Laptop for Maths / Science oriented Uni Student.

[barry221056]

Time to get my daughter a new laptop.
She is a second year Geology / Physics / Maths student.

I want to get her a machine that will last her a number of years. Probably 15", as high performance as possible, without being silly about it.

Suggestions as to brands / mobos / chips / features / etc greatly received.

[RDee]

Barrie,

Going through this exercise myself. Too many brands and options.

Some important things are reliability, weight, battery life, good keyboards and trackpads and available ports.

Toshiba and ASUS are often reported to have better reliability though you cannot assume this applies to all models.

For University work a "business type" type laptop may be best. You have to consider needs rather than wants.

To clarify your thinking have a look at this Lenovo site which better than most sites shows options and suggested uses.
http://shopap.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/co ... d=products
Something like one of the thinkpad units from the lower cost EDGE or more professional T series could give you a basis for comparison with other brands.
ThinkPads typically have great keyboards and trackpads.
Exploring this site will give you a range of options to think about when considering different brands and models.

Having selected something you really need to get your hands on one to try it out as well as check out reviews to avoid a lemon.

Personally I wouldn't get too carried away with technical things like which CPU to choose but rather what is the particular laptop intended for and what are others choosing.

Good luck. Hopefully others will reply with their experiences.

RDee

[aussieboykie]

Barrie

Good advice from RDee. I would add that whatever else you do, make sure you buy a 64-bit system and configure the memory as a single SIMM and keep a free slot for further expansion, if required. For example, if you configure 4GB when you order a machine it should be a single 4GB memory SIMM, not 2 x 2GB.

I have only ever owned IBM/Lenovo notebooks and can attest to their excellent keyboards. I'm not a fan of the touchpad - it's too easy to brush it accidentally so I disable it. I carry a small MS Bluetooth mouse and use that most of the time but the little trackpoint is fine when no mouse is available.

Regards, AB

[gto-pontiac]

For laptops/notbooks i would rather go down the road of Apple Macbook pros, but thats just me, since i study IT and needs Unix environment handy, long battery life and good screen. so i got my self a 15" MacBook Pro just few days ago and so far its a great investment. (sure i could of done with Linux but i needed photo editing and few other programs that Linux don't supply)

first things the budget, 15" can be hunted from $500 to $3000,
the needs,
what sort of programs does she need to use for Uni?? any spesific programs?
I'm guessing from Geology/Physics/Math, might be needing processing power and some sort of dedicated Graphics to support CAD and other physics needs.

from what i can see in windows world, Dell, ASUS, HP, Toshiba should and some already has Sandy Bridge Laptops out, look for 15 or 17 with model number starting from 2XXX, much RAM as you can get 4GB minimum, 8GB better.
Dual, Quad CPU, depending on the Needs, again it depends on the needs and budget.

from "as high performance as possible, without being silly about it." then i would go for the Dell's New XPS 15.6". just because the price is reasonable, has all the bits and i guess it has better warranty handing than other company i used. actuary this was my second choice in PC when i was choosing my laptop.
i'm sure once we know what sort of Application she uses then we can suggest bit more.

[anandasim]

I've been eyeing a new notebook given my old workhorse is losing screen brightness and was very early dual core Intel, not Core 2 Duo.

Notebooks are very competitive across all brands and models. The premium brands got a wake up call from the OLPC project so they have even hit the below AUD 700 market now, with Compaq and eMachines battling it out with really ugly misfitting looking keyboards but there you have for $600, a very low cost machine that does work. Those don't look pretty at all and I don't know about the quality of parts - on the other hand, the industry often uses off-the-shelf parts so what do you get for a AUD 1000 or AUD 1500 machine? Better feel in the hand and visual cosmetics to give an idea of "better build" but I have seen and heard of keycaps falling off, hard disk replacements, fans dying even on corporate machines.

There are so many different categories now - "home use" vs "corporate" (you might even see 4:3 ratio screens on these). The one year old model but brand new corporate models "look and feel" more solid and are available at nerd stores like LMC, CPL etc...

There are the Core i3, i5 and i7 and then the SUxxxx dual core and the Atom dual core machines and then the in-between also-ran chips. The faster and more grunt the machine has, the hotter it will be and the shorter the battery life. I have a one year old SU4100 Acer that is runs cool, lasts a fair time on battery. Core i3 would be entry level and at or below AUD 1000. But if you look around, on special might be an i5 equipped machine for that price, stripped of a few USB ports, Blue Tooth.

The price range is huge. Maybe that's the first thing to tackle. What price.

Oh, and although my Tosh is now pretty tired from 2003, notebooks in general, don't have a long life. Battery goes in 1 year - 1.5 years, in 2 years, the Office version and Windows version feels out of date and for AUD 1000, you can buy a new notebook that has a new battery, new Windows and a discount on Office. Hinges or hinge covers crack, connecting cables to the screen break, screen brightness dims, keycaps fall off, the hand rest looks worn. Not to mention the hard disk gets a lot of shock treatment as you move a heavy notebook between desks etc....

[RDee]

Barrie221056,

Found a rather good comparison site for notebooks and netbooks:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Notebook-H ... 311.0.html
Top models in each category are listed, very useful.
The best affordable deals still seem to be in the pre-Sandy Bridge models as are available reviews and information.
The 14" ASUS K42JC looks good if somewhat marginal on more testing graphics applications. Classified as a business notebook.

RDee