Technology need some advice for purchasing a laptop for med school

[Div_MD2B]

hey guys--
I tried searching the forums for this...but it didn't show me any results. so...i wanted to ask you guys for some advice since many of you have more experience in this. I am going to start med school in fall 2007. Our med school requires us to buy a laptop with certain specifications before the beginning of the school year. Although we can purchase the laptop from wherever we want, the school offers three laptop models through their laptop program. The three that they offer are: Dell Latitude 620 ($1589),Dell Latitude 820 ($1899), Dell Precision M90 ($2479). These laptops are apparently pre-configured to the school's system and they have all the required specifications. There's a 3 yr warranty that is included in that price too. And they say that if there's any problem with the laptop, they'll fix it for us free of cost and if extended repair is needed, they'll give us loaner laptops. All these services r provided ONLY if i buy the laptop through the school's program. I have been looking for deals from other places too for the past few weeks. I feel like i can easily get a cheaper one from like best buy or circuit city...but then if i run into a problem with it, i'll have to pay a lot more to get it fixed. for instance, if i don't buy a laptop thru my school's program, for virus removal services, the school charges $100 per incident.
So...what do u guys suggest? spend the extra money and be safe? are there other things that i should be considering? which one out of the three should i consider purchasing?
Thanks so much in advance!

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[Sartre79]

There is a technology forum where this was recently discussed. Go the the main forum page and look for it.

 

[tulane06]

hey guys--
I tried searching the forums for this...but it didn't show me any results. so...i wanted to ask you guys for some advice since many of you have more experience in this. I am going to start med school in fall 2007. Our med school requires us to buy a laptop with certain specifications before the beginning of the school year. Although we can purchase the laptop from wherever we want, the school offers three laptop models through their laptop program. The three that they offer are: Dell Latitude 620 ($1589),Dell Latitude 820 ($1899), Dell Precision M90 ($2479). These laptops are apparently pre-configured to the school's system and they have all the required specifications. There's a 3 yr warranty that is included in that price too. And they say that if there's any problem with the laptop, they'll fix it for us free of cost and if extended repair is needed, they'll give us loaner laptops. All these services r provided ONLY if i buy the laptop through the school's program. I have been looking for deals from other places too for the past few weeks. I feel like i can easily get a cheaper one from like best buy or circuit city...but then if i run into a problem with it, i'll have to pay a lot more to get it fixed. for instance, if i don't buy a laptop thru my school's program, for virus removal services, the school charges $100 per incident.
So...what do u guys suggest? spend the extra money and be safe? are there other things that i should be considering? which one out of the three should i consider purchasing?
Thanks so much in advance!

$2500 is way too much money IMHO. I would go with the Latitude 620, or something cheaper if you are somewhat proficient in figuring out problems with your comp, knowing what not to download and open, etc.

 

[indo]

For 2500 dollars you'll be able to check your email AND play a lecture at the same time!

 

[Critical Mass]

Sony Vaio. You can get a good one for about $1700. Circuit City or Best Buy will give you a warranty. I'm not sure how your school "pre-configures" it or what sort of software you need to have, but I imagine it can't be too tough to load it onto the Vaio.

I don't play ball with school-based monopolies when it comes to Dell laptops. I've tried Dell on two occasions, and it has never been worth anywhere near the price. A good virus protector will keep problems away.

 

[deleted89854]

Dell Insipiron - $500 and up. I can't imagine what in med school could possibly require more than that

 

[deuist]

Agreed, schools should not expect students to spend $2500 on a laptop. I'll break with the other posters and recommend against Dell and Sony. Dell has for years had dangerous hardware problems, leading to battery fires and hard drive failures. Sony is not quite as bad, but it loads lots of mediocre hardware into a single computer and then charges more than its competitors. The only two brands that I can recommend are Lenova* (if you have money) or Toshiba (if you don't). Both brands build solid machines that are very reliable and run smoothly.

*Lenova used to be IBM.

 

[Docster]

my school built in the cost of our lenovo t60p laptops into our 1st and 2nd year tuition/fees, and requires everyone to participate (we all get a bulk discount). it's a great laptop, but some of my friends and I have experienced inexplicable laptop failures (the IT folks here think it has something to do with the Windows auto update). Lenovo has also placed a recall on our batteries, which the school will handle for us.

