<p>This semester I have decided to change my major from Computer Science to Business: Management Information Systems. I have also started to recieve funds from the State VocRehab to help pay for my school because for the past 4 yr I have been basically been going part time.</p>
<p>Ok now on to my question, when I was a CS major I never add a laptop only my desktop(off campus for coding) and my iPad(e-texts), I just used the lab when coding class. But this coming semester I will be going full time and will have breaks in which case I think having a full blown laptop may be helpful so my questions are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What I really need to know is what kinda software i will be running in the MIS program, again I assume nothing major but I just want to know what others think, so i can judge my laptop purchase.</p></li>
<li><p>Do you think I even need a laptop? I dont think my iPad can handle more then word processing(barely) and I dont even want to think doing spreadsheets on it.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>A laptop helps no matter what your major is, but what I’m wondering about is how long do you plan to keep said laptop, because that will be the central determinant as to what you should buy.</p>
<p>Sorry, forgot to mention that by changing majors I now have 2-3 years left depending on if I can get some summer/winter classes in. So I guess lets say it needs to last 3 years.</p>
<p>Well in that case I’d say you look at laptops with a Core i5 or lower end i7 processor, about 4 to 6 gigs of RAM, and dedicated graphics (not necessary but if you can fit it into your budget then do so). Something with those specs should last you about 3 or so years before it becomes annoyingly slow.</p>
<p>Its pretty fast in respect to CPU and as far as graphics go it should suffice for any class work you can throw at it. Also, if your budget is up for it you can upgrade it a few years down the line to extend its life.</p>
<p>Also forgot to mention that I am probably gonna be using BillmeLater so it has to be purchased from either HP(I have had luck with my HP desktop so far), Leaveno, newegg, or wal-mart( not a good choice given my experience at best buy). </p>
<p>But given you gave me an exact model I should be able to make a good choice. The last laptop I bought around 4 years ago buying the warranty saved my but it died around a year ago, is buying the warranty still a must?</p>
<p>Warranties aren’t that big a deal, the main things (hard drives mostly) that go wrong with laptops are readily replaceable. From what I can tell the extended warranty for HP is about $160 which isn’t that bad considering when I was fixing computers I charged around $200 for a screen replacement (which is actually about half what Bestbuy charged, but that was a while back).
If I were you I’d get one of those $600 laptops get the 2 year warranty, just because you don’t wanna have to replace the screen yourself, and then when the warranty runs out you should immediately buy a solid state drive and install it in your laptop. Those things don’t break easily so even if some other parts of your laptop go wrong you’ve still got the most important thing left.</p>