Thinking I should prob get a lightweight one, around 4 lbs. Looking to spend less than $1200. Am I correct in wanting to get a light laptop? If not, I could get a good deal for $600 or so.

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Laptop (and bag) for Bschool...

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luminos24

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20 Mar 2007, 09:39

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i own a sweet Dell Inspiron 700m....at 12.1 inch screen and 4.2 lbs, it's like carrying a book in your hand....

agreed that Thinkpads are the best ones available out there...Dell generally makes laptops which have a cheap feel but i guess they are moderately priced and overall a good package...

kidderek

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20 Mar 2007, 09:42

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How much heat does it produce? I have a tiny Vaio and it gets hot very quickly.

pelihu

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20 Mar 2007, 12:56

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I had a question for some of you excel pros out there. How important is a higher resolution display?

The standard for may widescreen notebooks seems to be 1200x800 these days. I have also seen some that go to 1450x1000 (something like that) and 1920x1200 (or something).

Now, I know what this means in terms of viewing pictures or playing games. Does this help when working with excel? Will you be able to get a lot more on the page, or does stuff just look too small?

rhyme

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20 Mar 2007, 14:45

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pelihu

I'm at 1400x1050 and I like it. I can handle it fine, but I know some people who find it small. Personally, I like the space. I couldn't imagine 1900x1200 on a 14 or 15" screen though. That'd be too detailed.

To those of you considering hte X's... yes they are small, and light, but have you seen them in person? They seem too small to me to spend any more than an hour or two using. More than that and it'd be a pain to type I imagine.

KLmets

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20 Mar 2007, 17:29

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I'm a big fan of IBMs though the Dell/Vaios are good too. For IBM, the T series is very nice though a bit on the expensive side. The Dell Inspiron series have good bang for buck. The Vaio I like because they have smaller, lighter models.

I'm not a big Mac fan (this coming from someone who intended on being a code monkey!) so I wouldn't buy an Apple. Plus, they can all run Windows now anyway, and if you get better than the most basic version of Vistas, then the Mac wouldn't have anything over the PC (personal opinion).

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20 Mar 2007, 21:27

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pelihu

I was just looking over the stuff for Darden. They budget $3250 in the first year for a comptuer. Are they serious? Before I looked at this, I was thinking about dropping $1500 on a nice new laptop for business school. What the hell costs $3250 these days?

On a different note, they revised their estimated monthly rent up from $536 to $700 for last year. That's probably 1/2 what the estimate would be around New York or the Bay Area.

This question actually came up when I visited darden, essentially they are padding you a couple grand there so you can get more living expenses loans. They are aware computers don't cost 3250

pelihu

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21 Mar 2007, 20:34

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PC Magazine just posted an article on ultraportable laptops. They gave the X60 a great review. I don't think I would be happy without an integrated DVD drive, but the Lenovo looks like a great machine. I think I'd like the Dell XPS, though it is heavier.

Here's the link:
https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2105650,00.asp

rhyme

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21 Mar 2007, 20:49

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hmmm that x60 does look nice...

tkkoh

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21 Mar 2007, 21:41

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I'm on a 15" currently and I like the view-estate. However it is too heavy to lug around for whole day, everyday.

But smaller than 13" would not be good if one like to open or work with multiple windows.

So I like one that is between 13" to 14.1".

Brands - IBM and Toshiba are reliable. Fujitsu too (somehow it is not mentioned in this thread - maybe it is not common in the US?). But they are relatively more expensive than the rest. The next group would be the HP/Compaq/Acer etc.

batchgmat

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28 Mar 2007, 21:00

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Well, I couldn't wait till the summer (which I should have), but I just got my X60 today. It is a SWEET machine. I have had a 15 inch widescreen Dell from work for the past few years and this makes it look like a clunker. Very light, and the non widescreen LCD gives it a compact shape. You can easily grasp it with one hand.

The 8 cell battery life on this gives about 8 hours, which is amazing.

Hmm, I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow next to my Dell.

Xeo78

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29 Mar 2007, 07:25

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I'm just worried that the 12 inch screen will be too small for spreadsheets and long paper writing sessions.

pelihu

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29 Mar 2007, 10:16

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batchgmat

That sounds like a great machine. I guess I'd personally lean towards a widescreen, but the 8 hours of battery life would be awesome. I wonder if the lack of an optical drive would become annoying sometimes.

batchgmat

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29 Mar 2007, 19:18

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Here are some pics of the X60...I've included my 15 inch Dell for reference

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squali83

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29 Mar 2007, 19:43

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Haha if you could only see my Dell Inspiron 9100 it dwarves both of those

Oh well cannot wait to buy myself one of those nifty compact PCs!!! :-D

lepium

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29 Mar 2007, 20:03

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nice laptop (the X60). The only thing that may keep me from targetting it is cost: about 1,600 bucks. I'm used to carrying around a heavier laptop (a **** Compaq Evo, 14 in) and have no trouble with it as long as it's in my backpack. So I guess I may go IBM's way but not the smallest version.

batchgmat

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30 Mar 2007, 07:22

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lepium

Thanks, actually the X60 can be had for ~950 or so using your AMEX card. Pretty good specs too (Core 2 Duo, 512MB ram - which I upgraded to 1.5 mmyself, 80gb SATA 5200rpm, Fingerprint Reader, XP Home - Vista sucks).

fluffydot

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30 Mar 2007, 08:07

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Please elaborate on the AMEX deal?

Also, I'm not familiar with the X60 is that even smaller than the T60 and T40 series?

I think the ideal size really is 14" @ 1400x1050 resolution. anything smaller than 14" will have much lower res and thus much smaller desktop space to work on.

Too bad there isn't a good chance that I can afford a new laptop right now... have to stick with my 15" compaq tank.

pelihu

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30 Mar 2007, 09:15

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fluffydot

After checking a few out, I think I agree that 14" with 1400x1050 is the way to go. I also prefer a laptop that has the optical drive built in and of course one that is thin and pretty light if possible - the Dell D620 looks pretty nice (4 - 4.4 pounds).

I found out that Darden requires Windows XP Pro for the upcoming year. A lot of consumer models don't have this option any more, while most of the business models still do. I guess I will have to put off adding Vista to a new computer.

polobrute

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31 Mar 2007, 19:03

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fluffydot

Please elaborate on the AMEX deal?

i think the AMEX deal batchgmat is talking about is the tailormade program which will give you 15% cashback for buying directly from lenovo.
here is a link to sign up: https://www142.americanexpress.com/tail ... p1.do?s=23
and here is the homepage for the program:
https://tailormade.americanexpress.com/

rhyme

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31 Mar 2007, 21:59

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batchgmat

Here are some pics of the X60...I've included my 15 inch Dell for reference

Is that the standard battery or a high capacity on the X60?

How do you find hte keyboard? I have a T41p now and love it. Screen is large enough to use at length - the tiny size of hte X60 is appealing however.