Sweet Home Alabama Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 The primary requirement: an (internal, built-in) optical drive. She loves to listen to CDs and watch DVD movies. Would prefer i7 or equivalent... AMD A8. 1T +/- is desirable. We're most used to Windows 7, but would consider more current technology. HP is OUT. Will not consider HP. Not sure what computer brands are most reliable now. My Lenovo Y570 is about 3 years old and has been wonderful, but I can't find one of these to buy for her. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myra Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 Make sure that charge lasts 4-5 hours so that you can use it to take class notes. My sons found that anything less than 3 hours was totally useless as they could not make it through a day and/or morning session of note taking & class labs before the computer ran out of juice. Also size is important - make sure that it fits easily into backpack with a full load of books Check with computer tech/student help department at the college - these are the people that troubleshoot problems for the students esp. with hooking up to wi-fi, downloading programs required by professors, helping "crashed" computers, etc. My boys have gone to them several times during their undergraduate years for assistance. They might have some suggestions with laptops that mesh well with the system and ones that don't. Also some colleges have requirements for specifics depending on the major of your student - whereas some don't. Good Luck, Myra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 Do you have a Costco membership. If yes, I would go there. We needed a new laptop for dd17 recently. Several of the electronic stores had lots of laptops, but very, very few with optical drives. The few they had with optical drives, were all gaming laptops and well over $1300. They wanted to sell us an dptical drive separately and insisted that they are getting hard to find actually built into a standard laptop. We went to Costco and found almost every laptop there had an optical drive. We chose and HP (which i know you don't want) and got a great deal for under $500. DD LOVES her laptop and so far, it is holding strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
againstthegrain Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 I'm a college student. I use an Acer chromebook only, $150-200 price tag. It's insanely reliable and fast and I use google docs for all my office needs and download them into .doc .pdf. etc files. If I need something else that is a Microsoft system, which is rare, I just stop at the library and use a computer there for an hour. There's my cheap and easy recommendation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
againstthegrain Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 I'm a college student. I use an Acer chromebook only, $150-200 price tag. It's insanely reliable and fast and I use google docs for all my office needs and download them into .doc .pdf. etc files. If I need something else that is a Microsoft system, which is rare, I just stop at the library and use a computer there for an hour. There's my cheap and easy recommendation. I just use apps to listen to my music and netflix if we want to watch a movie on the chromebook. I'm not sure they make chromebooks with DVD drives? that may wipe that suggestion out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms Brooks Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 13" MacBook Pro. I know they're expensive, but they will last for college. I bought two for two college students on time at Best Buy with no interest for a year. I also have a Lenovo for work, but the resolution is not so great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnificent_baby Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 Recent grad school graduate here and if I were to do it all over again, I wouldn't get anything other than a Mac. I was the only one out of my friends that didn't have a Mac. I am so over the windows updates and alike, that I swear I'll never buy a non-Mac again. There were a few issues with compatibility for Mac users, but IT helped those students out and it wasn't a big deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 Every college student I see (and we have two big colleges in this small town) has a mac. It's sort of overwhelming. You go into a coffee shop and are greeted by a sea of people working on Macs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 Remanufactured Dells are quite good and usually very affordable. If you want Win7, that's about he only way to get it. We got DD a Remanufactuered Dell through an authorized reseller (on Newegg.com) for under $100, and more money gets better specs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 (edited) I would suggest a Refurbished Dell Latitude E6410 from Blair Technology Group. BlairTG on Amazon and eBay and their web site is blairtg.com Blair is a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher and their laptops come with a one year warranty (not on the battery and in my limited experience, excellent Support. They install a Fresh/Legal copy of Microsoft Windows. When you boot the computer the first time, you will do the same OOBE (Out of Box Experience or first boot of the OS) as you would on a Brand New computer. Our family bought 3 Refurbished Dell Latitude E6400 laptops from Blair in 2014 and 2015. We have 2 Dell Latitude E6410 laptops that I won on eBay auctions that were "INCOMPLETE LAPTOPS" from an eBay Seller in PA. Much later technology. Both of the E6410 laptops have i7 CPUs and an nVidia card. These were designed and built for "Enterprise" customers and