What sort of tasks will you be performing when you use the laptop? What is the reason behind buying it? The answer to your initial question could lie in the answers to these and more questions to help us determine what's good for you. Some brands make better components than others, and some brands specialize in putting better systems together. I don't have a laptop myself, but I can tell you that companies like Dell, HP, Toshiba and Sony are tops.
Are you a student? As long as your physics software will run (matlab?), you're a good candidate for a Mac. The Macbook is well within your budget. You could possibly go Pro with an academic discount for a few more bucks. I'd probably just get a Macbook and save the money for a few months while I decided on Applecare. If you want a PC, hrmm. I used to recommend Thinkpads but mine crapped out. I replaced it with a Macbook.
Get a Macbook. We used them in my film class in HS and they were cool, it was easier to use them for making movies and music. If you just need basic stuff get a Dell.
Music production or just ripping mp3's etc? If you're used to a Windows pc and never used a Mac, I suggest you go to a computer store that lets you try one out. I myself have been using a pc all my life, but I've tried out a Mac, like it, and will buy a Macbook as my next purchase. I suggest you give one a test drive and see how you like it yourself.
I'm going to be a dissenter. Check all of the software that you intend to use for Mac compatibility before buying a Mac. Many, many limited use programs will not run on a Mac. The software are developed for business and/or academia, and they don't have to run on a Mac. Macs are cool computers, and they do what they do very well. But they don't do everything. I just bought a Toshiba that I really like, but my budget was quite a bit less.
Yeah, that's pretty important too. You could also install Windows on a Mac and dual boot into that for Windows-only programs, but if you don't want to deal w/ that and don't care much for OSX you might want to avoid Macs. I don't imagine that being a big deal for me, but other's may not care for it. I know throughout school there were a lot of programs necessary for coursework, and they were probably all Windows only.
If you are, check out if their is a discount as well if you go the Mac route. I know for my Ipod I ordered mine online and got a $30 rebate for being a student. Just to mac's site, go to the store tab, and on the right hand side should be something about education.
I'm on an HP/Compaq nc6400 with built in broadband wireless & bluetooth, 100 MB harddrive. It's my work laptop. It would probably run you around $1200. It's very thin and light. I like it alot.
Here's a little guide someone made at another forum I go to concerning laptops: <i>Good Brands: Asus - High build quality, high performance in general, slightly on the expensive side, high reliability. Approved by The Association of Awesome. Apple - Very cool looking/stylish, very durable, now use the Intel Core 2 Duo resulting in very good performance, but at a hefty price tag. The MacBook and its Pro variation have been reported to generate excessive heat and run warm/hot, but that's a detail. Acer - Solid build quality, usually reliable. Makes a wide variety of stuff. Some is low end celeron garbage, and the other end of the spectrum involves the high end Ferrari series and 8200 series Travelmate. HP/Compaq - HP, while formerly having iffy build quality, has moved up the ladder and now has decent build quality and good pricing. MSI - Nice build quality whitebooks, meaning that one supplies the hard drive, processor, memory, and wireless card. If one self-assembles an MSI machine and buys the parts cheap from newegg one can get very nice performance for a very cheap price. Fujitsu - As I said in the last topic, Awesome ultraportables, righteous screens. Sager - Durable build quality boutique gaming machines. Expensive, but still cheaper than Alienware. IBM - Unbeatable build quality and extraordinary reliability. Expensive though. Dell - Average build quality. With a hawkeye fixed on major coupons one can get a decent Dell for relatively cheap. Dell has recently come out with a 12.1" laptop with a dedicated nVidia Go7400 graphics card, making it the most powerful 12.1" laptop out right now in terms of performance. Bad Brands Averatec - Mediocrily built ultraportables and lightweights. Their quality control has issues, so you have a higher chance of getting a dud, but you may get lucky and get a fine laptop. I dislike this brand personally; however, as the Averatec laptops I've worked with have this tendency to break quite a bit. Alienware - Overpriced, "meh" build quality. Use desktop processors for the main part, so expect to feel the heat of the computer through the keyboard. Go with Sager for a gaming laptop. Sony - This is iffy terrain. Some people say they've had great experiences with their Sony laptops, and others say that they're ****tier than tubgirl's tub. I'd say that it's just a random gamble when purchasing a Sony laptop. VoodooPC - Ungodly expensive. Only get if you want a neat paint job at a relatively high price premium.</i> There are other more indepth ones concerning types of memory, processors, etc. if you need it.
I got the Thinkpad T60 about a week ago. Lenovo recently slashed prices on it's website, don't know how long that's going to last, you should try to locate a reseller and quote them that price, they should be able to provide you with a better deal. Check out sites such as notebookreview.com and cnet.com for reviews. Pro's - Quality, quality, quality. - Keyboard is amazing. full size and spill proof. - Don't have to worry about the thing overheating, stay's relatively cool + can't hear the fan, well you can, but hardly. - Get the 9-cell battery and you get about 6-8 hours from it. Con's - when playing dvd's it's a little loud. - mouse pad is a little small, but not a big deal really. - speaker are not loud...... get headphones and you've solved that problem.
That guy didnt mention toshibas at all... i use a compaq, its nice... good pricing toshibas are very nice as well... a lil more pricier sonys... expensive if u have that much money, ya go for a mac... or a high end sony (im sure its built better when u spend that much money)
There's also a program called Crossover for macs, so that you can run Windows programs without installing Windows.
