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| Thread ID: 75072 | 2006-12-15 07:23:00 | Which laptop to go for? | Renmoo (66) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 506857 | 2006-12-15 07:23:00 | Dear all. A friend of mine is going to pursue first-year engineering next year. She wants to buy a laptop to facilitate her study needs and has consulted me for advice on what notebook to go for. I reckon something like this would be good: -Intel Centrino 1.5 GHz clockspeed -512 MB memory -80 GB of HDD -15" display size -DVD / CD writer combo drive -A few USB ports -Integrated webcam or biometric scanner would be a plus Does anyone know of such laptop (or something similar) that is currently on offer? Cheers :) |
Renmoo (66) | ||
| 506858 | 2006-12-15 08:05:00 | I Have just completed my first year Studying Mechanical Engineering. I Have an Acer Aspire 3624 (with extra 512mb ram) and its been great. Nice and light, and not bulky so it fits in my bag great. Something to ponder, It may be helpful to get a system that can run AutoCad, as this really is great (at least for mechanical engineering anyhow). Student versions of this program can be bought for $120 (give or take a bit) and that includes Inventor (3d modeling) and Auto cad (2d). |
hsv-b0y (5210) | ||
| 506859 | 2006-12-15 08:20:00 | Thanks for the comment, hsv-b0y :) | Renmoo (66) | ||
| 506860 | 2006-12-17 05:27:00 | Dear all. A friend of mine is going to pursue first-year engineering next year. She wants to buy a laptop to facilitate her study needs and has consulted me for advice on what notebook to go for. I reckon something like this would be good: -Intel Centrino 1.5 GHz clockspeed -512 MB memory -80 GB of HDD -15" display size -DVD / CD writer combo drive -A few USB ports -Integrated webcam or biometric scanner would be a plus Does anyone know of such laptop (or something similar) that is currently on offer? Cheers :) If she is not "anti-Apple" she could try the 13" Intel Macbook which will happily run ArchiCAD, Vector Works, and a number of other apps as well as Parallels and Windows XP for those Windows only Engineering apps seminars.apple.com Apple.com/nz do very good student prices. www.apple.com She will also be virus, adware and trojan free! Hope that helps. |
winmacguy (3367) | ||
| 506861 | 2006-12-17 07:42:00 | Hiya. Her budget is about $1800. Would windows applications run perfectly well on Apple OS? I have never tried an Apple notebook before, so it is quite hard to me to give her a good recommendation (though I am pretty certain that what you had suggested is good). Intel Duo Core 2 is better than Centrino (Pentium M), right guys? Cheers :) |
Renmoo (66) | ||
| 506862 | 2006-12-17 23:36:00 | Hi JamesKan, OK looks like the basic MacBook might be a bit outside her budget of $1800 NZ unless you haven't included the cost of 2-3 years worth of Antivirus and PC tech repairs/maintenance into the purchase cost of the PC Laptop unless you daughter can get a friend to do that for free. Apple do Flexi rent which is same as Hire Purchase which could make it easier to stretch. (unless you get a good free 1 like AVG which I use at home on WinXP) Antivirus/Trojan software is not required for Mac OS X MacBook specs: * 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo * 512MB memory (upgradeable to 2GB) * 60GB hard drive1 * Combo drive Estimated Ship: within 24 hours Free Shipping NZ$ 2,079.00 Apple do some reasonable deals for students on hardware and software. They also have pretty good instore support at the Auckland Uni Computer store on Symmonds St. More details below. store.apple.com WinXP will run abosolutely fine on an Intel Macbook using Bootcamp (FREE download) and Parallels (3rd party app), from what I have read on it, it actually runs better. Your daughter will still need to install Antivirus for WinXP on the Mac though. She can also use OpenOffice software suite from www.openoffice.org which is FREE office software FULLY compatible with MS Office. I use it at home for Excel, Word etc. It saves as either WinXP format or OpenOffice format and works between Mac or PC. Yes Intel Duo Core 2 is the next generation from Centrino so it is much better. The chip runs cooler so less battery power is needed to keep it cool Hope this helps. Cheers winmacguy Note: Apple don't sell WinXP so your daughter may have to purchase a new copy or maybe re use an existing copy if she wants it on her MacBook although she would only need it for PC only versions of some apps. www.apple.com |
winmacguy (3367) | ||
| 506863 | 2006-12-17 23:38:00 | I don't work for Apple, I am just a Mac user. | winmacguy (3367) | ||
| 506864 | 2006-12-18 09:35:00 | Thanks for the detailed explanation, winmacguy. She is that sort of person who prefers to buy it from a retail shop rather than from the virtual world. Besides this, she is more familiar with Windows interface than a Mac one. Anyway, I will think about it. Cheers :) P.S. She is a friend of mine, not my daughter :P |
Renmoo (66) | ||
| 506865 | 2006-12-18 09:48:00 | Thats no problem at all. If she wants she can check out both options at HarveyNormans in Botany where they have an Apple kiosk with Apple people in store to show her the range, however if she prefers the familiarity with Windows that may be a more suitable option in the short term with regards to her student budget. Best of luck.:) winmacguy. |
winmacguy (3367) | ||
| 506866 | 2006-12-18 10:18:00 | Hi James, my supplier is currently giving me a special on some laptops. For something under $1800, I have the Acer Travelmate 4672LMi, a decent dual-core laptop. Full specs here: uk.shopping.com Pricespy's cheapest is $1800+, as seen here: www.pricespy.co.nz However, I can offer it to you for $1600 including free shipping. Do some homework on it, and tell me what you think. :) |
qazwsxokmijn (102) | ||
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