College Laptop & Headphones

[Spore]

I am going to college and I require a laptop. My maximum screen size is 15.6 inches. My maximum weight is 6 lbs. Feel free to go lower. I would like to have a 5 hour battery when web browsing or typing documents. I'm bringing my desktop so it doesn't need to be a gaming behemoth. I have a $1000 budget, but I'm trying to go lower. Feel free to go a bit higher because there's probably some huge fucking coupon for it somewhere online I can use. I have no brand preferences except for the fact that I do not wish to buy a Mac, but I pointed out a budget so that goes without saying.

I also require a very decent pair of headphones. My budget is around $125-$150. They must be closed headphones. Their purpose is to provide good sound for me while not leaking out, bugging my roomate/others. These will obviously be for watching movies, games, and music. I primarily listen to rock if that is something that matters. It does not need a microphone attached to it and I would rather they not say GAMER or FATAL1TY on the label.

Recommend things to me, BRBU.

[Mission Difficult]

Ultrasone makes a pretty solid set of cans. I don't have any experience with their HIFI line, but Their PRO line stuff is nice. I also have an old pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M40's (not the ATH-D40's) that  I travel with. Pretty sturdy although they have some zip ties holding them together right now but they are at least 10 years old at this point and world traveled. I would recommend Grado, but they don't offer much in the way of isolation . I've also used some AKG's that were really nice (K-240's I think.) I've heard Sennheiser's are good, but the only Sennheiser transducers I have experience with are their microphones. If they can do that right I'm sure they have a handle on headphones.

[copulatingduck]

Whatcha gonna study, and do you think your laptop will have to number-crunch for projects, or can you afford to leave stuff like that to a desktop? I don't specifically have any suggestions, just thought I'd throw that out there since iirc you wanted to study physics or summat like that? Depending on what kind of workhorse you'd like to pick up for a lappy, you can either
1) never run something like, say, Matlab, all work goes to the desktop
2) Run Matlab on laptop
3) Actually be able to run Matlab, and not have to drag the data from your processor's cold-dead hands kicking and screaming


As for the headphones: how do you feel about bulk? Do they need to be particularly portable? I have a paid of Sennheiser 280's, they give some good, isolated sound on a budget, albeit, they are very large and I look like an idiot some nerd out of Jet Grind Radio if I try to walkabout with them. Mission will probably rec some good stuffs at some point Oh look, hello dere mission

[Mission Difficult]

Oh look, hello dere mission

Oh hi!

[Spore]

Whatcha gonna study, and do you think your laptop will have to number-crunch for projects, or can you afford to leave stuff like that to a desktop? I don't specifically have any suggestions, just thought I'd throw that out there since iirc you wanted to study physics or summat like that? Depending on what kind of workhorse you'd like to pick up for a lappy, you can either
1) never run something like, say, Matlab, all work goes to the desktop
2) Run Matlab on laptop
3) Actually be able to run Matlab, and not have to drag the data from your processor's cold-dead hands kicking and screaming


As for the headphones: how do you feel about bulk? Do they need to be particularly portable? I have a paid of Sennheiser 280's, they give some good, isolated sound on a budget, albeit, they are very large and I look like an idiot some nerd out of Jet Grind Radio if I try to walkabout with them. Mission will probably rec some good stuffs at some point Oh look, hello dere mission

Yes, I will be studying physics, so number crunching programs are very possible. Sadly, I am not sure what heavy tasks my classes or personal studying will require. And those headphones look pretty damn great. I'm cool with them being large. I'm really probably not going to walk around with them. I have cute little buds for that.

[Versus]

i have a pair of 380s, and while they're over your budget, i'd just like to mention that i had a positive experience with sennheiser headphones.

they are very large and I look like an idiot some nerd out of Jet Grind Radio if I try to walkabout with them.

lmao

[Surf314]

Based on personal experience you want something p lightweight made for just office type programs and internet surfing, especially if you have your desktop. Personally I prefer mac laptops, you can get a low end macbook pro for your budget especially because they often give lots of discounts in August for college students. But since you are anti-mac I'm not sure what to tell you except don't get a toshiba. Maybe an asus or something.