I recommend getting the cheapest laptop through your school. It might end up saving you time (and grief, especially close to exams) if you can just take your broken/breaking laptop into IT and have them fix it in a couple of hours or give you a loaner with all your essential files on it. The IT folks will also take care of any product recalls, updates, upgrades, etc. for you.

You'll probably find that convenience/time will be a really important factor for pretty much anything you do outside of med school once you start up this Fall -- you won't want to deal with a broken laptop by getting on the phone for several hours to (hopefully) fix it.

 

[crazy_cavalier]

I <3 my vaio. It's an *incredible* machine.

 

[Law2Doc]

my school built in the cost of our lenovo t60p laptops into our 1st and 2nd year tuition/fees, and requires everyone to participate (we all get a bulk discount).

Yes - definitely do not buy a computer until you are sure your school isn't going to require you to buy one through them, with their proprietary software installed. Plenty of people have gotten burned buying a laptop only to find that they have to buy another. I would talk to your school or hold off until you get your info packets in the summer.

 

[erin682]

Just say no to Dell. I've had so many major problems with mine I've lost count. I've had multiple hard drive crashes, the mother board failed, now the actual computer casing itself is coming apart. The screen is separating from the computer itself. This is with me treating it extremely well and rarely traveling with it. I will never, never, never buy a Dell again. I would be hesitant to accept a free one. I'd better post this now before my computer realizes I'm talking bad about it and gets angry..........

 

[hb2998]

Those are harsh choices, considering that you have to choose between Dell, Dell or Dell. I would choose the 620 (preconfigured) and get done with it.

Here are some of the notebooks I'm looking at:

HP dv2000t
Vista Home Premium
Core 2 Duo T7200 (2ghz)
14.1"
128MB NVIDIA (7200)
2GB DDR2 (533)
160GB 5400RPM
Light DVD+RW
IntelWiFi+Bluetooth
12 Cell Li-Ion
3yr Accidental
$1,848.98


Dell E1405
Vista Home Premium
Core 2 Duo T7200 (2ghz)
14.1"
Intel® Graphics Media 950
2GB DDR2 (533)
160GB 5400RPM
CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW)
IntelWiFi+Bluetooth
9 Cell Li-Ion
4yr Accidental
Quote Day: March 11th
$1,636.00
(this price is with a $400 coupon PM me if you want the code.. valid till 31st)


Sony VGN-SZ440
Vista Home Premium
Core 2 Duo T7200 (2ghz)
13.3" WXGA W/ XBRITE™
2GB DDR2 (533)
200GB 4200RPM(?)
CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW)
IntelWiFi+Bluetooth
Large Optional Battery
4yr Accidental
$2,569.99
(Waaaay too expensive, but seriously awesome machine at 4.5 pounds)

Sony VGN-C290
Vista Home Premium
Core 2 Duo T7200 (2ghz)
13.3" WXGA
2GB DDR2 (533)
160GB 5400RPM
CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW)
802.11a\b\g with Bluetooth
NORMAL
4yr Accidental
$2,129.98
(I have the Sony C190G... which is great except for a horrible Space bar and some Hibernating issues which should be fixed with Vista I hope).


Fujitsu S7110
XP Pro
Core 2 Duo T7200 (2ghz)
14" SXGA+ display
2 GB DDR2 667 MHz
100 GB hard drive
802.11a\b\g with Bluetooth
Additional 6 cell
1yr regular
$1,945.00
(XP Pro, not stylish compared to the sony but much better than Dell I think)


I wish we could have posted HTML... this data looked much better in table format. These systems all (except for the Fujitsu) have the best warranty offered, and are for the most part the same. Dell is definitely the cheapest. HP has me concerned as many people have had poor experience with their support staff. Looking forward to everybody else's advice as I'm looking forward to buying a laptop myself.

 

[PreMedDocMD]

I am not in med school yet, so I don't know how many notes you take/ is handwritten better than typed. BUT, you MIGHT want to consider a tablet pc, if you want to take handwritten notes, but still on a laptop. You can do both on a tablet, when the situation calls for either one.

 

[akpete]

I spent $1000 on my HP dv6000 in November. What kind programs are they loading onto these Dell's that they're charging up to $2500. Sounds pretty ridiculous.

