Help me decide...please....

Will be starting masters program in computer science in fall 2013.
Background was not cs (it was math).Considering the gazelle pro. Also- is the matte screen really worth it? Will be using external monitor most of the time. Also, do you think this build will be more than enough for future endeavors. Plan on doing 'regular computer stuff' and programming a lot... thank you in advance.

Base System Price $875.00 (Gazelle Professional)
Ubuntu 12.10 64 bit
5 Free GB of Ubuntu One Online Storage and Sync
15.6" 1080p Full High Definition LED Backlit Display featuring 95% NTSC Color Gamut in Matte Finished Surface ( 1920 x 1080 ) +$79.00
Intel HD Graphics 4000
3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3740QM Processor ( 2.70GHz 6MB L3 Cache - 4 Cores plus Hyperthreading ) +$175.00
8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 2 X 4GB +$45.00
120 GB Intel 520 Series SATA III 6 Gb/s Solid State Disk Drive +$109.00
United States Keyboard Layout
8X DVD±R/RW/4X +DL Super-Multi Drive
Intel Centrino 1030 - 802.11 b/g/n Wireless LAN + Bluetooth Combo Module

My spidey senses say this probably wasn't the best place to post this topic, but since it's here; I can certainly say that System76 provides an awesome product. I bought the Leopard Extreme not too long ago and it's been outperforming my Mac Pro (understandibly) since unboxing. It looks sexy, it performs cool and quiet, and I've had nothing but success with gaming on Windows 7 and development on Ubuntu 12.10.

They're very quick to respond to any issues you have and treat you like a valued customer. -You won't be sorry.

I can't say much for their laptops since I've never owned one, but with the customer service and level of product I've received from them, it would be safe to assume anything you buy from them will truly rock.

I opted for the nicer screen and it looks amazing. The colors are more vibrant than any other laptop screen I've seen.

I also went with 16GBs ram instead of 8. I don't have an SSD but plan on getting a 500GB as soon as the prices are more acceptable. That's why I increased the ram. SSDs have a limited number of writes so I do a lot of work in /dev/shm - compiling, downloading ISOs, etc. 16GBs also comes in handy with VMs.

8GBs is fine for most people though. I just do weird things.

You wont be disappointed with this laptop.
Just to warn you though, it does get a bit warm. It really heats up tables. It doesn't overheat or anything but I still ended up buying an xpad slim to elevate it a little- http://www.xpad4laptop.com/ It made about a 10 degree difference. Might come in handy if you're doing a lot of compiling.

I would suggest replacing the CDR with a 500MB - 1TB HDD for storage. 120GB of space will be the weakest component of your build.

If you plan on string at the machine all day (i.e. working a lot), then the pixel density is really important. Any 15'' laptop with 1920x1080 would be good and I wouldn't go for lower resolution unless money was really tight. I am not sure abut the finish though.

I have an almost identical system on order:

Ubuntu 12.10 64 bit
5 Free GB of Ubuntu One Online Storage and Sync
15.6" 1080p Full High Definition LED Backlit Display with Glossy Surface ( 1920 x 1080 )
Intel HD Graphics 4000
3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3630QM Processor ( 2.40GHz 6MB L3 Cache - 4 Cores plus Hyperthreading )
16 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 2 X 8 GB
60 GB Intel 520 Series SATA III 6 Gb/s Solid State Disk Drive
United States Keyboard Layout
750 GB 7200 RPM HDD + Caddy Case
Intel Centrino 1030 - 802.11 b/g/n Wireless LAN + Bluetooth Combo Module

UPS says that it's out for delivery today....so I'll tell you tomorrow.

I just realized I ordered 12.10 where I meant to get 12.04 LTS.

From what I hear they make the drivers readily available in case you want to load/reload another OS, guess I'll have a report on that shortly as well...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by harx1337

I just realized I ordered 12.10 where I meant to get 12.04 LTS.

From what I hear they make the drivers readily available in case you want to load/reload another OS, guess I'll have a report on that shortly as well...

---

For the record, we don't actually ship systems with 12.04, and recommend 12.10 instead. Because we use cutting-edge hardware, we've found 12.10 to be more stable on our systems than 12.04. On top of that, it will be supported until the next LTS, 14.04 in April of 2014.

I should point out that LTS releases aren't significantly more or less stable than normal releases. They're intended for businesses with large numbers of machines, and who can't update all of them every six months, and thus update them every two years instead, which is much more manageable.

Ah, that makes sense, thanks isantop. I've been a slackware/fedora guy most of my life and am thus rather cautious by nature.

So... first thoughts on the new machine.

Solid case, very crisp resolution, much better than average keys for a laptop (at least in the opinion of this large-fingered guy)
Between the i7 Core and SSD there is no lag time. Eclipse opens in about 2 seconds. Tomcat server startup hasn't taken over 500 ms yet.
Will probably load Spring Tool Suite tomorrow and get a better chance to really stress it.
I think Pulling down all these apps on a new machine has upset my ISP, it appears that I've been throttled...