The only reason I recommend a mac over a PC is I think OSX is better suited then windows for the types of things most people use laptops for in school, I really like the metal case and low profile, and the tech support is really good if you have any problems. I'd never buy a mac desktop but I still prefer their laptops.

Also find out about your school's bookstore. Most have a technology section and a lot of times they get really good deals on computers. They also have super cheap software a lot of times. At my school they actually put a tech fee in our tuition that covers this stuff so if your school is like that too you might as well take advantage of it.

[Kirby]

I've got two sets of Sennheiers at home, HD-555's and a HD-2xx line pair as well, both are open, but I'll be yet another voice of approval for the brand, they're awesome 'phones.

They're part-replaceable as well. Little ear cushion things went to shit? Buy a new set of ear cushion things.

Ran over the cord too many times wif da chair? Buy a replacement cable. Almost all Sennheiers of size also have kevlar reinforced cables, I've been running over my 555's cable for over 5 years now and the cable doesn't even show it.

[copulatingduck]

[quote author=Duck link=topic=5699.msg209716#msg209716 date=1307688805]
Whatcha gonna study, and do you think your laptop will have to number-crunch for projects, or can you afford to leave stuff like that to a desktop? I don't specifically have any suggestions, just thought I'd throw that out there since iirc you wanted to study physics or summat like that? Depending on what kind of workhorse you'd like to pick up for a lappy, you can either
1) never run something like, say, Matlab, all work goes to the desktop
2) Run Matlab on laptop
3) Actually be able to run Matlab, and not have to drag the data from your processor's cold-dead hands kicking and screaming


As for the headphones: how do you feel about bulk? Do they need to be particularly portable? I have a paid of Sennheiser 280's, they give some good, isolated sound on a budget, albeit, they are very large and I look like an idiot some nerd out of Jet Grind Radio if I try to walkabout with them. Mission will probably rec some good stuffs at some point Oh look, hello dere mission

Yes, I will be studying physics, so number crunching programs are very possible. Sadly, I am not sure what heavy tasks my classes or personal studying will require. And those headphones look pretty damn great. I'm cool with them being large. I'm really probably not going to walk around with them. I have cute little buds for that.
[/quote]

I wouldn't worry about it too much, you only end up needing something that's not-a-netbook is if your program is programming and/or experimental-physics heavy. In the end, if you need that sort of stuff, there's always campus computer labs (which were major specific at my school so that the computers actually had all the software you would need) and/or SSH access to the desktop.

[Greatbacon]

[quote author=Spore link=topic=5699.msg209718#msg209718 date=1307689994]
[quote author=Duck link=topic=5699.msg209716#msg209716 date=1307688805]
Whatcha gonna study, and do you think your laptop will have to number-crunch for projects, or can you afford to leave stuff like that to a desktop? I don't specifically have any suggestions, just thought I'd throw that out there since iirc you wanted to study physics or summat like that? Depending on what kind of workhorse you'd like to pick up for a lappy, you can either
1) never run something like, say, Matlab, all work goes to the desktop
2) Run Matlab on laptop
3) Actually be able to run Matlab, and not have to drag the data from your processor's cold-dead hands kicking and screaming


As for the headphones: how do you feel about bulk? Do they need to be particularly portable? I have a paid of Sennheiser 280's, they give some good, isolated sound on a budget, albeit, they are very large and I look like an idiot some nerd out of Jet Grind Radio if I try to walkabout with them. Mission will probably rec some good stuffs at some point Oh look, hello dere mission

Yes, I will be studying physics, so number crunching programs are very possible. Sadly, I am not sure what heavy tasks my classes or personal studying will require. And those headphones look pretty damn great. I'm cool with them being large. I'm really probably not going to walk around with them. I have cute little buds for that.
[/quote]

I wouldn't worry about it too much, you only end up needing something that's not-a-netbook is if your program is programming and/or experimental-physics heavy. In the end, if you need that sort of stuff, there's always campus computer labs (which were major specific at my school so that the computers actually had all the software you would need) and/or SSH access to the desktop.
[/quote]Yeah, I'd recommend a netbook at that point.  They're lightweight, cheap, and like Duck said, chances are if you're doing a project you're either going to end up doing it on your own desktop or a lab machine.  At least that's how it's been in my experience between myself (compsci) and my roommate (mech engineer).

