Whether you are enrolled in summer school, working full time or building an immodest tolerance for alcohol in anticipation for the fall semester, these warm summer months are something to be treasured. However, these are no lazy summer months for computer manufacturers as they ratchet up production lines and prepare for an onslaught of college-aged consumers wanting new laptop computers.
Beyond all the catch phrases, buzzwords and “special deals” is the information you actually need to make a wise purchase. The first logical step to purchasing a laptop is gauging your computing needs against your budget.
For a new laptop, you should plan to spend at least $1,100 for something that will last you a reasonable amount of time.
The price only creeps up if you would like to run intensive applications such as games, video and photography editing, AutoCAD and computer language compilers.
Non-technical majors will be able to stick closely to this initial budget if they do not play computer games. Recommending a particular brand of computers is pointless.
A variety of factors go into choosing the right laptop and brand loyalty itself is an outdated concept.
Because money is a chief concern for most students, only manufacturers offering discounted hardware purchasing agreements to University students will be considered. Students can access online stores for IBM/Lenovo, Apple and Dell using TigerWare, which is a link found under your PAWS account. Since laptop computers are necessarily mobile, quality construction is of top concern.
IBM/Lenovo offers students a diverse alphabet soup of choices with X Series Tablets, budget oriented “R” and the flagship “T” series laptops.
All three lines are commendable pieces of equipment with good build quality and come with all the modern technical amenities one would expect. Dell’s line of computers are divided into home user Inspiron and business-oriented Latitude lines.
The chief difference between these two models is the build quality and casing. The Latitude models are more durable and less prone to bend like a can of Keystone Light. Apple’s offering of laptops all have superior construction in the form of polycarbonate and aluminum casing.
However, their more expensive “MacBook Pro” line is encased in aluminum which conducts more heat and is relatively more prone to bending compared to the polycarbonate construction of the MacBook.
Whatever materials are used, get an appropriately sized laptop sleeve instead of a fancy carrying case or backpack.
It will deter thieves and blend in with your more pedestrian school supplies. No matter what laptop you ultimately choose, avoid any laptop with an “Intel Celeron M” processor.
Intel has a history of leaving out a crucial piece of technology,Speed-Stepping, in these budget processors that maximize battery life.
Aside from Intel’s line of processors are Advanced Micro Device’s (AMD) line of “Turion” mobile processors.
These have comparable performance, however, the battery life lags far behind Intel’s offerings. Balancing processor speed and the amount of RAM, or memory, a computer has is crucial.
Spending extra money on a marginally faster processor at the expense of halving RAM is never a good trade off.
The minimum amount of memory any modern computer should have is one gigabyte (1GB).
If that means stepping down a few hundred megahertz on the processor, it is well worth it.
However, adding more than 1GB of RAM is usually prohibitively expensive when using the “build to order” functions of online stores.
It is much wiser to purchase extra memory separately from an online retailer such as NewEgg.com or ZipZoomFly.com.
Adding additional memory to laptops is a trivial task well-suited for novices and experts alike. Plan ahead how much hard drive storage space you will utilize.
Unlike adding memory, replacing laptop hard drives can be excruciatingly tedious with over twenty tiny screws to be undone in some models.
A good rule of thumb for cost saving is to spend no more than the price of a single can of soda per gigabyte.
Most students will need only 60 to 80 gigabytes of hard drive space for growing media libraries.
If you absolutely need hundreds of gigabytes of storage, invest in a USB external hard drive.
Other than sheer size, hard drives differ in speed as measured by their rotations per minute (RPM).
Drives classified as “7200 RPM” will be too fast and furious at the expense of battery life.
Where as 5400 RPM drives are a happy Honda Civic medium between a Ford Pinto 4200 RPM and 7200 RPM drives. Onto the most important thing, the part of the computer you will be staring at for hours on end.
Never go for a screen size larger than 15 inches. It will weigh significantly more and drain an exorbitant amount of battery life.
Currently, manufacturers offer two display options: matte finished and glossy.
Glossy screens, sometimes called “TruBrite” or ultra high contrast, are superior for watching movies or viewing photos in a dark lonely dorm room.
However, their lack of anti-glare and reflective coatings make checking e-mail or cramming in the quad a pain. All these hardware rules of thumb can be applied to any particular laptop you choose.
Focusing on PC compatible laptops is a necessity given the variety of configurations available.
Apple’s line of MacBooks do deserve special attention in that they combine quality construction, powerful technical components and low prices perfect for starving English and philosophy students hanging around in “Internet Bars,” excuse me, coffee shops.