For med school work: which laptop is the best? under $1000

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Shejeboshease

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i was talking to this guy in best buy...he said toshiba is like honda civic for laptop...cheap but reasonable performance. i am hoping to spend just under 1000 bucks for the laptop. don't really care that much about hard drive space...even 50gb would be fine by me..but i gotta have a fast computer...is 2gb RAM enough? what about processor..the guy said something about dual layer processor...didn't really understand what he meant by that. which brand do you think sell the most reasonable laptop for med school work?

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i was talking to this guy in best buy...he said toshiba is like honda civic for laptop...cheap but reasonable performance. i am hoping to spend just under 1000 bucks for the laptop. don't really care that much about hard drive space...even 50gb would be fine by me..but i gotta have a fast computer...is 2gb RAM enough? what about processor..the guy said something about dual layer processor...didn't really understand what he meant by that. which brand do you think sell the most reasonable laptop for med school work?

they dont carry all brands though. i would definitely go with a dell. ive had a vaio.....no longer works. hp.....no longer works. dell is working great!
 
Honestly, for what you will be doing, (not video editing) they are all pretty much the same!
I'm sure that there will be plenty of posters that will disagree with that, but just get anything besides a Celeron. Toshiba makes a good computer and I do recommend the service plans! because the damn batteries always die after like 2 yrs and the input where you plug your computers AC adapter in tend to break too, which is common.
 
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Normally I'd recommend an Apple laptop to anyone but some med schools seem to have a vendetta against them.

I'd go to the Dell outlet and try to pick up a Latitude (business laptop) on the cheap. Dells work ok for their money so you should be ok. Stick with XP if at all possible so that you can get by with 1GB RAM and use money for getting better specs in other areas.
 
I got a good deal for a Dell Inspiron 6000 in January 06, but that model is probably no longer offered.

Search the web for Dell coupons, I saved quite a bit of money.
 
actually i've a friend who had some serious problems with Toshiba laptop battery. what about SONY? dell is only offered online..i wanna buy the laptop from a store.
 
Definitely search the net for Dell coupons. I found a coupon code for $750. It allowed me to get warranties to cover all of undergrad. Dell has been exceptionally nice to me as well. It seems 50/50 with them. I had ordered my laptop with XP home and called them up to tell them I needed to upgrade to pro because of my university. I had my debit card out and never had to use it. Hmm. But I would definitely recommend Dell.
 
i vote for dell also. i've had problems with toshiba (always overheats, battery craps out) as well as sony.
 
i vote for dell also. i've had problems with toshiba (always overheats, battery craps out) as well as sony.

to all those Dell supporters...did you guys all buy your laptop online? do you know how long it takes for delivery? thanks
 
You might wanna try Apple Laptop. Even if you don't like OS X, you can switch to Windows Vista anytime since Apple produces intel-based laptops too. Right now I am running both OS X and Windows XP ;)
 
If you have the money, go for an Apple laptop. OS X or XP or Vista and solid industrial design.
 
to all those Dell supporters...did you guys all buy your laptop online? do you know how long it takes for delivery? thanks

yup, i got my laptop refurbished and its been amazing. as for how long it takes, it depends if you buy an already built machine, or if you customize it. if you customize it, they'll have to build it and may take about 3 weeks for you to recieve it. if you get a laptop thats already built (where you cant change the options such as ram and memory) it will probably take about 2 weeks at most. i remember when i got mine, i was told that the eta was 2 weeks, but i got it in about 5 buisness days.
 
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do i sound like i have a lot of money?

Heck, you can even get one refurbished for cheaper. I got my MacBook Pro that way. They give you a full one year warranty with an option to extend it to 3 years + it looks like it's never been used (literally).

Refurb MacBooks start at $849 but they go fast. Check every Tuesday and Thursday at the Apple store online.
 
do i sound like i have a lot of money?

Well, if you are that starved for funds, you could probably get away with not using a laptop at all. Library computer labs would probably suffice.

