buying notebook: when will it be obsolete?

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Bernard Arnest

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Hi,
I will be entering college next year. I'm shopping for a notebook pc, and in particular, of the ibm T series because my college offers discounts on it, as well as what I've heard of its reputation for quality.

I am tempted to invest in a higher-powered configuration, with one of the faster processors and extra memory, etc., largely, admittedly, out of personal computer machoism. Immediately, my demands are not so very great. I'm not even a gamer at all.

In the coming years? I don't know what I'll get into. High school has demanded only email, internet explorer, and microsoft word. In college? 3D CAD? Extensive photoshop? I'll probably also use my laptop as my exclusive tv. I intend to be an engineer: mechanical, materials, chemical, nuclear, aero & astro, or a physics major, or a double major with any two. I honestly don't know how much I may want to demand of my notebook in 3 or 4 years or how much will be done in campus computer labs instead.

First, do you think that I will find that I do indeed require a faster computer in the coming years?

And, is it likely that the premium for a 1.83 GHz processor today will drop significantly in the next few years, making that price paid today a waste? That extra memory cards will no longer be a hundred or even hundreds of dollars, so looking for a 512Mb or 1Gb configured laptop now is also a waste? And so I should buy a mid or bottom-of-the-line notebook this summer, use it for as long as I can, and then when I absolutely require the speed, I'll just hand off the cheaper notebook and buy a far higher-performance next-generation notebook in 3-4 years?

Or, will these things not improve so drastically in price or performance in just a few years, and so a faster laptop now would be a solid investment, insuring that I won't need to trade up all too soon, and neither will I feel cheated that processors or memory are suddenly going to be 1/2 the cost in 3-4 yrs?

In summary: as an incoming college freshman, should I shop low-cost, low-performance, or high-cost, high performance just now? High-cost, high-performance is affordable for my family, if it is a wise value right now.


thanks for your advice on this decision!

-Bernard Arnest
 
If you are going into Engineering, I'd suggest something with quite a bit of power, as lots of the applications like CAD/MatLab/Simulink all require lots of CPU power and memory.

Having said that, I don't think getting the best laptop around is going to be the best value for money. Something at around a 1.6Ghz Mobile CPU with 512 Ram should run almost anything and would cost around £600 (not sure how many USD$). Although not great for gaming, it would be ideal for word/internet/excel/TV tuner and will run CAD/Photoshop fairly happily. If the time comes, you can easily add another 512MB stick inside.

If you opted for a 1.83Ghz Mobile CPU and 1GB Ram, you'd probably pay 60% extra for a performance increase of 20%. I'd stick for a low-mid end laptop which should be reasonably priced - the amount you save will almost be enough to buy another one after a couple of years if it wasn't good enough at that time (I doubt that though!).

All the best with your College course!
 
look for lots of RAM 1GB atleast and a fast CPU, toshiba A60 pro series are good and reasonably cheap
 
I agree with what Ian said. I am a laptop user exclusively for my office where I need to use most of the software including AutoCad. I bought the T41 in April 2004 and I am very happy with its performance, it not the high spec one but more or less I paid around $2,000 as I had opted for additional 256 stick(256 was standard then but now 512 is)

The average life of the Laptop is 2-3 years and if you really push it you may be using it in the fourth year but not good enough for the software of the day. Today If I use a Laptop which was 4 years old I would hardly be able to get any work done as it would be too slow for the current software.

Assuming you will need power at the end of the 3rd year, buying something powerful today would almost certainly be obsolete by that time. Therefore, if you spend top $$$ today I am afraid it would be wasting it.

How about you going for the mid to high end R series of IBM, spec wise it is as good as the T series and you would save some money. 2 years down the line you can flog it and get the top of the line T series one which will take you into your 4th year as well. This way you will always be having a powerful computer which will not let you down no matter what software you are using.
 
Thanks for the advice! I'm going with a smaller, lighter, cheaper model, which will be $700 less than what I was looking at before. Half the ram, slightly slower processor, smaller screen and cheaper video card, but you're right, those extras aren't worth the $700.

