What do you think of the new Ultrabooks?

[Moose]

Hey all, I have a son going to college in the fall and I'm looking for a computer for him. He is studying Electronic Engineering with an emphasis on renewable energy (Proud PAPA:) Any how I was looking at the new ultrabooks with the solid state drives but I'm not sure they will have enough storage for him. Now that some text books are coming out in electronic versions I would also like something he load books on. Any recent engineering students or engineers with any input would be greatly appreciated.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I think you can use a USB storage device to increase the capacity. I think they are pretty awesome, though I'm not a student.

[Moose]

I was looking at the Toshiba T832 sounds like the best bang for the buck right now. Has all the ports. Will a USB 3.0 work for the storage unit? Does it transfer files faster?

[delcecchi]

If he is in EE he might need something with plenty of compute power and memory. He and you need to assess the balance of portability and battery life vrs compute power and storage capacity.

The only reason for going ultrabook is portability and battery life. If it will sit in a dorm room most of the time....

(when I was in EE we used slide rules....)

[Moose]

delcecchi,

I can pretty much pick the compute power from i3-i7 with the Toshiba along with up to 8gb of RAM I am concerned about the storage though. Portability is an issue for college students no need to lug a 10lb laptop when you can do it in 2 lbs also wouldn't the SSD be less susceptible to jarring than a standard drive?I can add a terabyte of storage pretty cheap with an external drive. I was thinking of adding a small camera to the top of it so he could record lectures and still have room to take notes because most are 13" thus larger than a tablet and smaller than a standard laptop. Just bouncing this stuff off guys who know this field and what might be needed. What would be your suggestion?

[CAMAN]

I personally would go with atleast a 15 inch screen, the bigger the better even when it comes to laptops IMO, especially when staring at it for hours a day like most students do. I also would never put anything other than an SSD into a laptop either, they are A LOT less susceptible to damage from being dropped and banged around and way faster than most HDD's. I don't know much about the Ultrabooks, but I wouldn't get too stuck on them, they are all still just laptops. And the portability issue with the Ultrabook doesn't really make a difference when placed in a backpack. I can't tell much of a difference between my heavy 15 inch Dell, my 10 inch Samsung Netbook, and nothing, when placed in my backpack. Get him a good backpack that has full padding no matter what you get, I really like my Swiss Gear Ibex.

I have no idea what an EE student would require as far as computing powers and storage requirements, but I'd imagine a midrange processor and 200+GB of storage would be more than enough. And adding a TB or two of external storage would be a great idea for the things he won't need to use frequently.

[delcecchi]

Since the laptop isn't running and is in a case while being transported I find it hard to think using a regular disk is a big deal. In EE, I don't know how much note taking could be done with a keyboard anyway, since there is so much math and equations and diagrams and schematics.

But my experience, and that of people I know, is years out of date. I would also buy as big an external monitor as you can afford.

Personally I found paper and pencil worked best for notes. Imagine taking notes in a calculus class on a computer, or say electronic circuits. Typing greek characters alone is a problem.

Also don't neglect the fact that laptops in general are highly stealable if unguarded for even a minute.

A suggestion would be to not spend a bunch right off the bat. Let him make sure he can do the work, and see what he needs. Besides sometimes the schools have great deals.

[CAMAN]

Since the laptop isn't running and is in a case while being transported I find it hard to think using a regular disk is a big deal.

The original HDD that came with the laptop I have now was located under the left palm when typing. The day it failed I was doing some work and trying to think through what I was doing and getting frustrated. Not thinking about it I pushed both hands down onto the palm rest, not incredibly hard just a firm push, I heard some grinding, a couple loud beeps, then a couple minutes later the BSOD appears and everything I had saved on the computer was gone. Just pushing on the case, picking it up improperly, or whatever can be done to jar it while its being used can damage an HDD. Face it, it's a laptop, for a college student, you want something that will take the abuse.

I installed a SSD and will never look back. I don't need to go through a full shutdown process each time I need to put it into my bag, but if I do, the startup process is less than 10 seconds from power button to login screen. I think it was almost a minute with the HDD. Everything else is quicker with it also.

[nofishfisherman]

I wouldn't over think this too much. Parents have one idea of what a college student needs and then there is REALLY what a college student needs. A laptop is great to have at school, for sure he'll want some sort of computer to type papers, do some internet research, and have access to online classroom content. Also he can use it when meeting with other students on group projects.

