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I was wondering if people could post suggestions or tips on a new laptop. I am planning to buy one for my last year in high school for what i take a computer programming course, but i also don't want it to be a piece of crap because i plan to use it for a long time.

I don't really know much about computer specs, so any info on that, or really any info, will be a lot of help.

From: blother
I was wondering if people could post suggestions or tips on a new laptop. I am planning to buy one for my last year in high school for what i take a computer programming course, but i also don't want it to be a piece of crap because i plan to use it for a long time.

I don't really know much about computer specs, so any info on that, or really any info, will be a lot of help.

You need to know what you want to do with your laptop. If you want to use it for internet and personal things, any laptop over 500$ will do the job. If you want a laptop for multi-tasking, you maybe want to spend more around 700-1000$ for a laptop and if you want some really good laptop that will also work for gaming, you can pay between 1250 up to 3000 for a laptop depending if you want to play in high detail or low detail in games like Battlefield 3. I would personally go for Gaming Laptop as they offer durability and power and I highly recommend laptop from Alienware.

Some don't like them, Some say it isn't the best anymore, but no matter what people say, they are one of the first company that started to make Gaming Laptop and they have some really nice and Cheap Laptop that will allow you to do whatever you want with it.

if you want good investment buy Dell Inspiron R17 or R15, they both cost $899.99 on Dell's side and have 8GB RAM, good GFX card and i7 2670 qm, that is good investment for the specs, I paid $2k usd for my XPS a year ago and altho its slower than that system I just posted, it runs many games well and its pretty fast.

I plan on buying a gaming laptop, but i'm not positive yet. I want to be able to run games well, and do all other computer related tasks fast and easy. I am currently thinking around $1,500, but maybe more as i am hoping to have it for a while. Especially if i do a lot with computers in college.

My opinion is this:

Gaming == desktops

Portability == laptops

Don't buy a laptop and expect it to play games on full res + all settings on max.

Laptops are extremely expensive for what you get, and the quality is lower. You can buy a desktop that will be SUBSTANTIALLY BETTER than a laptop, for A LOT CHEAPER.

Also: Every single person I know of, that has bought a gaming laptop (5+ people, myself included; ranging from alienware to asus to dell) has had overheating problems.

Conclusion:
If you want power, go desktop; it's cheaper, and more powerful.
If you want mediocre battery time, heating issues, and portability; go "gaming" laptop.
If you want what a laptop SHOULD be used for, get one with a 15 inch screen, an i5, 4gb of ram, and make sure it has good battery life.

Now, I'm not saying laptops are bad, on the contrary, they're great, just not for gaming. If you are going to get a laptop, I recommend an Ultrabook (from notebook to netbook to ultrabook). Or a "regular" notebook, with "medium" specs, so it doesn't overheat.

My experience:

Gaming laptop, lots of friends with them.
A netbook
Built my own gaming desktop for under $700
I'm also pursuing a computer engineering degree :)

From: Zaros
My opinion is this:

Gaming == desktops

Portability == laptops

Don't buy a laptop and expect it to play games on full res + all settings on max.

Laptops are extremely expensive for what you get, and the quality is lower. You can buy a desktop that will be SUBSTANTIALLY BETTER than a laptop, for A LOT CHEAPER.

Also: Every single person I know of, that has bought a gaming laptop (5+ people, ranging from alienware to asus to dell) has had overheating problems.

Conclusion:
If you want power, go desktop; it's cheaper, and more powerful.
If you want mediocre battery time, heating issues, and portability; go "gaming" laptop.
If you want what a laptop SHOULD be used for, get one with a 15 inch screen, an i5, 4gb of ram, and make sure it has good battery life.

Now, I'm not saying laptops are bad, on the contrary, they're great, just not for gaming. If you are going to get a laptop, I recommend an Ultrabook (from notebook to netbook to ultrabook). Or a "regular" notebook, with "medium" specs, so it doesn't overheat.

My experience:

Gaming laptop, lots of friends with them.
A netbook
Built my own gaming desktop for under $700
I'm also pursuing a computer engineering degree :)

I definitely agree with desktops being overall better, but i really want the portability, with stability, and power. Hopefully i can get as close to the best of both (or all) worlds, but i have time to figure it out.

Just do your homework on the overheating issues.

Also: Save your money and get an i5 over an i7, the only difference is hyperthreading and 100mhz.