A couple quick questions before I finalize my decision, then:

under CD/DVD type, it says "DVD multi." Can it then write DVDs, something that is important to me?

is it worth $80 to get the model with a 14.1" display and 1400 X 1050 resolution, as opposed to the same size display but with just 1024 X 768? The former also has a 30% larger hard-drive for that $80, but as I'll never use a fraction of my hard-drive anyway, that's irrelevant and the value of the higher-resolution screen is the only factor to consider.

finally, is $1744 still too much to spend on a computer right now? Should I look beyond the college-offered IBM discounts? They also offer some discounts on dell, apple, and hp; only the selection for hp is very limited, and I've heard many good things about the quality + service of ibm vs. dell.



thanks
 
Never ACER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
The higher resolution display can make things smaller, the additional space can come handy for cad/cam applications as well as photoshop, if you think you need it go for it.

DVD Multi seems to indicate it can read and write as well, check the spec in more detail what does the speed indicate.

$1,500 to $2,000 is a resonable budget for a decent spec machine anything lower is a compromise and anything higher is like having frills attached.

Can you state the model you intend to get?
 
Lenovo Commercial Systems
Acad. ThinkPad T43 Centrino PM 760 2.0GHz 2MB L2 533MzFS 512MB 80GB DVDR 56K NIC 802.11abg 14.1" XPP
Audio
Audio Output Type Integrated

General
Chassis Form Factor Portable
CD/DVD Type DVD Multi
Input Device Type Keyboard
Input Device Type Touchpad
Input Device Type TrackPoint
Input Device Type UltraNav
Mobile Technology Intel Centrino
Weight 4.9 lbs
Model ThinkPad T43

Memory
Maximum RAM 2 GB
RAM Technology DDR2 SDRAM
Installed Cache Memory 2 MB
Installed RAM 512 MB

Modem
Modem Protocol V.92
Modem Transfer Rate 56 Kbps
Modem Type Fax
Modem Type Modem (analog)

Networking
Networking Protocol Gigabit Ethernet
Networking Protocol IEEE 802.11a
Networking Protocol IEEE 802.11b
Networking Protocol IEEE 802.11g

Operating System
OS Provided Win XP Pro

Optical Drive Information
CD/DVD Read Speed 4X

Power
Battery Average Run Time 3.8 hour(s)
Battery Technology Lithium ion

Processor
Data Bus Speed 533 MHz
Processor Manufacturer Intel
Processor Speed 2 GHz
Processor Type Pentium M
Processor Model Number 760

Storage
Spindle Speed 5400 rpm
Hard Drive Capacity 80 GB

Video
Video Card ATI Mobility Radeon X300
Display Size 14.1 in.
Display Technology LCD
Color Support 16 million colors
Installed Video Memory 64 MB
Max Resolution 1400 x 1050



Actual Weight hide/show



4.9 lbs.




Contents hide/show



Notebook, AC adapter, Li-Ion battery, software, documentation




Memory Notes hide/show



512MB PC2-4200 DDR 533MHz, expandable to 2GB.
There are two (2) SODMM slots. One is occupied by a removeable 512MB module and the other is available. To achieve maximum memory, the original chip MUST be replaced.

Video memory: 64MB




O/S Notes hide/show



Microsoft Windows XP Professional is pre-installed.




Ports/Connectors hide/show



One Type II PC Card slot
One ExpressCard/54 slot

I/O:
(1) Microphone
(1) Headphone
(1) Audio out
(1) Enhanced parallel
(1) External display
(1) RJ-11
(1) RJ-45
(1) IR
(2) USB 2.0
(1) S-Video Out (TV out)
(1) Expansion Bus port (for Dock II/Mini Dock or Port Replicator II)




Power Notes hide/show



Battery type: 6-cell 10.8 V, 4.4 Ah rechargeable Li-Ion
Battery life: 3.8 hours
Battery recharge time (off/on): 3.6 hrs./3.6 hrs. to 6 hrs.
72W Universal AC adapter:
- Input: 100/240V ac, 1.4/0.70 A, 50/60Hz
- Output: 16V dc, 4.5 A




Warranty - Labor hide/show



3 Years




Warranty - Parts hide/show



3 Years
 
Ok, those are all the specs. That's the one with the better resolution/larger hard drive, it's $1824. Is that a reasonable deal?

I'm figuring $20 for a mouse, $40-$50 for a case, and $156 for microsoft office professional academic (apparently the same as professional, just with an educational discount? Or, $134 for the student/teacher office, which lacks outlook, publisher, and access, if I might need those for the $22 difference?). That works out to $2050 total.
 
One thing I like is that the memory occupies just one slot, so for $120 I can buy a 512 ddr2 memory chip and double to 1 Gb. But I don't think I'll need it, and by the time I do need it, maybe it will be time to buy a new laptop with a faster processor anyway?
 
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