Best Laptop for a college student?

Hi, I'm an entering college freshman at Mississippi State University, and I'm having a little trouble finding a laptop that meets all of the University Engineering specs.
Here are the specs...
1.8 GHz or faster Dual Core processor or equivalent.
2 Gb RAM (2 Gb is the minimum required for Vista but we strongly encourage 3 to 4 Gb)
120 GB Hard drive
DVD-RW required
Video screen with minimum resolution of 1024x768
DirectX Compatible Video Card with 256 Mb RAM (512 Mb RAM encouraged for longer usability in graphics intensive fields)
IEEE 802.11g wireless capability
Ethernet (network) card
1 Gb minimum USB Flash Drive (thumb drive, memory stick, etc.) to allow easy transfer of files between computers.
Required Operating System:
Windows Vista Business or Vista Ultimate with Service Pack 1 (Vista Home is not acceptable). Do not purchase the 64-bit versions of Vista. This version has not been checked for compatibility with software used in the various disciplines and needed drivers for some equipment may not be available.
Required Software:
Microsoft Office 2007 Professional to include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook.
Any Suggestions?
Thanks

Keep in mind that while the laptops may not be preinstalled with a "required" operating system, you can install a more suitable OS yourself.
There's a good chance you can get a SIGNIFICANT student discount through your school on the "required" OS since it's a relatively uncommon variant that most students aren't going to have.
For example, I think my girlfriend got copies of Windows XP for something like $10-20 through her school while she was a student. I can get MS Office Professional for personal home use for around $20 through my employer.
It is possible to get VERY good (legitimate) deals on Microsoft software through employee discounts or student discounts.
*disclaimer* I am not now, nor have I ever been, an employee of Best Buy, Geek Squad, nor of any of their affiliate, parent, or subsidiary companies.

Similar Messages

Help with choosing a MacBook Air Model for a college student.

I am a college student and I am debating between the two 13 inch Mac AirBook models that Apple offers. I was wondering if someone can give me a breakdown of the differences and also, which model would be a better fit for a college student?

The two models are described here:
MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013) - Technical SpecificationsJun 10, 2013
Actually, there is only one model. You can purchase it with 128GB or 256GB of storage. But you can customize other features as well, such as the processor speed and the RAM size.
Asking which model is best for a college student is just like asking what type of car you should buy. It's up to you. In my opinion, if you're going to spend a bit of money to upgrade from the base model, the first place to upgrade would be the RAM size.

(CES2014)MSI Best Laptop for CAD & 3D Modeling photo gallery

Las Vegas, NV, United States,CES2014,1/6~9
GT60 2OK 3K IPS Edition (K3100M) & GT70 2OL (K4100M)
GT70 2OL (K4100M)
Best Laptop for CAD & 3D Modeling
GT70 2OL demo stration.
GT60 2OK 3K IPS Edition (K3100M)
Best Laptop for CAD & 3D Modeling
More new photos, will continue to update on this topic.

WoW K4100M is a very powerful Quadro solution:)

What is the best laptop for Photoshop Elements 10 ?

I have HP Pavilion g6 Notebook,i5-245M 2.5GHZ, 4 GB mwmory, 64-bit Operating system window 7, Radeon Graphics, Eidtior not working , I get error message ( Unable to continue because of hardware or system error,Sorry,but this error in unercoverable).
So I want to give this one to my son, and I want to bay new One for me,
but i do not want to have same Error with my new Laptop,
So any one know what is the best Laptop for PhotoShop Elements 10 ?
Thanks for Helping me .

I would suggest a machine with a multi-core processor and plenty of storage as photo files take up quite a lot of room over time. Many laptops have a screen resolution of 1366 x 768 and whilst elements will run OK some menu functionality will be missing if the display is not at least 800 pixels in height. A resolution of 1600 x 900 would be much better.
Independent advice is best, such as Which, UK. You can get a trial membership for as little as £1 to access their recommendations.
http://www.which.co.uk/technology/computing/reviews/laptops/best-buy/verdict/

Best laptop for a family

What is the best laptop for a family- value, price,etc?

When a family shares a computer it is best to create individual accounts for each user so that email, messages, and contacts don't get blended. (Parents can set up administrator accounts for themselves and the kids can have normal accounts.) So far so good, all Apple notebooks can handle this.
Potential problem: digital photos, music, and movies. Assuming you have kids they are likely to download more music and video than the parents. Since the kids will eventually leave the nest you'll probably want to have them establish their own Apple IDs so they can take their music with them when they leave without having to have access to your family ID. Leaving this issue aside, for family use you will want to have the largest hard drive possible to accomodate all the users.
For a single user a 128GB drive might be large enough but for a shared computer no way. My wife and I wouldn't be able to even co-exist on a 256GB drive but we are somewhat out of the norm having overlapping but different music tastes and being avid photographers. So married couple could probably live with a 256GB drive but add a child or two...
Once again, assuming you have children, I'd look at the 13" MBP mostly because it has a 500GB hard drive. All the other MacBooks have solid state drives which are wonderful but are much more expensive. My favorite of Apple's computers, the 13" MacBook Air would cost $1600 with a similar sized SSD while the 13" MBP costs $1200
One other point: I always advise customers to buy a notebook if they need portability not just because they want it. A notebook always costs more than a desktop computer with similar specs and since it is carried around and subjected to the elements, tends not to last as long. Perhaps a better solution is a Mac mini and an iPad mini.