:rolleyes:
 
I have owned a sony vaio since high school and it's still working haha. All through college I have learned that the only thing about a dell that makes it "better" is the warranty most people buy. If you want to save money, just be careful with your laptop, and get a cheap desktop to work from in your room :) Also, you should consider how big you want yours to be. Nowadays, large screen laptops (>15") are super cheap, and can be found around $500 or even less when there are sales. So if you don't mind a wider laptop keep your eyes open, check slickdeals.net daily or something. I own a 12" laptop that works beautifully, from an essentially no-name brand, but it only cost $600. I also have a Compaq desktop that cost about $300. The whole setup cost less than 1k but I feel safe knowing that I'm not abusing my laptop. Personally, I feel like laptops are improving too quickly for people to try and invest in one for many years. You get pretty miserable when yours is a dinosaur. I guarantee that if you buy a laptop right now, you will not still be happy using it in 4 years.
 
First, if you can, wait until the fall. There is a new line of intel chips coming out that will be faster and much more power efficient. Second, wait for a GREAT deal from Dell before you strike. Often, you can get 30-40% off what you think you'll have to pay. Their EPP discounts kick butt! PM me if you want more details.
 
Absolutely nothing from Dell. Been screwed over twice by them!!!
 
for all the applekids who say that you can buy a mac for $xxx and then load windows on it: just remember that windows costs more $$. also, all my friends who love macs seem to forget about the problems they've had with them.

if i were you i would wait until you know what model your med school wants you to use. if they have no preference, just make sure you get a good warranty and an external hard drive.
 
I really believe the best deal you can get is a dell d400 and to buy a refurbished one off eBay. You can get those for right around $400 (with shipping) and they range anywhere from 1.4-1.7gHz, with a 30-50GB harddrive, and 512mb-1gb of ram (though the specs should matter that much as long as you can use powerpoint, word, and internet explorer/firefox). The best feature about it though (in terms of med school), in my opinion, is that it only weighs 3.7lbs - definitely a mangable size to bring to class and anywhere you feel like going to study.

Hope that helps!
 
Dude -

I just bought an acer for 350 bucks at circuit city - 80gig HDD, stock 512mem, windows vista, and i bought 2 gigs of ram off newegg.com for less than a hundred buck - thing runs so fast now it is sweeeet
 
for all the applekids who say that you can buy a mac for $xxx and then load windows on it: just remember that windows costs more $$. also, all my friends who love macs seem to forget about the problems they've had with them.

if i were you i would wait until you know what model your med school wants you to use. if they have no preference, just make sure you get a good warranty and an external hard drive.

Windows XP cost $25 with an educational discount. It's really not that much.

However, I do have to agree that it's much better to wait because some schools have extremely strict restrictions (I really have no idea why).
 
Windows XP cost $25 with an educational discount. It's really not that much.

However, I do have to agree that it's much better to wait because some schools have extremely strict restrictions (I really have no idea why).

Are you already a med student? Some schools are so specific, they make you buy a laptop with a certain kind of processor. Others make you buy laptops that they offer from the school. Although I don't think they would go so far as to check which processor you have in your laptop, it might be safer to wait until you know which school you're getting in to, so that you won't have to go through the pain of trying to sell the, by then obsolete, one you are buying now.
 
Are you already a med student? Some schools are so specific, they make you buy a laptop with a certain kind of processor. Others make you buy laptops that they offer from the school. Although I don't think they would go so far as to check which processor you have in your laptop, it might be safer to wait until you know which school you're getting in to, so that you won't have to go through the pain of trying to sell the, by then obsolete, one you are buying now.

Unless you're a computer whiz kid, I'd do what your schools IT department asks you to do. If you were confident enough in your computer skills to disregard their advice, you wouldn't be asking what laptop you should buy in the first place.

Honestly, there's little reason to pick one specific laptop over another. IT departments usually don't support Macs because that's a whole 'nother OS and toolchain that needs to be trained with.
 
I know a few med schools that try to set up their classes with dell latitudes. For ~ $2,000 you get the comp. alongside powerpoint, word, excel, etc. I've had my HP for a few years now and it's gotten to the point that it fries my wireless cards and shuts down every day. Personally, I think it'd be a toss up between a dell and toshiba. But I also agree it would be best to wait until you know what your school's requirements are. For some XP home isn't compatible, for others no vista, just XP pro. It depends.
 
Dell's nice because they sell direct, but they outsource all their tech support to India so it's a pain in the ass to troubleshoot things.
 
WHATEVER brand you buy, make sure to budget for accidental damage coverage... with Dell it's called CompleteCare, with Apple it's called AppleCare, and I know both Toshiba and Lenovo offer it if you buy direct (possibly if you buy retail as well.)

