SRL Archive - News and General

Hello, I was wondering which laptop should I invest in. Budget is about $1100 or so. Wanted to get the new Mac, but I don't think that be a smart choice since I will be dealing with SQL/Putty/VB and such or is it?

Let me know!

Hmm I am also doing CompSci, I bought this
IdeaPad Y570 Laptop - 08626TU - Dusk Black (with USB 3.0)

Lenovo Y570

Buy a mac, dual boot it with windows.

Mac isn't worth it, you're paying for the NAME. You could get a custom one for a few 100$ less.

IMO, Macs don't benefit anyone except for people who are more into media streaming and video editing. If you want a laptop that will benefit you when running and writing programs, go to a future shop or best buy near you and they will give you advice on the computer that best meets your needs.

If you can, wait for lenovo t430. Powerful, reliable, pretty cheap and nice form factor.

Go to Best buy and speak to the "Geek Squad" and I bet they will point to the right direction of your needs and budget..

geek squad will point you to the place you can waste most of your money.

Trust me pinky on the t430

I got an HP Pavilion for 559$ and am really pleased with it.
Running 2 bots, photoshop, + bunch of other programs all at once with no lag.

Best buy is the way to go! Like it was said previously.

Looks like the lenovo have some pretty good computers, are they reliable? I've never heard of that brand before.

Personally for ~$250 more I think you should watch the Dell Outlet for an XPS 17 or 15 (I personally have the XPS17-L702). When I purchased mine I got an $1800 laptop for ~$1300 and have been extremely happy with it. Full HD screen, Nvidia 555M, HDMI, USB 3.0 + 2.0, backlit keyboard, and the best part about it, a three year, accidental damage warranty. I could accidently spill a cup of coffee on this thing and Dell has to replace it. Also, it's aluminum.

Edit: Stay away from "Worst" Buy. Some of the biggest rip-offs you will ever find. They could talk you into spending $1100 on a Compaq with a Semptron Processor in it.

leonovo is ibm (rebranded).

They are very reliable, I have a laptop t61 which is nearly 10 years old still works today and i can run solid works on it just fine. If you have seen top gear or any race footage from nascar/indycar/f1 you can see all the laptop are ibm/thinkpad/lenovo.



Lenovo is like linux, macbook, gateway is like mac and asus,hp,dell is like windows.

From: Main
Lenovo is like linux, macbook, gateway is like mac and asus,hp,dell is like windows.

This doesn't make sense. Could you elaborate more please?

lenovo is for hardcore users:)

Go to any university's engineering faculty, and see what laptop the profs are using.

From: Main
lenovo is for hardcore users:)

Go to any university's engineering faculty, and see what laptop the profs are using.

That didn't answer the question, but okay.

I didn't understand how you applied Linux to Lenovo, MacBook, and then applied Mac to Gateway, and then applied Windows to Dell, Asus, and HP.

Is Gateway still around? Haven't heard of them since the late 90's haha.

I actually owns a new gateway laptop:)

What I mean is
Laptop company -> OS
Lenovo -> Linux
Dell, HP, Asus, Acer -> Windows
Gateway, Macbook -> IOS

Personally I have never tried Linux simply because I don't need the hassle and that it is so much simpler to simply put in the disk and install Windows in 45 minutes and then have Microsoft automatically detect my hardware and download compatible drivers (although I will admit sometimes you have to search for better ones).

From what I have just read it all comes down to personal choice and customer service. I have nothing bad to say about Dell at this point and I cannot speak on Lenovo. I can remember that the last engineering class I took we used Dell Desktop computers (This was a CAD class in high school).

In my opinion, Apple has started getting a lot more competitive on price. 2 years ago if you bought one of there computers you'd be paying quite a bit over another similar laptop, but year over year they improve specs in there laptops without raising price. You buy a PC for around $1000 and you're trying to sell it 3 years later, you're gonna get $100 maybe $200 out of it. You buy a MacBook for $1000 you're trying to sell it 3 years later you freaking sell that thank for $500 closer to $600. You can't compete with resale value of apple products.

SQL will work fine on a MacBook, even comes with MySQL installed, putty is just telnet and ssh which is baked into your bash shell. As for VB, why is your compsci program teaching you VB?

My suggestion would be to get a 15" or 14" screen, I've found 17 and up to be too bulky.

Go on Kijiji or Craigslist… there's some sweet custom ones on there. I got mine for $150 and its got
windows 7 64 bit
160GB HD
4GB RAM
Dual core processor
and a 15" screen

it works like a charm… but I only got this because I don't have a lot of money- nobody in my family does… :( :( I'm impoverished!
Donate to me pl0x!!@@!@!!

From: Joe
Go on Kijiji or Craigslist… there's some sweet custom ones on there. I got mine for $150 and its got
windows 7 64 bit
160GB HD
4GB RAM
Dual core processor
and a 15" screen

it works like a charm… but I only got this because I don't have a lot of money- nobody in my family does… :( :( I'm impoverished!
Donate to me pl0x!!@@!@!!

Im poor as well, but my grandparents trust (he's a rich bastard) covers school costs for me! :garfield:

@cause: Yea I will agree. The XPS17 is like 7.5 lbs and if you aren't used to carrying around that extra weight it is extremely noticeable! But the 17 in screen seems like it allows you to do so many more things at once!

