My budget is around a thousand dollars. I want to run Windows 8, Chrome OS, Unix, and Linux on this computer. The reason I want so many is that this machine is for a Computer Science major in college, and I want to become familiar with all of these OSes. I do intend to upgrade them as new versions are released, so far as finances permit. I would LOVE to run OS X as well, but I don't think I have an Apple budget right now.
This computer is for programming, modelling, and texturing, and possibly editing sound and video. It will need to run Maya and Blender smoothly, as well as a sizeable host of other programs I haven't thought of yet. I also need to be able to run games as well as can be reasonably expected, as I will eventually be making them.
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My first thought is that with a thousand dollar budget, you ought to be in the clear regarding performance pretty much whatever your choice. Today, performance isn't as much of an issue as it used to be. Then again, it was a while since I did that homework, and I am sure others have a fresher picture of this.
Depends on what computer I want. If I want OS X (I want it bad), I have to get a Macbook, which, if I bought off Amazon right now, would cost me $1,050. Windows 8 Pro is another $130. My Pell grant for the Fall quarter is $1,865. Of this, the college is taking $49 to pay off registration fees I owe them. The remaining $1,816 needs to pay for textbooks for Elementary Algebra, College English/Writing Level 1, Elementary German, and Beginning Drawing, as well as generic school supplies. I may be able to stretch the thousand dollars I set for my computer a bit, but I have to be very careful.
I did see that I can currently get a used or refurbished Macbook for around $870. I've never bought a used computer from Amazon before. How much could I trust the machine? If trustworthy, I could shelve Windows 8 until my Pell grant for Winter quarter disburses or buy it in Fall, as finances permit, and just run OS X, Unix, and Linux in Fall if necessary. I don't absolutely need Windows 8 until Spring, really. How do you guys feel about that option? Is a Macbook good for what I need?
Generally you can trust refurbs more than new out of the box. They do more thorough checks because they don't want it coming back. That said, double check their warranty just in case.
A Macbook is probably fine for what you want it for. Although as a CS major I imagine that you'll quickly learn what you like or don't. And you could try a Hackintosh to get OSX.
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Have you checked with your college what deals they can offer on software and hardware? I work at a British university and both staff and students can get deep discounts on operating system and office software, and on hardware from a number of manufacturers - including Apple.
A Macbook would get you a UNIX based OS to play with without having to install Linux.
Edit: Sound and Video - include a large external hard drive in your budget. You are going to quickly exceed the storage available on a laptop. Make it a RAIDed drive if possible and it always provides somewhere to backup to as well, although it's still vulnerable to theft and coffee. And back up everything, constantly!
Does Apple still have their student discount program? I know I got some great deals on Macs back when I was in college and again when my kids were.
(Wait, I've been buying Macintosh computers for over 20 years!?!?!)
Still, these days $1,000 ought to buy a pretty dang nice laptop.
I bought my wife an ultrabook running Windows 8 for just about $1,000. She loves it. It's light, responsive and did I mention it was light?
I picked up an excellent laptop for $400 at Costco—try looking there, and I know Dell offers student discounts as well.
Apple currently has a 200 student discount that comes with a 100 Apple Store card. It puts the price at an affordable level for a MacBook Pro.
I'll email the UCSC department for a recommendation. De Anza is a given. The school loves Apple to death, and the Computer students here mostly have Macbooks. The schools machines are mostly iMacs.
I can put Windows 8 on a MacBook, so if CompSci wants PC, I have it. My goal is to become familiar with multiple OSes, such as OS X, Windows, and Linux Mint.
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Kelsey, as comp sci grad who works in IT, I would recommend focusing on Windows and Linux primarily. In over 15 years of working corporate IT, I can count on 1 hand the number of Mac users I've encountered in our environments. Other than getting them on the network, all of their actual support was either self-service or out-sourced. Unless you plan on working at a Mac-only shop (like Paizo), or supporting only end-users, then your time might be better spent elsewhere.
In terms of what to buy, the fact that you want to game still pretty much mandates a Windows PC.
