Hey guys, this friday is my last day of high school forever!!

Anyways, I graduate on June 5th, and my mom is going to get me a laptop for my graduation gift. I am not sure which kind to get and was hoping some of you guys (and girls >> ) on here can help me pick one out.

I need a computer which can do:

word processing
gaming (such as Worlds of Warcraft, Diablo II, Starcraft)
CAD program
Wireless Internet
Download music (about 15-20 gigs on music)

Also, I assume I would need an 80GB HD, CD/RW Drive with DVD player capabilities, 512 MB RAM, and I would prefer a 3GB+ Processor Pentium 4 but if there is a different one, please share >>


My mom works at a college and therefore gets a nice deal from gateway when she purchases it through the school, so a nice gateway would be a plus since the price would be lower. I will also be going to UC (cincinnati) for college and I believe they have some sort of deal through Dell for their students, although this may be only on select (IE sh*tty) computers. I'm looking to spend about $1k...anyone have a laptop that they really like and have minimal problems with?

Thanks guys for your input!

This post has been edited by red94celicagt: May 23, 2005 - 12:42 PM

hehe its LAPtop! :-)


I have a dell inspiron! I love it! :-) I only use it for AOL and downloading music...I dont need much more than that! :-)

-BlackCelicaGT94+May 23, 2005 - 9:33 AM


>> *sigh* edited >>

but thanks nat, anyone else?

This post has been edited by red94celicagt: May 23, 2005 - 12:42 PM

I have an HP and i <3 it. >> i forget which one...

POWEBOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAYUH

1st of all... dont expect much gaming performance from a laptop. for everytihng else youll be just fine. i have a 2.8gigahtz HP as a internet computer for my mom and a desktop for my gaming, music production needs.

basically find out what your budget is and then get the fastest thing you can afford. try to pick out a model and then look it up on internet store sites. a lot of times they will have reviews and feedback on there that will tell you if there are any issues with the model you want. these days anything from dell, gateway or hp should work great tho.

I have a HP zv5430 and i love it works grreat for what i need

For graphics etc. go with Alienware b/c it will take alot to run a program like CAD.

This post has been edited by AllTrac96: May 23, 2005 - 3:27 PM

alienware are frankly heavy, run very hot, and far over priced, but they are some of the most powerful laptops you can buy.

hp zv6005us.. or power an graphics runs around 1k or a hp dv1220us.. great an great batt.. those are the two i sell most for college kids..

I'd go for a powerbook. Especially if you are into CAD or any graphics thing. I've had my laptop for 2+ yrs, and it can still do anything (and everything) i need it too. Except the battery life kinda sucks now, cause I've watched way too many DVDs with it.

Apples rock. You get more speed for the money, and with an education discount, you get 10% off right there. Plus if you're into graphics, they can't be beat.

I got a dell inspiron 1150 for my grad gift. I love it. It runs CAD, inventor autodesk, matlab and such just fine, plays counter-strike fairly well, has about 30 gigs of music on it, came with a wireless modem and windows xp. You can get one with whatever you want on it, and they have good customer service. I did have a problem with mine overheating, called them up, and they had the motherboard replaced and my computer back to me in 2 days. Whatever you do, get a replacement plan of some sort. You're probably going to need it sooner or later, especially when living in a dorm.

A question for ya, I read your other post, where are you goin to school at? UC?

yep, UC going into college of engineering as a freshman...you attend there?

dude, get a dell!

anyway, I got my dell inspiron 5100 1.5 years ago before i left for college, and surprisingly, its not obsolete. I recently found out that I can play WoW on it, and the quality isnt horrible. The new inspirons that are out are a lot better at gaming and performance then when i got mine, and at a decent price, so my suggestion is dell.

sounds like Dell is looking the best. As for laptops, I know they aren't very good for gaming, but I plan on getting an external keyboard/wireless mouse combonation for my dorm room when I do want to play games. Like I said, diablo 2, starcraft (both very small games) will be mostly played, and I would like to get into WoW, the biggest game I will be playing. As for other gaming, I will rely on my Xbox >>

any more experiences with other brands?

powerbook

-red94celicagt+May 24, 2005 - 2:12 AM
Almost did, but decided to go to OSU instead bc I wasnt positive that I was going to stay in ME. I do have alot of friends there tho, quite a few in engineering. Also two of my cousins went there and got set up with very good jobs after they graduated.

-lagos+May 23, 2005 - 12:59 PM

on a 1000 dollar budget dont expect much. i have a low line dell laptop (with minor upgrades) and it was right around 1000 after tax, shipping, etc. i even get a 15% discount.

nice mike, maybe ill meet one of them =) any of em got hot cars?

Compaq R3000/R4000 series ~ $600-1000
AMD 64 3200 (2.0 ghz 1mb L2)
Dedicated video card (64-128 MB)
512 MB RAM
Firewire, USB 2.0, JBL Speakers
DVD/CD+RW [upgrade to DVD Burner]
60 GB 5400 RPM

The best deal for a college student, in my opinion. I have the r3000 and it's a lot faster than most of the Dells and Gateways here, albeit its a little heavy (~8 lbs). It typically comes with a 15.4 Brightview widescreen and is great for watching movies. Basically it's a lower end desktop replacement but it is pretty fast for under a grand. Also since they are almost all AMD64 they run cooler and have a longer battery life than the Pentium 4's (AMD64 is similar to Pentium M)

hey guys thanks for all the input...but my mom finally bought me one.
She wouldn't tell me which brand it was, but she told me the specs:

Pentium 4 2.8 ghz
512 MB RAM
DVD/CD+RW
60 GB Harddrive
Not sure about the video card, 128MB i believe
wireless internet ready

thanks for all the input guys...it really helped!

-red94celicagt+May 25, 2005 - 2:48 AM
Haha, not unless you call a civic or an accord a "hot" car.
Looks like you got a pretty good laptop tho. Just be careful with it... for some reason, if something is light enough to throw, people will want to throw it. Get a cable lock for it, and when its not locked up dont let it out of your sight. And have fun in Clifton >>

lolz thanks again man!

btw, civics and accords arent "pimp" but i don hate on em either >>