Buying a new laptop...which one to get?

I want to buy a new laptop, primarily for University, not a multimedia powerhouse or a gaming laptop...but I will use it for watching movies and stuff. Nothing high-end...not looking for a blu-ray player..just basic stuff. But I was looking for something that would last for another 2-3 years performance wise.

The Dell Studio 15 looks like a good choice to me. I made a configuration which would cost me about $900 with tax. Heres what is looks like:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5800 (2.00GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
LCD Panel Bright, glossy widescreen 15.4 WLED display (1280x800)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
High Definition Audio 2.0
Dell Wireless 1510 802.11 n half mini-card
Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
Battery Options 56 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)
..I like the HDMI port option too.

What do you guys think about it? Is there any other brand I should look for? I don't like Acer, Gateway, Toshiba etc. I know my friends own it and it honestly sucks. They have had all sorts of problems with it...manufacturing defects basically. And Macbook is out of the question coz it is totally not worth the price premium you pay for it in my opinion...macbook equivalent to the above system would cost $2045 w/tax and everything...and at the end of the day the components are gonna give you the performance..and I can't spend over $1000. Should I go ahead with Dell Studio 15 or not? any input is appreciated.

I think you would like something a little bit smaller if you're using it at college. I had a 14.1" laptop in college, and it was really annoying to haul around sometimes. I currently have a 15.4" Dell XPS, and I can't image how much it would suck to bring to class. If you don't need a powerhouse laptop and you think you're going to be bringing it to class often, I wouldn't get a 15.4". I would look at Dell's 14 and 15 inch models, and maybe look at the HP dv3 and HP dv4. The HP's are well designed in my opinion, and also less expensive too.

Actually, to be honest with you the only reason I chose the XPS M1530 was because I got a good discount on it through work. If it wasn't for that, I probably would have gone with one of the HPs. The dv4 and dv5 (I think there might be a dv3 now too) both use the Centrino 2 platform. I also think they have better ports and expansion options. Nevertheless, I do like my XPS and I do generally like Dell. You could check out the XPS M1330, with is a 13.3", or the new Studio XPS 13. Those would be the ideal size for taking to class in my opinion. They might cost a little more though.

My previous laptop was stolen from the university a month after I bought it..it was not even my fault at all. And I paid $1800 for it at that time.... and I'm not risking it again. My engineering courses don't require a lot of note taking in the form where it would be easier to type it out so I won't take it to class at all. I do however take my laptop if we're studying in groups or if I'm going to the library... so the size doesn't bother me much.

I also like high resolution screens but with integrated Intel Graphics it doesn't sound like a smart move to me.

I looked for some Hp laptops at Futureshop and Best Buy...most of them have AMD cpus..not too sure about that. I would also prefer buying a laptop on an installment plan this time.

Well, regarding the stealing, you should look into Computrace LoJack. As for the laptop, you can get an Intel based HP from HPs website. Though, if 2.0GHz is really all you need, AMD should be fine for you. I have a 1920x1200 display on my laptop. I love it and its great for games, movies, and photo editing. However, it really sucks when it comes to emailing, word processing, etc... If you're going to be using MS word or excel a lot, I would recommend 1440x900, or 1680x1050 at the very most.

I 2nd the higher res screen at this time the Intel mobile chips are much better than the AMD models. Actually I can't remember a time when that wasn't the case. If you're not gaming the Intel 4500 graphics will do just fine. I'd go with 4GB of ram though since its so cheap and some will be eaten up by the onboard graphics.

juane414 said:

Well, regarding the stealing, you should look into Computrace LoJack. As for the laptop, you can get an Intel based HP from HPs website. Though, if 2.0GHz is really all you need, AMD should be fine for you. I have a 1920x1200 display on my laptop. I love it and its great for games, movies, and photo editing. However, it really sucks when it comes to emailing, word processing, etc... If you're going to be using MS word or excel a lot, I would recommend 1440x900, or 1680x1050 at the very most.

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I was looking into it on HP's website..and the taxes are insane!!! For e.g. The combined fed./prov. rate (%) would be 13% since im in Ontario.. so the total taxes would be $130...but their website calculates it as $260. Somethings definitely wrong there. I won't be gaming so I figure 2.0Ghz is enough...more so that the options are limited since there is discount on that particular config. And like I said, with a higher res, theres not much that the Intel Graphics chip can do...so at the native res I would be getting less preformance..1280x800 is good enough for me.

I'd go with 4GB of ram though since its so cheap and some will be eaten up by the onboard graphics.

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I will be doing that since I have extra RAM lying around.