Not sure how many of the replies you've gotten are individuals with first hand knowledge of a Comp Sci program - or jobs there after, so figured I'd throw in my 2c.

Before I jump in - I'll point out that I use Windows 7 for my main desktop (i7-2600k, 16GB RAM, 64GB SSD, 1TB HD) and my netbook runs Ubuntu (Shitty specs that I won't bother listing). I've been notably anti-mac for years (Don't stop reading yet)


For one - Do *Not* get a netbook for school if you're going into Comp Sci - that was a bad decision on my part and I can't do crap on it. I love the fact that it's easy to tote around and weighs nothing - but I can't do any heavy development at all with it, which is why I built my desktop recently. My comp sci classmates almost all had non-Mac laptops, apart from maybe the odd one or two - and most were given crap if they did use a mac originally. However, you'll notice that a lot of really good developers are starting to use Macs more recently - and actually during one of my interviews at a company out in Silicon Valley (Not the one I got hired out) the engineers specifically stated "We don't anything in here that isn't a mac - except for once, someone came in with a laptop that had Puppy Linux on it." Almost every startup I went to was using macs, and when I went to DerbyCon last year - every. single. speaker. had a mac. Why? A multitude of reasons, yes - they're more pricey, but you generally get very good support with it, it's *nix based so you have shell access which makes things nice, and you can't develop for Apple products (read: iPhone) unless you have a mac - and I'm sure there are other reasons.

I'm not saying go buy a mac - but definitely take it into consideration with what you plan to be working on. Most development I did in CS that was actually school related was not platform specific - so you could get away with either a windows or a mac - and actually a mac may have been a bit easier since we did a lot of work from a shell and it would have saved me from having to SSH into the school machines for access to that every time.

The question you should really be asking yourself is what kind of development you want to get into. I do a lot of mobile development - but so far it's just been Android since I haven't purchased a Mac yet (Will soon once I get some spare cash), but then I can start developing for iPhones and double my reach. Plus you just plain look like a complete oddball when everything else is Apple in Silicon Valley lol.

Not trying to be offensive and all.. but being a cs major, shouldn't you know this :P?

OMG PINKY!! You are studying compsci now? Tell me things!… Now i will go back and read the thread i completely skipped over and have my question answered for me :)

For me i went with 15'' screen because at Carleton University I can just hook that shit up to random monitors in labs.

My comp is a beast for $900. can run 6-8 bots on an i7

The model is NV57H13h check if it is still worth it man!

And if you are doing Comp-Sci I'd definitally go Windows. Chances are you are going to be using Microsoft/Linux, unless you take a class on mobile apps or something.

Good Luck Pinky! I'm almost done school myself! (only 1.5 more semesters to go) :)

Definitely don't go for a mac (unless you don't mind wasting money) - like Shay said it's for the name, and so far in my university programming experiences, windows is actually more intuitive when running editors for more advanced programming, and PuTTy is the same everywhere, SQL honestly I've done most of my work on Access - Windows computers are good for university, I'm currently using Sony Vaio F-series i5 (2.27gHz), 4GB DDR2 RAM, it's a bit more expensive but it's lasted me through 3 years of gaming + programming and the customer service is good.
If brands aren't your concern, nowadays I'd try to find an i7 laptop with 6GB RAM+ to keep up with innovation for your university years. I know for a fact Gateway computers are cheaper, but still provide decent specs. Asus, Lenovo, Vaio are all good choices too.

Lenovo is great. They are basically newer versions of the IBM Thinkpads - they never break. But I've had decent success with my Asus as well, and it's very cheap.

Don't get anything bigger than 15". Not worth it.

From: Main
leonovo is ibm (rebranded).

They are very reliable, I have a laptop t61 which is nearly 10 years old still works today and i can run solid works on it just fine. If you have seen top gear or any race footage from nascar/indycar/f1 you can see all the laptop are ibm/thinkpad/lenovo.



Lenovo is like linux, macbook, gateway is like mac and asus,hp,dell is like windows.

My Dad has a Lenovo T60 or 61 for about 5 years+ and I had a t41 for about 7 years lol until the screen went blanked on me. No doubt Lenovo is probably one of the best I have seen. Thanks I will look into the link you had posted along with the model #.

From: Metagen
OMG PINKY!! You are studying compsci now? Tell me things!… Now i will go back and read the thread i completely skipped over and have my question answered for me :)

For me i went with 15'' screen because at Carleton University I can just hook that shit up to random monitors in labs.

My comp is a beast for $900. can run 6-8 bots on an i7

The model is NV57H13h check if it is still worth it man!

And if you are doing Comp-Sci I'd definitally go Windows. Chances are you are going to be using Microsoft/Linux, unless you take a class on mobile apps or something.

Good Luck Pinky! I'm almost done school myself! (only 1.5 more semesters to go) :)

Hahah yes, same here I have about 2 years left :/ done all basics have transferred to Texas A&M :)

hi pinky

if you can get lenovo
t420,t430,t510,w510 they would be ideal.
But tbh any i5 or i3 2330m should do the trick:)

Cool my old colleague graduated from there. :p

he has a big red mug to prove it

texas a and m is a awsome school for technology:)