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Post by Hellfire on Jul 8, 2013 15:45:39 GMT -5
My laptop quit working, so I have to buy another one. Any suggestions for a good one that will last a while? My Dell barely lasted two years. I need one to be able to do my homework on, and am honestly not sure what specifications I need to be looking for. What do you guys use, and what specifications would work best for a Mechanical Engineering student?
Any suggestions would be great!
Thanks in Advance!
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Post by jonwachob on Jul 9, 2013 21:19:45 GMT -5
Best advice is to go cheap and purchase frequent. If you want a laptop that will last many years you are looking at dropping $1k+. If you get something like a chrome book for $200 and you get a new one every year, you'll still end up saving.
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Post by Hellfire on Jul 11, 2013 9:06:41 GMT -5
You get what you pay for, I don't want a device that will only last a very short time. I want a device that will get me through my last year and a half of school. It is a headache for me to keep buying a new laptop. I have bought new ones every year for the last five or six years, and I'm not wanting to do that anymore.
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Post by jonwachob on Jul 11, 2013 17:00:40 GMT -5
When I was getting my Active Duty paycheck I bought my current laptop for around $1k, it made sense then. It's only been a few years but my computer is slow compared to current computers that cost $250. With Moore's law it doesn't make sense to spend that much on a computer.
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Post by komaspieler on Jul 12, 2013 15:12:24 GMT -5
Wow, who taught you about responsible buying and the 'throw-away society'...? As Hellfire noted: you get what you pay for. Buy quality once, and the device will last (as in 'continue to function') for a very long time. If your needs change after a while, it might be time to upgrade but otherwise: why not stick with working technology? Just because newer devices are faster/cheaper? As for the topic: what kind of application do you regularly run? What's the most 'challenging' for your laptop (i.e. Matlab, High-Performance CAD-Software, etc.)? When you've formulated your requirements (CPU, RAM, HDD, ... - can all be taken from the requirements / recommendations for the most performance-hungry software you will run), look for a laptop that fulfills them. Personally, I can recommend the Acer Aspire series, although I've heard that current models are not as great as the older ones (for example Aspire 5930). However, if you plan on using the companies support - don't choose Acer Asus usually produces high-quality devices, as does Dell and Lenovo (ThinkPad-Series). With the latter you will have to bear with higher pricing due to the brand name :/ For myself, I've been using an Acer Aspire 5930G and it still serves me very well (using Matlab, mostly). At work I've got a ThinkPad (don't know the model from memory) - not as fast as my Aspire though, but very, very sturdy.
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Post by Hellfire on Jul 16, 2013 6:46:04 GMT -5
Wow, who taught you about responsible buying and the 'throw-away society'...? As Hellfire noted: you get what you pay for. Buy quality once, and the device will last (as in 'continue to function') for a very long time. If your needs change after a while, it might be time to upgrade but otherwise: why not stick with working technology? Just because newer devices are faster/cheaper? As for the topic: what kind of application do you regularly run? What's the most 'challenging' for your laptop (i.e. Matlab, High-Performance CAD-Software, etc.)? When you've formulated your requirements (CPU, RAM, HDD, ... - can all be taken from the requirements / recommendations for the most performance-hungry software you will run), look for a laptop that fulfills them. Personally, I can recommend the Acer Aspire series, although I've heard that current models are not as great as the older ones (for example Aspire 5930). However, if you plan on using the companies support - don't choose Acer Asus usually produces high-quality devices, as does Dell and Lenovo (ThinkPad-Series). With the latter you will have to bear with higher pricing due to the brand name :/ For myself, I've been using an Acer Aspire 5930G and it still serves me very well (using Matlab, mostly). At work I've got a ThinkPad (don't know the model from memory) - not as fast as my Aspire though, but very, very sturdy. Thank you!! This is the kind of information I was looking for. Very much appreciated!!!
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