laptops

[kennedyposter]

So I'm currently trying to decide if I should invest in a new laptop. Mine is pretty new...new as in i got it this summer. It's a little weaker than I had imagined though. It's a dell 1525 inspiron (windows xp basic) and it has worked fine for me so far because i just use it for the basics-email, this kind of thing, sometimes papers although i write those in the library usually. It's somewhat slow...not unbearably slow but you catch my drift. maybe it's due to my music or maybe it just sucks. I'm wondering if I should upgrade for law school or if just adding more memory or something of that nature would suffice. Any thoughts?

[RBlaw83]

You might want to try backing everything up and doing a system restore.  Mine was really slow and this did the trick...If your computer does email and word processing, that's all you really will need for law school, along with whatever exam software your school uses.

["That One"]

check to see if your laptop meets your law school's minimum requirements.  If it does then you are ok.

[jacy85]

You could look into adding more RAM.  There's a lot of factors that are involved, but that could help a bit.

[Connelly]

You could look into adding more RAM.  There's a lot of factors that are involved, but that could help a bit.

Agreed.  This is likely a cheap, quick way to improve performance. 

[djshack]

You could look into adding more RAM.  There's a lot of factors that are involved, but that could help a bit.

Agreed.  This is likely a cheap, quick way to improve performance. 

I added 1 GB of RAM to my MacBook (had 1 GB, now 2 GB) for $24.  It made an amazingly noticeable difference in performance.  Check out newegg.com for the best deals, IMO.

[ohioan]

Rather than starting a new thread, I wanted to ask here, if anyone has an opinion on pc vs. mac for law school...I doubt it would matter. I am curious if the typing on a macbook makes a difference? And, for those using pc laptops, anyone care to comment about favorites (in terms of reliability or keyboard)?

[ohioan]

Rather than starting a new thread, I wanted to ask here, if anyone has an opinion on pc vs. mac for law school...I doubt it would matter. I am curious if the typing on a macbook makes a difference? And, for those using pc laptops, anyone care to comment about favorites (in terms of reliability or keyboard)?

Are you a mac or pc person?  I would check with your school.  At mine, macs can't run our exam software unless they are running Windows for macs or whatever it's called.  The mac users have to partition their hard drives and install it.  Seems like a pain in the butt to me, but if you swear by a mac it might be worth it for you, I guess.

I think the most important thing is to get a LIGHT computer.  Casebooks are freakin' heavy and you'll have enough weight on your back in addition to whatever laptop/notebook you are toting.  Buy a VERY light computer.  You will thank me.

That's the same thing my wife keeps telling me! But, most light laptops seem like fragile pieces of plastic. I missed out on Dell's 1330 at a great price, so now I have to wait. I am leaning away from macbook, but still might get that since I think it will be more reliable than the others.

[Denny Shore]

Rather than starting a new thread, I wanted to ask here, if anyone has an opinion on pc vs. mac for law school...I doubt it would matter. I am curious if the typing on a macbook makes a difference? And, for those using pc laptops, anyone care to comment about favorites (in terms of reliability or keyboard)?

Check with your law school - there are varying levels of available support for mac.  Every law school is set up for PC.  Not every law school is properly set up for mac.  Most can make it work.  Where I go, the IT department provides basic support for free (for PC's only).