$950 to spend on a laptop, which one?

How about the Lenovo IdeaPad Y450 – 418939U (Third from left). I’ve had a ThinkPad for a few years and I’m thoroughly pleased with the build quality and performance. This one looks like it has really good specs and starts at about $900(US).

Of course you could buy one with less ram and add more yourself (which is sometimes cheaper)

I just bought the asus G50 and it’s performance is outstanding. THe screen is 15.6”, but it was really cheap. Just get a refurbished one from tigerdirect.com. Mine was $970 with a $168 extended coverage plan.

2.13 Intel core 2 duo
512 MB video memory
4 GB RAM
And lots of freaking amzing software

OK, one of the coolest things I have ever seen on a laptop – a secondary operating system that takes 5 sec to boot and lets you look at pics, listen to music, IM, talk on Skype, and even surf the web and use flash content! It hardly uses the hard drive, so you don’t have to worry about damaging it while moving around. It is really cool check it out.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=4786505&sku=F12-150009&srkey=G50

If you want pure portability Acer’s Timeline might work for you. This one def veers toward portability and battery over power, but it should handle your tasks.

There’s also Lenovo’s Thinkpad T400 which will be powerfull and reasonably portable, its a brick in all the good ways.

These I think at the pricepoint and what you need it for will meet what you need one way or another. I would go toward the T400 cause the timeline only has a core solo chip, it’s powerfull and uses very little power but you’ll notice the limitation of power. The T400 on the other hand will have no issues with power, I have several coworkers that use them and they are a decent all around balance and more durable and much better quality then any hp/dell/whatever.

Student discount price on macbook = $950

I strongly recommend. People don’t switch from Mac to PC, only from PC to Mac. I think that says something.

@tramnineteen It sais that Apple is very good at locking down their customers into their ecosystem and makes it very hard to leave. There is also the brainwashing.

@InspecterJones I don’t see how we are locked down any more than a windows user is. Also I call bullshit on brainwashing. That’s just trying to explain it away.

@tramnineteen Thats the brainwashing talking so I forgive you :P

The way I see Apple’s business plan is that their products will be much more elegant and beautifully designed, but these benefits come at a price premium that I am unable and unwilling to pay, so I settle for PCs, miss the beauty, but get more or less the same results.

@pdworkin one thing you should look at is if the company is offering free Win 7 upgrades, I know HP and Sony are, not sure if the others starter. I gotta tell ya, I’m running Win 7 on my Vaio Z and its freaking amazing. Pretty soon people might actually say that they own a Windows computer with pride.

I have preordered Win 7 for my three computers, from Amazon. I have also tried it on a virtual Machine, and it seemed to be what Vista should have been.

@pdworkin Well, I think Vista got rushed to market and what Vista was supposed to be is what Windows 7 is now. Either way, if they had released it back then, it would not have been nearly as good. I’m still keeping Vista on an separate partition because my laptop is my work machine but otherwise Win 7 is gonna be my main OS now. I know this has never been said about something made by Microsoft but it kind of “just works”.

Is Win 7 out now? Installed on new computers?

Anyone like Dell or HP laptops?

@daloon No, just the Release Canidate, which gets deactivated sometime next year. The retail copy comes out in October I think. (just in time for halloween, oooooooo SCARY!)

@daloon The RTM Version of Windows 7 has been released to manufacturers and technet subscribers, but normal folk don’t have a legal way of getting it yet. However, most companies will be offering free Win 7 upgrade paths, so I would check to make sure before buying.

@tramnineteen

People do, however, switch from Mac to Linux.

Definitely not a Mac. For the price you can get a way better PC. Macs are only about looking good. Had it not been for Microsoft Apple probably would have failed. Plus when you buy a Windows computer you will be able to get Windows 7 for free when it comes out. Please save yourself from buying a Failbook and go with a PC.

I’m probably weird, but I really don’t like the Mac OS. I can’t stand not right clicking, and I’m so used to Windows’ hotkeys already, also having a taskbar is a must, I need to see how many windows I have open.

I saw the HP’s ProBook 4310s, which has:
Intel Core2 Duo T6670 2.2GHz 2M cache
250GB, 7200rpm
4GB DDR3
DVDRW DL Light Scribe
13.3” LED-BL anti-glare
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 discrete graphics
Wi-Fi (didn’t say if a/g/n or just a/g)
for US$952 (HK$7320)
Worth it?

@tramnineteen I switched from Mac to PC. I used to love Mac OS, but after living it with a few years, it really began to piss me off. Now I have a beautiful ASUS Republic of Gamers laptop (even though I’m not a gamer—I just use it for my my graphic-intensive photoshop/design)

Oh, and for the recommendation, I just bought an ASUS Republic of Gamers G51VX-RX05 Laptop, so if you could shell out a little more money, get something that is truly a quality product It does HD movies with no trouble and is generally VERY powerful. The only cons would be its large size and low battery life.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9366651&type=product&id=1218092150636

I don’t know, but check out Office Depot, they seemed to have some really good deals last time I saw a paper.