[Spore]

I'd rather not kill my hands with a netbook keyboard though.

[Surf314]

I'd rather not kill my hands with a netbook keyboard though.

Then get something just above, it's really important not to overbuy. Space on your desk will probably be limited and you may need more stuff than just your laptop on it.

[copulatingduck]

[quote author=Spore link=topic=5699.msg209747#msg209747 date=1307725126]
I'd rather not kill my hands with a netbook keyboard though.

Then get something just above, it's really important not to overbuy. Space on your desk will probably be limited and you may need more stuff than just your laptop on it.
[/quote]

i had 40 linear feet of deskspace in my room in college, with depth varying from 3-5 ft. stole a lot of doors off of abandoned furniture to get there, it was awesome though

[HeK]

I have no brand preferences except for the fact that I do not wish to buy a Mac, but I pointed out a budget so that goes without saying.

Budget aside, I am on my fifth personal laptop and my eighth work laptop and my 13" Mac Book Pro is by far the best I have used.
Even if you ditch OSX and install Windows 7, you cannot beat the hardware. Solid billet aluminum case, fantastic screen, full-sized illuminated keyboard, decent power, and A SUPER LONG BATTERY LIFE.
Mine is spec'd for 10 hours, I've done over seven hours of video playback. Saved my ass from death by boredom in airports many a time.
Still $1200.

BMW vs Kia.

[Didzo]

I have an Alienware M11x r2.

It's priced like a Mac, sized like a netbook, can run any game or program you can throw at it depending on what hardware you get it with. 8+ hours of battery life when you don't game, too. It's also covered in aluminum and glows.


Though, you would probably be fine with an Asus or Lenovo.

Just don't get anything too big or you won't want to carry it anywhere.

[Moosendoo]

You can get an HP dv6t quad with an i7-2630m (sandy bridge quad core) processor, HD 6770m, 6GB RAM, 640 GB 7200RPM HDD, 1080p screen, for $949 with this coupon: NBQ5286

Might be a bit overkill if you have your desktop too, though.

If you want more opinions I recommend filling out the form in this forum.

[Spore]

You can get an HP dv6t quad with an i7-2630m (sandy bridge quad core) processor, HD 6770m, 6GB RAM, 640 GB 7200RPM HDD, 1080p screen, for $949 with this coupon: NBQ5286

Might be a bit overkill if you have your desktop too, though.

If you want more opinions I recommend filling out the form in this forum.

I didn't mention it in my original post, but the DV6 was exactly the laptop I've been looking at with that coupon. I played with a DV7 at Bestbuy which is just a DV6 with a larger screen and I thought it was really nice.

[Didzo]

[quote author=Moosendoo link=topic=5699.msg209926#msg209926 date=1307837073]
You can get an HP dv6t quad with an i7-2630m (sandy bridge quad core) processor, HD 6770m, 6GB RAM, 640 GB 7200RPM HDD, 1080p screen, for $949 with this coupon: NBQ5286

Might be a bit overkill if you have your desktop too, though.

If you want more opinions I recommend filling out the form in this forum.

I didn't mention it in my original post, but the DV6 was exactly the laptop I've been looking at with that coupon. I played with a DV7 at Bestbuy which is just a DV6 with a larger screen and I thought it was really nice.
[/quote]

Get it. Pretty damn good deal, IMO.

[CaffeinePowered]

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[Didzo]

lol