Hey I was just wondering if any one knew of any good laptops in the price range of 700-1000 $$$$$. >>I would love to program on this computer. I am going to college next year for Computer Science so it should play a very important role. Ive been looking at Dell "xps" and the Asus laptops but asus seem kind of expencsive.... ...if anyone knows of any good laptops that maybe i'm looking for I would really appreciate it. Thanks a bunch

When it comes to laptops these days the first question is what level of graphics you're going to need. I imagine your coursework won't *require* higher-end graphics before your time there is up, but it might be nice to be able to work on-the-go when you take graphics courses later.

Most sub-800 laptops are integrated intel graphics. They get the job done, they even support Linux and OpenGL quite well, but they're not high-performance, and struggle even with older games like, say, half-life 2.

Then you have the integrated stuff from the GPU makers nVidia and ATI/AMD -- These options, if you get their newest integrated chipsets, usually play current games adequately at lower settings. My Unibody macbook (non-pro) with an integrated GeForce 9400m runs Left 4 dead decently enough at 1280x720 if I disable MSAA and turn the texture and shader level options down to medium. Older games run just fine for the most part. One of the benefits of nVidia/AMD/ATI integrated chipsets is that the compatibility with games is good because they're just chopped-down versions of the desktop cards, which is not always the case with intel (because they are so generally underpowered that devs don't bother making sure they're compatible or perform well.)

Finally, you have discreet mobile graphics. Depending on what level you're after you can find these sometimes starting as low as $900 if you can settle for current-gen mid-range or last-gen high-range. These chips are less cut-down versions of the desktop chips, and have their own local memory (as opposed to the integrated graphics chips), so they perform a few times better than their integrated counterparts. That said, the best desktop parts are always 3-4 times as powerful as the best mobile parts -- so, while its as good an option as you've got, it will still never compare to the desktop experience. For a high-end mobile-GPU system, you're probably talking $1500 at retail.


Once you decide that, then you want to think about build quality -- frankly, a lot of laptops look and feel like crap -- HP I'm looking at you. For PC-based laptops, I like Lenovo, who bought out the thinkpad line from IBM years ago, and the quality hasn't dropped one bit. I bought my girlfriend a second-hand Lenovo for school, and its had zero problems. I also set up a friend of her's with a new Lenovo that was on sale for $500 (Intel integrated of course) but it was a great, well-built machine for the money.

If you're willing to consider Apple, the Unibody MacBooks are really great. I know they have a reputation for being expensive, but honestly, for a comparable machine, in terms of both performance and quality, they are very competetive -- and, of course, these unibody Macs look sexy to boot.

I also have to mention the Apple trackpad -- I hate trackpads -- Every trackpad I've tried on a PC laptop, even on the Lenovo's I like so much, suck. They don't move smoothly, the buttons feel cheap, and I hate those scrolling areas along the edges... But on this Macbook (I'm writing on it now) I find myself using it, and actually enjoying it. First of all, its *HUGE* probably 4.5 inches on the diagonal. Second, its smooth as silk. Third, rather than scroll areas, it supports a full range of gestures -- to scroll left, right, up or down, you just place two fingers down and move in the desired direction. There's no buttons, which is odd at first, but you click by depressing the bottom half of the trackpad (which is part of the tracking surface still), to right click you place two fingers down and click -- it even makes a satisfying *click* sound when you do, and you can feel it depress. It all takes some getting used to just because its so different, but sometimes different is better, and this absolutely is.

I would like to add something about the hard drive. There is a certain hard drives made by Seagate that Dell uses that I hate. Every once in a while, it parks the head and then Windows does some thing (perhaps access the swap file) and then the heads moves again. It make noise and it is annoying.

As for the GPU, get the best possible if you care about 3D graphics.

I'm moving you to the Hardware Discussion forum. Please try to choose an appropriate forum in which to post in future -- The Lounge would probably also be acceptable for this.

I would recommend a macbook the new ones feature and nvidia 9400m and dualcore processors they are unix based so are great for comp sci and the quality of hardware for the macs is some of the best i've seen in a notebook

Quote: Original post by TheTroll

Quote: Original post by FritzMar
I would recommend a macbook the new ones feature and nvidia 9400m and dualcore processors they are unix based so are great for comp sci and the quality of hardware for the macs is some of the best i've seen in a notebook

Yeah, except that it is not in the price range he listed.

The white one (which has the 9400M, etc.), is $950 with the student discount (which they will give to just about anybody). If you can wait till August to purchase it, they always run a back-to-school special where they throw in a free iPod/iTouch.

To be honest though, if you want high-end graphics, you want a desktop. I limped along with laptops for quite a while, but finally bit the bullet last semester and shelled out ~$500 to build a gaming desktop. Nowadays, the laptop gets used for school and work related stuff, and the desktop for games and graphics development. The huge advantage to this is that you can get by with a $500 laptop (grab a cheaper Lenovo or Asus), and that brings you 2 machines for your budget, and a much better gaming experience.