Picking out a laptop for college is a little more tricky then high school; you have more things to consider and price is usually at the top of the list. Before you do anything you have to write down your lists of needs and wants and yes, there is a difference between them. Some things to consider are: what classes will you be taking, with you be doing any technical drawing or CAD applications, will you have access to WiFi, is it mainly going to be used for word processing and do you need to invest in something with a larger than normal screen? We spent a lot of time going over laptop options and made more than a few visits to local office supply and computer stores. Unless you take a notebook with you and write down your personal take on each of them, you are going to get thoroughly confused in the process. Don't be swayed by slick talking sales clerks or lured in my a low price that is only attainable with rebates. Go in with a budget and stick to it.
Name: Acer Aspire
Median Price: $549.00 to $649.99
Screen: 15.4″
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Hard Drive: 250 GB
Perks: Built in webcam and microphone on the inside top of the screen, Intel Centrino Core Processor, 802.11 wireless, media card reader, quiet keyboard, sleep function when lid is closed, CD play buttons, power saving, Energy Star compliant, front port jacks and DVD burner.
Cons: Hinge of laptop started making a squeaking noise after three weeks, issue with screen glare, needs cooling pack for bottom.
Name: HP AMD Turion
Median Price: $549.99 to $629.99
Screen: 15.4″
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Hard Drive: 200 GB
Perks: Polished metal interior, no glare screen, built in webcam, strong graphics processing, thin design, large mouse pad, front port jacks, media card reader, easy to see power level for battery.
Cons: Needs a cooling pack for the bottom, shorter than expected battery time, 200 GB drive is lower than standard norm.
Name: Toshiba Satellite
Median Price: $650.00 – $739.99
Screen: 15.4″
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Hard Drive: 320 GB
Perks: DVD burner, built in webcam, 802.11 wireless card, media reader, no glare screen, excellent Toshiba customer service, quiet keyboard, responsive but not overly sensitive mouse pad, Intel Centrino Core Processor, Energy Star compliant.
Cons: Needs cooling pack, most stores offer this at a “sale” price but you have to pay the full price and send in rebates.
Note: For about a hundred dollars more you can get the 17″ screen version
Name: HP Pavilion
Median Price: $679.00 – $729.00
Screen: 15.4″
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Hard Drive: 250 GB
Perks: Intel Centrino Core Processor, 802.11 wireless, media card reader, built in webcam, DVD burner, front jacks, Energy Star, easy to use mouse pad, thin body, in store special included free laptop carrier and cooling pack.
Cons: Bad glare from screen, keyboard was a little on the loud side, battery life was less than expected.
Name: Gateway FX
Median Price: $899.00 – $929.00
Screen: 15.4″
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Hard Drive: 200 GB
Perks: Thin body, quiet keyboard, built in webcam and microphone, 802.11 wireless card, Intel Centrino Core Processor, media card reader, great for gaming and graphics, DVD burner.
Cons: 200 GB hard drive, overheated in about an hour, mouse pad was lagging.
What do you need to know when shopping for a laptop?
Never bank on getting rebates. They can get lost in the mail, denied for a variety of reasons, take forever to process, not be applicable to the model you purchased, be declined by the manufacturer, be expired. Another thing to keep in mind is if you have a problem with your laptop and need to return it, if you removed the UPC codes you may not be able to make an exchange or return and some stores will subject you to a 10 – 20% restocking fee regardless of the reason.
Consider getting insurance. If you still live with your parents you can ask them about having the laptop insured on their home owners policy. In most States this will only cover theft and you will need to fill out a police report and wait for a claim.
Buy accessories now instead of later. If you think you are going to need an external hard drive, mouse, keyboard or USB drive, get them now when they are on sale rather than later. You might even be able to get one or two of those items for free if you shop around for stores offering in store specials.
Go for function over looks. You might see a great looking laptop that knocks your socks off but looks are not everything. Look at the specs on it, use some of the programs and see if it is going to be something that helps you at school or becomes a burden to use.
You might not know every single class you are taking but it is a safe bet that you will need to have a laptop that can do word processing, printing and spreadsheets. That's all packaged in the software and almost every single laptop that we looked at came with Windows Vista Home Premium although some of them did give you the option to buy the Student version for about a hundred dollars extra.
When shopping for a laptop don't settle for the first thing you see with a low price; if you have to go out and buy add on components for it later in the school year, any saving that you may have made on the initial purchase just went out the window. Think, research and shop around for the best deal possible!
from: Carlaisas Blog
All USB 3.0 devices will be backwards compatible, meaning that they’ll work with USB 2.0 and 1.1 devices, but those devices won’t see the speed increase that USB 3.0-enabled devices will.
USB 3.0 is making its way onto nearly everything that connects via USB, and the early favorite seems to be hard drives, with both LaCie and PQI including USB 3.0 on their new hard drives.
HP, though, is one of the first to actually get a USB 3.0 computer to market, shipping USB 3.0 on Envy 15 laptops that are configured with ATI 5380 graphics and a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, according to CNET. And there are more coming from HP, the business-geared EliteBook will start shipping with USB 3.0 in just a couple of weeks.
Others aren’t far behind, with ASUS having confirmed that it will start shipping laptops with USB 3.0, but HP’s early entry will hopefully set a benchmark, and shift others into overdrive to both include and support the newer, faster technology behind USB 3.0.
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capecodcuda cleans & fixes gateway mt3419 laptop notebook … computer was overheating & shutting down … dismantled to give it a proper cleaning =] now i'm geek MT3419 Notebook Specifications Part Number: 2905919rgateway MT3419 Notebook featuredescription Processor AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile Technology TL-50 1.6 ghz | 256 KB x2 L2 cache | hypertransport™ technology at up to 1600 mhz Screen14.1-inch Ultrabright™ WXGA TFT (1280 × 800) Memory2048 MB DDR2 memory 533 mhz (2 x 1024) Expandable to 2 GB Total slots: 2 | Available slots: 0 Video NVIDIA® geforce® Go 6100 Up to 256 MB of Turbocache™ Audio High definition 2-channel audio Hard drive160 GB PATA hard drive (4200 RPM) Optical drive 8X Multi-format dual layer DVDRW Write maximum: 8X DVD+/-R, 6X DVD-RW, 8X DVD+RW, 2X DVD-R DL, 2.4X DVD+R DL, 24X CD-R and 16X CD-RW discs Read maximum: 8X DVD-R/RW/ROM, 4X DVD+/-R DL, RAM, 24X CD-R/RW/ROM discs Media reader4-in-1 Digital Media Manager Memory Stick® Memory Stick Pro® Multimedia Card™ Secure Digital™ modem56k ITU V.92 ready fax/modem Network 10/100 Mbps built-in Ethernet 802.11g wireless LAN Interfaces Three – USB 2.0 ports One – VGA external connector One – RJ11 One – RJ45 One – Microphone in One – Headphone/audio out One – Kensington lock slot One – AC adaptor connection Pointing devicetouchpad with vertical scroll zone Expansion slotexpresscard™ Type 54 Battery6-cell Lithium-ion dimensionsinches: 1.41 (H) × 13 (W) × 9.45 (D) Millimeters: 35.81 (H) × 330 (W) × 240 (D) Weight5.23 pounds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bynr55kM3Fs&hl=en