Cheap laptop for College!

Stabshauptmann

Just a very short piece of advise. Many universities will offer to sell you laptops at a discount rate (they may even say it is mandatory to be in a possession of a laptop for your course).

I consider it foolish that I paid €2000+ for a "discount" laptop that could easily be bought anywhere for €700.

Just shop around is my advise

Mushy

But don't these "discount" laptops come with everything on them specific to a course? Or is that all BS? My brother got one a few years back, and he says he could have brought one on his own. I'll hopefully be doing Arts, so I dont intend gettting one of those UCD ones

Mushy

Mushy wrote:

But don't these "discount" laptops come with everything on them specific to a course? Or is that all BS?

As in, with the programs you'd need? Well for engineering you definitely wouldn't get any of the programs included on a laptop - sure most of them would cost more then the laptop itself! If you're just going to be using it for word processing / internet / e-mails / pr0n, then you'd hardly need a top end machine

Having a laptop on college was handy - but I'm glad I waited until my final year to get one. I just didn't need it before hand. There will probably be more then enough computers wherever you go anyways.

And if you are getting one, do as Redeye says.

smemon

my ferrari is two years old next month. Still handles everything and will continue to do so for the next 4/5 years.

Buy a top end machine and you can't ever regret it. No point in buying the cheapest laptop available when you're only going to have to change it in 2 years time.

Had i bought a cheap thing for €700 back in 2005, i'd probably have got a 4:3 screen, crap processor, crap graphics card, 2 usb ports, 512 ram.

I'd be looking to change it this year..

But for €2k i got a future proof laptop 64bit processor, 1gig ram, widescreen, 4 usb ports, bluetooth, infa-red etc..

I won't be changing it for another 2 years anyway...

You pay for what you get at the end of the day. Unless of course you buy a laptop in Ireland. In which case you pay for what you get, plus about 10% on top of that

JC 2K3

I never understood the kick some people get out of a fast PC.

Fact is, in terms of college/schoolwork and pretty much all office work, there's no difference between a modern PC and one from 5 years ago. I mean unless you're into gaming why on earth would you need(or want) a top spec PC/Laptop?

You pay for what you get, yes. But why pay for what you don't need?

shazzyshaz

paid 1200 for my dell laptop. dont intend replacing it til i finish college. in 6th year jus now! at least its one less thing to buy next yr!:)

JC 2K3

If I *need* a laptop I'll use this old Acer one that's lying around the house. Might upgrade the memory(fairly cheap process), but should do me fine.

If I were to buy one I probably wouldn't spend any more than €500 and I'd buy second hand.

Stabshauptmann

Mushy wrote:

But don't these "discount" laptops come with everything on them specific to a course? Or is that all BS? My brother got one a few years back, and he says he could have brought one on his own. I'll hopefully be doing Arts, so I dont intend gettting one of those UCD ones

Thats what they say, total BS.

theliam

smemon wrote:

my ferrari is two years old next month. Still handles everything and will continue to do so for the next 4/5 years.

Buy a top end machine and you can't ever regret it. No point in buying the cheapest laptop available when you're only going to have to change it in 2 years time.

Had i bought a cheap thing for €700 back in 2005, i'd probably have got a 4:3 screen, crap processor, crap graphics card, 2 usb ports, 512 ram.

I'd be looking to change it this year..

But for €2k i got a future proof laptop 64bit processor, 1gig ram, widescreen, 4 usb ports, bluetooth, infa-red etc..

I won't be changing it for another 2 years anyway...

You pay for what you get at the end of the day. Unless of course you buy a laptop in Ireland. In which case you pay for what you get, plus about 10% on top of that

doesnt sound that good, 2Gs and only a gig of ram? anyway 64bit processors arent that much better unless youre running a 64 bit OS.

you could just about get a dell core 2 duo 2.0ghz for 2k

or a pretty hd one

theliam

*sorry didnt notice the 2 years old part

Naikon

I intend on getting a barebones kit or something along those lines and just build a new laptop(It can be done)for College, as It can be cheaper if carried out properly and much more satisfying than an overpriced College Laptop.

Sourcing Components might be a pain though.
However I realise the build options will be more "limited" than what I could achieve with the Desktop system I built last Summer.
(I know I am a smug git LOL)

This option might be a good option If you are Willing, but dont do It If you are the type of person who gets worked up over Computer problems easily.
With some proper procedures and Knowledge its not as hard as it sounds.

JC 2K3

Naikon wrote:

Sourcing Components might be a pain though.

eBay ftw.

Nothing more satisfying than building your own PC.

Laptops are generally a bit harder to build/upgrade, however.

Naikon

JC 2K3 wrote:

eBay ftw.

Nothing more satisfying than building your own PC.

Laptops are generally a bit harder to build/upgrade, however.

I have to agree with you on both points:)
It doesent help that laptops dont have a standard board layout like the ATX standard.

Ebay is indeed very handy for Computer components and the like.
A decent Linux box can br built for next to nothing with components from Ebay.

Stabshauptmann

Let me clarify, had I not bought through my university, I could have gotten the exact same spec laptop or better for less than half the price.

Naikon

Moral of the story=shop around:)

I wonder If College laptops can be bought without Vista and the crap software usually included.
It would be nice If you could just get the Hardware alone, none of this "package" Business where you pay for stuff you wont use(Microsoft works anyone)?
OpenOffice isnt closed source, and can provide a better Suite than Microsoft's Offering.

JC 2K3

Some programs are open source and free, for everything else there's Torrentspy

Thomas_S_Hunterson

JC 2K3 wrote:

Some programs are open source and free, for everything else there's Torrentspy

Ohhhh you naughty boy, piratebay ftw

ethernet

Naikon wrote:

Moral of the story=shop around:)

I wonder If College laptops can be bought without Vista and the crap software usually included ...

I just reformat straight away and leave the recovery partition -- if there is one -- there for later. Macbook Pros all the way. I think Apple offers a 9% discount to students. For MS products, you can get discounts from www.software4students.ie if your acamedic institution is listed. Office 2007 Pro for €99.

Like Nikon and JC 2K3, I'm all for custom builds instead. The self-satisfaction is something that you don't get when you open that cardboard box of a PC bought off-the-shelf .

timmywex

ebay have a few good laptops to buy new at good prices!!

shazzyshaz

its nice to be able to build a computer. i wouldnt have a clue!!

JackKelly

althought this is good advice, it isn't really relevant to the leaving cert