What LABTOP for Williams?

Leonesa · December 21, 2004, 2:05pm

Now that I made it into Williams, I need to figure out what kind of labtop (already decided I’m willing to pay the extra for labtop instead of desktop) would be best there. I do need to take cost into consideration… What does everyone on this forum recommend?

Of course, there is still plenty of time. But my dad wants me to get an idea of what kind would work best so he can shop around.

If you are a Williams student, what kind do most students have? What ones seem to work best?

Would I need wire-less internet access?

I’d appreciate the advice…Thx!

azncoolkiemonstr · December 21, 2004, 2:45pm

Intel/AMD powered PC’s > Apple

xP

interesteddad · December 21, 2004, 2:53pm

I believe that Williams has a deal with Dell, which means on-site repair. Their “featured” laptop will probably be one of the Latitude models.

These have Centrino technology, which doubles the battery life between recharges (and reduces heat). These are the real advantages of the somewhat pricier Centrino chipsets.

These also feature Windows Pro, which has some networking features that make it easier to connect to large commercial networks, such as the college network.

Finally, the Latitudes are bundled with three or four year warranties.

When shopping around, I think you’ll find that, once you add the cost of the warranty and Windows Pro, the machines available from Best Buy or Circuit City are a little more expensive than the SAME package with the student discount from Dell.

Swarthmore has the same service deal and discount from Dell. However, instead of buying the student discount package, we actually watched the “refurb” list at the Dell website and found a Latitude there. Ended up being the same price, but with a widescreen LCD and a bunch more memory.

The wireless stuff is no big deal. It’s a $30 mini-PCI card that can be purchased with the computer or ordered and installed separately. The main network connection that you would use (in your dorm, for example) is just a standard Ethernet connection, which is built into every laptop.

Also, if you need to buy software, remember that you can buy the academic versions of Microsoft Office, Adobe PDF, etc. for a fraction of the retail price.

There really isn’t any difference between the various manufacturers. It’s all about the bundled configuration and the service plans.

azncoolkiemonstr · December 21, 2004, 4:08pm

Centrinos are slower…don’t expect to do much video editing with one of those. If you want speed get a Pentium 4 mobile with Hyper threading technology. Hyper threading basically takes one cpu and emulates it as two. Another words it tricks Windows XP and other specially designed software to think that you have two CPUs instead of one. Twice the work gets done at once =)

Leonesa · December 21, 2004, 4:38pm

Thank you everyone for the responses. I seriously feel dumb when it comes to computers!

In many ways, it sounds wise to take interestedad’s approach and go for the student discounted Dell deal. If the cost of making one from best buy or whatever will add up to the same cost and probably have a few more hassles with the college, then I think I’d opt for the dell. But then azncoolkie has to make the thing sound so slow! I want a good computer but I don’t think I need a super duper great one. Ahhh, I’m still unsure really.

It was nice to hear that to have wire-less access you only need a $30 chip. My dad thought it cost more like $200 more to have a computer that can have wire-less connection.

So, interestedad, I take it you’d go for the student discount dell, and azncoolkie you’d go for ?

mini · December 21, 2004, 4:43pm

I would check to see if there is a relatively local Dell-authorized service center - or check the service plans carefully. They could make a real difference in your life as a computer-using student. Is the computer center at Williams itself a Dell-authorized service provider?

system · December 21, 2004, 5:27pm

I am looking into thin-n-lite notebooks w/ awesome batteries. I think in the college, i will mainly use a laptop for word processing/web browsing/taking notes so speed isn’t a main concern. I will prolly sacrifice my processor speed (gonna get celeron-M) to have DVD burner & massive hard drive. Right now, I am trying to decide between Dell 700M & Asus M3n or M5n. check out dell outlet as interesteddad suggests (awesome bargain).

momrath · December 21, 2004, 5:50pm

Here is the website for Williams Office for Information Technology and also the page for purchasing. They’ll be open in January so you could call or e-mail with specific questions. Ask a lot of questions.

