I will be starting a course in Networking then a degree in Computer Science...

richierichballs

What laptop should I be looking at getting?

I have a Macbook pro, but the course I am hoping to be starting in January to June, has alot of work on Windows.
E.g. Microsoft Server configuration...

I dunno if my Macbook pro (Xmas 2010) will be okay for this kind of work...

Alot of people have mentioned Lenovo ThinkPad's to me,
Any help would be greatly appreciated..

Jaafa

Can you give more detail as to what you'll be using it for exactly? Also what are the spec's of you macbook?

partyatmygaff

A Thinkpad/Dell Latitude/HP Probook,Elitebook with either a 1600x900 or 1920x1080 resolution screen ought to serve you well.

I'd recommend a Thinkpad T420.

richierichballs

Jaafa wrote: »

Can you give more detail as to what you'll be using it for exactly? Also what are the spec's of you macbook?

Well over the next Six months I will be doing alot of networking courses,
E.g. Comptia Network + etc etc...
Then I will be WINDOWS SERVER 2008 ACTIVE DIRECTORY CONFIGURATION and then maybe I will try to a Cisco CCNA course.

If you don't what they are, basically I will be doing alot of work on IT servers especially cisco,
A small bit of programming.

Then hopefully If I pass all these exams I will be starting a degree in computer science in UCD come september.
Again, I will mainly be picking Modules consisting of alot of Networking and Programming...

My macbook pro 13inch Mid 2010,
Processor 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo,
Memory 4 GB 1067 Mhz DDR3
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 (11C74)

partyatmygaff wrote: »

A Thinkpad/Dell Latitude/HP Probook,Elitebook with either a 1600x900 or 1920x1080 resolution screen ought to serve you well.

I'd recommend a Thinkpad T420.

Thanks for the input man, Wha are your thoughts on the ThinkPad T61?
I seen a cheap one on Adverts.ie

partyatmygaff

There's no point in buying a T61 if you already have a Core 2-era Macbook Pro. If you think the T420 is a bit too pricy i'd recommend a refurbished Dell Latitude E5420 or E5520 off Ebay. Just make sure that whatever you get has a modern i5-2xxx or i7-2xxxxm CPU and a high resolution screen and you ought to be alright.

jesus_thats_gre

Stick some more ram in it and load some vms onto it?

Alanstrainor

OP i would hold off buying anything being honest.

Where are you doing this course? I doubt they're expecting you to run your own virtual servers on your laptops. And if you did need Windows you could just run it with the Mac. I've done a few of the cisco courses, and all you need is packet tracer, which can be installed onto an XP machine, again which can be run as a virtual machine in BootCamp or whatever it is you use.

And as for computer science, again you wont need anything fancy.

Definitely hold off buying anything.

richierichballs

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Stick some more ram in it and load some vms onto it?

What are vms? I was planning on getting it upgraded to 8GB ram anyway...

kippy

Yep, once it can run a couple of VM's in VMware player (or similiar software) you'd be sound to be honest.......
You dont generally need to have much on your own machine doing these courses to be honest.

Alanstrainor

richierichballs wrote: »

What are vms? I was planning on getting it upgraded to 8GB ram anyway...

Virtual Machines.

You run windows, or what ever operating system you want through a program installed in OSX. So it's a virtual pc.

richierichballs

Alanstrainor wrote: »

OP i would hold off buying anything being honest.

Where are you doing this course? I doubt they're expecting you to run your own virtual servers on your laptops. And if you did need Windows you could just run it with the Mac. I've done a few of the cisco courses, and all you need is packet tracer, which can be installed onto an XP machine, again which can be run as a virtual machine in BootCamp or whatever it is you use.

And as for computer science, again you wont need anything fancy.

Definitely hold off buying anything.

Thanks for the reply,
I was thinking about getting Windows on my Macbook alright,
but the fact I only had 250GB worried me a little, you reckon I'd be okay?

I don't really fancy running it on an external HD.

I've 199.4GB free...

richierichballs

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Virtual Machines.

You run windows, or what ever operating system you want through a program installed in OSX. So it's a virtual pc.

Sweet, how handy is Linux to install?

kippy

richierichballs wrote: »

Thanks for the reply,
I was thinking about getting Windows on my Macbook alright,
but the fact I only had 250GB worried me a little, you reckon I'd be okay?