As for specific models, take a look at the Dell Latitude D520 or D531; they're quite inexpensive- under $1000 even with CompleteCare and a few upgrades -and they're sturdier than the lower-end Vostro or Inspiron models.

If you can afford just a bit over $1000 (fafter adding the insurance), the Latitude D630 or MacBook (non-pro) are both excellent machines.
 
I'm too lazy to read every single post in here. So here's what I recommend.

I would either get an Apple Macintosh laptop with the suggestions listed above or I'd get a Dell Latitude.

Latitude is the business class model and better quality then an inspiron.
 
to OP:

2gig ram's more than enough to run any OS (operating system, eg. Windows 98, 2000, XP, Vista) Vista's kind exceptional in it's requirement for ram.. i say 1 gig's the minimum to run it smoothly. since the unit you are looking at have 2g, no problem there.

toshiba, according to my own experience, make great laptops. cool, quiet and reliable. you can check the feedback on the specific model online by just google the model number+ reviews. On the other hand, toshiba laptops are usually bulky/heavy. if you move around with your laptop a lot, that extra two pounds will get heavier over time.

the dual layer processor the guy's talking about is referring to either Duo version of Intel Core (Duo Core) and its successor Core 2. Duo Core basically has two computational cores which provides performance per watt that's as good as its predecessor Petium M processor. When parallel computation utilizes both cores, Duo Core delivers much higher peak processing speed than single-core chips. In other words, same work load done on the same battery at a faster pace. However, if you are looking for a more up-scale processor, always look for Core 2 which is a 64 bit processor. the difference between Duo Core and D2C, well.. no point trying to explain it.

with the deals going on these days, you can get a laptop with spectacular specs under 1000 bucks (ie Duo 2 Core, 200G hhd, 2g ram, etc, etc)
 
2gig ram's more than enough to run any OS (operating system, eg. Windows 98, 2000, XP, Vista) Vista's kind exceptional in it's requirement for ram.. i say 1 gig's the minimum to run it smoothly. since the unit you are looking at have 2g, no problem there.

2gb should be considered the amount needed to run Vista adequately. 1gb on Vista for more than very casual use will feel very slow - roughly like having < 512mb on XP.

XP runs great with 1gb for virtually all uses, and pretty well with 512mb for many uses.

the dual layer processor the guy's talking about is referring to either Duo version of Intel Core (Duo Core) and its successor Core 2. Duo Core basically has two computational cores which provides performance per watt that's as good as its predecessor Petium M processor.

First, Core Duo and Core 2 Duo respectively, not "Duo Core."

Second, it's not just "as good as" Pentium M - Core Duo is more than twice as fast for many things (and a little faster for everything else.) Plus Core 2 Duo then offers *significantly* better performance (per watt and in absolute terms.)

Also, AMD X2 processors are also dual core, and while they're a bit slower, they're worth considering for folks on a budget.

When parallel computation utilizes both cores, Duo Core delivers much higher peak processing speed than single-core chips. In other words, same work load done on the same battery at a faster pace. However, if you are looking for a more up-scale processor, always look for Core 2 which is a 64 bit processor. the difference between Duo Core and D2C, well.. no point trying to explain it.

First, it *is* worth trying to explain it in layman's terms:
Core 2 Duo is a newer generation of processor than Core Duo, and is MUCH faster at a given clock speed - a Core 2 Duo 1.86ghz is going to be faster than a Core Duo running at 2.2ghz.

with the deals going on these days, you can get a laptop with spectacular specs under 1000 bucks (ie Duo 2 Core, 200G hhd, 2g ram, etc, etc)

I'd generally say that it's much more important for a typical medical student to get something durable and reliable than to get something with maxed-out specs.
 
2gb should be considered the amount needed to run Vista adequately. 1gb on Vista for more than very casual use will feel very slow - roughly like having < 512mb on XP.

XP runs great with 1gb for virtually all uses, and pretty well with 512mb for many uses.



First, Core Duo and Core 2 Duo respectively, not "Duo Core."

Second, it's not just "as good as" Pentium M - Core Duo is more than twice as fast for many things (and a little faster for everything else.) Plus Core 2 Duo then offers *significantly* better performance (per watt and in absolute terms.)

Also, AMD X2 processors are also dual core, and while they're a bit slower, they're worth considering for folks on a budget.



