So recently i've been searching for a laptop for college because i am going to be going for college in the fall (University of Florida) and i wanted some input on a good one. I plan on taking this to class, so i wanted to bring something that's a bit light. I went to my local CompUSA store and lifted up a 7 pound laptop and it didn't seem too bad, but i wouldn't want to get anything heavier.

Also screen size and battery is important. I'm looking for something around 14 to 16 inches and I'm probably going to stick with a 6-cell battery since i don't want one bulging out the back of my laptop.

I also want to be able to play games on it such as: Counter Strike Source, Final Fantasy 11, and Jedi Knight 2 Jedi Outcast

My price range is around 1200-1400 dollars (I'm probably going to hold off till July to order my laptop since I heard that's when all the school sales start)


Currently what I'm looking at is:

HP DV6T Series (16 inch screen)

Specs:

Processor Intel Core2 Duo Processor T6600 (2.2GHz)

For the processor i had the options of:
T600 (2.2 GHZ) for 50 dollars

P7450 (2.13GHz) for 100 dollars

I'm not sure if there's a huge difference between the 2 processors, and I'm not familiar with them either (the T600 has more GHZ but a cheaper price?)

Memory 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)


Hard drive 320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive


Graphics card 512MB ATI Radeon(TM) HD 4530 Graphics

For the graphics card i had the options of:

512MB ATI RADEON (TM) HD 4530 for 200 dollars

1GB ATI Radeon(TM) HD 4650 for 400 dollars

Is the 4650 WORTH the extra 200 dollars?

The specs say that the laptop weighs 6.3 pounds, but will the addition of a bigger graphics card and hard drive increase the weight by a lot?



HP HDX16T Series (16 inch screen)

Specs:

Processor Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T6600 (2.2GHz)

For the processor i have the options of:

T6600 (2.2 GHZ) --
P7450 (2.13 GHZ) 50 dollars
P8700 (2.53 GHZ) 200 dollars
A few more, but out of my price range

Memory 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 DIMM)

Hard Drive Upgrade to 320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

Graphics card 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 130M

For graphics cards my options are:

512 Nvidia Geforce 9600M GT --
1GB Nvidia Geforce GT 130M 100 dollars

Even though it's only a 100 dollars more, i wanted to know if the 1GB will increase the weight considerably

The weight for this laptop is around 7.06 pounds, so it's not too bad

Dell M1530 (15 inch screen)

PROCESSOR Intel Cor 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.4GHZ)

The options for processors are:

T6600 (2.2GHZ) --
T6400 (2.0 GHZ) (minus) 50 Dollars
T8100 (2.1GHZ) (add) 75 dollars
T8300 (2.4 GHZ) (add) 125

Memory 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 (2DIMM)

Hard Drive 320GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

Video Card 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GS


Site specs say that the laptop weight is around 6 pounds




The reason that the HP DV6T and the HP HDX16T attracted me was the full sized keyboard which means that it has the numeric pad on there as well. (the Dell M1530 does not have a numeric pad.) I tried out the keyboard while I was at CompUSA and it was REALLY comfortable, compared to another HP laptop that did not have a full sized keyboard, however all the laptop brands such as toshiba, gateway, and asus had a different placement of it's keyboard on the laptop which resulted in me liking some and not liking others, so I'm not sure how the Dell M1530 is.

So please, any comments or suggestions on what i should do? If you have any other laptops that you would recommend please do so.

Thanks in advance,

Deathtaker

I stopped reading after UF..

That was your chance to get back and give him seemingly legit advice to waste money or buy a shitty laptop.

To continue the cycle, I stopped reading after 'wanting to play games like Counter Strike Source'.

If you want something that you will be bringing to class, you probably don't want to go any bigger than a 15 inch, trust me, that is plenty big...

Here's a few suggestions (I'm not a big fan of dell or hp)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220510
14" screen, 1gb vram 4650, T9550 2.66 ghz, 4gb ram

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152099
15" screen, 1gb vram 9800m, P8600 2.4 ghz, 4 gb ram, bluray drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834117857
this one is more for media purposes, but would run all the games listed, full HD screen 1920x1080 resolution

honestly, I buy everything from newegg or online, but no matter what you do or however u buy a laptop for college, if its your only computer (if you're not bringing a desktop or have an older laptop) be sure to get that stupid replacement/service plan. Its worth the extra whatever, and make sure u get a plan in which they give you a replacement till they fix it.

And of course, right before your warranty is up, give a 9 volt battery to your mother. :P

The only jist I can add is about the Dell M1530 as my mother owns one, it runs quite smooth but two problems, one the area where your wrist set starts to get all dirty and sticky and shit and leaves a residue for some reason must be something with sweat or something cause its a metal...or metal-like surface and the system tends to run quite hot

secondly the 8400M really isn't set to do much, it runs source fine.....but at a 1200X900 resolution it runs parallel frame rates to my desktop that has an 8500 at 1650X1050.

Thanks for the response

i've never really head of Asus. do they make good laptops? (comparing it to dell and HP)? good customer service support?

I'm using an ASUS laptop right now and I have no complaints. One good thing about ASUS is that most of their newer laptops come with a 1 year accidental damage warranty.

ASUS is one of the larger motherboard makers our there and they were responsible for the netbook craze with the release of the EEEPC's

Bump

Been looking on newegg.com and I found these 2 laptops that I'm interested in (any opinions on which one is the better, would be great!)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834220519

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834220521

Is newegg the best place to get Asus laptops? Do you know any other websites?

I also was looking on dell's website and the Studio 15 caught my eye.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/pr ... l=en&s=dhs

I'm not exactly sure however, if the ATI 4570 is a good card that can handle CSS well, and also helps the battery life of the laptop compared to the Nvidia 120/ 130 m..?

Helpz meh out, plx

I know its not exactly what you asked -- but I'd consider spending that money on two computers.

The only thing that worries me is that if you get a laptop light enough that you'll take it to class / the library it won't be good enough to play CS:S well, and vice versa.

Consider this:

Get a small netbook type computer for less than 400 bucks. I have the Lenovo S10, its a like 10" screen, super-light and portable and the battery life is great. When I had windows on it, I really only needed like office, etc and they ran fine. If you're comfortable with Linux (what I run now) you can get it a little bit quicker, but XP was fine.

I'd then spend the rest of the money on a sick desktop thats cheaper and w upgradable components so in a year or two you can upgrade some parts and not have to shitcan the whole rig. You should be able to get a really nice setup from newegg or tigerdirect for less than $700-800.

Just a thought.