Computer questions

[Darkdragon]

I admit, the subject line probably could be improved; it is, however, a question regarding computers.

My laptop is on the slow decline in terms of performance, after a rough life of being lurched around in a bag and brought faithfully to each class for the past three-and-a-half years. At the rate which it is currently failing, I would estimate I would need to replace it by May or June, and I would like a decent custom laptop if it is within my acceptable budget. The reason why I am planning this now is because I would have time to do some research on the topic, so to speak, and to see if I can get a loan from my parents.

Thus I ask the esteemed much more computer-savvy people of the forum to educate this ignorant fool when it comes to computers. Which components' quality should I prioritize? What components would you suggest? Where do you suggest I get it assembled? Approximately how much would it cost?

Thanks in advance.

[RobbieThe1st]

Well, first we need to know what you plan to use it for, and your use habits - Someone who games a lot, and has it plugged in 95% of the time needs a completely different machine from someone who does a lot of word processing, and needs a huge amount of battery life.

[Suwako]

And knowing what kind of budget we're looking at would be quite useful too.

and your feelings on transportability and general transportation habbits.  ( since when you bicycle / walk a lot you seriously want a light laptop, which kind of rules out a lot of ACERS )

Ha, and I'm not a computer savy...

I can only say, avoid earlier ACER models, the new ones are far more durable not to mention faster.
ACER is generally cheap with laptops and their computers are better value than DELL's own budget line of laptops.

Stop quoting sites...

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I'd suggest the same set of questions listed above. So... uh...

The result you get depends on what you put into it.

[Darkdragon]

OK: I would mainly use it to use word processing and other scholarly functions, but I would occasionally use it to play multimedia (movies, music etc). I really don't mind carrying around the cord with me everywhere, and I generally carry the laptop with me to all of my classes in any given day, and then some.

Weight is not too much of a matter. I'd say if the laptop plus cord is less than 5kg, I should be able to deal with it.

One reason why I ask so long before is because I need to plan for the amount of budget which I can allocate to it, which may involve borrowing money from my siblings if needed. I apologize if I'm not being a whole bunch of help with providing information, and I appreciate your help.

[superluser]

OK: I would mainly use it to use word processing and other scholarly functions, but I would occasionally use it to play multimedia (movies, music etc). I really don't mind carrying around the cord with me everywhere, and I generally carry the laptop with me to all of my classes in any given day, and then some.

Do you care if the movies are Blu-Ray quality or only DVD quality?  Some of the higher-end netbooks are probably sufficient for the lower quality (though I'm not saying you should get a netbook), but if you want higher definition stuff, you'll probably want something with a decent screen, which will push your price range up.

What scholarly functions are we talking about?  If you have to deal with statistics and programs like SPSS, you might want more RAM.

In any case, I recommend a 64-bit machine, since 32-bit is probably going to become legacy for everything but netbooks and embedded applications in the next few years. (Is anyone still shipping 32-bit processors?  I guess the Intel Atom N.)

[Tapewolf]

Is anyone still shipping 32-bit processors?  I guess the Intel Atom N.

ARM are doing quite well out of it 

[ShadesFox]

Most people aren't even aware that there are CPUs that aren't Intel Pentium derived...

I would suggest something with a 13" screen and 2 GB of memory.  The 13 inch screen is just personal preference, it allows a decent size keyboard and a good size screen and is still reasonably portable.  As long as you aren't doing something like heavy duty photoshop or software development the only thing really important is the amount of memory, followed secondly by the amount of disk space.  Though make sure you like the keyboard too.  Most everything else is really irrelevant.

[Suwako]

OK: I would mainly use it to use word processing and other scholarly functions,

but I would occasionally use it to play multimedia (movies, music etc). I really don't mind carrying around the cord with me everywhere, and I generally carry the laptop with me to all of my classes in any given day, and then some.

Weight is not too much of a matter. I'd say if the laptop plus cord is less than 5kg, I should be able to deal with it.

<snip>

Do you often use the numpad? If so you would want a full keyboard which is only available on 16 inch and up as far as I have seen. ( they offer higher resolutions too ) If you do not I would aim at something between 13 inch and 15.4 inches like Shades noted.

