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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh

    Laptop/notebook: please help us choose one

    Our youngest daughter/last child is heading off to college in 3 weeks(Duke, of course) and we need help/advice in choosing her computer. We have 3 choice through the Duke stores:

    1. Dell-Latitude-D630 with a 14.1 inch screen, Intel 2.0 processor, 2GB RAM, 120GB hard drive, DVD/RW, wireless, 6 cell battery, 90W AC adapter, MS Vista. About $1600. 4 years unconditional warranty. Also MS Office Professional 2007

    2. Lenovo-Think Pad-T61, with a 14.1 inch screen, same processor/RAM/hard drive, video card(Ithink?)/wireless and battery. Fingerprint reader, Bluetooth, multiburner(DVD/RW, I guess) and MS Vista. About $1600. 4 year unconditional warranty. Also MS Office Professional 2007

    3. Apple MacBook with a 13 inch screen, Intel 2.16 processor, 1 GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, super drive(?), wireless, MAC OS X and MS office. About $1640. 3 year unconditional warranty.

    Our daughter has had 2 IBM Think Pads with good experiences and our son has had a Dell with 4 years good service. We have no experience/knowledge with the Macs.

    We need a decision in 48-72 hours as we can pre-order and save about 7% sales tax in NC if we pay this weekend during our tax-free period. THANKS in advance for your thoughts and comments.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Lexington, KY
    Quote Originally Posted by devildeac View Post
    Our youngest daughter/last child is heading off to college in 3 weeks(Duke, of course) and we need help/advice in choosing her computer. We have 3 choice through the Duke stores:

    1. Dell-Latitude-D630 with a 14.1 inch screen, Intel 2.0 processor, 2GB RAM, 120GB hard drive, DVD/RW, wireless, 6 cell battery, 90W AC adapter, MS Vista. About $1600. 4 years unconditional warranty. Also MS Office Professional 2007

    2. Lenovo-Think Pad-T61, with a 14.1 inch screen, same processor/RAM/hard drive, video card(Ithink?)/wireless and battery. Fingerprint reader, Bluetooth, multiburner(DVD/RW, I guess) and MS Vista. About $1600. 4 year unconditional warranty. Also MS Office Professional 2007

    3. Apple MacBook with a 13 inch screen, Intel 2.16 processor, 1 GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, super drive(?), wireless, MAC OS X and MS office. About $1640. 3 year unconditional warranty.

    Our daughter has had 2 IBM Think Pads with good experiences and our son has had a Dell with 4 years good service. We have no experience/knowledge with the Macs.

    We need a decision in 48-72 hours as we can pre-order and save about 7% sales tax in NC if we pay this weekend during our tax-free period. THANKS in advance for your thoughts and comments.
    We'll call tonight. Just out of curiosity, which one does SHE want?
    Cheers,
    Lavabe

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Seattle, WA

    My vote is for the ThinkPad

    Some Dell laptops are getting the reputation of being fairly unreliable and frequently having hardware issues (though I think those are primarily the Inspiron line.)

    I had a thinkpad for b-school, and it was a work-hoss. Survived two years in my backpack; the screen was barely marred, and never had any hardware issues.

    One other consideration she might want to take into account -- weight. She'll be carrying it around to classes for a few years, a couple extra pounds make a difference.

    Depending on the setup, you might also be better off buying Office 2007 (be sure to get OneNote -- only $49.95) through the Duke store: http://www.dukestores.duke.edu/compstore/software.php
    I'd call and see if you can buy the site license version of Office Pro (as opposed to the retail) -- it's a difference of $55 vs. $299. Heck, if you can, get the Office Enterprise edition for just $71 -- it includes OneNote.

    I'll let BillyBreen convince you on buying the mac.

    Oh, and congrats to your daughter! Great choice of schools.