My son says the campus computer service has been pretty good. He has a Mac, which he loves, but that is unfortunately on the blink. (He says it jumped off his bed in finals related suicide.) Couldn’t be fixed in Williamstown or North Adams. Had to take it to Pittsfield.

<a href=“http://cf.williams.edu/oit/[/url]”>http://cf.williams.edu/oit/</a>
<a href=“http://cf.williams.edu/oit/faqs/purchasing/[/url]”>http://cf.williams.edu/oit/faqs/purchasing/</a>

haon · December 21, 2004, 9:28pm

My advice is to wait as long as possible before buying a computer–they get better and cheaper at a fairly rapid rate. You’ll hear more about Williams-specific deals when you get the summer mailing, and I think that’s the time to start thinking about computers. I have an inspiron with wireless and it works great…right now the campus doesn’t have that much wireless (the libraries, CS building, and Goodrich), but they’re really working on implimenting it, so by your soph or jr year campus should be mostly wireless.

mikeyD222 · December 21, 2004, 10:48pm

I recently graduated from Williams, and used Jesup for all of my computer needs during my four year stay.

The computer center is a great place to socialize and get your work done.

Computers break and/or become obsolete so quickly, why invest in one this early in the game?

interesteddad · December 21, 2004, 10:53pm

I think you are a little confused. Intel makes three general families of processors:

Celeron: this is the low-end slow chip, used in very inexpensive desktop (and maybe notebooks).

Pentium 4: this is the fast chip, used in faster desktops

Pentium 4M and Pentium M: These are the Centrino chips, designed for laptops.

People get confused because the Pentium 4 chips run at 2.6 to 3.6 mHz clock rates, while the Pentium Mobile chips run at 1.6 to 2.0 mHz, so they assume the Centrino Pentium M chips are “slower”. But, in reality, Intel has redesigned the system architechture to run more instructions per clock cycle so that the “slower” clock speed Centrino chipsets are actually faster.

The Pentium 4 desktop chips are big power hogs. They are only capable of an hour or two of battery life and they generate massive amounts of heat. This is a big problem in the tight confines of a laptop.

The Centrium Pentium 4M and Pentium M chips generate much less heat and provide 3 or 4 hours of battery life.

As far as I can tell, all of the Dell Latitude notebooks use the Centrino Pentium M chips, except the el cheapo model that offers a choice of a Pentium 4 or Celeron processor.

Hyperthreading is available on a number of the Intel chipsets. It does simulate the speed of a dual processor system. As a practical matter, it is pretty irrelevant on the most commonly used software. For example, enabling hyperthreading slows down Microsoft Word and Excel. It does provide a modest improvement on some of the complex filters in Adobe Photoshop.

Anyway, to recap: AZ is correct that the latest Pentium 4 is the fastest available processor for a desktop workstation. However, Pentium 4 chips are lousy in notebook due to the extreme heat they generate and excessive power consumption. The prefered notebook setup is Centrino technology with a Pentium M processor. These are still very, very fast computers, not quite as fast as the desktop workstations. However, the slight reduction in speed is more than offset by a notebook that will actually run on a battery for long enough to watch a movie and won’t cook from the heat.

Mini: The main advantage to buying the brand that the college has a deal with is from the service end. The college has “premium” vendor status, meaning that the IT department serves as a factory authorized warranty center, with special phone numbers for ordering parts.

Leonesa · December 21, 2004, 10:59pm

You guys are awesome, very helpful! So far, it sounds better to go for the school deal labtop… Also, I’m not going to buy the computer soon or anything. My dad just wants to have an idea (though sometimes he acts crazy and goes out and buys somethign too early, I have to remind him not to) of what labtop I should get. My dad is funny because he is very tight with money when it comes to basically everything except EDUCATION. Anyway, it is nice to have an idea what to look for.

