post service can be sketchy at times. we have alot of computers from dell at my work and the whole put you on hold, talk to a bunch of people, finally answer your problem, and then take a couple weeks to fix the problem, can be a tedious situation.

 

another thing i noticed is that toshibas are priced comparibly to dells-take a look in any electronic store flyer...theyre good laptops.

 

finding an outlet that can easily repair your laptop is something to consider. maybe try walking into some of the locations i mentioned, and any others you're thinking of, and see what they say in person.

 

oh, i hava sony viao. its a cutie, but i was told (after i bought it, lol) that sonys can be troublesome...but so far its been great...