Love my HP. No problems with it whatsoever. Some days I wish I would've gotten the dv2000 instead for lighter weight and smaller screen, but those days are far and few.

 

[OncoCaP]

I have had good luck with the Lenovos and HP laptops. I don't use desktops except for the family. I used to buy a lot of Dells, but now I don't because they broke down more than the Lenovos or HPs in my experience. However, I wouldn't want to depend on any one computer. They can go down very quickly & unexpectedly ... back up often!

 

[pillowhead]

I heart my macbook. And it's a hell of a lot cheaper than those dells.

In all seriousness, I used a Toshiba with Windows for most of medical school and it was fine (but I had to deal with all the junk that is Windows such as antivirus stuff). Then in 4th year I switched to mac and I have never looked back. I have had no problems using any of my school's software or websites. I applied for residency and the match using a mac without any problems. I also applied for and studied for step2 using the mac without a hitch. I highly recommend looking into it.

You can get a very good laptop for under $1200-$1300. Those ones recommended by your school are ridiculous.

 

[crazy_cavalier]

Those are harsh choices, considering that you have to choose between Dell, Dell or Dell. I would choose the 620 (preconfigured) and get done with it.

Here are some of the notebooks I'm looking at:


Sony VGN-SZ440
Vista Home Premium
Core 2 Duo T7200 (2ghz)
13.3" WXGA W/ XBRITE™
2GB DDR2 (533)
200GB 4200RPM(?)
CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW)
IntelWiFi+Bluetooth
Large Optional Battery
4yr Accidental
$2,569.99
(Waaaay too expensive, but seriously awesome machine at 4.5 pounds)

That's what I have, except I have XP pro (much better than vista anyway), less RAM (1 gb), smaller HD (120 gb), normal battery (it's basically always plugged in), and no extended warranty/coverage. Came out to about ~$2k. A seriously solid, incredibly lightweight compact yet high performance beast of a machine.

I love the screen.

Don't forget that it has a "hybrid" graphics system... you can switch to the builtin intel graphics accelerator chip to do low-demand video to conserve battery, or switch over to the nVidia high-performance video card (which is very very good!)

 

[naegleria brain]

dude, if ur gonna get a dell, do it through their website. before checking out, google some coupon codes (theyre everywhere!) and you'll get a crazy awesome discount (i got mine 40% off!)

dont go nuts. once ur here all u have time for is email, and listening to lectures online, and downloading ur lecturer's ppt's. u might need to ensure u have memory to save all those mp3's and ppt's, but second year is coming to an end and i still have a few gigs left (80 gig hard drive).

and of course, sdn forums, but no need to get an awesome speaker set 5.1 surround for that. unless it can make beer.

well ive had my mornin coffee, and i need to do my mornin business. dont forget, if youre getting a dell - COUPON CODES can save you lotsa money. i highly doubt the school's discount will be anywhere near the coupon code tip im giving you. (the 2000 dollar version from my school i got for 1200. my budget was a grand, so i stripped it of all software and got it for 900. there's a nifty remote control too...for $4!)

 

[deleted89854]

I got the four pound Dell Inspiron for around $1500, and I've beaten the living crap out of it over the last three years with zero problems. If I had to pick another one, I'd stay away from Toshiba (those things crap out all the time - I think there was a class action lawsuit against them) and Sony (overpriced junk boutique computer). If you get yourself one of the new Macbooks, you can boot into windows if you want, and they seem to work pretty well.

 

[R-35]

hey guys--
I tried searching the forums for this...but it didn't show me any results. so...i wanted to ask you guys for some advice since many of you have more experience in this. I am going to start med school in fall 2007. Our med school requires us to buy a laptop with certain specifications before the beginning of the school year. Although we can purchase the laptop from wherever we want, the school offers three laptop models through their laptop program. The three that they offer are: Dell Latitude 620 ($1589),Dell Latitude 820 ($1899), Dell Precision M90 ($2479). These laptops are apparently pre-configured to the school's system and they have all the required specifications. There's a 3 yr warranty that is included in that price too. And they say that if there's any problem with the laptop, they'll fix it for us free of cost and if extended repair is needed, they'll give us loaner laptops. All these services r provided ONLY if i buy the laptop through the school's program. I have been looking for deals from other places too for the past few weeks. I feel like i can easily get a cheaper one from like best buy or circuit city...but then if i run into a problem with it, i'll have to pay a lot more to get it fixed. for instance, if i don't buy a laptop thru my school's program, for virus removal services, the school charges $100 per incident.
So...what do u guys suggest? spend the extra money and be safe? are there other things that i should be considering? which one out of the three should i consider purchasing?
Thanks so much in advance!

