If not a Powerbook or an iBook... then what?

specialkbdc

Hey people



After almost 7 years of chugging along with a smile on my original iMac I have been salivating over the opportunity to get back into "Apple present."



I'm starting Law School in the fall and I am noticing many schools require Windows notebooks.



I'm still waiting to see where I get in and the policies do differ depending on the school.



I've been chomping at the bit to get an iBook or a Powerbook, but I may have to bite the bullet and limp into the Windows world (assuming I don't choose a school based largely on their computer support).



So what are the coolest notebooks out there?



I'd either go with a small lightweight model and attach it to a monitor at home or maybe decide on a more full featured notebook.



Battery life, cool factor, and weight would all be high on the list. Kind of like, ummm, the iBook?



Have any of you seen a notebook that's "Apple-esque?"

a_greer

In the windows world, forget elegent styleing, it is non existant outside of the ferarri by Acer (any acer laptop will be superb, IMHO)or the IBM Thinkpad, the defacto standard berrer for laptops in PC land, plus the thinkpads will work far better with linux should you choose to go the dual boot rout. AVOID DELL AND HP/COMPAQ AT ALL COSTS



What ever PC you get, look for minimum 2 ghz proc, built in wifi so you dont have a pc card hanging out, and at least 512 mb ram. and FTLOG, AVOID THE CELERON! Seek out a P4 or an AMD 64.



Before any purchase I would call the dept. head or do a lot of footwork to find out just why a Mac will not work, is it a custom app or plugin, or are their IT guys just a bunch of windows loveing blowhards?



And what kind of school doesnt welcome apple users as a good number of university SUPERCOMPUTERs are being designed and implemented with APPLE hardware and OSX?...so it is OK for the server room but not the classroom?



And by the way, ask if use of IE is requiered? If the university intranet/any classwork online requires IE, run like hell!

mcq

I've seen posts about Law schools requiring Windows laptops in the MacNN forum before... my recollection tells me it has something to do with some sort of Law application that runs on Windows. And IIRC, it doesn't run 100% in Virtual PC.



As for suggestions, I'd say try a thin-and-light with a Pentium-M processor. I'd personally avoid a P4 or Athlon 64 if you're looking for extended battery life, as well as lighter weight. My general suggestion would be 1.6 GHz Pentium-M or higher, 512MB, Combo drive, 802.11g wireless, bluetooth if available, in a notebook with either 12.1 or 13.3 widescreen display. Under 5 pounds.



I'll be listing things primarily along the cool factor/thin-and-light, but not paying attention as much to reliability, as it's harder to tell among PC manufacturers with laptops.



Full featured thin-and-light would go to the Sony S260 IMO. Only 4.2 lbs, 13.3" Widescreen, well featured, good battery life. Two separate reviews are below. Note that it appears to have been replaced recently by the S360, which has even better specs in addition to Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics, which is awesome in a notebook this size:

http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_VAIO_VG...tml?tag=glance



http://www.notebookreview.com/forums...TOPIC_ID=10647



Tablets are an interesting breed of laptop... I'm not sure how much it would lend to taking notes in a law class, but it may be beneficial. I'll just list one and let you take a look at it to see if it intrigues you or not:

http://reviews.cnet.com/Toshiba_Port...8.html?tag=tab



Hope that helps

specialkbdc

Thanks guys. That's some really helpful information.

relic

Here are my suggestions;



Sharp MP30 (iBook Styling, No boot DVD player, good battery)

IBM T42 (One of the best notebooks out there period)

IBM X40 (Light and sexy, runs Linux like a dream, has a slow HD though)

Panasonic R3 (This notebooks is so cool 7+ hours of battery and half the weight of Powerbook 12 inch drooool)

Fujitsu P7000 (The Swiss Army knife of computers, thing has everything, weighs next to nothing and it's battery is excelent)

relic

Quote:

Originally posted by Relic

Here are my suggestions;



Sharp MP30 (iBook Styling, No boot DVD player, good battery)

IBM T42 (One of the best notebooks out there period)

IBM X40 (Light and sexy, runs Linux like a dream, has a slow HD though)

Panasonic R3 (This notebooks is so cool 7+ hours of battery and half the weight of Powerbook 12 inch drooool)

Fujitsu P7000 (The Swiss Army knife of computers, thing has everything, weighs next to nothing and it's battery is excelent)

Notice: these notebooks are all under 5lbs. I hate them heavy!