My recommendation would be to get a PC laptop, max out the RAM, and then run VMware Workstation. This way, you can switch between OSes without having to reboot constantly, and you'll also start gaining some skills in what underpins cloud technology: virtualization.
And I, on the other hand, would ask why you are even considering such dinosaur technology as an actual laptop computer when by the time you are in the market, cell phones and tablets will have mostly replaced them.
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AD: Can't tell if you're being sarcastic, but Intel-based laptops use the same basic hardware/OS as the servers that run enterprise businesses. Nobody runs an Exchange or SQL cluster off cell phones and tablets. Someone majoring in the arts with no interest in gaming might be able to get away with a tablet and a bluetooth keyboard, but an avid gamer or someone in the sciences (particularly comp sci) needs something a bit more robust...
Laith, I'm being somewhat disingenuous, but not entirely.
I predict that the current trend towards a hybrid cell phone/tablet technology will accelerate on the end user side and that the server side will migrate towards a more modular scalable, virtually managed technology in the next five years.
Ten years out I suspect the whole internet will have evolved dramatically.
Well change IS the name of the game, but you still need to be well-versed enough to operate what's already [being] deployed if you want to bring home a paycheck in the meantime. Well, unless you're working for an innovator rather than in IT anyway. ;)
HAve you considered putting a lightweight linux distro on your current computer or is it a desktop?
HAve you considered putting a lightweight linux distro on your current computer or is it a desktop?
I've got Linux Mint on my desktop. I use it for most tasks except gaming. I switch to Vista for that.
With some the apps you mentioned (Maya and Blender) don't skimp on the graphics card or RAM.
Also as far as Windows 8 goes, if it is not a touchscreen, you may be better off running with Windows 7 Pro 64. I found Windows 8 to be more of an annoyance on a laptop.
I'm having a hard time just finding a powerful enough laptop, much less one with 7, and I'm not confident in my skill enough to switch an 8 to a 7.
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Kelsey, as comp sci grad who works in IT, I would recommend focusing on Windows and Linux primarily. In over 15 years of working corporate IT, I can count on 1 hand the number of Mac users I've encountered in our environments. Other than getting them on the network, all of their actual support was either self-service or out-sourced. Unless you plan on working at a Mac-only shop (like Paizo), or supporting only end-users, then your time might be better spent elsewhere.
In terms of what to buy, the fact that you want to game still pretty much mandates a Windows PC.
My recommendation would be to get a PC laptop, max out the RAM, and then run VMware Workstation. This way, you can switch between OSes without having to reboot constantly, and you'll also start gaining some skills in what underpins cloud technology: virtualization.
I hadn't thought of picking up VM Ware. I might do that for my desktop so I don't need to reboot every time I want to game or stop gaming.
I'm having a hard time just finding a powerful enough laptop, much less one with 7, and I'm not confident in my skill enough to switch an 8 to a 7.
Just as an FYI, whenever I order a brand new laptop, the one component I purposefully skimp on from the vendor is RAM. The reason for this is that you can generally max out your laptop with top-of-the-line RAM on Amazon for about $55/8GB — far less than what most vendors charge.
As for swapping out OSes or even hardware, there are lots of good video tutorials on YouTube if you want to supplement your classroom learning with some practical customization processes. Depending on your learning style, sometimes such videos are more useful than written tutorials. FWIW, swapping RAM is one of the easiest changes you can make to a laptop, so that would be a good spot to start if you are uncomfortable with working on hardware.
I will also say to check your university's discounts and supply, for example my university gives it's pretty much any Microsoft software (from OS to SQL Server).
Being an undergraduate computer science student myself i have to say the following:
I would suggest to go for a used macbook and buy either a new or used laptop for the rest OS, and i don't think that you really need a 1000$ laptop for your assignments.
Unless you go for a touchscreen you don't really need win8, win7 should be more than enough.
Other than that, are you dead set on a laptop? if you go desktop you could get by a lot cheaper.
How long before the used laptop gets really slow however in the long run.