Laptop recommendations for a student.

I made one of these threads in OT last week but....i need some recommendations for a laptop for college. i was leaning towards a macbook pro, my only concern is transferring documents from my pc(my home computer) to a mac laptop, is this difficult or problematic? money is not an issue for the laptop( i have a good amount set aside and the rest will be on credit), the cheaper the better of course, any recommendations? thanks, it does not have to be an apple either, any recommendations would be awesome!

What is your justification for spending the $500+ extra dollars for a macbook pro?

I made one of these threads in OT last week but....i need some recommendations for a laptop for college. i was leaning towards a macbook pro, my only concern is transferring documents from my pc(my home computer) to a mac laptop, is this difficult or problematic? money is not an issue for the laptop( i have a good amount set aside and the rest will be on credit), the cheaper the better of course, any recommendations? thanks, it does not have to be an apple either, any recommendations would be awesome!

ChiefvsGordon

Via Apple's bootcamp, you can install Windows on your MacBook Pro.

With MS Office for Mac, I don't find any problems with opening standard MS documents.

HP EliteBook 2730p/2740p/2760p, Lenovo ThinkPad X200t/X201t (NOT the X220t), or Fujitsu Lifebook T5010/T900/T901. Take your pick. If you have no aversions to buying used, you could save a lot by buying the Core 2 Duo-based models.NamelessPlayer

I would never recommend a mac (another story)

but for PC laptops go with MSI, Asus, Sony or Alienware
avoid HP, Dell and to a lesser extent Acer

Always avoid anything that says Integrated or Intel graphics

17" = not much battery life

and have you thought about a tablet/keyboard dock, I love using my Asus Eee Pad Transformer with dock at school.

and if u want EXACTLY what you want, try this website (still having trouble posting link gamespot) ibuypower . com

You want the machine to be cheaper, yet you want a Mac? Get a Business Class notebook like a Probook, latitude or a thinkpad. They can take more of a beating than a Macbook can and you won't have to worry about compatibility with your home computer. Unless you have specific applications where you NEED a mac, I'd point you in other directions.

You want the machine to be cheaper, yet you want a Mac? Get a Business Class notebook like a Probook, latitude or a thinkpad. They can take more of a beating than a Macbook can and you won't have to worry about compatibility with your home computer. Unless you have specific applications where you NEED a mac, I'd point you in other directions.

gmaster456

indeed mac for anything other than video making/editing or 2d/3d modeling just aint wise.. youd be crazy to think different. if you arent using it for one of those 3 things im afraid windows has all you will ever need. its also cheaper to get a laptop of similar or better preformance with windows. besides the way things are going i expect apple to be out of the laptop and desktop buisness within the next 2 decades the way their share of the consumer computer market is going. heck LINUX has more users than mac now. its a sad day in the world when a free OS beats you..

heck given enough time the reviving commodore will probably beat mac XD

[QUOTE="NamelessPlayer"]HP EliteBook 2730p/2740p/2760p, Lenovo ThinkPad X200t/X201t (NOT the X220t), or Fujitsu Lifebook T5010/T900/T901. Take your pick. If you have no aversions to buying used, you could save a lot by buying the Core 2 Duo-based models.ronvalencia

hey thanks for the recommendations guys i wrote them down and am going to play with them on friday...im going to check out the electronic stores and mess around wih the laptops. any other recommendations would be helpful.

I would never recommend a mac (another story)

but for PC laptops go with MSI, Asus, Sony or Alienware
avoid HP, Dell and to a lesser extent Acer

Always avoid anything that says Integrated or Intel graphics

17" = not much battery life

and have you thought about a tablet/keyboard dock, I love using my Asus Eee Pad Transformer with dock at school.

and if u want EXACTLY what you want, try this website (still having trouble posting link gamespot) ibuypower . com

BlackDevil99

What's wrong with AMD Llano's integrated GPU?

Tom's Hardware link

The power use in the above graph is a result of a controlled test on an external monitor, so we repeated this metric again, this time using the laptop's own display. The A8-3500M laptop lasted two hours and 12 minutes. Assuming the Intel laptop used the exact same battery, it would run for one hour and 22 minutes.

This is very impressive. Not only does the A8-3500M get about twice as much time out of its battery, it does so while delivering far better graphics performance. The implications of this are profound: a Llano laptop user might be able to play a mainstream 3D game for an entire two-hour flight with decent frame rates, while the Intel Core i5-based platform would only last for half of the flight with choppy performance. There does, in fact, seem to be validity in AMD's excitement over its improved power story, and of course this is a real advantage when it comes to mobile devices.

For notes taking, full internet (with Abobe Flash 10.3 support), MKV playback, MS Office 2010, Tax software and MYBO (accounting software), I just use my Acer Iconia W500 netbook convertible tablet. It last about 8 hours for office type activity.Buyersluck can vary since Acer Iconia W500 can either have Z-01 or C-50 APUs.

I can still play current PC games with my Acer Iconia W500 tablet (google it in youtube).

MSI Windpad 110W tablet has AMD Z-01 APU. From the USA, both Acer Iconia W500's and MSI Windpad 110W's costis about the same asApple iPad 2.

[QUOTE="BlackDevil99"]

I would never recommend a mac (another story)

but for PC laptops go with MSI, Asus, Sony or Alienware
avoid HP, Dell and to a lesser extent Acer

Always avoid anything that says Integrated or Intel graphics

17" = not much battery life

and have you thought about a tablet/keyboard dock, I love using my Asus Eee Pad Transformer with dock at school.

and if u want EXACTLY what you want, try this website (still having trouble posting link gamespot) ibuypower . com

ronvalencia

What's wrong with AMD Llano's integrated GPU?

We're on a gaming website here, integrated's fine for regular computer stuff, but you NEED a dedicated video card for gaming (and picture/video editing, 2d/3d modeling ect)

[QUOTE="ronvalencia"]

[QUOTE="BlackDevil99"]

I would never recommend a mac (another story) but for PC laptops go with MSI, Asus, Sony or Alienware avoid HP, Dell and to a lesser extent Acer Always avoid anything that says Integrated or Intel graphics 17" = not much battery life and have you thought about a tablet/keyboard dock, I love using my Asus Eee Pad Transformer with dock at school. and if u want EXACTLY what you want, try this website (still having trouble posting link gamespot) ibuypower . com

What's wrong with AMD Llano's integrated GPU?

We're on a gaming website here, integrated's fine for regular computer stuff, but you NEED a dedicated video card for gaming (and picture/video editing, 2d/3d modeling ect)

ya im not going to be gaming on this lol...it would be a plus but my home computer is more than enough for that. i just want the internet and interface of things to run super fast :P, and a good webcam, i have a lot of friends who always want to video chat but i have never owned a webcam so that is another thing im looking at.

Despite what everyone on this forum will probably tell you, a Macbook pro is awesome for school.

I spent a couple weeks looking for the perfect laptop for university and finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a 13" macbook. Looked into MSI, ASUS and Sony laptops mainly. Installed windows and microsoft office on my Mac and Ive had zero compatibility issues.

OSX Lion runs like a dream and for comp sci class I just use windows. There isnt another laptop out there that has as good of a build quality has the MBP and no other laptop satisfied everything I wanted for school.

In short, bought a macbook pro for school, consider myself a hardcore gamer, love it.