College Computer Options

[connorm333]

The end of this August I will be off to college to pursue a degree in Math, Computer Science, or possibly both. The past few months I have been looking for laptops that have the following requirements:

+nice screen (for watching movies and for programming)
+nice keyboard (just comfortable, backlight not required)
+speed (enough so it does not lag on things such as eclipse)
+good build quality
+light gaming (source games, mass effect, skyrim, etc)
+light (under 6 lbs)

Unfortunately, I have yet to find a laptop that I am satisfied with. The new macbook air seems to satisfy my requirements, but I am not a huge fan of the OS (I am not entirely opposed to learning it though).

I have begun to explore other options within my budget of ~1800-2000 dollars, including a desktop with a cheap laptop and a desktop with a tablet. I know that laptops aren't useful for math and engineering notes, but I was considering getting a tablet with a digitizer for notes in these classes. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[burdenbound]

The end of this August I will be off to college to pursue a degree in Math, Computer Science, or possibly both. The past few months I have been looking for laptops that have the following requirements:

+nice screen (for watching movies and for programming)
+nice keyboard (just comfortable, backlight not required)
+speed (enough so it does not lag on things such as eclipse)
+good build quality
+light gaming (source games, mass effect, skyrim, etc)
+light (under 6 lbs)

Unfortunately, I have yet to find a laptop that I am satisfied with. The new macbook air seems to satisfy my requirements, but I am not a huge fan of the OS (I am not entirely opposed to learning it though).

I have begun to explore other options within my budget of ~1800-2000 dollars, including a desktop with a cheap laptop and a desktop with a tablet. I know that laptops aren't useful for math and engineering notes, but I was considering getting a tablet with a digitizer for notes in these classes. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I laptop is nice during the programming courses you are going to be taking so you can cruise the internet and not pay attention like every one else. A desktop is nice for watching movies and gaming which all your classmates will be doing. I say make a desktop and get a laptop thats not crazy expensive. The macs are overpriced but if you really want to get one you can use parallels desktop to run windows along side osx. Take hand written notes in all your other classes, most non-engineering classes and math courses do not allow electronics of any kind.

 

[connorm333]

I forgot to mention that my computer science department runs on linux, so regardless of what option I choose I will probably dualboot linux with the original os. Also, most of my classes are about 15 minutes away, so if I choose to bring my laptop (which I doubt I will to my physics and math classes, as those notes on a laptop is pretty much impossible), I would prefer a somewhat light option. The macbook air seems nice because the lightness, the long battery, and the relatively powerful iGPU, but I'm not sure if it is the best option for me. If I order by 6/29/13, I can get a i7/8gb mem/256 ssd 13" model for ~1600. I've been searching for laptops for so long, but almost all of them seem to have a critical flaw (heating, fan noise, bad keyboard). Does anyone have any specific laptops, (or a laptop+desktop combination) that they recommend?