But I think you need to be realistic on what the computer will be used for most of the time. By buying a top end laptop with the fastest processor and the most storage possible you may think you are setting them up to tackle tough homework, record lectures, type notes, etc. In reality you are setting them up to check facebook, download and store more music, watch youtube videos, play games against roomates, etc... and then do some school work.

I'm sure he'll use it for school work but most of the work he'll do won't need any sort of special computing power. If he's doing some large engineering project he will likely be using lab computers that have software that his personal laptop won't have.

Also if your son is just starting school he likely won't be in the high level engineering classes for two more years. In the first year or two it is usually mostly generals (english, history, etc.) with maybe a few low level classes that pertain to a specific major. Maybe once he gets to the point where he's entering his major specific coursework then you can asssess what his computing needs are and then upgrade computers at that point.

[Moose]

Thank you guys for the insight nofish made me laugh with the reality of computer usage in college. I still think I will get him a ssd laptop maybe not the high end one yet and for sure thanks to CAMAN a good back pack not the cheap stuff we've been pay just as much for and having fall apart.I also agree that paper and pencil are the best way to take notes but the reality of college tells me he will need to access online lecture and class materials and have the ability to use those resources to excel in college.

[delcecchi]

For sure he needs a computer. The question is does he need a 450 dollar laptop or a 1000 dollar ultrabook?

[nofishfisherman]

For sure he needs a computer. The question is does he need a 450 dollar laptop or a 1000 dollar ultrabook?

Yeah that about sums it up.

For a freshman year I'd probably get a decent middle of the road laptop for him but nothing fancy. It will get used and abused the first couple years and for some reason lap tops have a tendency to walk off by themselves. And from my experience the more expensive they are the greater chance they walk off.

If he needs something with more power in 2 years once he's fully immersed in his engineering classes then you can always look at upgrading. In 2 years when he may really need a higher performing computer that ultrabook will likely be outdated by the new standards of what will be available in 2 years.

[Moose]

Maybe the Galaxy tablet would be the best option with a additional SD card and or an external drive either a 7200 rpm 1TB or a 2.5" 500gb so it's more compact. Not sure what the processor is like though.I know I can get a wireless keyboard and mouse and most of the cases convert into a stand. That way there would be already a camera internally mounted. Like I said I'm trying to get some ideas and feedback.

[nofishfisherman]

I'd probably go with an actual laptop versus tablet if it were me. The biggest thing I used a computer for (besides music and video games) was for typing papers and creating presentations. I think having the regular laptop makes that easier, but its also what I'm accustom to. I think in the end the laptop will probably have more versatility for doing actual class work.

The tablet would excel in portability and maybe using in class but most of the real work is done outside of class.

[LMITOUT]

There isn't a SD slot on the Galaxy Tab. You'd have to get the SD Card reader that plugs into the Tab for that.

I agree on getting some sort of laptop over a tablet. I'm sure the course work and materials have changed a lot since I was in Engineering, but I would think that MS Office (word/excel/powerpoint) is a must and a tablet isn't going to cut the mustard in that respect.

I'd look at a laptop with adequate storage (I really don't think an overly large hard drive is that necessary and most are large enough now anyway. Get an external USB drive if space is a concern later down the road, they're cheap), a 15" screen (get a separate, larger monitor for the dorm/apartment, they're cheap), and a decent printer for reports. I really don't see any need for a super computer, even for an engineering student.

[Moose]

Well thanks for all the input. I will probably be going with a 15.6" Asus or Toshiba with the i5 processor and 500-750gb hard drive I would like to get at least 2.5ghz processor. Seems ASU is going with the Asus right now but will have to look into it once he get's his deposit in and goes to orientation. Sometime they tell me students can get pretty good discounts going through the college or with a confirmed student ID. I Think HP has a program like this. I would like it to have a number pad as I have read this could be very useful to a student doing a bunch of math and engineering work. Also I've read that most colleges have software packages for student so I'm going to hold of till he gets closer to going later this summer.

Once again thank you for the input

Moose

[Moose]

Lmitout, that avatar makes the text in your posts vibrate

[OnAFly]

I graduated ME in 2007, no need for a great computer. Any simulation software he'll use will be on school computers. Also, a lot of that software probably isn't going to be able to run on even a middle of the road laptop. Our desktops at work (for engineering) cost ~$2K, so imagine what that power in a laptop will cost.

Get him something that he can write papers on. He will be doing plenty of that. Notes are taken on paper by hand still, no realistic way to do it electronically...yet

Remind him that though the first year is tough...it only gets tougher