Is a time capsule a good idea for a college student living in a dorm?

Is a time capsule a good idea for a college student living in a dorm?

Before you buy......you need to check with the school to see if they allow wireless routers in the dorms, or on campus at all.
Most schools prohibt the use of wireless routers due to interference issues.
Even if the school might allow this, there is no way to know in advance how well this might work....and frankly this type of setup is difficult, even if you have a friend who "knows computers".
If it were me, I would purchase a hard drive for backups....just like you do now.... and send an email once or twice a week to the student to remind them to "backup".

I purchased Adobe Creative Ste 5.5 Master Collection for windows for my college student daughter in '12 and she would like to install in on her iMac. Please advise on the process. Software has not been used yet.

I purchased Adobe Creative Ste 5.5 Master Collection for windows for my college student daughter in '12 and she would like to install in on her iMac. Please advise on the process. Software has not been used yet.

you need to exchange your win cs5.5 for mac cs5.5.
unfortunately, adobe only offers that for cs6, Order product | Platform, language swap

Which Macbook Pro is good for a college student?

Hi!
I want to buy the new Macbook Pro with Retina Display. My current laptop has 455 gb in which I only used 83 gb of it since the past 5 years I've been using it. I know that the original macbook pro is good too but its way heavier than the Macbook pro with retina display and therefore its easier for me to carry the macbook pro with retina display to school. Also it has 9 hour battery which is very good.
I will be storing music (2000+ songs), pictures, school documents (word, powerpoint, etc). I rarely do video editing or photo editing. I often have 3+ programs open while using the laptop and have 3+ tabs open on internet.
There are 2 Macbook Pro's that I am having troubles choosing from:
1.13-inch: 2.4GHz with Retina display... It has 2.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz, 4GB 1600MHz memory, and 128GB PCIe-based flash storage.
2.13-inch: 2.4 GHz with Retina display... It has 2.4 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz, 8GB 1600MHz memory, and 256GB PCIe-based flash storage.
I am planning on using this mac for a long-term use... but also know that I can buy an external storage when I run out of space.
Which Macbook is suited for my needs?
Thank you!

You say you are a college student but then leave out the most critical piece of information regarding choice of computer, what are you studying and what are the computer requirements for your course of study?
Select the computer that is most comparable with your professors and other students in your field of study. Music, etc. is not relevant, unless your field of study is music.
Get the most ram and disk space you can afford.

Best MacBook for a med student (5 years)

I'm currently looking to buy a laptop for my course in college and preferably the one I choose would last for as much of my degree as possible, a bit over 5 years. My main concern then is longevity and I'm trying to choose accordingly.
At the moment I'm thinking of getting the 13-inch 2.7GHz Retina MacBook Pro with 128GB storage. I also want to upgrade the RAM to 16GB so that it'll still be able to keep pace with software a few years down the road.
In terms of budget I'm trying to keep it reasonable (i.e. I'm not going to max out all of the specs just for the sake of it) but at the same time this is a bit of an investment and if there's an upgrade that could potentially buy the laptop another year or two of life it'll be worth it. Do you think this setup is decent? Do you think 128GB is enough, considering that in terms of usage I'd usually have 2 or 3 games and for my documents and other media I'd be happy to supplement the SSD with external storage? I don't think I'll update the CPU but any opinions on that would also be more than welcome.
Thank you!
Michael.

I’ve maintained that the two primary upgrades to seriously consider are RAM and SSD. Obviously there’s no way to upgrade the RAM and given that the last notebook 3rd party vendors offered an SSD upgrade for was the 2013 it is safe to assume there will be no SSD upgrade coming. Your decision to upgrade RAM is a good one. Frankly I think you would be wrong not to upgrade to the 256GB SSD. I’ve played the “I don’t have enough space so I have to improvise” game and I repeatedly lost. Granted, the 13” rMBP has an SD slot so you can improvise additional storage with an SD card - and there are flush mounting SD cards for just that purpose. I used one myself - and I had a 256GB SSD on my MBA. As a student you are going to have all kinds of book files on your computer and I wouldn’t be surprised given what you’ll be studying if they aren’t picture and diagram heavy which will be bigger than your typical eBook. Add some music, a couple videos and poof, 128GB is gone.

Best Macbook for a Biology student

Hi! I'll be attending college this year and as mentioned above, I'm an incoming Biology student. I'll probably do a lot of essays and some presentations and the only thing I do that's not school-related is watch some movies occasionally. So what's the best Macbook for me?

without sounding condiscending i would get the cheapest macbook you can find, probably a refurb from apple or some other reputable store.
by doing it this way you could have some warranty if something should go wrong.
for what you are going to use it for you dont need anything special, all macs are built to a high standard. i would look at the older aluminum unibody models, they are very sturdy and well equipped for what you need.
good luck with college.

