Questions about what kind of Laptop to get for college.
 

I am Looking at getting either the Dell 2650C or the Compaq 2100 series Laptop for college next year. I dont need the gaming performance out of it (that is what my desktop is for :)) so the exact specs of it aren't that important. I know what I would get with them depending on which brand I choose. I would just like to know, which one is the best of the two? Which one works the best and and which is more durable. I know that if I were to get the Dell, I would spend around 900 Dollars (I get a discount from UofM) and if I were to get the compaw, I would pay right around 1000. I just wanna hear what you guys think.

I would go with Dell, I have the 8200 model (the high end laptop) and have had no problems and great performance. My dads desktop is a Dell and he has'nt had problems with it either. I havent had any experience with Compaq laptops so I cant speak for them, but Dell is a very reliable company to go with.

it will be stolen within a week swordfight:

rofl jibber is right, you better lock this shit up or something...

Dell makes a better PC, and Compaq isn't as trusted anymore. Compaq is good for servers, networking PC's like big rack servers. Dell is the #1 choice for home users.

"Dude, you're getting a dell!"

I happen to disagree with you Joe. I've got a Compaq Presario Laptop, and I love it. I would highly recommend it to anyone who can afford it. And I've had no problems with the company when I noticed the Norton Anti-Virus CD that was supposed to come with it wasn't there, I just called them, told them what disc was missing, and they mailed it to me right away, I had it in less than a week.

I would go with a Dell 8200 (my desktop is the high end one like thta) and in august I will be getting the high end lap top

Pyr0 = dell fanboy

I have an IBM Thinkpad A31p. Top of the line at the end of the summer when I bought it. P4 1.7 ghz, 512 mb DDR RAM (up to 1024), ATI FireGL 7800 (based on the Radeon 7500). Add a mouse, and I can do everything including games on it. One of my friends with a Dell 8200 'top does just about the same.

i would go for a commodor 64
i hear they're cutting edge (circa 1980's)

lol, my dad has a dell its not bad but i reccomend an alien ware laptop evil:

Dell? Pfft i could knock together a better pc in 10 mins than the shit they out out and call "top of the range".

[quote="redhawk_six":d3fc9]I happen to disagree with you Joe. I've got a Compaq Presario Laptop, and I love it. I would highly recommend it to anyone who can afford it. And I've had no problems with the company when I noticed the Norton Anti-Virus CD that was supposed to come with it wasn't there, I just called them, told them what disc was missing, and they mailed it to me right away, I had it in less than a week.[/quote:d3fc9]

Well, evryone has their opinion. Just me personally, I work with alot of compaq PC's, and the hard drives tend to die on them within a year. As for the laptops, we stick to Toshiba & IBM, but most of my friends and some of the ones we have here are Compaq, and they have problems like dying batteries, burnt out processors, hard drives, etc. I've just had alot of issues with Compaq, but Dell wasn't that bad.

If it is just for school and you need something dependable look into one of those imacs. I hear they are pretty solid and don't cost to much. Its just a mac so that could be a problem.
At work, I've gone through 2 IBM laptops. (bad hard drives, broken displays, etc...) Dells havent been much better.

The only serious problem I've ever had with an IBM over the years was when the monitor burnt out on a 2+ year old system. That was a few years ago.

If you get a Mac at least it won't be stolen...

Anyway, what about getting a handheld and interfacing with your desktop when you get home?

I thought about getting an ipaq or dell thingy, but I decided that I would want a laptop. Two reasons. 1, I am going into computer engineering, and my first semester at Michigan will have a class that is all programing, and 2 I want something that can do more than type, not like game, but like for powerpoint or something along those lines. I thought about a mac, but programming would be rather difficult, so I looked at pc's. I dont need anything high end, like I said, that is what my desktop is for, Im just wondering which works best, like the lifetime of the thing and battery life. Thanks for the advice.

One more thing, which processor should I go for? Once again, Im not looking for performance, but I would like to know, which one is less "power hungry" I onviously wanna optimize battery life, so which should I get, and AthlonXP or a Celeron?

Celeron is ideal for word-processing, office material. So, if you plan on using it strictly on that, this would be fine. Probably cheaper, too.