I'll be going to University soon to do Computer Science and I love my desktop so but it's just too big for my room.
So what's the best laptop I can get for under £500 for general student work and gaming?
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I'll be going to University soon to do Computer Science and I love my desktop so but it's just too big for my room.
So what's the best laptop I can get for under £500 for general student work and gaming?
Also if possible I'd like to save cash on not having an OS or additional software. Because I have my own means of acquiring them...
I can't believe that. I have one of the smallest rooms in the University of Manchester Halls of residence (but I won't moan because I get it totally free), and I have no issues fitting a dual monitor desktop setup. Granted it's a bit cramped, but things fit if you want them to.Quote:
Originally Posted by unrealhacker12
Your own means? Sounds like software piracy to me. Not a good thing to be talking about arround here.Quote:
Originally Posted by unrealhacker12
In any case, if you are going to do computer science, then you would be better off with Linux over windows in any case, It will be much easer to learn about compilers or operating systems if you can download the source and start tweaking, so you need to find a laptop that is linux compatible, which means you need to take a look at the chipset, GPU, and NIC, and find out which are linux compatible.
The short answer, is that if you have an intel chipset, GPU and network card it will all work fine with linux. If it comes from other makes then you will have more work to do.
If he's doing computer science he'd be a fool pirating software, as he'll likely get an MSDN subscription from his course anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by chrestomanci
http://i51.tinypic.com/2w3rng5.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by redddraggon
http://i56.tinypic.com/2a8ji9w.png
I won't be able to take my second monitor. =[
That's way smaller than a prison cell! I thought I had a small room. Which uni you go to?
YAY I WIN THE SMALL ROOM COMPETITION! Erm.... UEA but I'm a clearing student so I had to find my own house that I'm sharing with 4 post-grads and I'm an undergrad and this will be my first year.Quote:
Originally Posted by redddraggon
But back to the laptop anyone got some recommendations?
How about this: Extra Value Laptop NO OS! plus one of these: Crucial 2GB SO-DIMM to top it up to 4GB. That should be absolutely fine for your day to day uni work including programming for your entire course, at a modest £330 outlay.
As to Windows vs Linux, it depends entirely on the focus of your course. Chances are you'll be learning Java and you'll have both Linux and Windows labs available at uni, and certainly in your first year I reckon either would be perfectly acceptable. AFAIK there's very little hardware nowadays that really has an issue with Linux...
Eww integrated graphics...
I would look at this notebook:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/199196
Edit!!
This notebook is slightly over your budget but is very well specified for the price:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...source=froogle
The notebook has a Q9000 quad core and a Mobility Radeon HD4670 1GB DDR3 graphics card.
This notebook is also slightly over budget too:
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Toshi...urce=LDfroogle
It has a Mobility HD5650 graphics card.
I thought you were more concerned about something to do your uni work on ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by unrealhacker12
Is the problem space for the base unit or space for the monitor? If it's the latter I don't really see how a laptop will help (rather than just taking one monitor), if it's the former have you considered putting together an mATX, or even mITX, build?
And is it just me, or does your sketchup really show a computer desk + desktop system *plus* a whacking great LCD TV stuck on the wall?!?
That is where I plan to put everything in my room and everything is to scale.
Depends hat is more important to you. I have just bought a laptop from Novaech which I think is good value for money for perforance but the keyboard is not particularly good (and I suspect in three or four years I'll be looking to replace the whole thing). But as I say, it is good value for money, at around £500 it has a 14" screen, bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3G. Cut ot the 3G and it wold have been cheaper still.
So if you are looking for a laptop where you will be doing lots of typing (reports, coding or whatever) you need a good keyboard.
If ou are using t for gaming where keyboard input is less important, it is less of an issue - but of crse you could alsways buy an external keyboard for use when you are burning the midnight oil to get that assignment in for a deadline!
