Need some Laptop help.
Allikat — Sat, 06/27/2009 - 22:28
So my "little" cousin starts highschool in the fall and her family is looking into getting her a laptop. Any suggestions on type, specs or programs that would help a highschool student and possibly live to get her through college?(although in four years I'm pretty sure that they will want to get a newer lappy for when she ships off to college)
Thanks guys (and gals)
...I feel old now...I remember when she was like 5 months old....
If cost is an issue, take a
Prime8 — Sun, 06/28/2009 - 13:37If cost is an issue, take a look at Asus' line of Eee laptops. You can spend as little as about $200 for one of these. The upside / downside to them is that they are very small (~10 inch screen).
If they're less concerned about price, Asus' other laptop lines are pretty good as well. I've had one of the F3J series for about 3 years, without a single hardware issue. For a teenager, I'd recommend something a little cheaper and sturdier (my FJ3 feels a little delicate compared to the Dell dimension 800s I used for work*). The only issue I've had in the 3 years I've owned this laptop is there is no support from either ATI or Asus for the graphics card (meaning no new drivers). This hasn't ever caused any problems for me, and really that's ATI's problem rather than Asus'.
*Oddly enough, I had more hardware issues with the Dells. They were getting heavier use and in an Industrial environment, but I had to have the screen replaced on one, one that just completely died (power supply section of the motherboard I'm assuming), and 2 battery recalls.
Under no circumstances should they get a Mac. Macs used to have an advantage in the hardware that they used, however since switching to the x86 architecture CPUs the hardware is identical to non-macs. Their business philosophy is just wrong, and should never be encouraged.
Flash Drive definitely Get
Dragon — Sun, 06/28/2009 - 12:23Flash Drive definitely
Get Open Office since she is not likely to be able to get school discounts that they get in Colleges to get MS Office Cheap.
Hope you can get something without W7 although it is not competely terrible now that all the patches are through. (I have to keep up on Vista for both my parents =/)
Other than that, I wouldn't go hog wild on it for school. In fact the less able it is to play computer games, the better :D
No the more you play games
cromi — Sun, 06/28/2009 - 13:16No the more you play games on it the better, I play games on my computer I use for school all the time. Ohhhh. Make it unable to play games on it. If you value her grades in the last semester of junior year. Do not let her play games.
First of all, Microsoft
Knoppix (not verified) — Sun, 06/28/2009 - 10:47First of all, Microsoft Office Professional and Windows XP or Windows 7 if you can get the laptop after it comes out.
As for the laptop I know people hate DELL but I have never had a problem with one. If you don't want a DELL get an HP they are pretty good too. If you want something a little more custom and high end get an ASUS brand laptop they are really damn good.
Um, I wouldn't go buy
cromi — Sun, 06/28/2009 - 11:40Um, I wouldn't go buy microsoft word they're are bs without some sort of discount. Get her OpenOffice and then I say get a flash drive. A good sturdy flash drive in high school is great because you have to constantly switch papers between home and school especially if your a slacker who thinks it is fun to wait till midnight the day of the assignment to start it. Along with the flash drive put on open office at portableapps.com , it will help you out big time. Only thing I can think of right now for computers software if I think of anything more then I'll say it.