  4. #4
    My experience has been that the latitudes are crap and the inspirons are fine (my wife has one for law school). I'm rocking the M2010, which is a little ridiculous, but I wanted to replace my desktop.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Brookline, MA
    I have a Thinkpad T60, and my wife has a Macbook. I don't think you can go wrong with either one, the Macbook may be a little lighter than the Thinkpad but not by much. One thing to consider: while you can run Microsoft Office on the Mac, it doesn't run as smoothly on my wife's Macbook as it does on my Thinkpad. In particular, Powerpoint seems to give the Macbook issues, but I'm not sure if this is an isolated issue or not. Another thing to consider is whether your daughter will be comfortable making the transition to the Mac operating system, which shouldn't be that hard to do. Congrats to your daughter on going to Duke soon!

  6. #6
    This one--the Sony Vaio SZ Series--may not be available through the Duke Stores; but I suggest it's worth considering for a college student, primarily because its size and weight make it so conveniently portable. I've been using mine for the past two years, and my daughter (Duke Class of '06) liked using it so much that we bought her one when she started law school last fall.

    http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...tegoryId=16154

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC area
    In my last job, I deployed hundreds of laptops over about 10 years. Far and away the easiest were Thinkpads (I'm typing this on my own T60) and Macs. Lenovo is doing their level best to maintain the brand.

    At this point, I don't think it matters that much between the two. There is more hardware and software for PC's, but the Mac has a well deserved reputation for ease. Have they released Outlook for the Mac yet? Last I saw, Entourage had nowhere near the feature set.

    The difference between a 14" and 13" screen is noticeable. Personally, I can't work on less than a 15" at high resolution (everything's really small, but there's a lot of everything!).

    -jk

  8. #8
    Thinkpads are the Volvos of laptops. A little heavy, a little clunky, bu incredibly reliable and safe.

  9. #9
    Sorry, I missed my cue

    Of course, the correct answer is the Mac. A highly scientific poll I just conducted in my head shows that around half of incoming freshman (and 100% of _cool_ incoming freshman) are using Macs. If she has any inklings of a computer science or engineering major, the Mac is a great choice because interfacing with the Unix networks at Duke is more seamless with a Unix-based Mac.

    If not, and she wants compatibility with Excel and the like, Microsoft makes a version of the Office suite for the Mac. However, I actually prefer to run a full version of Windows, with Office, in virtualization in Parallels. It is really the best of all worlds since you have all of your normal Windows apps (safely contained in a VM to isolate the inevitable crashes -- sorry, couldn't resist).

    Also, the MacBook just looks sexy, especially when coupled with the inevitable iPod or (dare I say it) iPhone.

    PS. You can get a free iPod nano when you buy a Mac for the college-bound.
    Last edited by billybreen; 07-30-2007 at 10:45 PM.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Seattle, WA

    Whew!

    I was getting a little worried, Billybreen, that you weren't going to chime in in time!

    I'm also surprised that no one has mentioned Duke's fascination with iPods:

    http://www.duke.edu/ddi/projects/ipod.html

    Be sure to let any incoming student know they can get an ipod "loaner." Yes, it supposedly has educational value.

    I have to admit -- this made me laugh out loud:

    Note for Mac users: If you plan to use your iPod on multiple machines, such as classroom or lab computers, you should use a Windows computer the first time you connect your iPod. If you set your iPod up on Windows, you will be able to connect it to either Windows or Mac machines in the future; however if you format it on a Mac, it will only be usable with other Macs.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Lexington, KY

    Talking Video iPod vs. iPhone

    Quote Originally Posted by billybreen View Post
    Sorry, I missed my cue

    Of course, the correct answer is the Mac. A highly scientific poll I just conducted in my head shows that around half of incoming freshman (and 100% of _cool_ incoming freshman) are using Macs.


    Also, the MacBook just looks sexy, especially when coupled with the inevitable iPod or (dare I say it) iPhone.
    In my classes (here in Georgia), 20% of my students are Mac, 80% are Windows, and most are bi (use both). It varies with discipline.

    As I routinely post mp3s and mpegs in my class portals (hopefully soon with iTunesU), what's your suggestion about getting an iPhone vs. staying with my current video iPod? Is there a compelling reason to switch ASAP? Do I have another year before I should make the switch? I'd really rather wait to switch after my cell phone contract runs out. How BUGGY is the iPhone?

    Other than the one stage when Apple's iPod video software didn't update (and the customer service was awful), I love my video iPod...