(Just looked at teh Novatech website - they have changed the options range a bit and they are now slightly more expensive - but still pretty good value for money IMO)
All I want is a decent laptop for under £500
By decent I mean:
Dedicated GFX Chipset
320-500GB 7200RPM HDD
Respectable Sized Screen
Linux support (If I do decide to at a later date install it.)
Intel Dual-Core at least...
Not necessarily a bad thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by unrealhacker12
Descrete graphics will increase the cost and the power consumption, so cutting the battery life. If you are using the laptop for studying, and taking lecture notes, you want it to last as long as possible.
The cost difference between integrated and descrete graphics will probably buy you a gaming console. I think that would be a better solution if you want gaming as well. (Though when I was a student, I did not even have a TV.)
Also, integrated graphics, especaly the Intel variety are much better supported under linux.
The Advent laptop I linked to has a Q9000 quad core and a Mobility HD4670 GDDR3 for around £570.
The notebook on Ebuyer I linked to has a Mobility HD4570 and is well under £500 and the other one I linked to has a Mobility HD5650.
Im in the exact same position, after a £500ish laptop to take to uni (again because I dont want to take my desktop)
Was wondering what everyone thinks of these...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-Sate...4321605&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pavilion-dv6...7&sr=1-1-spell
I'm not especially bothered about gaming as most of the time i'm going to be busy with sport if im not working, although the ability to game would be a plus point (HP would be better in this respect?)
I think at the moment im leaning towards the HP as its more powerfull for much the same price as the toshiba but that could change...
cheers
you can pick up an inspiron 15R from dell with 4gb ram, dedicated graphics (ati 5450) and a core i3 for £530 delivered from dell (discounts available with things like quidco as well). select the base inspiron 15R and then add the premium pack.
If it where me going to Uni (again), then I would not chose either of those laptops because they are fairly large and heavy, and are unlikely to have a long battery life.
When I went to Uni (in the mid 90's), I took a laptop, and used it to take lecture notes. It weighed me down and the bag put a grove in my shoulder. I also had trouble keeping enough battery charge to last a full day, and sometimes spent lunchtimes camped by one of the few power points in the library, just so I had enough charge for the afternoon.
Now, 15 years later, the latest crop of students have access to netbooks that weigh the same as a couple of cans of soft drink, and have 12 hour batteries, all with about 100x the performance I had at about a quarter of the cost, and yet you insist on taking huge desktop replacement monsters with you just so that you can suffer all the same problems I did. </rant>
Seriously:
Ask yourself, will you be taking your laptop with you to lectures, tutorials, the library etc, or is it going to stay in your room, and just be used for writing essays, or gaming. If it is going to stay in your room, then by all means, take a desktop replacement monster, (though I would recommend a SFF system).
If you plan to take your laptop out and about with you, then it needs to be as small and as light as possible. It will live in your shoulder bag for the next three years, so it needs to be comfortable to carry. Don't spend a fortune on it as it might get stolen. I also suggest that if you can afford it, you keep a decent monitor, keyboard and mouse back at your digs so that long essays are more comfortable. I would also add a spare battery, because if you use your laptop intensively, then the original battery will wear out, and loose most of it's useful capacity, and you may not be able to get a replacement. (My 3 year old laptop now only has 38% of it's original battery capacity).
Backups! Backups! Backups!
Did I mention backups? Make sure you have a backup of everything important (Not just your pr0n collection). I suggest an external hard drive with some sort of script to sync it with your laptop every day. This is especially important for your USB pen drive, because most people loose one every few months.
For really important files like term papers & assignments that count towards your final mark, the best advice is to email them to yourself using a webmail account like gmail. The reason for this is that in the unlikely event that the police raid your student house, because of house-mate's collection of cannabis plants on his window sill, they will take away all your computers AND your backups, and keep them as evidence for months, so you need to store important stuff where no one can deprive you of them. The same would apply if your house burnt down.
No ones takes laptops into lectures these days. I have certainly never felt the need to.Quote:
Originally Posted by chrestomanci