Purchasing a Laptop for College

[Tron]

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get the mac, sell it, buy a pc.

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now your talking. repeat this process a couple of times and your lappy is gratis.

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haha i would definitely do this, but unfortunately my dad is one of those "moral" people and i guess he sort of likes his job which hes worked about 25 years for.

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they're gonna check up on you to make sure you still have the mac?

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I think his father might, yeah.

[Fedfan691]

I"m in the same situation as OP, and was looking at the new intel-based macs. Will they be able to play PC games using boot camp, or will I be stuck staring at the visualizer in iTunes for entertainment?

[Tron]

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I"m in the same situation as OP, and was looking at the new intel-based macs. Will they be able to play PC games using boot camp, or will I be stuck staring at the visualizer in iTunes for entertainment?

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Yes, you will absolutely be able to boot Windows, and I do believe they are powerful enough to play CS.

[Riskwise]

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I"m in the same situation as OP, and was looking at the new intel-based macs. Will they be able to play PC games using boot camp, or will I be stuck staring at the visualizer in iTunes for entertainment?

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Yes, you will absolutely be able to boot Windows, and I do believe they are powerful enough to play CS.

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anyone know anyone who runs alot of games on a MacBook Pro with xp?

[lastchance]

Seriously, you are not going to get anything better than the MacBook Pro, performance wise, unless you do spend over $2000, and I'm serious. Passing up a MacBookPro for about $500 is absolutely insane.

Intel Core Duo is the best processor for laptops out on the market right now.
1 GB of RAM is enough for anyone right now (but you can and should happily upgrade to 2 GB 2-3 years from now)
And your mobility x1600 isn't a weak gfx card anyway.

If you do decide to pay $1000+ extra for a PC (compared to normally, where Macs more expensive), so be it. I advise strongly against it.

I also strongly suggest to wait until AMD TurionX2 (for a PC) or Merom (for the Mac) because the current processors are severely lacking at the top end compared to both of these 64-bit multi-core beasts.

And yes, my friend plays a helluva lot of games. He has Oblivion (AKA the game of death) and that runs well on a MacBookPro.

You will be able to run games on the MacBookPro, do not worry about this. Worry about 32-bit processors becoming outdated in 3-4 years. I really suggest you wait 2-3 months for Merom, it's far superior to the Core Duo. Don't fold kings preflop.

[Kraln]

If you really want to be playing games, you're going to need not just a video card that can deal, you're going to need a memory subsystem that'll handle it as well. For about $1200, you can get a dell E1705, which has a big enough screen for multiple tables (UXGA, 1600x1200!), and a beefy intel core duo with a geforce 7800. The 'rest' of this post is copypasted from slickdeals.net

Dell Home has the Inspiron E1705 2GHz Core Duo, Geforce 7800, 1GB, 17" Laptop for $1166.

1. Click here ( http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...amp;oc=e1705s2 )
2. Select the following options
* Intel Core Duo Processor T2500 (2GHz/667MHz FSB)
* 17 inch UltraSharp Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife
* 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
* Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
* 256MB NVIDA GeForce Go 7800
3. Apply coupons $S?883VHTVCZF7 and 43SHS371Z9M09R for $750 and $100 off.

I would totally go for this one.

[lastchance]

In terms of battery life and weight, the MacBookPro is superior, and I would imagine the $500 is important. (and when you get infested with spyware/viruses, you still have a nice OS to run off of).

VN catch though.

[Reef]

Avoid alienware like the plague

[Riskwise]

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If you really want to be playing games, you're going to need not just a video card that can deal, you're going to need a memory subsystem that'll handle it as well. For about $1200, you can get a dell E1705, which has a big enough screen for multiple tables (UXGA, 1600x1200!), and a beefy intel core duo with a geforce 7800. The 'rest' of this post is copypasted from slickdeals.net

Dell Home has the Inspiron E1705 2GHz Core Duo, Geforce 7800, 1GB, 17" Laptop for $1166.

1. Click here ( http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...amp;oc=e1705s2 )
2. Select the following options
* Intel Core Duo Processor T2500 (2GHz/667MHz FSB)
* 17 inch UltraSharp Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife
* 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
* Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
* 256MB NVIDA GeForce Go 7800
3. Apply coupons $S?883VHTVCZF7 and 43SHS371Z9M09R for $750 and $100 off.

I would totally go for this one.

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I wanna die. I just spoke with my dad and there is no deal anymore. He only gets 10% off, which aren't some student discounts more?

Anyways,
* Intel Core Duo Processor T2500 (2GHz/667MHz FSB)
* 17 inch UltraSharp Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife
* 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
* Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
* 256MB NVIDA GeForce Go 7800
how is that much different from the MacBook Pro?

and if i get a MacBook Pro, does anyone know what EXACTLY i have to purchase with it to be able to run xp on it?

[Fedfan691]

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Avoid alienware like the plague

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Why's that?