Also, being an owner of a 3.7 Kg laptop I can say that it is not fun to carry things around that weigh more than 2 kilograms. ( iow: I never take it to college anymore )

For another question; Do you use an external screen to watch your movies on? If so native resolution might be less of a problem. Really, I ask you this. Could you list what you find most important in order of importance?

-( high ) Resolution screen
-( low )Weight
-Full size keyboard
-Battery Life
-Pure power ( for gaming *cough* graphical programs )

Really, knowing you estimated budget would help too.

oh, and to be totally obvious, I would advice to ignore Vista Laptops if there isn't a Windows 7 for free offer that comes with it. ( because 7 is just better at everything, really and the laptops with vista generally don't cost less than those with Windows 7 )

[superluser]

Do you often use the numpad? If so you would want a full keyboard which is only available on 16 inch and up as far as I have seen. ( they offer higher resolutions too ) If you do not I would aim at something between 13 inch and 15.4 inches like Shades noted.

They sell number pad accessories, as well.  You could even attach it to the side of the smaller laptop with papier-mâché made out of dollar bills that you would have spent on the larger laptop.  Just a thought.

[Darkdragon]

DVD quality is sufficient, and I do have access to external screens to which I could use in the event I want picture quality, so the native screen size wouldn't be critical, although an added bonus.

Yes, "scholarly applications" would include number-crunching statistical programs, physics simulation programs, 3D modelling programs and maybe some music editing programs depending on if I end up choosing Music Theory as an elective. My rather naive opinion on the matter is I might need more RAM than one used mainly for word processing.

I don't think I need a number pad specifically - I'd do well with it being accessible via a Fn key or some other similar arrangement.

In order of importance: Power, Screen Resolution, Battery Life, Mass (Weight), Full-sized keyboard.

And thanks for the Vista tip. 

[Suwako]

<snip>

They sell number pad accessories, as well.  You could even attach it to the side of the smaller laptop with papier-mâché made out of dollar bills that you would have spent on the larger laptop.  Just a thought.

Larger laptops with similar hardware don't cost more than their smaller variants. ( a lot / most of the time ) Heck, often it is the opposite.

That being said, It's clear that a 15.4 inch would do fine for him, which really doesn't narrow the choices down all that much

Hm, power.

ACER has a lot of power notebooks with reasonable prices.
( acer is owned by dell and dell's budget notebooks are less in quality according to reviews )
MEDION has a small selection as well. ( but I doubt they sell wherever you are )

MSI has them, but they're more expensive last time I checked.
Hewlet Packard is something you might want to avoid ( at least in my experience )
Samsung has them, but I don't like anything from the brand... ( haha, I'm biased like always )

[superluser]

Larger laptops with similar hardware don't cost more than their smaller variants. ( a lot / most of the time ) Heck, often it is the opposite.

I've never seen a laptop where a larger screen didn't correspond to being more expensive (unless the smaller screen was on an ultraportable).

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Larger laptops with similar hardware don't cost more than their smaller variants. ( a lot / most of the time ) Heck, often it is the opposite.

I've never seen a laptop where a larger screen didn't correspond to being more expensive (unless the smaller screen was on an ultraportable).

There's a sort of rollover point where smaller == more expensive, usually around 14 inch or so; mostly because that's about the point where below that, they're going for "small and light as possible, at the expense of capabilities", whereas above that they're going for "features and capabilities"

[Suwako]

Larger laptops with similar hardware don't cost more than their smaller variants. ( a lot / most of the time ) Heck, often it is the opposite.

I've never seen a laptop where a larger screen didn't correspond to being more expensive (unless the smaller screen was on an ultraportable).

There's a sort of rollover point where smaller == more expensive, usually around 14 inch or so; mostly because that's about the point where below that, they're going for "small and light as possible, at the expense of capabilities", whereas above that they're going for "features and capabilities"

Aye, and sometimes it happens sooner because of the hardware.

iow: When there is a big ass videocard in the damn thing it's going to cost more to get it in a smaller model.

My Acer was actually less expensive than a comparable 15.4 inch at the time. ( which is the only reason why I chose a 17 inch behemoth )
Since it is an older model ACER it has the same issues all ACER notebooks had at the time I bought, accursed badly cleanable dust sucker~~

Notably I went for pure grunt, so..

