The great Laptop discussion forum

It pokes out from the back, but its not too bad. The battery life is worth it !!! I'll try to post photos later when I have some time.

I'll take a look at that, thanks! I've been using the dpi thing so far and it's okay.


A general question for anyone...any tips on how to have a sort of sync between my laptop and desktop? Do I need to set up a network and then sync when my laptop returns to that home network? Or is it safe/feasible to use the public folder as a shared "documents" folder between the two computers?

I'm in the other camp and don't think the 9 cell is worth the extra weight/size. I have a x200, which is more power hungry than the x200s, and even so with the 6 cell battery I get a good 6+ hours of usage (using the power save setting).

the 9-cell is WORTH IT! For some strange reason I only get 6-7 hours with semi-power save mode (Level 3 out of 15 lighting), but it's good enough to last most days. I also find the sticking out part easier to grasp when I need to move with the laptop in hand.

The Waterfield designs bags are AMAZING.

Hi folks,
Just starting to think about laptops for school. (I'm a bit behind)

It seems that a lot of the folks on this thread like Lenovos over Dell. Any reason why I should avoid Dell? It seems to be less expensive than Lenovo....

thanks!

I personally don't have issues with Dell (never used one), but I have heard that the build quality is low and things break down often. This is coming from my classmates who use Dell (a lot of them do) XPS. Lenovo's are generally just sturdier and better built.

Good to know! I have a Dell Inspiron - it's been fine for writing bschool essays/watching movies. I've never done anything more complicated with it. It's fairly slow but folks in chat said that's because it's several years old and a fairly basic model.

I think the issue is, most people in school had the Dell, but once you start to carry it to and from school every day, enduring all the drops, bangs, bumps, etc... and using it all the time, the endurance aspect starts to become noticeable. Just my speculation.

Another question: is there a usual time when laptops come on sale? Or is it more just a "whenever there are special offers, there are offers" kinda thing?
Thanks

keep looking @ the lenovo website. They seem to change their specials every 2-3 weeks. Also contact prashok, he seems to have the employee discount code.

isa - I had a Dell laptop about 2 years ago and it was not reliable at all, even without any real rough handling. It just seemed like things broke on it pretty regularly. The Lenovo's/IBM's I've had for work have endured much rougher treatment and I never had a problem with them. In the end that reliability was worth the extra cost.

Isa, join the Lenovo owner's circle.

My work issued laptop was Dell Latitude.
It was the slowest, heaviest, and most frustrating laptop I owned since Powerbook G4.

Some issues I had while using Dell:
1) The touchpad sometimes didn't work
2) Windows OS sometimes didn't start properly
3) Power/Battery management system was horrible
4) Keyboard wasn't comfortable
5) Fan was loud and laptop got hot really quickly

Good to know!! Thanks for the considerations.

My (old) work laptop was a hp/compaq. I have no idea what the model was but it kept breaking about every6-8 months - the hinges, then the hard drive, then the keyboard. Huge pain. So I've already eliminated out that brand. I don't think I want to deal with a Mac, so that's out as well. And that leaves me with Dell or Lenovo.

Another question: what about netbooks? Do any folks in bschool use those? Are we doing anything super-intense that can't be done on a netbook?

Thanks for your help!

LOL. So maybe not a netbook then.

Does anybody have any experience with the recent HP laptop models? I was considering the DV3-1075US. The reason I am not really intent on going in for a more expensive Lenovo is that I already have a loaded 24" iMac, so this laptop is purely for use at school and will not be my primary machine.

Also, is there any indication as to whether schools will sell a discounted Windows 7 upgrade when it is released? I am not really happy about having to use Vista, and would want to switch to 7 ASAP. Problem is that it isn't likely to come out until the Fall.

I know I promised photos of X200 earlier. I got lazy I just decided to attach photos from its notebook review :
https://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4497

Image of X200 with 9cell battery

I can vouch for that. I owned a Dell Inspiron that cost almost $2000 when I was in grad school, and I will never, ever, purchase another Dell product of any kind. The body was built with flimsy plastic, so after I picked it up a few times, the casing actually severed some wires on the motherboard. This was a widely reported design flaw, and rendered the computer completely useless. I had to go buy a soldering iron and actually piece it back together myself. It was such a poorly designed product that I vowed never to purchase another, and I would advise anybody else to think twice about a Dell laptop unless you can actually inspect it with your own eyes.

The battery life was terrible, but that I expected because it was running an Intel P4, which is a heavy-duty desktop CPU. The charger was the size of a brick, and was very heavy. Also, the fan was very loud, and the heat generated could actually keep you warm at night. Just a horribly designed computer.