are easy to service. Components are readily available on eBay. A step up from the E6410 is the Dell Precision M4500. LIke an E6410 on Steroids. I won one from the same eBay Seller (in Hughesville PA) during June. The HDD I had for it turned out to be very defective, so last night I ordered an SSD for it. The Precision M4500 has a 15.6" display and a 1 GB nVidia card. It will be my primary laptop when I get the new SSD, which is in NYC as I write this. I am in Colombia. Both of our E6410 laptops have nVidia cards with 512 MB RAM. These are Enterprise models, so not optimized for Gaming, but my wife and DD are Gamers and they can do a lot with their E6410 laptops. Both of the E6410s have 8 GB of RAM. An i5 is very powerful, but if you can get an i7, that's a plus. There are many other models you can look at. These are models I have a lot of personal experience with. GL ETA: These have "Matte" Screens, so there is no glare or reflection from lights, which is much easier on the eyes. The Dell Precision M4500 I have has a FHD (Full High Definition) screen, which will be very easy on my eyes. Edited July 8, 2016 by Lanny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Home Alabama Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 Thanks, everyone! Awesome suggestions. Here is some feedback: While dd is home, and she will be for freshman year, we have LIMITED internet at home. That means no Netflix, and only a little streaming. As for Mac, we've talked about that. Everything we have at home is Windows oriented. I mean everything.... (Well, dh's work phone is an iphone, and he hates it.) Switching to Mac is just not my dh's idea of fun, and he is the IT guy here. I just don't see us buying anything except Windows. We are members of Sams, but not Cosco. As for the Chromebook, I don't know a lot about them. I think they are mostly cloud based? I don't think that is what we want either, but thanks very much for the suggestion. So, still looking for Windows based and with an optical drive.....They are getting hard to find, unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Home Alabama Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 We found this one. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-inspiron-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-amd-a8-series-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-gloss-black/4633609.p?id=1219783546056&skuId=4633609 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 Just FYI, I know lots of people who use both Mac and PC in their home. And a couple of them are even IT people. I have asked about this b/c I keep thinking I should switch to Mac. I have been told there aren't any issues. Not with the printers, not with anything. I guess if your daughter is a big gamer and owns a bunch of computer games on CD-ROM (like my dh and kids do) then it could be an issue. But if not, it's not an issue if her computer is a Mac and the rest are not. That said, I have no reason to think she must buy a Mac. I just know it is the computer lots of academics use. DH works at a university and he can chose if he wants a mac or PC as his working computer on his desk. They will give you either one. Some people use both. They might have a PC desk system and an Ipad or a airbook to take to meetings. It seems to be pretty interchangeable. I personally think Macs are overpriced so I don't have one...yet lol. I have a refurbished HP that I got off of Woot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mum Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 My 2 college students have an Acer and a Lenovo. They started college at the same time so we made the same mistake, times 2. We first got them laptops with pretty good specs, larger screen, etc. By Christmas they both could not haul the things around one more day. So they both got as light weight one as they could that still had the processing/memory that would be adequate. Hence the current Acer and Lenovo. Another thing ds did was to have a regular keyboard and monitor in his room so he could hook his tiny laptop into that and use a standard size screen and full keyboard when typing long papers or reading a lot. It worked fantastically and a standard keyboard and monitor only are pretty cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Home Alabama Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 Thanks again, everyone. I really appreciate your help! We bought the Dell from Best Buy that I linked to just a few minutes ago. Really hope it works well for her. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 My 2 college students have an Acer and a Lenovo. They started college at the same time so we made the same mistake, times 2. We first got them laptops with pretty good specs, larger screen, etc. By Christmas they both could not haul the things around one more day. So they both got as light weight one as they could that still had the processing/memory that would be adequate. Hence the current Acer and Lenovo. Another thing ds did was to have a regular keyboard and monitor in his room so he could hook his tiny laptop into that and use a standard size screen and full keyboard when typing long papers or reading a lot. It worked fantastically and a standard keyboard and monitor only are pretty cheap. Do you know what Lenovo specifically? I'm in the market for a smaller laptop for school. The Acer I bought a few years ago is so incredibly slow and doesn't have enough RAM (and cannot upgrade). I'm currently looking at a few Lenovos. I don't want a Chromebook either as I need to work offline too much to make it productive. I have a 15.6" HP and it is too heavy to lug to school, so yes, consider size. I see a lot of 11-13" laptops around school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samiam Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 Have you looked to see what the college recommends? Every college we applied to, and the one my son will attend in the fall, has a list of recommend laptops. They even narrow it down to the "preferred" one for some majors. