vader1990

Hi,

I'm going to double major in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins starting this fall, is this laptop going to last me 4 years?

If not, are there any good alternatives that i should look at?

Also, I don't want to spend tooooo much on a computer, because I'm kinda stretching it already with tuition being around $55,000+ so..lol...








Operating System
• Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic (32-bit version)

Processor and Chipset
• Intel Celeron M Processor 520--1.60GHz, 1MB L2, 533MHz FSB
• ATI Radeon® Xpress 200M Chipset

Memory
• Configured with 2GB PC4200 DDR2 SDRAM (both memory slots are occupied).

Hard Disk Drive
• 80GB (5400RPM); Serial-ATA hard disk drive; 9.5mm height; user removable

Fixed Optical Disk Drive
• DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive supporting 11 formats

Display
• 15.4” diagonal widescreen TruBrite TFT LCD display at 1280x800 native resolution (WXGA)
o Native support for 720p content

Graphics
• ATI Radeon® Xpress 200M 128MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory

Sound
• Built-in stereo speakers
• Sound Volume Control Dial

Input Devices
• 85 key US keyboard
• TouchPad pointing device
• TouchPad Enable/Disable
• Control Buttons:
o Internet button to launch default browser
o CD/DVD control buttons (Skip to Previous/Next Track, Play, Stop)

Communications
• Modem9
• 10/100 Ethernet
• Integrated Wireless-LAN:10
o Atheros 802.11b/g wireless-LAN

Expandability
• 2 main memory slots. Both slots may be occupied.
• One PCMCIA – Type II/Type I Card Slot
Ports
• Video
o RGB (monitor) output port
o S-Video output port
• Audio
o Microphone input port
o Headphone output port
• Data
o USB v2.0 – 4 ports

Physical Description
• Dimensions (WxDxH Front/H Rear): 14.2” x 10.5” x 1.47”
• Weight: Starting at 6.0 lbs depending upon configuration11
• LCD Cover Color: Mist Gray






Should I upgrade some parts, or just buy are new one altogether? THANKS MUCH!!!!!!

Don_Quixote

what brand (if any) is it? and how much is this laptop going to cost you, if you haven't bought it yet? Any warranty on it? That information has a lot to do with how long the laptop will last you... cheers

vader1990

oh, my bad I should have specified.

I ALREADY own the above mentioned laptop...it was gift from a while (probably like ~1 year) back. Its a Toshiba Satellite A135

Probably no warranty left, but i have NEVER needed a warranty on any electronic before, so I'm not really worried about that.

My primary concern involves whether or not the computer will be able to handle my work load?

Thanks for you help!!!!

toxic_waste

there is not one laptop out there that is guaranteed to last you four years. hardware gets banged around and simply deteriorates over time, and soon enough it'll obsolete anyway as software advances. all you can hope for now is that it'll still work four years from now, but even than it won't be in great shape (unless you rarely carry it around) and it'll be slower.

this is especially true for laptops, since heat will eventually screw everything up. you just hope it's not your motherboard.

Don_Quixote

I'm not an engineer, but I would assume that the computer you have will be able to keep up with you for at least your first two years. If I were you, I would wait to buy anything else until a couple years from now when you know what you want, or when the one you have now starts to wear out. Like toxic-waste said, a laptop can't really be guaranteed for four years (although Dell does, i suppose, offer 4 year accident/theft insurance).

The laptop you have will be fine for a few years, you'd probably be wasting your money to buy a budget laptop any time soon; you'll be able to buy whatever you need later, when/if you need it, at much better prices.

tomatoking

Slow hdd with very limited space, HORRIBLE integrated graphics, and a slow processor

Don_Quixote

still, i'd say stick with it for a while, you can get a 200 GB external HDD for $20 if you need it and you keep your eyes open; the other stuff probably won't affect you much yet.

toxic_waste

5400rpm isn't "slow," actually. and i don't think he'd want to jump to 7200rpm cuz it'd make it run hotter and suck up more power. as for space, that's easily solved with an external or simply buying a new one. integrated graphics is integrated graphics...it sucks either way. slow processor? yeah, but i know someone with about the same processor and less memory, and i could live with it.

anyway, i think you should keep that laptop for another year. get a new one sophomore year (really, wait as long as possible, but i don't think i could longer than that), and it'll probably last you for three years. you won't be doing much engineering until the second or third year anyway, so getting a new computer so you can run some is pointless right now.

vader1990

so, are there any good brands that i should keep in mind for the future. lIke what types of things makes a good laptop? core 2 duo? ram? etc.

Chipmoney

If it isn't destroyed by the end of four years it will definitely struggle to run any new software that comes out in that time...

Almost all brands of laptops will have their cheap models and their higher end models which will last longer and usually have higher quality parts.nA dual core processor, whether it be AMD or intel is a must these days, nad with Vista you can't have less then 2 GB for it to run well. Also 32 bit OS's can onlyuse 3 GB of RAM so if it has 4 GB and a 32 bit OS you won't get any benefit over 3 GB

jaimeastorga2000

You mean in the future? Those critters aren't likely to be less than $80 today.

srunni

What's the price on that laptop?

Also, if you get it with those specs, you'll want to install XP, since Vista will run horribly.

nickbuddy

He said that he already has it.

I would say go with it for the first year and see whether you need a new computer for the next year and if so what you'll need. You may well find it suffices for simple tasks and anything harder (like computational software that is too expensive anyway). If it is woefully incapable then you still have labs to use or you could just buy a new one a little later in the year.

vader1990

thanks for all the responses, but I have a follow up question: is right now the best time to buy a new laptop [back-to-school] like say i try mine out for a few months, and it epic fails, will I be hard pressed to find a good deal then?

thanks again!

Lithium19

If you want a good budget laptop check out the sunday flyers or buy refurbished from Lenovo, Dell, HP ect.