What could have been...

[jjesusfreak01]

Boy, its going to be good to be a freshman at UNC next semester. They just released the new brochure detailing the features of next year's laptops here. My current laptop is a T60, 2.0Ghz Core Duo (2500 series), came with 1 GB of ram and an x1400 ATI card. Its also a 15in SXGA+

Next years laptop:
T7200 2.0Ghz, 2GB of ram, and ATI 5250 cards, 15.4in WSXGA+

Essentially, those lucky kids are going to get T60p's, and widescreen ones at that.

Here's the brochure

[Temetka]

I'd take the t60p and the bundle with 22" widescreen. sadly I live in California and go to ITT. You wanna know what we get?

Dell Inspirons.

Yep. The $600 model.

</shivers>

[Temetka]

That being said when I walk in to a room with my T41P, I can't help but laugh at all the Dell's. It enhances my sense of superiority and elitism. Honors student, plus Thinkpad = Good Times.

[jjesusfreak01]

That being said when I walk in to a room with my T41P, I can't help but laugh at all the Dell's. It enhances my sense of superiority and elitism. Honors student, plus Thinkpad = Good Times.

True, true...they actually had three models last year, and R60, a T60, and an Z61t, so mine is the best model they offered, but it is going to be at the bottom of the barrel after next year. Maybe it will spontaneously explode, and my insurance policy will kick in...

Oh, and I checked, next years models are T60p's according to the all knowing Tabook. Oh, and the new models are $250 cheaper...

[BillMorrow]

sorry guys, moved this thread to proper venue..

[jjesusfreak01]

sorry guys, moved this thread to proper venue..

Sure thing...I was thinking about posting it there, but I have a T60...and have an attachment to the T60 forum, you understand...

[K. Eng]

Next years laptop:
T7200 2.0Ghz, 2GB of ram, and ATI 5250 cards, 15.4in WSXGA+

Essentially, those lucky kids are going to get T60p's, and widescreen ones at that.

The specs might be better, but I'm not so keen on the 15.4" display. These machines are bigger and heavier than I like. A 14" widescreen is IMO the optimal size for a student notebook. It's big enough not to cause eyestrain, but small enough to fit in a reasonably portable machine.

[pianowizard]

In that UNC brochure is a 14.1" widescreen R-series Thinkpad. Is that a typo?

[K. Eng]

One thing that strikes me as silly is that UNC says students are required to have a laptop with certain specifications.

If you ask me, this seems like a good excuse to scare students into buying (and wasting money on) a lot more computing firepower than they need.

For example, a student majoring in business can probably get by easily on a ThinkPad X31 with a Pentium M and 512MB of RAM. When I was in college, I was just fine with a 266 MHz Pentium II junker from Dell. It was good enough to run Windows 2000 and more than fast enough for MS office. Any heavy lifting stuff like compiling I always did at the cslab.

I can understand why engineering students might be required to purchase fast computers. Things like SolidWorks need a lot of CPU and GPU horsepower.

Where I do find UNC's offerings compelling is in the warranty package they got from Lenovo. A full 4 year warranty + accident damage protection ensures that students will always be covered while in school. This will undoubtedly save many poor students from having to buy an expensive new machine in their senior year.

[K. Eng]

In that UNC brochure is a 14.1" widescreen R-series Thinkpad. Is that a typo?

I think so. The picture looks like a Z series.

[AlphaKilo470]

If you ask me, this seems like a good excuse to scare students into buying (and wasting money on) a lot more computing firepower than they need.

I'm majoring in business at my current school and as of last week I'm using an 850mhz A21p. Most of my classmates use nothing more than pen and paper. Computers are really convenient but in most class environments, they really aren't that essential if you keep well enough organized.

[Temetka]

True.

I actually take better notes in a notepad than I ever could on my laptop.

[DarkMark]

Yes, I do my notes on paper to,

but for me the benefit of carring my Thinkpad around with me most of the time is for convenience. I can sit down anywhere to do work (office,CAD) instead of going to one of the computer rooms.

Also, I save a lot of weigth ( I know my TP isn't light) because I can carry vast amounts of PDF's on my maschine wich is lighter than carring around the printouts wich I need.

As to the brochure, it really does make it look like you need to buy a laptop.
I personally don't think high pecs are to necessary, but if you get it to replace your desktop then I kann understand.
I onlx got the 'p' for the high ress screen.

Of course I'm not at that university or the same country (so I don't know what your requrement are) but with me it's down to everyones own personal choice as of how they wan't to do it. I tried without for half a semester an then realized I wanted an laptop, because I work better with one. But it allways depends on the courses and even moods, if I actually get it out of my bag.

[pianowizard]

I actually take better notes in a notepad than I ever could on my laptop.

It depends on how fast one can type. Most of today's undergrad students (and a few postdocs like myself...) can type very fast, mainly due to the tons of email and instand messages that they send everyday, and take better notes by typing than by writing.

[Temetka]

Oh, I can type pretty darned fast. It's just that with traditional note taking, I can make drawings and tables so much quicker than I can in word or vi. I use my laptop to later transcribe my notes into when I get home. That way I have an electronic version for easy reference plus the original hard copy for when I do not have my laptop with me. That is rare though considering that every time I go on campus my laptop is with me.

[DarkMark]

Even If I could type really fast (no way near yet ) it won't help me with diagrams, pictures or compicated formulas.

I hope a transnote will cope with that, if not I might get a normal digitizer board.

[pianowizard]

Type the text into a laptop and hand-draw the diagrams onto paper. Or do both with a tablet.

[DarkMark]

Type the text into a laptop and hand-draw the diagrams onto paper.

Yes, I'll stay with that.
But for me the Tablet was not really an option due to its quite immense cost an lowres screen. Maybe I'll get one in a few years. (now that its got sxga)

[gator]

Oh, I can type pretty darned fast. It's just that with traditional note taking, I can make drawings and tables so much quicker than I can in word or vi. I use my laptop to later transcribe my notes into when I get home. That way I have an electronic version for easy reference plus the original hard copy for when I do not have my laptop with me. That is rare though considering that every time I go on campus my laptop is with me.

I do the same thing too - it is nice to have an electronic version. I tried using my friend's tablet (an X41), but it was not comfortable - I was afraid to keep my palm on the screen (the way you normally write) and writing with just the tip on the screen was a lot of strain. I don't know if I used the tablet the correct way, but that one single day put me off.

I did consider buying a transnote, then decided that an X31 is a far better option, and I got one on a great deal from ebay. Not only is it useful in class, but is great to use it for presentations in my research group meetings and for making my guitar recordings. It is so convenient to use, for a while I was skeptical of my T60 purchase - even now sometimes I wonder whether I should have got an X60. Then I say to myself 'You don't get a 128 MB graphics card on it or a flexview' and try to forget the topic One thing about teh X31 though, it runs a bit hot after 3 hours of use and there are lots of reports on the X60 forum that it runs hot. My T60 stays pretty cool; even when I stress it, I can use it on my lap.