Help with Laptop

[Bunt]

Alright... So I finally got my financial aid card, and the rest of my financial aid.. however I need to buy books sooo I'm guessing I have about.. $900 to work with, and I would like to get a decently good laptop... Something that has nice sound so i can play my music off it and possibly movies.. but mainly its for school.. so i don't need anything spectacular.. anybody have any ideas? I'm not very good with laptops, I know desktops better

[I have no arms BAR]

Here's a good one

Edited January 27, 2011 by I have no arms ßÄR

[Dillon 1st MRB]

There are quite a few options you have there. Here are some questions I have for you:

Is playing blu-ray important to you? Do you want a 1080 screen? HDMI out?

Are you going to do any gaming on it? Perhaps something that can kinda sorta get by with DODS?

Which do you need/want more: power or battery life?

How big of a keyboard do you need? I have hands like big Christmas hams and sausage-like fingers... I can't deal with a small keyboard.

As for brands, I'm pretty high on Acer right now for price:performance. But HP, Sony, Lenovo, and Dell are all top-notch.

[Bunt]

There are quite a few options you have there. Here are some questions I have for you:

Is playing blu-ray important to you? Do you want a 1080 screen? HDMI out?

Are you going to do any gaming on it? Perhaps something that can kinda sorta get by with DODS?

Which do you need/want more: power or battery life?

How big of a keyboard do you need? I have hands like big Christmas hams and sausage-like fingers... I can't deal with a small keyboard.

As for brands, I'm pretty high on Acer right now for price:performance. But HP, Sony, Lenovo, and Dell are all top-notch.

blue ray isn't important, 1080 would be nice but not necessary on my laptop. HDMI out would be fun but not necessary. Good accessory though haha

Prolly not much gaming no.. thats what my desktop is for. If it can get by with DODS then that would be cool but.. nothing special.

aaand a decent mix of power and battery life.. I'm not too worried about battery though, there are plugs everywhere

and a decently good sized keyboard, I dont have sausage fingers but i like a normal sized keyboard.. sooo.. whatever works.. just not small haha

[Gooderham 1st MRB]

I'm just going to say it, because we are all thinking it, Apple.

[Bunt]

I'm just going to say it, because we are all thinking it, Apple.

not an apple fan honestly..

[Dillon 1st MRB]

Asus - $449 w/ free shipping

this may be your winner. Check the specs, but its a very solid system. Sale ends 1/31. And you get yourself some extra money.

[Benson]

I'm just going to say it, because we are all thinking it, Apple.

I think he said laptop, not a fashion accessory.

Yeah yeah I know great computers for certain things but for 75% of the students who use them in my lectures it's an overpriced fashion statement. I liken it to the popped collar for the technology inclined individual. Maybe two or three popped collars actually.

[Bunt]

Heres that list of programs I'll need to be able to run on my laptop dillon

Adobe-

Photoshop

Illustrator

InDesign

Flash

Expression

Studio 3

Microsoft Access

2007

Microsoft Project

Professional 2010

Microsoft Visio

Professional 2010

Visual Studio

2010 Professional

And I can't remember what its called right now because I don't have it yet but web design programs, and possibly not necessary though.. music creation like.. techno and whatever programs haha.. if you can help with that then I will love you forever..

And then also could use help on some pretty decent headphones, preferrably cheap of course.. nothing spectacular, but headphone/headset with mic.. 5.1 surround sound enabled? lol i dunno how they work

Hopefully this helps, just let me know.

[Pangilinan 1st MRB]

Headphones? Just find a pair of wrap arounds with a removable mic if you want that. My current pair I found while buying some stuff at Walgreens. They tend to be cheap, around 10 or so USD, and some of them come with removable mics so you can just pocket the mic and walk around not looking like an idiot and listen to your MP3.

[Bunt]

well i mean i was talking about a nicer pair of headphones haha.. i have a headset.. but.. it sucks for gaming haha.. i just got it for the mic

[Dillon 1st MRB]

Given that you have quite a few Adobe products there, I'd revise my recommendation. I would find something with an nvidia chipset and IGP.

Here is what I see that would be in your budget, but would give you decent bang for the buck, particularly with photoshop/illustrator.

Samsung Laptop - $799.99

Its got the 310M processor by nvidia, 4 GB of RAM, 500 GB HD and a Core i5 processor. This will be a beast for school work. Battery life won't be great, but it will definately work very well for you.

[Bunt]

Do you know how good the sound quality is?

[Dillon 1st MRB]

Its your typical integrated graphics w/ HDMI. If you need better, there are some very good USB-based sound cards that would give you the high quality you need. There are very, very few upgraded sound cards in laptops. However, anything that is digital (HDMI) will essentially by-pass the analog decoding.