Member of the Month

Biffbarf
February, 2025

Online

Welcome to the Newschoolers forums! You may read the forums as a guest, however you must be a registered member to post. Register to become a member today!

Help me pick a laptop.

profile picture
MADDECENT
Posts: 5579 - Karma: 951
So I'm going to college in ten days, need to find a laptop. I have found a number of Macbook pro's on craigslist that seem good, the issue is that I don't know enough about computers to decide what is the best.

So you know, I plan to be editing very large projects on this laptop, and am looking for whatever can handle huge amounts of footage the most easily.

I have chosen these based mostly on processor speed, and I'm sure there are plenty of other factors that I dont understand that you guys can help me out with (i5 vs i7 processor, etc.)

This one seems the best to me (2.8 GHz processor, 8GB Ram. but again I dont know enough about the different processors to decide)

http://denver.craigslist.org/sys/3193275633.html

These are the others I have picked out. They all seem pretty similar, but the 15 inch i7 processor one is significantly more expensive, although the stats I was using for my criteria dont seem any more impressive than the others, leading me to believe that the i7 processor is much better for reasons I dont understand.

http://denver.craigslist.org/sys/3165125556.html
http://denver.craigslist.org/sys/3164848883.html
15 Inch: http://denver.craigslist.org/sys/3107992658.html


Thanks for your help, +K to all responses
13 years ago
1 0
profile picture
eheath
Posts: 61855 - Karma: 125,663
Avoid the duo cores, the i5/i7 is what you want. 900-1000 for a duo core computer is horse shit
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
Dibs
Posts: 496 - Karma: 86
I would go with the first one; you're going to love the 8 gigs of ram. Good luck with college!
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
MADDECENT
Posts: 5579 - Karma: 951
Well two responses perfectly describe my inner debate. Can somebody shed some light on the difference between duo and i5/7?
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
erikK
Posts: 3245 - Karma: 2,329
i5/i7's come in both duo and quad core. you should look for a mbp with a i7 quad core, 15 inch is a really good size imo. the 13 inches all have duo core as far as i know so unless your budget won't allow for the 15, skip the 13.
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
MLeone
Posts: 725 - Karma: 72
You will definitely want:

-quad core processor
-Big enough screen
-8 gb or more of RAM
-Possibly a video card depending on what you are working on
- enough space to store your stuff on
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
MLeone
Posts: 725 - Karma: 72
Sorry fot eh dub post, but I take it you are only looking at macbooks? or are you looking at pcs as well? also whats your budget?
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
eheath
Posts: 61855 - Karma: 125,663
lol possibility a video card? every computer comes with a video card, it just depends on whether the video card shares memory with the ram or has its own vram. dummy
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
MLeone
Posts: 725 - Karma: 72
I know that, I meant a seperate one not integrated into the cpu with its own video ram, my bad
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
MADDECENT
Posts: 5579 - Karma: 951
I'm very open to pcs, just don't really know what I should e looking for. My budget is about a grand
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
MADDECENT
Posts: 5579 - Karma: 951
Bump.
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
eheath
Posts: 61855 - Karma: 125,663
Buying a mac for a grand and buying a pc for a grand is a big difference, decide first then we'll help. Do you use fcp or adobe? if you want a mac for editing, get that i7 15". You can also check out refurb mbps on apples website, lots of good deals.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro

the thing is, you're gonna have to bump your budjet up a little if you wanna buy refurb from apple (which is alot better than used IMO) but you'll save alot buying used.
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
freeskibum82
Posts: 6355 - Karma: 5,058
hit up an lenovo laptop.. better bang for the buck and windows 7 is really nice and stable. dont be just another fanboy of apple because apple.. real companies who know a thing or two about stable laptops choose lenovo, ibm, etc...
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
nickyb
Posts: 201 - Karma: 677
im in the same situation as OP. my laptop has been wonky since i got it (2-3 y/o at this point) and it recently developed a problem that my "computer guy", or so i call him, had never seen before. comforting, right?

its a dell with windows 7 and decent specs but if things keep going the way they have been, im going to need a new laptop.

so any links to good laptops (mac or pc, i dont care) would be helpful. also any craigslist finds should preferably be from the connecticut area. thanks!
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
erikK
Posts: 3245 - Karma: 2,329
craigslist finds? we're not going to go on fucking connecticut craigslist and find a good deal for you, find one yourself. apparently asus makes a good computer, although the only 2 people i know well that have them hate them and say they're really trouble prone. stay away from hp and dell laptops. if you want a mac, be prepared to spend more, look for a late 2011 macbook pro 15, imo it's the best compromise between speed and size
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
nickyb
Posts: 201 - Karma: 677
ok so the craigslist part was a little unreasonable, but you didnt have to be a huge asshole about it, christ. as for the rest of your post, i appriciate the heads up about asus, and im obviously going to have to spend more on a mac.
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
tomPietrowski
Posts: 7277 - Karma: 18,613
As has been said before the main things you will want to look for are a decent quad 17 processor, minimum 8GB of ram, with room to expand if you want to keep this a while. Dedicated graphics card, perferbaly a Nvidia if you want to use Adobe. Good cooling (hard to find in a laptop) and a fast hard drive.

Now you can find all this in a mac but its going to cost alot. A windows laptop will definatly be cheaper. But the main question to ask yourself is do you really need a laptop. If your going to colledge chances are they will have computers at the school, so you will not need to take yours so you may be better off getting a desktop. Desktops will be way cheaper and alot more powerfull. That is the descion I would make.

Personaly if you really need a laptopn, I would spend about $800 on a desktop (it will still be more powerfull then a top end MBP) then just get a basic cheap laptop with the last $200.
13 years ago
1 0
profile picture
Utard
Posts: 2132 - Karma: 306
I recently picked up this one for school and it seems to be working really well so far:

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/113893/HP-Pavilion-dv6-7138us-Laptop-Computer/

The only thing I'd change about it would be more RAM, but I'm planning on upgrading that pretty soon.
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
MLeone
Posts: 725 - Karma: 72
I'd be careful about getting an HP laptop they overheat very easily and have bad customer service, their super high-end stuff is soo nice though
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
jfxphoto
Posts: 2038 - Karma: 2,346
Tigerdirect.com browse through some of their laptops and get a better idea.
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
Utard
Posts: 2132 - Karma: 306
Right, I had an MSI before that could overheat in like 30 seconds if you left it under a blanket so I'm always really careful about that stuff haha
13 years ago
0 0
profile picture
MADDECENT
Posts: 5579 - Karma: 951
I am very open to the idea of a PC laptop, but I dont even know where to start with looking for those.
13 years ago
0 0
All times are Eastern (-4); Currently it's 8:14AM