Thread: Suggestions for Laptop?

Hello all,

I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions on which laptops work well and are not too expensive..how much is generally spent?

Any suggestions would greatly help...

Thanks!

The Dell 700m is ideal; It is very light, and powerful. You can get a good price off ebay for about $1,000. Don't go trying to buy off the dell website as prices exceed $1,600 for this model! Overall, this laptop is awesome, and performs all functions you may need during medical school and beyond. Check the ratings.
Jake
SMUSOM Class of 2009

Jake's recommendation is a very good one. Also, try to avoid the new Dell inspirons, they have gotten very bulky and have had lots and lots of problems compared to last years model.

Toshibas are great, they tend to be very tough and compact and high quality.

IBM thinkpads are also great. However, keep in mind that IBM has just announced that they will be phasing out the sales of PCs in the near future, and I don't know if that will make a difference in the availablity of parts and service.

The new HPs look good, I've heard lots of good things about them, though the older models were junk.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by wolfvgang22

Jake's recommendation is a very good one. Also, try to avoid the new Dell inspirons, they have gotten very bulky and have had lots and lots of problems compared to last years model.

Toshibas are great, they tend to be very tough and compact and high quality.

IBM thinkpads are also great. However, keep in mind that IBM has just announced that they will be phasing out the sales of PCs in the near future, and I don't know if that will make a difference in the availablity of parts and service.

The new HPs look good, I've heard lots of good things about them, though the older models were junk.

Good luck!

don't buy HPs, they aren't made for the Caribbean environment.

Don't go spending $1000
think about it, all you will need a laptop for is typing, pdfs and surfing/email. Do not bother spending money on a expensive paper weight, because after 4 years of med school that is what your laptop will be, hopelessly out dated and prob 1/5 of the the power of what will be at the market at the time.

I bought a cheapo Toshiba A45-S121 in april thanks to (FW!) for $600.
2.8ghz celeron/768ram/40gb hd

That is way more than enough, don't get sucked into the ** hype. I doubt you will be watching many movies or playing games on your little laptop during medical school. But if you do plan on gaming/movies, you might as well kiss your education goodbye!

to sum it up

decent laptop = surfing/email/pdf files
1000+ laptop = gaming and more gaming!

If you plan on gaming/movies, you can kiss your education goodbye?

I don't know why people hype med school so much. Unless SMU is just a completely atypical med school.

I have good grades across the board and I had tons of time to goof off, watch movies, hang out with friends, travel, play video games, you name it. People get fed this propaganda about no time, 24/7 study and it's just not true and shouldn't be perpetuated.

And as far as buying off Ebay, it's great for a lot of things, but a laptop probably has the highest expense-to-fragility ratio of anything you own. When you buy used, there are so many things involving the unit you may not be aware of. Most people will feel safer buying from a store new so they at least have a warranty, higher cost or not.

all reasonable points have been made above.. but what i wanna know is.. what kinda laptop do the majority of the students have at smu right now and does everyone have a printer with them up there as well?

the type of laptop that i see with many students are Dells and Toshibas. Several students that i know have had big time probs with their Dells (crashing, motherboard failures, etc) and the few ppl that i know that have Compaqs and Gateways also have had their share of prbs (crashes mostly). I dont know if this is due to the "caribbean environment" since alot of the students that i know are 1st semesters that were in Cayman for a whole 2 weeks, but i would HIGHLY recommend purchasing a Toshiba. i have had mine for a little over a year, and it has never given me any issues at all. In fact, its traveled with me around the world and is still perfect. With the new computers coming out right around the corner, this is also probably a great time to purchase a model (since they will be getting dumped for good, low prices). Many students that i know of also have printers (which you can get at Target for like 40bucks), which is pretty handy because all of the notes given for class are in ppt form (basically you can print out 4-6 pages of slides per one side of a sheet of paper, take this paper into class and right notes on it). Also, i would recommend purchasing a small, 128mb jump drive. this will be extremely handy for exchanging notes with your classmates.



so quick summary on what i think you would need for a computer here at SMU (also i will throw in what i consider to be the necessities as far as specs go)
Toshiba
40gig HD
512 RAM (this is a must)
p4
DVD drive (there are anatomy DVDs that help out alot that you can check out from the library)

besides that you will be ok

I can't seem to decide on the laptops... I mean they all seem good.. I'm considering the dell ones.. and the 700, 8600, and 9200 all look good to me... but since we have to have the office suite edition with the XP, which one seems good for the amount and type of work we will be doing at SMU?

Hello,

From the experience of our It manager, Steve Durksen, students have had problems with Dell laptops. Out of 15 laptops in his office, 40 to 50% were Dell.....
Just keeping you informed, although, I do not have anything against Dell.
You need the basic reqs:
P4 or equivalent
512 memory minimum
DVD/CDRW combo
XP PRO NOT XP HOME
Antivirus (norton, mc Affee, etc..)
Wireless integrated or wireless card G and/or B

Have fun and try to look for a good special of the week in some of the big stores

Happy Holidays