Back to school laptop recommendations - Page 3

I have a messenger bag designed for laptops. It will fit up to a 17" widescreen laptop, but just barely so. Unfortunately, it does not have a padded sleeve to protect the actual laptop.

I think the price to performance ratio of the Toshiba A665 is within my budget, but it has a slower 5,400 RPM hard drive and 1.6 GHz clock speed which is one of the slowest of the different laptops that I am considering. The second alternative is the Asus K52JR at $50 USD less and it has a higher clock speed of 2.26 GHz.

Thanks for your ongoing help so far. Costco should have some back to school specials come September and I will update this thread.

So, my preference is for Asus and Toshiba and my budget is between $700 - $1,000 USD. NJIT will give me the download or CD-ROM for their software bundle and I can co-install Ubuntu GNU/Linux 10.04 Lucid Lynx because one of the required courses within the Information Technology Network Security major is Linux; I am also going to study for the CompTIA Linux+ certification test and pass it by the end of this year.

Most of the notebook PCs that I have linked within my thread have a maximum RAM capacity of 8 GB so I can purchase two 4 GB sticks of DDR3 1066MHz or 1333 MHz RAM and install it myself. I will have a talk with my future professors to find out if it will be necessary to do so given the classroom lectures and homework.

I have to call NJIT tomorrow and speak with their financial aid department to see whether I am going to receive a financial aid award package and the details. Technically, I can ask for an educational loan to purchase a notebook PC through the financial aid department. That would be preferable because I can save my money toward the purchase of a used Toyota RAV4 or Corolla as I do not have a vehicle at this moment.

So, I am trying to finance two major purchases over the course of the next several months.

I got approved for full financial aid funding including Federal Work Study. I need to call the NJIT financial aid department to see if I can take out an educational loan for the purchase of a notebook PC tomorrow. I also have to take a mathematics placement test and schedule an appointment to visit my academic advisor to do course selection before July 14th, 2010 which is the date for admitted transfer student orientation.

This is pretty exciting as I look forward to developing my coding, mathematics, and IT security skills at NJIT.

I recently submitted my application for the Information Technology Administration & Security Masters of Science degree program at NJIT:

http://it.njit.edu/academics/graduate/index.php

The graduate admissions department will notify me of their decision by the end of this month. Based upon my conversations with both my undergraduate and graduate academic advisors upon reviewing my complete application and undergraduate transcripts, I should be accepted.

I also declared mathematics as my minor and I took my mathematics placement tests today. I did not perform well on those tests so I expect to be placed in high school mathematics courses for the upcoming fall semester which starts on August 30th, 2010.

I have a maximum budget of $1,500.00 USD to purchase a notebook PC, a graphing calculator, and textbooks along with a monthly NJ Transit Bus Pass for my first semester. I need to have these items next month before the start of classes.

I decided upon this notebook PC:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146777

I decided upon this graphing calculator:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16844101061

I decided to rent my textbooks:

http://www.rent-a-text.com/

I can get monthly NJ Transit Bus Passes at a local convenience store in my hometown for $72.00 USD.

Sounds like a plan to me! :)

Here is a list of the software titles that are available to NJIT students at no charge for various courses:

http://ist.njit.edu/software/az.php

Quote:

Originally Posted by MCC 

That's more of a desktop replacement than a laptop. I'd hate to see what the battery life is like on that and I cringe at the prospect of lugging that monolith around.

 

Edit: On a related subject, don't forget to budget for a laptop friendly backpack. I have one of these- it has a well padded laptop compartment that fits my 15.4" laptop well. 15.4" is the largest I'd go for portability. If it weren't for the increased graphics power I would have purchased a 14.1" model instead.

MCC:

I decided to get this backpack:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834995414

Thank you.

.

Yes. I am designing a custom curriculum with the help of both my undergraduate and graduate academic advisors. Classes start on August 30th, 2010 at NJIT. Currently, I am waiting for the letter of acceptance into the masters program which should come by the end of this month at the very latest. I am going shopping early next month after I get the funds necessary secured through a private loan. My graduate academic advisor told me that I may need to take a full bridge of IT Administration & Security courses before I take the required and elective courses within the masters program so that will delay my graduation date. Adding the mathematics courses will further delay my graduation date too.

For me, it is worth it. I will have an Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts, a Bachelor of Arts in English Creative Writing with a minor in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics. Then, I will earn my masters in IT Administration & Security along with another minor in mathematics from NJIT. After that, I am off to Polytechnic Institute at New York University for a Doctor of Philosophy in Management of Technology degree because I already got accepted into that highly competitive program.

I want to work for the National Security Agency as a IT Administrator & Security Engineer with a background in Linguistics and Mathematics.

I had to figure all of this out on my own.

I also need to earn my CISSP, CompTIA Linux+, Ubuntu, and Red Hat Linux certifications over the course of the next few years to augment my formal education in IT.

NJIT is on the NSA Center for Academic Excellence and NYU Poly is a Center for Academic Excellence Research schools. I already have both an Associate's of Arts and a Bachelor of Arts degrees plus CompTIA certifications so those were the requirements for the program.