Laptop Purchasing Recommendations

Intended use

What do you plan to use your laptop for? There are two basic styles of laptops: smaller more portable models, and bigger heavier ones. The smaller ones usually sacrifice battery life, screen size, keyboard size and performance for a smaller physical package. Bigger laptops tend to improve on these qualities at the expense of bulk and weight.

If you want to use your laptop for taking notes in class, and expect to be mobile (i.e. in a lot of different places often), the smaller format models are the way to go. If you are mainly office bound, or need to run very high end programs or simulations, the bigger models are the best choice.

Screen size

Common sizes are 12”, 14”, 15” and 17”. The 12” and 14” screens are usually seen in the small portable category of laptops. The 14” and 15” are the mid size options, and by far the most common. 17” screens are great to look at, but are only found in the really large sized laptops.

Upgrading the screen to the ultra high resolution options should be considered with caution, as these ultra high resolutions can make reading text every day very hard on the eyes. Usually the base model resolution is more then enough.

CPU (aka: processor)

Common choices are the Intel Core duo, and AMD variants. The AMD variants are somewhat cheaper, while the Core type processors give improved battery life. Also, the Core type processors tend to perform the best in laptops. Generally the Core Duo cpu’s are the best choice when factoring in the combination of price, performance, and battery life.

Unless you are running lots of engineering programs or simulations for extended periods, higher clock speed cpu’s are not a must have.

Ram (aka: memory)

Two gigabytes is the realistic minimum, with 4 gigabyte being a reasonable upgrade (especially if you are going to use Windows Vista or Windows 7). More than that is usually a waste of money unless you are running exotic high end programs or very high powered simulations.

Hard drive (aka: storage)

Pretty much any hard drive in a modern notebook will be big enough for common usage. Bigger isn't a bad idea, especially if you plan to store a lot of music or movies on the system. Most hard drives are 5400 rpm, but 7200 rpm upgrade options are available. The 7200 rpm models definitely give a nice performance jump.

Video card

Intel based video cards in a laptop are the most common, and also the slowest. Even normal programs are slowed down by the Intel video card. If you plan to run graphically intense programs, such as 3D games or engineering programs like AutoCAD, the Intel video card is totally unsuitable. ATI and NVIDIA options (even the lower end ones) are a much better choice.

Optical drive (aka: CD-rom, DVD-rom, DVD burner, etc)

Most current models will come with a DVD burner. Avoid models that are unable to record to a DVD.

Extras

Almost all modern laptops being sold on the market will have integrated ethernet and wireless networking built in. Its almost never necessary to upgrade these options above the base level package. Other features such as 1394 Firewire, digital card readers, and Bluetooth may or may not be useful depending on what you plan to do with your laptop

Tablet style laptops

While some users find these handy, they tend to be more complex, expensive, and much harder to service compared to standard laptops. Unless you REALLY want this feature, and will use it, we recommend avoiding these types of laptops.

Recommendations

ENS recommends the following laptops for use in the College of Engineering. Please note: these models change often and should be approved by ENS prior to purchase to avoid a $39/hour service fee. You may contact the ENS Help Desk to discuss your options with one of our Senior Support Analysts (491-2917 or help@engr.colostate.edu)

What about about a Mac?

Depending on what you want to do with the laptop a MacBook will work great. But keep in mind that there are a good number of Engineering software programs that don't support Mac OS X. That being said, with additional software such as Parallels, VMware Fusion, or the preinstalled Bootcamp you can install Windows, Linux and/or Solaris on your laptop in addition to OS X. This will allow you to run all of the software the Engineering college uses. But with that set-up you'll want to make sure you have a very large hard drive and lots of memory in your MacBook.