hdragon

I will be living off campus this year, so i decided to get a laptop, just a for the sake of it . I look over dell website and thought they have the monthly payment option. ( If anyone has done it, could u tell me more then). Well, im not sure if i should get a laptop from dell. As far as i know, dell is more expensive, and i wouldnt want to spent too much money on something that i could get it somewhere cheaper.

I was thinking about a gaming laptop, since im majoring in computer science, and i need a strong graphic computer. Any advice would be appreciated.

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indigo0086

You need a computer with a nice video card and processor if you're doing game design, but moreso for gaming. I'm doing comp sci and most of the stuff I'm doing (in class at least) doesn't require substantial amount of computing power.

hdragon

Well, i have a desktop already, but bc im living off campus, i wouldnt want to waste time to go back and forth from my place to school. School's computer's graphic is not that great for graphic, so i wouldnt bother to work with it. So many restriction put on the school's computer anyways.

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indigo0086

Can't you bring your desktop to your dorm? If you want a gaming pc then you should get one, but having a nice gaming pc and being in comp sci aren't mutually exclusive. I'd just get one because it would last you many years in the future.

hdragon

well, i will bring my comp to my apartment. But i would only spend most of my time in school, instead of going home. The laptop is a secondary tool to work and play.

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indigo0086

You could check out Alienware they are specifically designed for games, but dell has a lineup for gaming, and Alienware is kind of expensive. Just make sure you try and get a dual (possibly quad) core pc and you'll be gaming quite well.

abachler

Dell has the best technical support. If you intend to do your own technical support, then any old brand is ok. We use Dell at work, because if a system goes down we want it fixed asap.

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QuestionC

• Any modern notebook will probably be able to handle anything you do as part of a computer science major... even if you do a lot of graphics projects.
• Dell will rip you off. I have had good experiences with using Staples Laptops
• Pay close attention to the battery you get, it matters. You don't want to buy a laptop with, say, a 4-cell battery.

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JaWiB

I've had good experiences with Dell (I have a Latitude D820). Their prices seemed reasonable to me, too.

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Bubba

Simply not true. Most notebooks lag far behind in the graphic card department because most notebook users are not using them for graphics. Besides where there is speed as in a next gen graphics card there is heat and a lot of it. I've seen the fan on my video card and I'm not sure a smaller more compact version of it would even be possible given the amount of heat it would put out.

I don't know what your courses will require you to do but my guess is it won't consist of shaders or any large projects which require a lot of graphics. So in that sense a notebook should suit your needs. But if the projects get large or complex or use modern technologies like shaders, post processing effects, floating point render targets, branched shaders, etc, etc.....then a laptop/notebook most certainly will be inadequate. Based on the lame college projects I've seen in my stay here at cprog you should be ok. Unless of course you are attending Full Sail or something. Computer Science is not about graphics and not about games. Far from it.

QuestionC

I should probably back up my "Dell will rip you off" claim. I picked the cheapest laptop I could find from Dell's catalog "As Advertised" section, and compared it to the first close price laptop I could find on Staples.

HP Pavilion DV9540US Notebook PC vs Dell XPS M1330

• Both cost 1,299
• Both use Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5250
• HP comes w/ 2 Gigs of memory. Dell only has 1 Gig. I don't have timing info.
• HP comes w/ 240 GB hard drive. Dell only has 120GB. Both are 5400 RPM.
• Dell comes with a 2 Megapixel Webcam
• HP comes with a 17 Inch display. Dell comes with a 13.3 inch display.
• HP comes with Vista Premium. Dell comes with Vista Home.
• HP comes with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS. Dell comes with a Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100.
• HP Comes with an 8-Cell Battery. Dell comes with a 4-Cell Battery.
• Both come with a 1 year warranty.
• Couldn't really get meaningful details on their DVD burners or Sound

Now, I know this is just an anecdotal comparison, but even then... the comparison sides overwhelmingly against Dell. And it's so arbitrarily easy to find examples like this.

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Sentral

I can't believe people actually buy into this Dell bull.........

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mike_g

I was looking at the HP laptops in staples the other day. Was tempted to buy one too. They had a nice design and screen. When buying a laptop make sure it has a good screen, mine sucks

Also try and get as long a warranty as possible. Laptop components can be difficult and expensive to replace. The batteries also tend to die.

Rashakil Fol

Wait: Are you agreeing or are you disagreeing with QuestionC?

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prog-bman

I think he was not not agreeing.