MacBook Pro or Air for a College Student

Hi, I am a college student and want to switch over to Apple. I not sure which MacBook is correct for me. I had an iPad 2 but it really did not work out for me because I just like having an actual laptop with me, so I got rid of the iPad. I basically use my current HP laptop for surfing the web, typing papers, doing research and and for my large music collection. I am unsure if i should get the 13 inch MacBook Pro or the 13 inch MacBook Air. What the the pro and cons of each? Any fellow students out there that could help me out?

Actually for you the 15" anti-glare would be the better choice.
1: Larger screen, it's only slightly bigger than the 13", sits about 3 feet wayfrom eyes.
2: anti-glare option, lets you "see the goddarn screen" in nearly any enviroment, class, outside etc.
3: more powerful dedicated graphics card (less you get a 3D gaming itch, better video.web animation) 30-45 points on Cinebench
4: can survive more OS X upgrades with CPU + dedicated video card
5: flexibility, you have the performance if your needs change, need to run Windows in virtual machine
6: lasts longer if you take care of it because of the more horsepower.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X0wo6dIsMU
Also search for "glossy" "Mac screen" in Google images, you'll see pictures people have taken where the screen is unreadable.
13" drawbacks
1: Integrated only video,
2: hotter machine because of integrated video (Intel HD 3000)
3: glossy only option
4: overpriced, any $400-$800 Win 7 cheap laptop is basically the same thing and you get a larger screen
5: can't successfully weather as many OS X upgrades having only CPU and doing double duty for graphics
6: need to hunch closer to the screen, almost placing it on your chest
IMO if your going to be paying $1500+ with AppleCare for a Mac laptop, get something that will last a bit longer AND make you happy.
The AIr is for those who know they operate within it's limitations, since you don't exactly know that...
If later you do decide a Air is better, you can sell the 15" and there would be a lot of interest and buy the Air.
You buy the Air and decide you need the 15" then you won't have a lot of potential buyers for the Air as you would for the 15"

Best laptop for sharepoint 2013/2016 development

hi,
could you please advise which is the best laptop model for sharepoint 2013/2016 development practise.

HI Chaitu,It depends on what function of development that you want to do.I suggest to have a below configuration
to work with sharepoint.
Fast CPU!
32 GB of RAM (24 GB minimum, but 32 highly recommended)
500 GB of space
Please find also in the blog to know more about configurations and the installations.
http://expertsharepoint.blogspot.de/2014/07/hardware-and-software-requirements-for.html
Anil Avula[Microsoft Partner,MCP,MCSE,MCSA,MCTS,MCITP,MCSM] See Me At: http://expertsharepoint.blogspot.de/

Best laptop for Premiere Elements

Can you recommend a laptop for Premiere Elements.
I have PE9 and thinking about PE10.
Preferably matte screen.
UK based so Sager not really an option.
Thanks

Laptops are never best for video editing, since they're usually built for portability rather than power. They also cost about 50% more than desktops for the same amount of power.
But what type of camcorder is your video coming from?
If you are editign tape-based video, a dual-core processor and 4 gigs of RAM with a 500 gig hard drive should be adequate.
If you are working with AVCHD video, you should go for a quad core or i7 processor running Windows 7 64-bit.

Which computer is better for a college student? Macbook Air or Macbook Pro?

help.

DNA1421 wrote:
I am studying Psychology so I know I will have to do a lot of papers, and a lot of Internet use. I also need to be able to carry it wherever I go. I would like it to be capable for years of use.
Even the least expensive Mac can do papers and Internet; those are pretty basic tasks. So you dont need to go overboard with a Pro model. The only reason for you to get a Pro is if you want it to last as long as possible, but now that you can't upgrade most MacBook Pros, a loaded 13" Air would probably last just as long.
You could buy a lower-end Mac to handle what you need to do, and to make it last longer you can order it with more RAM and storage since you can't upgrade it later.
ds store wrote:
The 15" anti-glare, you likely will have to run Windows too to run software only Windows has (as well as keeping up with your skills there), and it's easier to run it as a program in OS X (virtual machine) than using Bootcamp which a weaker Mac will have to do.
OK, a couple things here. I have the 15" antiglare so I sure do love it but...where do you buy one these days? I don't think it's an option because I don't think it can be ordered any more.
Also, lots of college students can get through their program without ever using Windows, I don't think it should be assumed. The need for Windows compatibility has gone down as more required apps now live on the Web, which is platform agnostic.

Best laptop for working with after effects

I need a laptop for work with adobe after effects and some others. Anyway I need laptop wich will not cost more than 1400€ and which will have inside intel core i7, 4 GB of memory or more and Nividia graphic card. Somthing more pls dont say the apple is the best beacuse i dont like it very much.
Thanks.

4GB is a rather small amount of RAM for working with After Effects. If you can get a computer with more RAM, I recommend doing so.
For After Effects CS5, the graphics card (GPU) doesn't matter as much as RAM and CPUs, so focus on RAM and CPUs first.
In general, a laptop is not going to give you the same performance as a desktop computer of the same price. If you need a laptop, fine; but don't be surprised when performance isn't as good as you might like.

Best Laptop for a college student?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for