I'm going to be getting a laptop when I go to university in October, but I don't know what to get or what to look for when I choose one. I'm sort of leaning towards getting a macbook because I know how they work and am not planning to spend hours playing games. Does anybody have any advice on what I should get?
Why? I'm not planning to take it to lectures. Will I be taking it to lectures? Hmmm. I don't know that either.
Which course are you doing? For an essay-based course you won't need a higher spec one like you would for a games design or engineering degree.
Physics, but I don't think I'll need the laptop to do anything particularly difficult related to the course. I guess it'll be more to use the internet, watch tv (iplayer), write essays and stuff like that.
Not sure if you made your choice yet, but if you get a MacBook keep checking the Apple refurb store, you might find a bargin.
Dell has just brought out their Inspiron Mini 9. It comes with XP or Ubuntu. They also have a range of other Ubuntu based laptops. I'd personally recommend the XPS M1330n.
You might want to consider choosing your applications first... You'll get email and web clients free regardless of the computer (Wintel PC, Mac, Linux). If you've got an iPod, it works on Mac and Windows. For documentation, you can choose M$ Office or Star Office (dunno if there's much else) - the Micro$oft one is available on PC and Mac, whereas Star Office is available for more platforms. But Micro$oft Office is the industry standard so if you're swapping files then that will make life easier (the student versions are cheap). If you need the M$ Office database (Access), then I think it's only available for Wintel. Likewise Visio (technical drawing) and Project (project planning tool). However, some Macs can dual-boot to Windows... I may be getting a new laptop soon, depending upon a work decision; my inclination is to go for a Mac, but they are expensive.
iPods also work in with Linux. You won't get iTunes. But from what I hear that's no bad thing. For an office productivity application I'd recommend OpenOffice.org. It has everything you need. Word processor. Spreadsheets. Database. Presentation application. Drawing application. Specialized formula application. Prints to PDF. It has file format compatibility with a huge range of other applications including MS Office file format compatibility. It's also available for virtually every common PC platform and there are paid for and free expansion modules similar to Firefox. There's also plenty of free project management software out there. You'll even find a nice little app in the Ubuntu repositories. It's called Project Management. Free CAD software is also plentiful. The GIMP is a capable image manipulation package. Scribus and Lyx Document Processor produce professional quality DTP projects and Inkscape is a capable vector graphics application. Blender also makes a good 3D modeling and animation application. Most of the above are available for Linux, Windows and Mac. It's worth looking around. You'll be amazed at what you can get for free, without stealing or signing over your soul to Satan.
They are expensive only in that Apple do not offer <£600 laptops, however they're actually a good offer when compared to a PC laptops of comparable specs.