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mum Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 We got the preferred laptop for ds's major, huge screen, lots of processing/memory. And then he changed majors! So do ask the college, especially for technical majors like engineering, but also be aware of portability. A 'good enough' laptop might work if they have access to a desktop too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 I just came back and read some of the replies in this thread. Yes, mum in post #18 is onto something there. If someone is an Engineering major, into Architecture, etc. then going for something more powerful, like a "Mobile Workstation" is something they should also consider. My Dell Precision M4500 Mobile Workstation will outperform one of our Dell Latitude E6410s, that otherwise appear to have the same components, because the nVidia card has twice the RAM of the nVidia cards in our Latitude E6410s. The difference in performance won't be huge, but it is there, and will be obvious, if one is doing CAD stuff, for one example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citrusheights5 Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 If you have a best buy close they have some amazing out of the box specials.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 How about a computer science major? Ds is still in high school, but starts CC in the fall, does a lot of programming but likely to go into CS or Engineering. Local college does not recommend a certain computer. He may wind up with a different one anyways by the time he moves away, I guess. I'm clueless. He said he'll research it, but, he's only 16 too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samiam Posted July 10, 2016 Share Posted July 10, 2016 How about a computer science major? Ds is still in high school, but starts CC in the fall, does a lot of programming but likely to go into CS or Engineering. Local college does not recommend a certain computer. He may wind up with a different one anyways by the time he moves away, I guess. I'm clueless. He said he'll research it, but, he's only 16 too. I'd look at the recommendations from some of the potential colleges he thinks he MAY want to apply for. Both CS and Engineering are high tech majors and the basic $400 laptop typically isn't going to cut it. My son starts in August for Engineering and they had to "preferred" for his major (and he is just general engineering for the first year)...one was a Dell and one was a Lenevo...both were $1400+ price range. A Mac was on the a "acceptable" list, but not the "preferred" list for his college. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted July 10, 2016 Share Posted July 10, 2016 I'd look at the recommendations from some of the potential colleges he thinks he MAY want to apply for. Both CS and Engineering are high tech majors and the basic $400 laptop typically isn't going to cut it. My son starts in August for Engineering and they had to "preferred" for his major (and he is just general engineering for the first year)...one was a Dell and one was a Lenevo...both were $1400+ price range. A Mac was on the a "acceptable" list, but not the "preferred" list for his college. Ouch. Maybe we'll go cheaper for CC in high school & get a better one when he starts elsewhere. Will ask around too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 How about a computer science major? Ds is still in high school, but starts CC in the fall, does a lot of programming but likely to go into CS or Engineering. Local college does not recommend a certain computer. He may wind up with a different one anyways by the time he moves away, I guess. I'm clueless. He said he'll research it, but, he's only 16 too. At this time, I would suggest, at the minimum, a Dell Latitude E6410 with an nVidia card. Those have a 14.1" Matte Display. We have 2 of them that have the optional 512 MB nVidia card and an i7 CPU and 8 GB RAM. My new (new to me) Dell Precision M4500 has a 15.6" display and a better (1 GB RAM) nVidia card and an i7 CPU. Sort of an E6410 on Steroids. I won the 2 E6410 laptops and the M4500 Mobile Workstation from an eBay Seller in Hughesville PA. They list them on eBay as "INCOMPLETE LAPTOP". The M4500 had no hard disk drive or Hard Drive Caddy Cover and it turned out the HDD I had for it is defective, so I bought an SSD for it on eBay and that is in transit. It has 4 GB of RAM, but I will buy 8 GB of RAM for it in a month or so. These laptops normally have a Microsoft COA (Certificate of Authenticity) for Windows 7 with a valid Product Key. I have a DVD with the install files for Windows 7 that I bought from someone on eBay for $7 and I use that to install Windows 7. When I am done with the M4500, I will have approximately USD $250 into it. A 130 watt AC Adapter for it was $16.78. The models I mentioned were designed for and sold to "Enterprise" clients and are very easy to service and components are readily available on eBay. They were Leased to corporate or government customers. A Chromebook would have much longer battery life and probably would be good to take along to classes in a brick and mortar classroom. That would be a secondary computer, IMO, not a primary computer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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