First, it *is* worth trying to explain it in layman's terms:
Core 2 Duo is a newer generation of processor than Core Duo, and is MUCH faster at a given clock speed - a Core 2 Duo 1.86ghz is going to be faster than a Core Duo running at 2.2ghz.



I'd generally say that it's much more important for a typical medical student to get something durable and reliable than to get something with maxed-out specs.

Yep, I agree with all of this.

The most important thing with a med student's laptop is battery life. You probably won't be far from an outlet but forgetting to charge the battery can be a real pain. Just about anything you buy these days will last you 4 years, and you aren't going to really care what it does anyway.
 
Yep, I agree with all of this.

The most important thing with a med student's laptop is battery life. You probably won't be far from an outlet but forgetting to charge the battery can be a real pain. Just about anything you buy these days will last you 4 years, and you aren't going to really care what it does anyway.

in terms of battery life, i know that toshiba sucks. is dell the best when it comes to long battery life? what are the parameters do you look for when you are looking for a laptop with long battery life?
 
in terms of battery life, i know that toshiba sucks. is dell the best when it comes to long battery life? what are the parameters do you look for when you are looking for a laptop with long battery life?

Model varies a lot more than brand. What kind of battery life various Dell models have varies tremendously. Also, when there are multiple configurations of a machine available, how you configure it can make a fair difference.

If you want a good battery life, there are basically two ways to go:
* A small machine with a "ultra low voltage" processor and otherwise built for power efficiency - from Dell, their current model for this is the D430. The other up-side to these is they tend to be very light (< 4 lbs). The down side to these is they have small screens (12" widescreen typically on new ones), are slower, have smaller hard drives, and to use a CD/DVD it will be external (many times they come with an external one).

* A medium-sized machine with a regular processor, and large batteries. Professional-line machines where you can put in a second battery in the CD bay tend to be best here - from Dell, the D630 is my usual recommendation and in general what I recommend to people who need a good balance of portability and power. These start around 5 lbs but in general with an extended main battery (9 cell for most of the Dells) and a secondary bay battery you are looking at more like 6-6 1/2 lbs.

In general, in terms of configuration:
* Vista seems to be pretty poor for battery life, right now I'd go with XP still if this is a big concern.

* Big screens use more power. REALLY big screens (17") use lots more power. 14.1" widescreen is a good compromise for most people; 15.4" will probably be acceptable for midsize models as well. If your machine is available with more than one screen resolution, higher resolution/brightness will mean more power used, although I'm not sure it's enough more to be significant.

* More memory will actually help with battery life in many cases, since it helps you run the hard drive less.

* Faster processors *within the same generation* use more power; newer generation processors use less power. Dual core processors are generally quite power efficient; going with a single-core processor to save power is generally false economy (example: "Core Solo" processors are a generation older than "Core 2 Duo"). In general, the best bet for power consumption right now is the Core 2 Duo T5500 or T5600, but the difference between those and the T7100 (much faster) is not going to be large.

* Integrated Intel graphics will generally use less power than NVidia or ATI graphics chips when used on XP or on Vista with Aero turned off. The jury is still out somewhat on whether that's still true on Vista once you are running the Aero eye-candy.

Also, some tips for getting the most battery life out of any Windows laptop:
* Set the power profile to "Max Battery" in Control Panels/Power

* Avoid running programs that sit in the background and consume cycles (except for a virus scanner, which is essential.) Screensavers, google desktop search (or similar search programs) etc all eat up CPU.

* Turn off things like Bluetooth, analog modems, infrared, etc. when they're not in use.

* If you have a machine with a CD/DVD drive that's not removeable, make sure you don't leave disks in the drive when you're not using it - such drives use a lot of power when running, and Windows will often stupidly spin up the drive to see what's on the disk even when it's not your intent to use it.

* Turn the screen brightness down as low possible such that you can comfortably read it.
 
Get a macbook. $1k plus you get a free ipod and printer.
 
If your a deal/bargain type guy, you can always try your luck with fatwallet. My roommate just scored a desktop for 300 bucks... so I am sure you can get like 1k laptop for 400 or so.
 
If your a deal/bargain type guy, you can always try your luck with fatwallet. My roommate just scored a desktop for 300 bucks... so I am sure you can get like 1k laptop for 400 or so.

Fatwallet...YMMV.
 
2gb should be considered the amount needed to run Vista adequately. 1gb on Vista for more than very casual use will feel very slow - roughly like having < 512mb on XP.

