College Laptop (engineering major)

basilmarket.com forums : Tech Talk | 8 posts archived

thread starter 1337pope Jun 24 2010 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Alright, so I'm attending Georgia Tech in the fall, majoring in biomedical engineering, but I may change to mechanical or chemical. So, one of the most crucial decisions I must make before entering college is to pick an appropriate laptop. I've done a fair bit of research, and so far I have two options: 1) Alienware M11x with an i7- Would be good, and would just keep a monitor in my dorm for at home use. Not the cheapest option, but it is powerful. However, the batter life isn't great, and it isn't exactly sublte. 2) HP Envy 14- Not out yet, but looks promising. Not sure about the specifications, but it does look good. Brushed aluminium exterior, starts out with an i5 processor at 2.16 ghz, and dedicated graphics. If you guys have any suggestions, or recommendations, please post them. I'm not going to be able to bring my tower to college, as my case is a HAF 932...

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blizzeki + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

You could try to build your own laptop. Fairly tough but very rewarding, most hardcore game of tetris you'll ever play.

powerpwrstr 06/24/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Engineering major? I'ma have to recommend the second option. Though Alienwares are awesome computers as well, with a lighted keyboard, extensive graphics, powerful system, and sleek look. it's one of the best. M11x? Don't those last like 5-8 hours? And cost under $1k?

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skye09 06/24/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Pope...I would expect you to at least to have been better able to find something better than the fail that is the M11x, and I would also expect for you to be able to have told us in your OP what we always ask for, like budget, uses, needs, softwares, etc, etc...

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1337pope + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Haha, I wrote this at 4 o clock in the morning. And I haven't posted here in a while... kinda flattered you remember me As for budget, anything around $1000 US. I also had the same initial impression of the alienware, but it's quite an impressive machine, being so tiny yet being able to house an overclockable quad core i7. I might do a bit of light gaming, like playing some source games, nothing like BFBC2 Uses, I might need to use it for autocad, since I might be into biomechanical systems. But I doubt that GT would need for us to have that powerful of a graphics card, and most engieneering programs utilize the cpu more than the gpu. Other than that, just have it have a good battery life, good resultion (not like those toshibas with 1366X768 on a 16" screen), and preferably an i5 that I can overclock or an i7. Edit: and yeah, the M11x has a pretty good battery life, but that's with the core 2 duo. With an i7, I expect it to be around 3-4 hours during regular use, maybe less when gaming.

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skye09 06/24/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Were I you, I would worry a little less about overclocking; and worry more about overall performance. Sure the i7-640UM is overclockable, but its a dual core running at 1.2Ghz stock. If youre going to be doing number crunching or rendering, or anything requiring a bit performance, I would think it would behoove you to get something a bit faster. I would looking into the i7- LM series, as while their TDP is slightly higher, they should be noticeably faster. At a budget of around $1000 though, something will likely have to give. If youre going to be using software like AutoCAD, or CAD based software, then you may want at least a decent GPU. Finding a laptop with "good" ( whats good? ) battery life, good resolution ( as in like 1680*1050 ? ), as well as good under the hood power will be feat to say the least. Something will need to be compromised; likely the GPU and/or resolution.

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1337pope 06/24/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Well, here's what I was thinking I thought that the alienware had the i7 LM, but I'll have to check on that later... The thing about overclocking is is that I want it to stay a bit below boost at acceptable temperature ranges. And I know that I will have to budge the 1000 dollar budget, but I'm anticipating student discounts and other add ons will reduce the price a lot.That's why I said around a thousand bucks. Hell, HP had a 25% bing cashback promotion a few weeks ago, a long with a 100 dollar coupon. Couple that with student promotions, and I can be a pretty good laptop for cheap. And as for the GPU, I know I need something decent, just nothing like the 5870M. Probably a 335 mobile would be enough. I'm definitely not gonna run intel XD As for battery life, around 5-8 hours would be good. But that's where I think being able to switch from dedicated to integrated would come in handy, as it would save me battery life. As for resolution, I want something that is good for the size, unlike the toshibas specs I listed previously.

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djpinc19 06/24/10 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Unless you are taking upper courses, you don't need a render-farm for simulations. Heck the Pentium 4 computers our undergrads use is enough to crunch numbers. You'll be seeing 3 years until a serious system is probably needed.

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