CS student - buying a laptop

Darkphenom

Starting my first year studying Computer Science in TCD Just wondering if there is any discount for buying a laptop as a Trinity student? Also, would it be better to have a smaller, portable laptop?

Edit: I'll probably be looking for a 13" PC laptop.

Grimebox

Darkphenom wrote: »

Starting my first year studying Computer Science in TCD Just wondering if there is any discount for buying a laptop as a Trinity student? Also, would it be better to have a smaller, portable laptop?

As someone who bought an enormous 19inch laptop a year ago, for the love of god get a small one. Think about it like I didn't. You will have to carry that thing almost every day. You can buy a monitor for home if you really need a big screen. That's what I should have done.

As for discounts, I think apple do some kind of deal. I never availed of any.

Incompetent

We're in the same situation. I'm looking at getting a cheap 13.3" laptop, which is a nice balance between too small to use (netbooks) and too bulky/heavy to carry (15"). I'm looking for something that has a nice stock battery life too (plenty of lectures worth), and that has more power than those atom processors (they're painfully slow IMO). My search hasn't been going well. I might have to scrap the "cheap" part.

NSNO

If you're a Computer Science student, you'll be spending a helluva lot of time on your computer - get a good one.

Grimebox

To be honest, I don't think you even need a laptop. I would recommend a desktop instead. You could get a better comp for even cheaper. Bringing a laptop to class will only mean you won't pay attention as much as you should. The computers in the labs are very good if you need access to a computer between lectures.

Darkphenom

Grimebox wrote: »

To be honest, I don't think you even need a laptop. I would recommend a desktop instead. You could get a better comp for even cheaper. Bringing a laptop to class will only mean you won't pay attention as much as you should. The computers in the labs are very good if you need access to a computer between lectures.

I already have a good desktop but that wont be with me where I'm staying in Dublin. I'll probably be travelling on the weekends by train. I think it would be useful to have the portability of a laptop when I'm at college though. I understand a desktop is much better value but what can you do.

snappieT

Would be worthwhile waiting, if you can (and you can) until the Windows 8 PCs come out in October. Because:
- Most manufacturers haven't been releasing anything new recently, instead waiting for Win8
- If you're spending lots, you'll get a nice new machine with all the latest in it
- If you're not spending lots, existing machines will see a price drop when the Win8 ones come onstream

EmmetOT

Yeah. Get a Windows 8 pc and then format it and install Windows 7. >_>

oppenheimer1

If you can afford one, get a Dell Precision. Although its a bit on the heavy side, its very robust and reliable, and should last you your entire time through college. The precision is pretty unique as it is one of the most upgradable laptops around.

as for waiting for Windows 8, I remember there were issues with other OS upgrades and connecting to the TCD network that took a while to iron out. For that reason I wouldn't rule out getting a machine now with win 7. Most machines have a free upgrade to win 8 these days, and if not the upgrade will only cost something like €40.

EmmetOT

I have a bit of experience with dell PCs and generally find them lacking in the power department. Their batteries degrade relatively quickly and (at least 5 times in my own experience) their chargers have literally fallen apart. However I haven't bought a dell laptop in 2 years so obviously it could've changed.

Personally I recommend a Lenovo. They're cheap and well made, and their ideapad line is very good looking. I really like their Ideapad U310 and U410. The U310 is pretty affordable, has a smallish screen, it's light, decent specs, best of all it has a 32gb SSD! Love those things. Oh, and they look and feel really similar to macbooks, if you're a cosmetics guy.

oppenheimer1

EmmetOT wrote: »

I have a bit of experience with dell PCs and generally find them lacking in the power department. Their batteries degrade relatively quickly and (at least 5 times in my own experience) their chargers have literally fallen apart. However I haven't bought a dell laptop in 2 years so obviously it could've changed.

Personally I recommend a Lenovo. They're cheap and well made, and their ideapad line is very good looking. I really like their Ideapad U310 and U410. The U310 is pretty affordable, has a smallish screen, it's light, decent specs, best of all it has a 32gb SSD! Love those things. Oh, and they look and feel really similar to macbooks, if you're a cosmetics guy.

You've never owned a Precision then, they are totally different from the consumer models which are awful machines. The Precision is aimed at power and business users, and customers get looked after exceptionally well by Dell.

Lenovo make a good machine, but I would only go for the T series myself.

EmmetOT

I propose we meet up and bash our laptops together to decide which is superior. (A la conkers)

Phoenix6391

Personally, I recommend Lenovo laptops. They have decent build quality and specs for the price, and my G770 can even withstand Battlefield 3 (for a while).

Grimebox wrote: »

As someone who bought an enormous 19inch laptop a year ago, for the love of god get a small one. Think about it like I didn't. You will have to carry that thing almost every day. You can buy a monitor for home if you really need a big screen. That's what I should have done.