    ... but I wouldn't call it sexy.

    Thanks and Cheers,
    Lavabe

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2007

    Post

    Quote Originally Posted by Stray Gator View Post
    This one--the Sony Vaio SZ Series--may not be available through the Duke Stores; but I suggest it's worth considering for a college student, primarily because its size and weight make it so conveniently portable. I've been using mine for the past two years, and my daughter (Duke Class of '06) liked using it so much that we bought her one when she started law school last fall.

    http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...tegoryId=16154

    I have a Vaio SZ as well. I've been very pleased with it.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Lavabe View Post
    As I routinely post mp3s and mpegs in my class portals (hopefully soon with iTunesU), what's your suggestion about getting an iPhone vs. staying with my current video iPod? Is there a compelling reason to switch ASAP? Do I have another year before I should make the switch? I'd really rather wait to switch after my cell phone contract runs out. How BUGGY is the iPhone?
    As an iPod, the iPhone blows an iPod out of the water. The screen is huge and the interface is intuitive and fun.

    The big difference is price and whether or not Apple is going to move the iPod functionality from the iPhone down to (probably significantly cheaper) iPods. I would guess this will happen in the next year, but it probably won't happen before Christmas.

    As for bugs, the iPhone has been fine. I haven't experienced anything I would consider a real hindrance to my usage. There are features I wish were more robust, such as e-mail support which is currently somewhat thin, but I expect those to be updated over time.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Cincinnati
    Quote Originally Posted by gus View Post
    I have a Vaio SZ as well. I've been very pleased with it.
    I was a Dell user for 15 years but I bought a Vaio for law school three years ago and it performed beyond my expectations. Also, there was sporadic trouble with Macs and the software the school used to allow students to take exams on laptops. Which reminds me - if the school does allow laptops for taking exams - check if that software supports Vista. Ours did not.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by GDT View Post
    I was a Dell user for 15 years but I bought a Vaio for law school three years ago and it performed beyond my expectations. Also, there was sporadic trouble with Macs and the software the school used to allow students to take exams on laptops. Which reminds me - if the school does allow laptops for taking exams - check if that software supports Vista. Ours did not.
    Interesting. I'll just take this opportunity to note again that Parallels allows you to run the operating system of your choice (XP, Vista, Linux, etc) in virtualization.

    At what point does this become comment spam?

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    New York City

    Lenovo

    Quote Originally Posted by devildeac View Post
    Our youngest daughter/last child is heading off to college in 3 weeks(Duke, of course) and we need help/advice in choosing her computer. We have 3 choice through the Duke stores:

    1. Dell-Latitude-D630 with a 14.1 inch screen, Intel 2.0 processor, 2GB RAM, 120GB hard drive, DVD/RW, wireless, 6 cell battery, 90W AC adapter, MS Vista. About $1600. 4 years unconditional warranty. Also MS Office Professional 2007

    2. Lenovo-Think Pad-T61, with a 14.1 inch screen, same processor/RAM/hard drive, video card(Ithink?)/wireless and battery. Fingerprint reader, Bluetooth, multiburner(DVD/RW, I guess) and MS Vista. About $1600. 4 year unconditional warranty. Also MS Office Professional 2007

    3. Apple MacBook with a 13 inch screen, Intel 2.16 processor, 1 GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, super drive(?), wireless, MAC OS X and MS office. About $1640. 3 year unconditional warranty.

    Our daughter has had 2 IBM Think Pads with good experiences and our son has had a Dell with 4 years good service. We have no experience/knowledge with the Macs.

    We need a decision in 48-72 hours as we can pre-order and save about 7% sales tax in NC if we pay this weekend during our tax-free period. THANKS in advance for your thoughts and comments.
    Two years ago I faced essentially the same decision - Lenovo vs. Dell vs. Mac - I chose a Lenovo Think Pad z61m with a 15 inch wide screen and a titanium cover. And I love it - I couldn't be happier. I have read that the T series Think Pads are excellent as well. I also used to have a Think Pad for work and then had to switch to a dell. The Think Pad was much better in my opinion.

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