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Off To College, Buy A Laptop Now, or Wait?

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Mean_dm

Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Ok, so I'll be hitting college this fall, and am really contemplating a laptop... I'll have plenty of opportunities to game outside of my dorm, so I was thinking about getting a gaming laptop, either the Gateway® P-7807u FX Edition or the Gateway® P-7809u FX Edition

But I had two main "concerns", one being that is that the best gaming laptop I can find for the price range of $1000-1300?

The other being Clarksdale and Arrandale... Should I wait until Clarksdale hits before I buy a laptop? Or Arrandale?

Sort of lost here =(
 
Gaming+Laptop=Very low battery life, ultra expensive.

Get a netbook for your class periods (taking notes, etc) and a desktop for your dorm room. it will fit in the 1300 range (300 for netbook, 1k for desktop). That way you get your laptop and gaming requirements.

EDIT: Its what I do in HS. I take my netbook to class to take notes, do assignments, starcraft during boring parts, etc. For your basic needs. It has a long battery life, so you can go all day without charging, and can handle your most basic gaming needs (be kind of hard to start a full game of a RTS). Then when you get home to your dorm/home, you can upload the files (if you need to) and game hard on your crazy desktop.
 
I'll have plenty of opportunities to game outside of my dorm, so I was thinking about getting a gaming laptop

I thought I'd have a similar experience... I think I only did it once. With that in mind, I would re-think if you really need a gaming laptop, and maybe go with the above poster's suggestion.
 
Netbooks are too small and annoying to be used in classrooms IMO. They are ok for infrequent trips to starbucks etc etc but nothing more than that.

As a gamer, I would prefer a desktop and a cheap second hand laptop off ebay to use in class/starbucks if you really need it.
 
Gaming laptops are not that expensive, dunno why people label them as such, the above two I posted will play Crysis on high settings... which is fine.

About getting a netbook, that's what I was planning on if I were to wait for Clarksdale or Arrandale to come out, but I am put off by the size a bit, but I'll have to go to the local bestbuy and test them out before I knock 'em.

And I have a nice gaming desktop for my dorm already..

What would be the point of getting a laptop just to take notes and such, seems like a waste of 800$...

And I am super dubious of second hand laptops on ebay...

Ok, let's say I wanted a Laptop that would do my school work and such AND play movies? I might talk myself down to that, lol, what/who should I be looking at?
 
Gaming laptops are not that expensive, dunno why people label them as such, the above two I posted will play Crysis on high settings... which is fine.

About getting a netbook, that's what I was planning on if I were to wait for Clarksdale or Arrandale to come out, but I am put off by the size a bit, but I'll have to go to the local bestbuy and test them out before I knock 'em.

And I have a nice gaming desktop for my dorm already..

What would be the point of getting a laptop just to take notes and such, seems like a waste of 800$...

And I am super dubious of second hand laptops on ebay...

Ok, let's say I wanted a Laptop that would do my school work and such AND play movies? I might talk myself down to that, lol, what/who should I be looking at?

If you just need a laptop for note taking, starbucks, library then just get a used one off ebay or somewhere else. You really dont need to spend on a new laptop for that.
 
Gaming+Laptop=Very low battery life, ultra expensive.

Get a netbook for your class periods (taking notes, etc) and a desktop for your dorm room. it will fit in the 1300 range (300 for netbook, 1k for desktop). That way you get your laptop and gaming requirements.

EDIT: Its what I do in HS. I take my netbook to class to take notes, do assignments, starcraft during boring parts, etc. For your basic needs. It has a long battery life, so you can go all day without charging, and can handle your most basic gaming needs (be kind of hard to start a full game of a RTS). Then when you get home to your dorm/home, you can upload the files (if you need to) and game hard on your crazy desktop.

GENIUS! Why didn't I think of that? I was going to try to spend around a grand on a new laptop but I think I'll get a cheap portable and spend like 500-600 on a desktop. (I dont game often but like to have extra horse power when I need it)
 
If you just need a laptop for note taking, starbucks, library then just get a used one off ebay or somewhere else. You really dont need to spend on a new laptop for that.

Sigh... NEVER get a used laptop.

Unless it's your dad's old laptop from work.

And even then...

The first thing to go on a laptop (well, besides the RAM which is inconsequential) is the battery. And new laptop batteries will run you about 100 bucks or so. You can spend that or just use that hundred bucks towards the purchase of a brand new laptop instead.

It is true what they say about gaming laptops and battery life. Battery life is something that shall become all important to you as you're whipping out your computer to work on the train... or when all the plugs in the cyber cafes are already being used.

And Gateway has gotten a bad rap, but it's been three years now since I got mine and it's still solid and pretty looking. It only cost me five hundred bucks and came with XP Media Center AND Vista Premium on a DVD.

Battery life is still good after three years and it still functions as advertised.

I'm happy with it.
 
You can get a small portable laptop, not a netbook. I have a small 12 inch dell inspiron 700m thats great for travel since its lighter than a 15 inch laptop but bigger than a netbook. It plays movies and can play some games. I have my desktop for eveything else.
 
Just as a comparison, my SZ650 (13.3") is pretty much exactly the same size as my binders and textbooks, making it very easy to carry around in a sleeve.
 
I'd say wait for Arrandale in Q4'09 for a laptop and don't use it for gaming. Arrandale is meant to be a replacement for Core 2 Duo mobile processors not Atoms (used in netbooks). It should have better performance and lower power consumption than Core 2 Duos out there now. By the time laptops come out with Arrandale processors SSDs, DDR3, LED backlit LCD screens, and wireless-n NICs will be mainstream which will improve performance and/or lower power consumption.

There is a lot of interesting stuff coming out by the end of the year so in my opinion.. save and wait.
 
I have had nothing but good luck so far with my FX. I bought it last fall and haven't any issues with it. The two you listed are almost identical. One has a slightly faster CPU. The HD's will likely be very similar in speed as the higher density makes up for the lower RPM, quieter and save battery as well. It sucks to took out the high res screens though.
 
I'd say wait for Arrandale in Q4'09 for a laptop and don't use it for gaming. Arrandale is meant to be a replacement for Core 2 Duo mobile processors not Atoms (used in netbooks). It should have better performance and lower power consumption than Core 2 Duos out there now. By the time laptops come out with Arrandale processors SSDs, DDR3, LED backlit LCD screens, and wireless-n NICs will be mainstream which will improve performance and/or lower power consumption.

There is a lot of interesting stuff coming out by the end of the year so in my opinion.. save and wait.

I tend to agree with this. As for the Arrandale, what I do know/have heard is that it isnt coming out until at least october. They are also still holding the price of the older chips up high currently. The Arrandale is ready to go out the door and has been for a few months but at the behest of resellers like Dell, etc. Intel delayed release so that they could sell down the Core 2 duo stock first
 
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