As for discounts, I think apple do some kind of deal. I never availed of any.

You must have bought an absolute brick, I got a 17" laptop recently for Uni and I can carry it fine. Even then, I was thinking of saving some money and buying a small TV to double as a second monitor for my laptop and a monitor if I feel the need to bring my PS3 down from home if anything good comes out.

themarkjacob

I recently got a new laptop, pretty small and light for bringing it in and out and have a case to slip it into for when it's in my bag.

If you haven't heard of this, it's worth checking out, I've registered for it: "Buy a Windows 7 PC and get Windows 8 Pro for € 14.99*"

Here's the website: https://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com/en-IE/

EmmetOT

I'm just gonna throw this out there -

You don't want Windows 8.

Trust me. I've been using it, and the reviews seem to agree with me. It's a pain in the ass. Stick with 7.

Calleja

Grimebox wrote: »

The computers in the labs are very good if you need access to a computer between lectures.

Are those labs often busy or are they for CS students only? I'd prefer going to them over carrying a laptop around.

Grimebox

Everyone knows every second windows release is rubbish anyway

NeuroCat

Calleja wrote: »

Are those labs often busy or are they for CS students only? I'd prefer going to them over carrying a laptop around.

I think some of them are CS specific, but the majority of computer labs in the college are public access.

NSNO

LG12 and LG35/36 are SCSS-specific.

LG12 is 80% Linux/20% Windows and LG35/36 are Windows only.

Grimebox

NSNO wrote: »

LG12 and LG35/36 are SCSS-specific.

LG12 is 80% Linux/20% Windows and LG35/36 are Windows only.

LG12 is actually 100% linux as of last week

NSNO

Grimebox wrote: »

NSNO wrote: »

LG12 and LG35/36 are SCSS-specific.

LG12 is 80% Linux/20% Windows and LG35/36 are Windows only.

LG12 is actually 100% linux as of last week

Awesome, didn't know that.

Spacecow

hey im starting CS+bus in TCD myself!

iv been looking at laptops because mine is massive and is on the heavy side.

its come down to either this: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Acer-Aspire-One-D270-26Dbb-Netbook.73534.0.html
(its a cheap , light netbook)

OR the lenovo U310 that emmet was on about above!

The only downside to the lenovo is its boot time of 53 seconds, compared to the dell xps13's 17 seconds

EmmetOT

Spacecow wrote: »

hey im starting CS+bus in TCD myself!
The only downside to the lenovo is its boot time of 53 seconds, compared to the dell xps13's 17 seconds

Dunno what you're on about, the U310 has an SSD running its OS so it boots ridiculously fast. O.O Reviews say ~20 seconds.

But who cares about boot times anyway. :P

Anyway, while the dell you're talking about looks nicer, weighs less, and has a nicer screen, it seems to cost more, has a worse GPU, and speaking from 3 laptops worth of experience, dell batteries degrade quickly and their chargers tend to break!

The acer netbook is pretty nice, but it's still a netbook, and its graphics and RAM are pretty weak. It'd be good for someone who just needed to write stuff and browse the web, but you'll probably be using it for programming, right? Not sure about the technical aspects of it, but if I were you I'd lean towards a machine with at least a little more RAM. Seriously, 1GB RAM and only DX9 support is pretty weak by modern standards.

galwayjohn89

Bear in mind a larger screen is easier for programming. I had a netbook and got a 15" which I find much better.

Spacecow

this is from PcWorld.coms review , just going by this.

apparantly the non pure-SSD's have a slower boot

EDIT:
but yeah , screw boot times.

im leaning toward the 10incher seeing as any screen filling work can be done at home on my bigger laptop or in the labs

EmmetOT

It really depends what you need the netbook for.

meagher43

Im starting CS in TCD 2 would a core i3 processor be strong enough or would cs students need an i5. plus i presume 6gb ram and 1TB hard drive is enough ?

NSNO

meagher43 wrote: »

Im starting CS in TCD 2 would a core i3 processor be strong enough or would cs students need an i5. plus i presume 6gb ram and 1TB hard drive is enough ?

An i3 is plenty.

You won't need to do anything on your laptop beyond running a text editor in reality.

Tears in Rain

NSNO wrote: »

An i3 is plenty.

You won't need to do anything on your laptop beyond running a text editor in reality.

Don't shatter their illusions of programming Modern Warfare in their first week :<

Darkphenom

Tears in Rain wrote: »

Don't shatter their illusions of programming Modern Warfare in their first week :<

Yeah upgrade to the i5 in the second week so :P

I think what I'll look for is an i5, 6gb ram and some sort of dedicated graphics. An ssd isn't a big deal for me yet.

EmmetOT

"Dedicated graphics SSD."

Huh, didn't know they made those! :P