Teams
Forum List
Toggle sidebar

New Laptop

oldman

oldman

Well-Known Member
Nov 5, 2009
8,771
4,251
113
Okay, I'll admit it. I am not tech savvy. If I could get a cell phone with a rotary dial, I'd have it.

My daughter turns 18 today, and we are shopping for a laptop. I'd like to keep it in the $500-750 range. She'll be using it at ISU next fall. Looking for suggestions.
 
CycloneNorth

CycloneNorth

Well-Known Member
Mar 29, 2010
3,876
1,560
113
Nashville, TN
oldman said:
Okay, I'll admit it. I am not tech savvy. If I could get a cell phone with a rotary dial, I'd have it.

My daughter turns 18 today, and we are shopping for a laptop. I'd like to keep it in the $500-750 range. She'll be using it at ISU next fall. Looking for suggestions.
Click to expand...

I'd recommend buying from the TechCyte area in the ISU Bookstore. They offer pretty good deals to students. However, you may have to wait until she is officially a student.
http://www.isubookstore.com/SiteText.aspx?id=523
 
bos

bos

Legend
Staff member
Apr 10, 2006
30,589
6,370
113
Dell Vostro 3450. Great, affordable laptop in your price range.
 
cymate

cymate

Well-Known Member
Oct 28, 2011
1,323
232
63
34
Ames, the labb
oldman said:
Okay, I'll admit it. I am not tech savvy. If I could get a cell phone with a rotary dial, I'd have it.

My daughter turns 18 today, and we are shopping for a laptop. I'd like to keep it in the $500-750 range. She'll be using it at ISU next fall. Looking for suggestions.
Click to expand...

I like Dell because of their service. they are great easy to deal with, besides the indian people.

by the way did you get over the tattoo thing?
 
  • Like
Reactions: oldman
C

Clonehomer

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
26,601
24,627
113
Biggest thing is don't get additional software, especially Office. Students get it for much cheaper than any deal you'll get from the store.

I would second the Dell Vostro. Try getting the business class type computers as they are typically built to last longer.
 
cytech

cytech

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2006
6,480
242
63
Hiawatha, Iowa
The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

399.99 for all the computer she will likely need. If you want order another 2 GB of memory from Newegg.com for $11.

This one:
The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

is $449 comes with the 4 GB memory already and double the hard drive space, but has a worse warranty on it. If she won't use the extra hard drive space (and most people won't) then the cheaper one is a much better deal.
 
cycopath25

cycopath25

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2006
5,957
1,271
113
(307)
oldman said:
Okay, I'll admit it. I am not tech savvy. If I could get a cell phone with a rotary dial, I'd have it.

My daughter turns 18 today, and we are shopping for a laptop. I'd like to keep it in the $500-750 range. She'll be using it at ISU next fall. Looking for suggestions.
Click to expand...


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1_3yBlBm7A]Quagmire: "Eighteen Yet?" - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoeFuaARqXc]quagmire best moment p4 - YouTube[/ame]
 
acoustimac

acoustimac

Well-Known Member
Jan 8, 2009
9,196
10,712
113
Lamoni, IA
oldman said:
Okay, I'll admit it. I am not tech savvy. If I could get a cell phone with a rotary dial, I'd have it.

My daughter turns 18 today, and we are shopping for a laptop. I'd like to keep it in the $500-750 range. She'll be using it at ISU next fall. Looking for suggestions.
Click to expand...


The biggest thing college students want is the iPad. Every one I talk to at our university says they don't even use their laptop anymore. Right in your low to mid price range. The nice part...all of the software is dirt cheap, fully functional and no viruses or spyware to worry about.
 
Last edited:
Natejj

Natejj

New Member
Nov 5, 2011
19
1
3
Ames/Gilbert
Personally, I'd go with Dell. A couple of the main reasons....1 - Dell offers accidental damage protection for fairly cheap. So, you spill something on it or drop it, it's covered. 2 - You can get warranty work done onsite at ISU for Dell (as well as Apple) so you don't have to mess around mailing the thing in if something fails.

Warranty Service and Vendor Partnerships | Computer Service & Repair | IT Services

Info for purchasing through the ISU Bookstore is at Tech CYte - Home.

Generally speaking (not knowing what her major is) I'd do an Intel i5 (or better) processor and a minimum 4 GB of memory (RAM). Hard drives anymore are all plenty big so storage isn't much of an issue. If she's going to be in engineering, I'd make sure you get a discreet (non-integrated) graphics card (ATI or Nvidia). It'd be a good idea to think about an external hard drive for backup purposes as well. The little Western Digital Passports are nice and compact and work well. The ISU Bookstore carries those as well.
 
T

TitanClone

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Dec 21, 2008
3,508
2,839
113
acoustimac said:
The biggest thing college students want is the iPad. Every one I talk to at our university says they don't even use their laptop anymore. Right in your low to mid price range. The nice part...all of the software is dirt cheap, fully functional and no viruses or spyware to worry about.
Click to expand...

Depends what they're studying. Engineering students need a laptop unless they want to be in computer labs a lot. I use my tablet (Asus Transformer Prime) in class for taking notes, but do most of my work on my laptop at home.

For the OP Dell is a good choice. I would also look into Asus.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Help Support Us

Become a patron
Top Bottom