[RobbieThe1st]

You might look into some of the new Lenovo(I recommend the T series) laptops - They have a fair amount of grunt processing wise, and -decent- video cards(though not gaming-quality). Just make sure to get one with a dedicated/ATI card and not just the integrated Intel one.

They are also quite a good price.

[Boygenius32]

What's your budget? a barebones low-budget rig will run $150 - $200 before add-ons, so add $30 for a DVD drive, $40 - $80 for a HDD, more for a videocard and increased RAM.

[GabrielsThoughts]

I recently installed Office 2007 onto my computer, and I don't know how to activate the spell-check feature. any help in this regard would be appreciated, although I could just as easily use "open office" or "works" without any problems.

[superluser]

I recently installed Office 2007 onto my computer, and I don't know how to activate the spell-check feature. any help in this regard would be appreciated, although I could just as easily use "open office" or "works" without any problems.

Are you looking for spell check or autocheck?  Spell check is under Tools, I think (been a while since I used Office).  Autocheck is under preferences (wherever that is).

[Boygenius32]

I would recommend just using open office, because microsoft already gets too much of our money.

[Vidar]

I recently installed Office 2007 onto my computer, and I don't know how to activate the spell-check feature. any help in this regard would be appreciated, although I could just as easily use "open office" or "works" without any problems.

Are you looking for spell check or autocheck?  Spell check is under Tools, I think (been a while since I used Office).  Autocheck is under preferences (wherever that is).

I tried using Office 2k7 on Vista once. It's a non-euclidean horror of a program to work with. In fact, you don't so much work with it as wrestle it into submission each and every time you want it to do something. It must be Microsoft's new approach to software development :"How can we bury all of the options under as many illogical menu options, wizards, sub-screens and security-nag screens at once? Oh BTW, can we get rid of the menu bar and replace it with another icon-bar thingy that doesn't adhere to any standard known to man, including ours?"

My laptop came with Vista. It now has Ubuntu, and I love Ubuntu: everything just works somehow.
</rant>

Sorry about that. If you can use Open Office, I suggest you do. It's not completely compatible with MS Office AFAIK, but as a standalone set of applications it should do nicely for most, if not all of your needs.

[Boygenius32]

Yay! Someone else who uses Ubuntu! 

[RobbieThe1st]

He's not the only one.

Personally, I -love- (K)Ubuntu. Its great, it does everything I want and more, and there are huge numbers of free, OSS programs to do whatever I want.
I do have a couple issues with it however - namely Flash and Java performance, especially on older comps. Oh, and some Wireless issues.

Overall though, It can't be any worse than Vista. And I'm not switching back, not even to XP.

[Jack McSlay]

I tried using Office 2k7 on Vista once. It's a non-euclidean horror of a program to work with. In fact, you don't so much work with it as wrestle it into submission each and every time you want it to do something. It must be Microsoft's new approach to software development :"How can we bury all of the options under as many illogical menu options, wizards, sub-screens and security-nag screens at once? Oh BTW, can we get rid of the menu bar and replace it with another icon-bar thingy that doesn't adhere to any standard known to man, including ours?"

My laptop came with Vista. It now has Ubuntu, and I love Ubuntu: everything just works somehow.
</rant>

Sorry about that. If you can use Open Office, I suggest you do. It's not completely compatible with MS Office AFAIK, but as a standalone set of applications it should do nicely for most, if not all of your needs.

I have this guy's office I do maintenance for, and for some unknown reason he decided to upgrade Office 2k3 to Office 2k7. His office is full of 1ghz celerons with < 512MB DIMM memory, and he often needs to print 300-page reports with dozens of hi-def photos. Yet he insists in hooking up his main printer to a computer that has been eaten by viruses - the thing is so bad that anything you do, the HD goes crazy with swap memory - not to mention it heats like an oven. Still he asks why things go so slow and unstable in his office.

Yeah, and I've been with Ubuntu for years now, tho I'm tempted to try Fedora, as they say it has good stuff in terms of tablet support.

[Boygenius32]

I want to get a tablet...