Need advice on a good college laptop

by palmtree323 May 23, 2009 2:19PM PDT

I have had a Toshiba Satellite laptop for nearly three years now, and it's running out of steam. At this point, it would be more cost effective to just get a new laptop. I'm a rising senior in college and would like to get some advice on good reliable PC laptops that won't break the budget (not something that's $1000 please). I'm not tech-savvy at all but here are a few things that would be nice to have in this laptop:

- Good battery life
- Mid sized screen
- Portable, but not too small
- Windows XP (I'm kind of resistant to the Vista option)
- Built in camera/microphone for Skyping
- Recent model, so that it won't go obsolete too soon

I'm just looking to use this laptop for basic college needs: writing essays, editing photos, watching movies, surfing the internet, and videochatting with home. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Discussion is locked

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Great Laptops for college

by ComputerOverhauls May 24, 2009 1:36AM PDT

We get this exact question every day and the laptop we offer is a huge selling for college students. It's a Dell Latitude D610, 14.1" LCD, 1GB of Ram, CD/DVD, 40GB Hard Drive, Wireless, XP Professional, Lifetime Anti-Virus etc. Originally these laptops sold for around $1800 - we get them in direct off corporate lease and offer them for just $379. They are in grade A++++ condition and look brand new out of the box. Extremely reliable, fast, clean and priced right! You can check it out at our site or come into or NYC retail store:

<a href=http://www.computeroverhauls.com/>Computer Overhauls</a>

<BR>
<a href=http://www.computeroverhauls.com/laptops.htm>Discount Laptops - Dell Latitude</a>

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Another option. . .

by CodyG [WINDOWS-TEAM] May 26, 2009 2:58AM PDT

To see a little more variety, I?d recommend checking out the Laptop Scout application. It?s a great resource for comparing different models and helping you get the best value and performance for your money. Here?s a link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-laptop-scout/default.aspx

Just go to the site and enter what kind of things you?re looking for in a laptop (RAM, disk space, etc), and it?ll provide you with a list of potential PCs that match your specifications. There are several laptops listed there that meet your budget needs, and would also be portable enough to take to class and powerful enough to handle what you'll use it for.

I hope you find it useful, le me know if you have any specific questions, or if I can help in any way!

Thanks,
Cody
Windows Outreach Team

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narrowing down my options...

by palmtree323 May 27, 2009 8:08AM PDT

Thanks for the advice so far! I'm narrowing down my options now. I really like the Asus X83VB-X2 -- it seems to have a good package for a good price. But on the CNet review comparison, several other laptops had higher battery life ratings. These included: Dell Studio 17-162b, Toshiba Satellite A305-S6905, and HP Pavilion dv7-1245dx. A couple of HP Pavilions were listed even higher, but they have HUGE batteries sticking out, which I don't want. Any thoughts about the Asus, compared to the Dell, Toshiba, and HP options I've listed?

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adding on...

by palmtree323 May 27, 2009 8:20AM PDT

... or the Gateway MD7818u. That had good battery life as well. Thoughts?

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Those are all good laptops. . .

by CodyG [WINDOWS-TEAM] Jun 2, 2009 5:03AM PDT

From what I've read, the ones you've listed are definitely all good laptops that'll get the job done for you.

Aside from the giant battery thing, are there any real "dealbreakers" for you when it comes to a laptop? Looking for things that you absolutely don't want in a system might help narrow your search down even more.

Thanks,

Cody
Windows Outreach Team

Need advice on a good college laptop

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