Buying a laptop for college. Tell me what you think
I have been considering both of these options:
Thinkpad x230t (Convertible Tablet)
• Intel Core i5-3320M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.30 GHz)
• Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)
• 12.5" Multitouch HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Mobile Broadband Ready, 3x3 Antenna
• 4 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (1 DIMM)
• UltraNav™ with TrackPoint® and buttonless multi-touchpad
• 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
• No Optical Drive
• 6 Cell ThinkPad Battery X67+
• None
• Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2200 (2x2 BGN)
• Mobile Broadband upgradable
• 1 Year Depot/Express Warranty
About $1100 with student discounts
Thinkpad t530
• Intel Core i5-3320M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.30 GHz)
• Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)
• 15.6" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
• NVIDIA NVS 5400M Graphics with Optimus Technology, 1GB DDR3 Memory
• 4 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (1 DIMM)
• UltraNav without Fingerprint Reader
• 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
• DVD Recordable
• 9 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70++
• None
• Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2200 (2x2 BGN)
• Mobile Broadband upgradable
• 1 Year Depot/Express Warranty
About $850 with the current 3 day sale that is going on
I have been trying to decide if I really want the Convertible tablet. I think it is a really cool feature, I am just not sure it is worth $300 to me.
I also can't if I want the t530 if I want to get the 1600x900 res (For the $850 price) or the 1920x1080 (For an additional $150)
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Thinkpad x230t (Convertible Tablet)
• Intel Core i5-3320M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.30 GHz)
• Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)
• 12.5" Multitouch HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Mobile Broadband Ready, 3x3 Antenna
• 4 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (1 DIMM)
• UltraNav™ with TrackPoint® and buttonless multi-touchpad
• 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
• No Optical Drive
• 6 Cell ThinkPad Battery X67+
• None
• Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2200 (2x2 BGN)
• Mobile Broadband upgradable
• 1 Year Depot/Express Warranty
About $1100 with student discounts
Thinkpad t530
• Intel Core i5-3320M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.30 GHz)
• Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)
• 15.6" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
• NVIDIA NVS 5400M Graphics with Optimus Technology, 1GB DDR3 Memory
• 4 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (1 DIMM)
• UltraNav without Fingerprint Reader
• 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
• DVD Recordable
• 9 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70++
• None
• Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2200 (2x2 BGN)
• Mobile Broadband upgradable
• 1 Year Depot/Express Warranty
About $850 with the current 3 day sale that is going on
I have been trying to decide if I really want the Convertible tablet. I think it is a really cool feature, I am just not sure it is worth $300 to me.
I also can't if I want the t530 if I want to get the 1600x900 res (For the $850 price) or the 1920x1080 (For an additional $150)
Thoughts? Suggestions?
0
Comments
Your college / specific program may have suggestions for laptop minimum specs to buy as well.
I will look to see what they recommend.
•Intel® Core™ i5-540M (2.53 GHz, 3M) with Turbo Boost Technology
•Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 3
•4.0GB, DDR3-1333 SDRAM, 2 DIMMS
•512MB NVIDIA NVS 3100M discrete graphics with ExpressCard
The second one will do you well I think, better if you have poorer vision also. It will be a bit bulkkier, but for classes you might want the bigger keyboard. I have a 1600X900 15.6" screen here, poorer vision, and it is adequate enough for my needs including photo editing. I do not game.
Thinkpad x230t (Convertible Tablet)
Starting at 1.66kg (3.67lbs)
Slim External Battery Pack (157 Wh) − up to
18 hrs (with battery add-on)
No Optical Drive
Thinkpad t530
2.5kgs (5.56lbs)
Up to 24 hours with 9-cell and bottom slice
battery (with battery add-on)
DVD Recordable
Do you actually need an optical drive? I haven't been a student for 2 years but I can't remember the last time I used a disc. Weight and battery are important factors, you have to lug this thing around to class along with your books. Also, are you going to be able to run it on A/C power during class or are you going to have to wait a while in between charges.
newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152348
And if you get it, don't forget this either ($100 rebate good until 7/30). images10.newegg.com/uploadfilesfornewegg/rebate/SH/MSI34-152-348Jul15Jul3012cx61.pdf
And besides, with a free 4gb Xbox thrown in too, who's to say you can't sell that and make a little money back as well
And I think that the battery life of the t530 may be better because it's a 9 cell rather than the x230t having a 6 cell. Although I am unsure how much the screensize/other factors would effect the battery life.
I also don't know if I find 5.5lbs to be too much weight. It seems like a rather manageable amount to me (It's not like those 11lb workstation laptops) and I have a nice backpack I intend to carry it in.
Also I don't plan on doing Major gaming on the laptop (Maybe some LoL or DoTA2, but I would be fine with using lower settings, and I also plan to use my desktop for the majority of my gaming needs)
Fatcat mentioned he would only buy 1980x1080+, is there a reason for this?
And does anybody have any experience with "Convertible Tablets"? I would be getting one mainly so that I could write notes rather than type them. (I also want to be able to do some light drawing/sketching)
The durable hinging of inexpensive convertible tablets is still in development, as far as I can determine(I looked around). There are some hyper-expensive tablets for folks who insist on input in writing stuff, but the software does not exist that will give you a real good quality conversion of rough touch input to smooth writing YET.
So, some practical obstacles exist to truely writing legible notes on inexpensive devices as of now. In two years or so, maybe this will be wrong at price points college students can afford.
Now about the resolution. Will the higher resolution put more of a load on the system, therefore making it slower? Will it be noticeable at all?
And I guess I should have mentioned it earlier but I am a CS (Well Software Engineering actually, but there isn't much difference) major, and will probably be using the computer for some Python/Java/C++ work (I am sure that the i5 3rd gen can handle it though).
Also I am going with the lowest amount of Ram (4GB 1 DIMM) only because they want +$180 for the 8GB (2 DIMM) option and I am sure that I can buy it for less somewhere else.
For software dev, pure processing power of the computer speeds up response of any dev environment you might use. Graphics are are almost irrelevant for that.
Depending on your major, do you want to be able to run simulations/etc on your laptop? If no, then you can go for the smaller, cheaper options.
If you have any sort of major work to do, can you just do it on your desktop (locally or remotely)? Does your school have a RDP lab? That way you could just remote access from your laptop, and you could get a less powerful laptop.
More to the point, for a college student who's majoring in CS/Software Engineering and looking for a laptop to supplement his desktop, I'd be most concerned with form factor and weight. Just about any modern laptop with a mobile i5 or faster will compile code well enough (in my experience, an old netbook with an Atom CPU (or something with a 366MHz PPC G3 CPU...don't ask) could get you through most college programming classes... assuming you can suffer through the cramped keyboard and useless 1024x600 display). Simulation is where everything falls apart, but I don't think that you'd be running into too much of that given your major.