XP runs great with 1gb for virtually all uses, and pretty well with 512mb for many uses.



First, Core Duo and Core 2 Duo respectively, not "Duo Core."

Second, it's not just "as good as" Pentium M - Core Duo is more than twice as fast for many things (and a little faster for everything else.) Plus Core 2 Duo then offers *significantly* better performance (per watt and in absolute terms.)

Also, AMD X2 processors are also dual core, and while they're a bit slower, they're worth considering for folks on a budget.



First, it *is* worth trying to explain it in layman's terms:
Core 2 Duo is a newer generation of processor than Core Duo, and is MUCH faster at a given clock speed - a Core 2 Duo 1.86ghz is going to be faster than a Core Duo running at 2.2ghz.



I'd generally say that it's much more important for a typical medical student to get something durable and reliable than to get something with maxed-out specs.


Core 2 Duo at 1.8gz is not going to be faster then a Core Duo at 2.2.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2808&p=6

At the same clockspeed, the Core 2 Duo is about 13% faster for typical applications. The improvements for Core 2 Duo, however insignificant at the moment, should come into play in the future. There are some new coding that are not yet utilized but future applications may use to increase speed.

Plus, I hear Intel is shpping Core 2 Duo and Core Duo at the same price to help phase out Core Duo.

What really sucks is that Dell is still not selling AMD-based laptops. I don't get why a budget computer company would hate AMD so much.
 
Core 2 Duo at 1.8gz is not going to be faster then a Core Duo at 2.2.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2808&p=6

At the same clockspeed, the Core 2 Duo is about 13% faster for typical applications.

Ok, I was off by a bit; 25% faster than AMD X2 has been a general benchmark, and my impression was that Core Duo was close to AMD (Pentium M was; I guess there was more of a speedup between the P-M and Core Duo than I thought.)

The synthetic benchmarks are much less interesting than the application-specific ones - and if you page down to those you'll see it's VERY variable how much the speed-up is. Some of it's < 10% and some of it's ~25%.

Similarly, have a look at http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_mobile.html - in most cases, the T7200 beats the T2600, but in a few cases it doesn't.

From what I've seen, the speedup is greater than that for graphics applications and games and anything else that uses SSE. The Core 2 Duo has a new SSE engine that is much faster than the one in the P-M and the Core Duo.

Also, both sets of benchmarks reflect the first generation (667mhz FSB - ie the T7200 etc) Core 2 Duos, not the newer "Santa Rosa" compatible (800FSB, ie the T7100 etc) Core 2 Duos. Those are somewhat faster still.

The improvements for Core 2 Duo, however insignificant at the moment, should come into play in the future. There are some new coding that are not yet utilized but future applications may use to increase speed.

Even just taking your number of 13%, it's still a pretty significant speed-up.

SSE3 is not a huge advance; 64-bit will matter a lot to some users (and does already) but won't in current laptops (where 4gb is the maximum installable and dang expensive to boot) for the vast majority of users.

(One cheaper model of the Core Duo - the T2300E also lacked virtualization support, which is a bigger problem for some people and when using Vista in particular. I believe this may also be missing on the bottom of the line - T5500/T5600 - Core 2s)

Plus, I hear Intel is shpping Core 2 Duo and Core Duo at the same price to help phase out Core Duo.

They were as of last fall when Core 2 Duo (mobile) started shipping; as of today, Core Duo is pretty much a dead product and really only a factor in retail systems where there's remaining stock.

The bottom of the line now (although Dell seems to have only used them briefly) are the new "Intel Pentium Dual-Core" processors like the T2080 and E2140. I'd avoid them, or anything else lower-end than the T5500.

What really sucks is that Dell is still not selling AMD-based laptops. I don't get why a budget computer company would hate AMD so much.

Dell has been selling AMD based laptops for at least 6 months now, I think more like a year -- current AMD-based laptop models include:
Inspiron 1501 (home/home office)
Inspiron 1521 (home/home office)
Inspiron 1721 (home/home office)
Vostro 1000 (small business)
Latitude D531 (small business)

That said, given the speed difference (Core Duo beats Turion X2 pretty much on everything, let alone Core 2 Duo) and the fact that on mobile processors Intel has tended to be much better than AMD on power consumption, it's only worth looking at AMD for laptops if you are REALLY broke.
 
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