I am going to be going to med school in the Caribbean in the fall and I was in the market of buying a good laptop that can last. I was debating between an HP (specifically the DV6700Z series) and a Lenovo Idea Pad (specifically Y510 - 77582FU). The only other notebook I've had was a cheap Toshiba that I got on black Friday a few years ago, so my experience with notebook quality is rather limited. The specs are simliar for the two models I tried to customize Lenovo Intel Core 2 1.88ghz 15.4 inch with webcam Geforce 8600 256mb 4 GB ram (dont know speed) 250GB HDD @ 5400 DVD burner 6 cell With 3 year warranty its 1298 HP AMD turion 64 @ 2ghz 15.4 with webcame GeForce 8400 256MB Same memory, didnt list the speed though Same HDD DVD burner TV Tuner card with remote and HDMI 6 cell With 2 year warranty its 1258 That TV turner seems pretty cool Any help with experiences or recommendations would help a lot.
which med school you going to?? ross, st.georges or something else?? anyways of the two listed i would go for the lenovo. dells get a bad rep but i have used mines for 3 years without any problems, and if you use online coupons (not sure if you still can), you can bring down the prices significantly. check out dells' outlet store, refurbs but with same warrenty as a new laptop for very cheap. toshiba's are decent as well so look into them. for the price you have these laptops configured, i would get a macbook though... good luck.
Thanks a lot, ill be going to Ross. Is it better go to go the places like Frys and BB because I think they would have comparable models a little cheaper.
i never really checked out those stores because i wanted to customize my computer, but sure can't hurt looking into it. check your email buddy.
Lenovo's seem to rate highest for build quality so I'd go with that. The TV tuner wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, but it might for you. I'll mention that past experience: My last two laptops were a Compaq and HP. Both broke after 1.5 years, and I take really good care of my computers. Maybe it's just bad luck on my part, but I thought it's worth mentioning.
HPs and Lenovos are the biggest pieces of junk out there, outside of no-name clones (and they may be better, YMMV). I would check out Dell, Fujitsu and Sony if you want quality. I would check out the Dell XPS M1530 first. These are really nice laptops.
[tinman response] Buy HP and support your Houston brethren. The notebook team is here in Compaq's old building off of 249. [/tinman response]
I visited a friend at Ross a little while ago. Let's just say that's not a place in which you want your computer broken. I like the place quite a bit for a visit, but some students have a hard time adjusting (both the pressure of med school and the different pace of life there). Say hello to the mosquitos for me. I also kinda liked passing by the gross anatomy lab (the windows were open) at midnight and seeing dissections going on.
thirteen hundred bucks is a LOT of money for that Lenovo with only a T5550 processor. Dell has their cheap Inspirons (which I'm actually using), then their Vostros which are a step up, and then their Latitudes which are their hard core business machines. No sense getting a Latitude unless you are buying in bulk for a corporate IT group and standards are important to your group. Outside of these, they also make the XPS machines which are made for gamers who are a demanding lot. These are really nice machines. Here's a decent one on sale right now: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...greatest_deals_lt&dgc=CJ&cid=27811&lid=736628 You can get it configured like that Lenovo, but with a T8300 (2.4 Ghz) for about the same price.
Try to find a 14.1in if you can. My personal laptop is a 15.4, but my work laptop is 14.1 and I absolutely loathe the size of my personal laptop now.
I agree. If you're carrying this thing around daily, there is a very noticeable difference between a 15.4 and 14.1.
I will take a look at some 14 inch ones. I went to frys and their prices were a little more than the online prices. Thanks for the help.
There is a thread on slickdeals for $500 off $1400 HP laptops that might be worth looking at. http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=846983