Thank you everyone.

cavalier302 · December 21, 2004, 11:28pm

It’s laPtop, not laBtop. HTH.

momrath · December 21, 2004, 11:42pm

Leonesa, my information may be out of date on this but I don’t think Williams has a “school deal” computer. They’ll service your computer and give you advice on what to buy but they won’t sell you one. Places at which to buy a computer near Williamstown are severely limited so you need to be prepared to show up with one. If you’re coming from far away and plan to fly to school this can be complicated. Even if you choose to go with a laptop instead of a desk top you’ll still need a printer. As Haon says Williams will send you information in the upcoming months and you can also peruse the OIC website for details.

cavalier302 · December 21, 2004, 11:47pm

BTW, as far as computers go, I would recommend checking weekly ads from places like bestbuy for closeouts on “old” models. A few years ago my dad got a laptop at bestbuy for something like $500 off because it was 3 or 4 months old…but still a great computer. From time to time I see great machines with a lot of features going for well under $1000.

Leonesa · December 22, 2004, 12:20am

Wow… I feel so dumb. I seriously thought they were called labtops but laptops sounds right, too. Hahaha. Wow, you guys are probably wondering how I ever got in… :)

interesteddad · December 22, 2004, 1:01am

They had one this year – the same Dell that all the schools package, a Dell Latitude 600 with Windows XP Pro.

The way it works is that the Williams website has a link to a Williams “Premier Customer” page at Dell. There are preconfigured recommended systems plus the opportunity to customize the laptop (memory upgrades, etc.). The school discount is about 12% over full retail Dell pricing. You order directly from Dell. The school doesn’t actually sell the computers.

Here’s a link to the Swarthmore computer page:

<a href=“http://www.swarthmore.edu/its/computer_sales/recommended_computers.htm#dells[/url]”>http://www.swarthmore.edu/its/computer_sales/recommended_computers.htm#dells</a>

You can find the link to the Apple and Dell configuration pages there. Williams has pretty much the same arrangement.

I shopped the Compaqs and HPs and Toshibas at Best Buy/Circuit City. Once I factored in the XP Pro upgrade and the three-year warranty (not on-site), I couldn’t match the Dell student-discount pricing on comparably configured machines.

If you just want a one-year warranty, then the retail outlets may be competitive. Or, you can shop for a Dell Inspiron and still get the student discount. The Inspiron is the same thing as the Latitude except that one is standard with a one-year warranty and the other is standard with a three-year next business day on-site warranty (the warranty that makes it easy to get the thing fixed quickly byt the IT department on campus).

I don’t think the Dells are any better or worse than anything else. However, they do have very comprehensive documentation (for replacing hard drives, etc.) and I like that they bundle full Windows CDs rather than some ****-a-mamie “System Restore” CD as Compaq likes to do.

There are also some nice deals at the Dell “refurb” outlet. These are returns that are checked out and repackaged. I’ve bought two of those (a laptop and a desktop) and both were 100% new condition. Ends up being about the same price, but you can get upgraded hard drives, memory, etc. “for free”. Worth checking out for week or two, once you have an idea what system you want.

momrath · December 22, 2004, 1:17am

Thanks, interesteddad, for this information.

werd814 · December 22, 2004, 7:40am

Centrinos have a slower clock speed but perform at about the same level as 700mhz faster pentium :-P

haon · December 22, 2004, 2:41pm

On the subject of Dell tech support at Williams–

My headphone jack stopped working earlier this year. I called Dell and after about 10 minute on the phone they sent a repairwoman down to Williamstown. While I was in class when she got to campus, she came back for the next 3 days until we arranged a time that worked for both of us. Then, after waiting at Jesup (the CS building) for about 2 hours she replaced my entire motherboard for free (in about 15 minutes).

Williams computer tech support is geared towards Dells, and Dell is used to coming directly to campus to help out with computers. For those reasons alone I’d recommend buying a Dell.

What LABTOP for Williams?

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