For that kind of money I would get a MacBook Pro or MacBook and run windows on it if you need it from time to time. I got my MBP a few weeks ago, its been great so far. If not get a Vaio they are nice too, I just wouldnt spend 2k$ on a dell for some reason lol.

 

[Div_MD2B]

Thanks so much for all the advice guys! i really appreciate it! any more comments/advice is welcome here! thanks again!

 

[psipsina]

My school required us to get their laptop, and though I hate that its a gateway with an undying passion I am infinitely thankful for knowing that no matter what happens to it they will give me a new one, and that I'll have a loaner untill that one arrives. Between wiki, noteset corrections forums, and the powerpoints for each lecture I pretty much study with my laptop open at all times. Alot of people in my class take notes on the powerpoints during class too. I can't imagine having to stress about a virus or a fried hardrive or the fact that I dropped it on top of all of the stress that is already built into the medschool experience. I've had multiple classmates who've dropped, run over, or spilled on their laptop already (we're first years) who would have had soo much extra stress if there wasn't a loaner waiting for them. We also test on them so that would be killer if your laptop broke before an exam when you're already tweaked out as it is. Anyway, even though its obviously overpriced when you think about it as a laptop, that price is for more than just a laptop, its for peace of mind. Which is pretty much priceless when your in this intense process. If you are so thouroughly disgusted by dells however that this outweighs the peace of mind factor for you (and really, with dells who could blame you if this were true) I would get a mac. They aren't anywhere near as vulnerable to viruses, the OS is very stable, they run windows when you need them to and their customer service is a delight to work with. I have a 5 year old imac desktop that I prefer to my brand new laptop and that will probably outlive this laptop even with its many lives via the 4 year warranty.

 

[Proctor MD]

I have to speak out against Sony VAIOs here. I have had two VAIOs, (I still can't, for the life of me, justify buying the second one, but I did.) and both have had hardware problems. I'm pretty tech-savvy, but when the CD drive on the laptop stops working, and it isn't a removable drive, you have to send it back, which takes forever, and leaves you without a laptop. I'd recommend Dell or HP. I have to buy a new laptop in July, and those are the manufacturers I'm looking at.

 

[mjl1717]

I have to speak out against Sony VAIOs here. I have had two VAIOs, (I still can't, for the life of me, justify buying the second one, but I did.) and both have had hardware problems. I'm pretty tech-savvy, but when the CD drive on the laptop stops working, and it isn't a removable drive, you have to send it back, which takes forever, and leaves you without a laptop. I'd recommend Dell or HP. I have to buy a new laptop in July, and those are the manufacturers I'm looking at.

Good, I searched also. And Narrowed it down to Dell or H.P. And bought a HPdv1648. Im happy with it for about $1600 with 2 year Full coverage including screen breakage. H.P. customer service is incredible... [ I just couldnt handle searching for Dell mailing stuff back to Dell if I got in a jam] Dell may be most economical.

 

[humuhumu]

Fortunately our school doesn't require us to purchase a laptop. I have a desktop computer at home (much cheaper than a laptop), 24/7 internet access, tons of computers available for use at school, and free remote access so I can log into my home computer anytime I want. Laptops are just expensive toys that are asking to be dropped or stolen. And you'll probably use a PDA during the 3rd and 4th year, not a laptop. The only thing laptops are good for is web surfing during class...and if you're going to surf during class, why go to class?

 

[Sust]

Firstly, there have been a lot of companies who have been recalling batteries. In fact, everyone who has any laptop should look into whether their manufacturer has even "quietly issued" a recall before too much time lapses and these accursed companies get away with this idiocy and robbery.

