Going to College

Hi
i am going to college in the fall and it is about time that i get a new notebook because the one i have is horrible..

i was looking at the Dell XPS M1330 and i was wondering if that was a good notebook to bring to college...

i need a fast working computer that doesn't take 20 mins to load up..

and i need a notebook that doesn't have program that i don't need and will just get in my way and make my computer slower...

i plan to play music and videos, write papers, i have some online classes so i need a good internet thing, i travel a lot so i need a really go battery that wont die after 2 hours.

i really don't know anything about computers so i hope you guys can help.

Thanks so much
lpgirl

 

XPS M1330 will fit the bill perfectly.

 

You get an m1330 now.. u wont get it till probably the end of august

I ordered 7/4 and im not gettting it till 8/8.. that latest

 

Welcome

The Dell XPS M1330 would definitely be a nice laptop for college. It won't have any problems w/ your requirements even with the integrated graphics card. The 13.3 inch form factor is also really nice for carrying around. It won't be bulky, and it'll be light and easy to carry. I remember reading somewhere the 1330 gets over 3 1/2 hours of battery life so that should be fine too. You can extend that even more by using power saving options.

That computer will definitely load much faster than 20 minutes haha. You're looking at one of the top of the line notebooks out for consumers. Only thing is its a little pricey, and shipping is delayed,

 

ah I wish I had a laptop when I started college
the M1330 would be very nice for college

 

If you're not doing high quality graphics processing, why not step down from the XPS and look at the Vostro's and such?

 

Not trying to be a dick but.. isn't there a "What laptop I should buy?" section?

 

It has a great "internet thing."

 

Everyday that i dont have my m1330.. I cry

its as if a relative has died


Or im living the movie "Ground Hogs Day".. except that tommorrow would be Christmas

 

your guess is as good as mine

 

the m1330 will suit your needs!

 

question:

do you think a mac would be better?

 

No, I think the smaller screens of the mac take away from the general enjoyment of the material.

 

see i do photograph too and i want to keep it well organized and stuff. cause in the notebook i have when i want to look at my pictures it pulls up like 5 different programs and it takes forever!!! will the m1330 be good with that?

 

LPGirl- I'm a gradstudent and had a lot of the same considerations as you. I went with the XPS 1330 in the end, since I had a mac my first two years of college, and it was just sort of irritating to have all my files be in that format when most colleges use windows. When I teach, I have a couple students who email me their papers from macs that I just can't open, and they end up having to go to the computer lab and convert them. I'm no expert on macs, so probably someone more technically skilled than me would have no problem with compatibility, but I think it's just more convenient to get the Dell, or at least Windows of some sort. Just my humble opinion. (ORDER IT SOON! Mine isn't shipping until Aug. 18th!)

 

If it makes you feel any better. I'm going to college in the fall too and I picked the m1330. Soo yeah... we're on the same boat with that one. Macs still have a bunch of compatibility issues outlined on an above post and the XPS m1330 is just super hot... Thouughhh I highly doubt you'll get it before August 20th. I ordered on 6/28 and it won't be shipped until 8/17... That's a REALLY long wait so if you need it before late August, I wouldn't risk it, maybe go with a Vaio SZ, which has similar performance, or the dreaded macbook... I hate macs though.

To run all those it won't be toooo difficult. Just get at least 2GB of RAM (since it's Vista and Vista is a resource hog). Also make sure to get at least a t7100 processor (1.8ghz). It's much better than the 1.5 ghz and will give you more power for multi-tasking. The nvidia 8400 isn't at all necessary unless you plan to play games. Plus the x3100 gives you more battery life.

 

I think the five program thing is more a problem with your Windows installation. If you get one good photo management application that should take care of your problems with viewing photos.

For a armature/semi-pro photographer, you might want to look at Picasa from Google. That is a nice application that sorts all your photos for you, allows you to do minor corrections, red-eye and view them.

If you are looking to get into serious photography, then Adobe recently released Adobe Lightroom. That allows you to sort your photos, but also allows you do do lots of advanced corrections to your photos. If you have a DSLR camera it will process your Camera Raw files natively and allow you to change the exposure and white balance etc. But it's expensive, and does not come with the Creative Suite.

The Mac is pretty good for photography stuff, that's kind of their thing. iPhoto is meant to be pretty good. But like hanna said you might have trouble if you school runs mostly windows software. Check on that first.

For Windows the XPS M1330 is a great choice. Might be hard to get through. For Mac the new Macbook Pro is nice system, or even a regular Macbook should be able to handle any photo editing stuff you throw at it.