pdoughertyMU

which laptop do you think would be best to bring to college, and believe me, ill be on the thing a ton (considering i don't drink, which from what it looks like from the outside is all people do in college)

anyway..im looking at a gateway m680

huntingirl89

don't go with gateway, they seriously suck and will break down on you.... dell does the same thing

i highly recommed the Toshiba laptop, i have one from 4 years ago and its still running just fine, and i've never had a problem with it... i'm bringing it to college... they have a massive memory space and will never give you the blue screen of death... i'm definetly a Toshiba fan.

I bought mine from bestbuy and got a good warrentee with it (that i've never had to use thankfully) and the best thing about that is you don't have to ship it out if something does happen or if you want it upgraded, you just go to any bestbuy and they'll fix it for you right there or upgrade it free of charge.

huntingirl89

just had to say something:

see, i'm not all bad.... i can help when i'm needed

pdoughertyMU

ha, i never thought you were bad, i think we're both just stubborn. well, thats how i am i guess.

"im not always right, but im never wrong" haha, great quote

thanks for the info. where did you hear gateways break down? im lookin for a lot of power, and it seems like its between one of those fancy alienware laptops, this gateway, and the new dell.(i've heard dells are junk too, but im on a dell right now, and its held up.) i haven't looked at toshiba, but i'll do that right now.

Dairy King

Get a Powerbook. You may scuff at the thought of a Mac. But think about it. It will never crash, you wont get any virus', there is no need to "restart to save settings". In fact, you never need to shut it down, ever, as long as the battery is charged. The only downside is games. But no one plays games on notebooks anyway. As far as programs, like Microsoft Office. There is a free program called Open Office, and you can do everything in Open Office as you can in Microsoft Office.

huntingirl89

i do!!! all the time!!! i live on Grand Theft Auto and Medal of Honor on my Toshiba. Its better equipt than my desktop Dell which has broken 4 times in the past 4 years. I think i've only ever shut mine off once and that was to transport it on an airplane.

as for gateway breaking, mine actually caught on fire. i was treating it like i treat my toshiba, leave it on all the time, watch movies on it, play games (it was deadly slow for games), wake it up in the middle of the night to do forgotten homework, and one day it just had enough and shorted out. the desktop gateway that we used to have just up and stopped working a year after we got it. you couldn't turn it on, and the computer repair guy couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. so i've never been a gateway fan.

my dell desktop is ok, but their laptops aren't very powerful. they also have a short life. being a college kid you'll probably always be on it, always leave it on, listen to music, watch dvds, download stuff, and do your homework. you want something that can handle that kind of a workload and dell laptops are not the answer. they're horribly overpriced for their capabilities.

my boyfriend is a computer wiz and he dictated this all to me as we were sitting here. he put my toshiba package together for me and i love it to death and abuse the hell out of it.

BrushChimp

HG89,
How much did your lappy cost and what model do you have specificly if you don't mind me asking? I too am looking for a laptop. My mom said she would buy me one for running start. I was gonna wait until I really go to college but what the hell, if she's buyin', lol.

minnesotahunter

It might be worth waiting until you get to school, or atleast call someone from the school during the summer. Almost every university has some kind of program where you can buy a computer at a student discount through them.

Just speaking for myself and my friends, when you get to college, you download all kinds of crap on your computer. I had a laptop, and wish I would've had a desktop for the added power and memory. I know, I know, you think you're going to take it to class and all, but this is highly unlikely unless you're in graphic design or something. I thought the same thing, and never, not even once, took my laptop to class in four years.

pdoughertyMU

about that apple thing, thats what some computer tech guy at her work said would be best, because of the whole virus thing. but i have always hated macs and apple.
anyway, if you search for the model gateway i was planning, it is more than fit for playing games (the top model one, not the base model one). and that is part of what ill be doin with it. i would think about gettin the mac more if i was a business guy who had a desktop at home. but i want a full package in a laptop.

MDManiac

Huntin Girl, the "blue screen of death" has absolutely nothing to do with the manufacterer of your laptop or any PC. but Is the result of lack of memory and Windows ME....


Personally I am a huge fan of Dell as far as Manufactered PC's. I own atleast 4 new ones (within last 3 years?). 2 being Laptops and 1 being a Dimension 4300 and an Optiplex something or other.

But whatever you may choose, do not skimp out on the Memory or harddrive space. Memory is what controls speed. It is Very Important. if you get atleast a 40GB HD, you will be all set if you so choose to format it atleast once a year.

Other things to watch for...most laptops do not include an A:/ so that's extra. Look into a Docking Station, sure beats watching that 15" screen all the time, especially if you opt for DVD.

Good Luck with whatever you may decide to do.


And If you decide to go Desktop Route, it's much cheaper to build your own and its very simple, and it costs a lot less, or well, your machine will be much more powerful!