Also, it doesnt really matter what laptop you buy as long as the level of on/off-site support is within your comfort level and tech know-how. Some need a nerd to yell at when they spill coffee on their laptop and wonder why the keyboard isnt working, and others are ready to stab themselves because of the tech support RMA hoops they have to jump thru even though the owner has already diagnosed the problem. If you're high on harm-avoidance then get a mac where there's a mac store nearby for nerd flogging. If you're high on harm avoidance and novelty seeking, then go here and type "dell", "HP", "lenovo", or whatever in the search box to get yourself a hot deal

For the guy who put a plug for tablet PCs, the following is from a pure slate tablet owner and theyre good as long as notes are provided for you. Keyboards were meant to be an evolutionary step foward in productivity and doing real writing on this thing is a pain. However, highlighting, doodling, and reading on this thing is a delight. It's just that if I had to write a 10-page paper with this stinkin pen alone then I would be pissed. Thank god, someone created USB keyboards.

Oh and someone mentioned backups. That should also be emphasized since no amount of local geek-dom will recover that data on your drive when it gives up the ghost. No, you would have to send your hard drive away to neverland geeks like these along with a to-be-determined dollar amount depending on how much data there is. Once absurd price is met, they mail you your data on... let's say DVDs so if you lost 80 Gb worth of stuff, that's about 80/4.7 = about 18 DVD discs. Save yourself some money and gray hairs...

Agreed, schools should not expect students to spend $2500 on a laptop. I'll break with the other posters and recommend against Dell and Sony. Dell has for years had dangerous hardware problems, leading to battery fires and hard drive failures. Sony is not quite as bad, but it loads lots of mediocre hardware into a single computer and then charges more than its competitors. The only two brands that I can recommend are Lenova* (if you have money) or Toshiba (if you don't). Both brands build solid machines that are very reliable and run smoothly.

*Lenova used to be IBM.

 

[Dr Who]

You can get yourself an Apple Macbook, or better yet, a macbook pro. I bought a 24" Imac since I needed a desktop and simply installed windows vista on a seperate partition, which is pretty easy to do. I have a Think pad T60 that I have used for the past 2 years, and it's still a pretty decent laptop. Maybe later this year I'll get me a new macbook pro to replace my thinkpad.

 

[CoryChevalier]

Trust me...get a Macbook. Dell's are terrible.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

My standard response to this question is that, at the end of the day, laptops aren't built to be durable, if you are a heavy laptop user. As a heavy laptop user, I have had EVERY LAPTOP OF EVERY BRAND THAT I HAVE EVER OWNED (Apple, Compaq, Dell, IBM, Toshiba) have problems. Therefore, my advice is there is no best laptop in terms of reliability. Buy whichever laptop appeals to you (features, styling, etc) but BUY THE EXTENDED WARRANTY, ESPECIALLY IF IT PROVIDES FOR AT-HOME SERVICE.

I can't speak highly of the quality of my current Dell laptop, but they have excellent warranty service. Once you get past the awful call center reps. in India, they will send someone to your house usually within 24-48 hours. For more minor stuff, they will, if you want, just FedEx you the replacement parts with the necessary tools to fix the problem yourself. When my keyboard was hosed, I got the replacement keyboard and was back up and running in less than 24 hours. Also, the at-home service guys are contractors that don't directly work for Dell. After my son knocked my laptop off of our couch onto my tile floor, knocking something loose with the display, the guy replaced it under warranty. He didn't work for Dell, so he didn't care that it technically wasn't covered by the warranty.

So, bottom line, IMHO is that if you are a serious laptop user, don't buy based upon supposed reliability, buy based upon features and best warranty service (and ALWAYS get the extended warranty.)

(This is obviously bad advice if your school requires a specific laptop with specific proprietary software pre-installed and they won't let you install that software yourself.)

 

[78222]

Thanks for using the search function. Your attempt at reducing superflous threads makes Lee A. Burnett happy.

I've owned the following brands, so i'll give my input.

Dell: Good for the price, I'd suggest purchasing an extended warranty though as a lot of people have had their CPU crap out right after the warranty ends.

Acer: I like my Acer quite a bit. It was a good deal, and I was able to get an AMD processor which is just as good as Intel and cheaper. The downside that I've found with my laptop is TERRIBLE battery life.

IBM Thinkpad: Loved it! Great computer. If you look on ebay you'll see that IBM's retain their value while most other brands do not. They are more expensive though. Nonetheless, if I had a lot to blow, I'd probably buy a new thinkpad.

 

[Arsenic]

moving to the technology forum