I don't really fancy running it on an external HD.

I've 199.4GB free...

Based on the questions you are asking, I think you should hold off on spending any money until you start the course.......

jesus_thats_gre

richierichballs wrote: »

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Stick some more ram in it and load some vms onto it?

What are vms? I was planning on getting it upgraded to 8GB ram anyway...

Virtual machines.

The experience of playing with them would do you no harm.

Alanstrainor

richierichballs wrote: »

Thanks for the reply,
I was thinking about getting Windows on my Macbook alright,
but the fact I only had 250GB worried me a little, you reckon I'd be okay?

I don't really fancy running it on an external HD.

I've 199.4GB free...

An XP machine would take up 8GB, and using VMware player, it will make the disk dynamic so it wont use the space until you fill it in the VM. Your XP machines would really have nothing installed on them tbh. You'll be fine.

richierichballs

Alanstrainor wrote: »

An XP machine would take up 8GB, and using VMware player, it will make the disk dynamic so it wont use the space until you fill it in the VM. Your XP machines would really have nothing installed on them tbh. You'll be fine.

Cheers mate, will look into that now.
Appreciate the help and quick replies!

Spacedog

I recommend you save the money you would spend on another computer you don't need, and keep it for books (lots of them) and free beer for people who can help you with your coursework.

Your new grateful drunken friends will teach you how to install windows using virtual PC on your macbook. as well as help you with the few lab projects, and study for the many, many written exams on theory that will comprise 80% of your courses.

richierichballs

Spacedog wrote: »

I recommend you save the money you would spend on another computer you don't need, and keep it for books (lots of them) and free beer for people who can help you with your coursework.

Your new grateful drunken friends will teach you how to install windows using virtual PC on your macbook. as well as help you with the few lab projects, and study for the many, many written exams on theory that will comprise 80% of your courses.

Lol, thanks man. I'm gonna try install Windows myself, looking forward to College life. Always had an interest in computers and enjoy learning.

richierichballs

BTW, You guys recommend XP, instead of Vista or 7?

partyatmygaff

Definitely Windows 7. Windows XP is an outdated ten year old dinosaur now.

kippy

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Definitely Windows 7. Windows XP is an outdated ten year old dinosaur now.

Well,
Again, we need to know exactly what the OP is asking. When you buy a new laptop nowadays it comes with Windows 7 on it.
When you want to play around with the fundamentals of networking XP is prefectly fine to run in a virtual environment.

(XP by the way, while being ten years old, is perfectly adequate for roughly 90% of computer users)

Jaafa

kippy wrote: »

Well,
Again, we need to know exactly what the OP is asking. When you buy a new laptop nowadays it comes with Windows 7 on it.
When you want to play around with the fundamentals of networking XP is prefectly fine to run in a virtual environment.

(XP by the way, while being ten years old, is perfectly adequate for roughly 90% of computer users)

But its not shiny enough!

partyatmygaff

Jaafa wrote: »

But its not shiny enough!

Or usable enough...

He mentioned that he plans on upgrading to 8GB RAM regardless of what he chooses to do. Unless things have changed, Windows XP x64 can be pretty hit and miss when it comes to hardware and software compatbility. I don't see any real reason to opt for XP x64 when he can simply choose 7 x64.

kippy

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Or usable enough...

He mentioned that he plans on upgrading to 8GB RAM regardless of what he chooses to do. Unless things have changed, Windows XP x64 can be pretty hit and miss when it comes to hardware and software compatbility. I don't see any real reason to opt for XP x64 when he can simply choose 7 x64.

Again, as I said, one needs to know whether the OP is asking what OS he should use for his VM's or on his new laptop....

richierichballs

Over the last half hour I've been doing abit of research online and the handiest way it looks to me,
To install Windows 7 seems to be with Bootcamp.

To be honest, personally I used XP for years and I preferred it to Vista and 7,
Saying that I haven't had much time to use Vista or 7 over the last while since I've gone straight to Mac...

Realistically I want to have the most upto date Software, so I would lean towards Windows 7.

Alanstrainor

The stuff you'll be doing in the likes of cisco will be basic. No need for windows 7, xp will do just fine. And it'll run better in a VM.

We're not talking about getting a dedicated XP machine here!