I have a netbook so I always catch myself wishing I would have got a 17in laptop rather than a 15 as I rarely move the laptop. If you dont have a netbook for running around with then you might want to consider the smaller screen for portability.
I have a netbook so I always catch myself wishing I would have got a 17in laptop rather than a 15 as I rarely move the laptop. If you dont have a netbook for running around with then you might want to consider the smaller screen for portability.
i would also recommend you to get a System76 laptop.
also there is a new serie of lenovo thinkpads - ThinkPad L
it is not that expensive as T.
lol, 17" to carry to class? it weighs like 4 to 5 kg... good luck with that
Best to carry a small 10" or 11" (max 12") that weigh max 1.4kg to class and have a stationary comp at home as well. best combination.
my 15" is a pain to carry to class. will do as above for next year.
Last edited by TheNessus; May 25th, 2010 at 02:29 PM.
Honestly I bought a 12" iBook years ago for school, and it was nice, but after moving up to a 17" laptop last year I'm honestly more happy with the larger, wider screen. Reason being I can open OpenOffice to type notes while having more than enough screen for the browser window to look-up other material during lecture. It's hard to have more than one app open and in view (and readable) on a netbook or 12" or less screen.
It would just suck for those classrooms with the smaller, swivel desks that only are large enough for a sheet of paper, but I think more classes are making larger desks or tables to accommodate laptop users. Or at least they are in my school.
Just be sure and not sacrifice battery life for the larger screen. So many laptops with larger screens have crappy battery life. My System76 laptop has a 17" screen that's awesome, but I'm good to get 90 minutes on a single charge which isn't ideal for a 3-4 hour class when I'm in the middle of the room with no options for power.
Sam
Eek, cannot imagine a 17" in class. As for your point, about multitasking applications in the same view - I don't see a point to that in a classroom. If you want to browse while taking notes, you can have a lappy and a notebook (i.e. real paper), or a pad. Alternately, I use Workspaces when I want to brows while taking notes. It's just a press of a button and I'm on another workspace with a browser open and other progs like an IM app. What? teacher said something important? a press of a button and the word processor is on right where I left it. No need to multiple tasks on the same workspace since getting involved with minimized, maximized, windows with similar names is too confusing in the time constraints of a classroom.
Anyway, either way, a 17" is physically damaging, it will introduce back pains etc.
I do use Workspaces and find it in valuable, but sometimes it's good to have lots of stuff on the screen at once. For example last year while taking Geology, as the instructor was lecturing about various geological spots I had Google Earth open and was able to zoom in and check it out first hand, plus Wikipedia and the USGS websites were great for augmenting the material in the lecture. The instructor wasn't very tech-savvy, and he was about blown away with the amount of info I could pull-up so quickly during lecture. He would often bounce questions my way for some 'facts' he didn't remember off hand.
As for taking notes, unfortunately I'm one of those people who's used computers for SO long my handwriting isn't the best. I type faster than I write, and my handwritten notes end up in the computer eventually anyway.
I think this is one of those 'to each his own' things since each person's learning environment is different, plus it depends on the class and instructor.
Sam
Lol I carry a 25 pound drum around the field for hours at a time, carrying a laptop to class each day won't be an issue.
The problem with System76 is that they only offer Linux, and I'll need Windows. After I bought Windows a 15" System76 laptop would be significantly more expensive than anything else I'm looking at, and wouldn't have the kind of graphics power I'm looking for. It gives me faith though that there are 15" laptops with large displays, so I shall continue to look for them. I agree, I would definitely prefer a 15" to a 17".
e: What do you all think about this one - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834127087. It's only 15" but has a 1920x1080 resolution, the graphics would suit what I want and the rest of it seems pretty solid. Any objections? I'll look for some battery life numbers now.
Last edited by Yes; May 25th, 2010 at 07:40 PM.
Other than playing Modern Warfare 2, you don't mention what you want to do with a portable. Here's my take: buy a $300 netbook for classroom use, and install Ubuntu on it. Also buy a <$500 desktop for use in your dorm room. For $800, you have all bases covered, without wearing yourself out dragging a boat anchor around. My wife has a 12" iMac, and in comparison, my Acer D150 feels like a feather, and runs longer.
As to which brands, go to a computer store, and play with them, then go with the one(s) that feel best to you; keyboards and trackpads vary a lot with portables, and are critical. Lots of choices available at $300 for 1gb RAM, Atom processor, and 160gb HDD. Ubuntu runs very nicely on this platform.
I don't get why carrying a larger screen laptop has to be so bad. It doesn't bother me at all. I just use one of these...
http://www.4luggage.com/resized/s300...ack-711105.jpg
So I've discovered that I get a nice discount on certain laptops through my college. I configured a Dell Studio 15 (15") to have a good graphics card, 1920x1080 resolution, 4 GB RAM and a 2.13 GHz i3 for ~$880. It's rated very well by Consumer Reports and has about 4.5 hours of battery life. So far that's my favorite, but this weekend I'll go to the store and see what I think of its keyboard and the keyboards on some netbooks to see if maybe I'll get one of them with a desktop.
Thanks everyone!
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