Help Picking a Laptop for Aero Major

[physicsCU]

Hey,

I need some help in picking a new laptop. I am an aero major, so I will be doing MATLAB, some Python, solidworks, excel, that sort of thing. and music, lots of music!

I am currently between the dell inspiron 6000 and the hypersonic aviator MX6. I am not sure which to choose, because the hypersonic reviews are either gold or they are horrible, describing a company that is essentially evil. So I don't know who to go with.

After all the changes i made, they seem like the same price, ballpark, but the hypersonic has obviously better parts, and the kicker for me is the modular bay battery hypersonic has. That is a huge deal for me, and I don't know why dell stopped doing it.

So I am leaning to hypersonic, but the bad reviews worry me.

So if anyone has any thoughts, i would appreciate them!

P.S. This is to replace an HP pavilion zv5240us

 

[Shawnzyoo]

well this is all personal opinion
but i have never heard anything good from a dell
i am not very familiar with the other model though
i recently (2 weeks ago) bought a laptop with some of the same ideas for use matlab, pro engineer, ect ...
i went with an IBM thinkpad T42 and customized it for my own taste
everything works very well, and if you are interested in running a linux distro, it is one of best supported models out there as far as hardware goes
are you looking to run windoze or linux or both?
i dual boot for the sake of using those engineering/math progs
but there are some decent open source engineering/math apps out tehre though
the only bad part thinkpads are a little more expensive, but well worth it (once again my opinion)

also another suggestion, i am not sure how familiar you are with servers and what not
but i set up an old desktop computer (added a couple of harddrives) as a ftp/web/media/ssh server
this way i can stream all my music to my laptop (no lag at all)
and not fill my laptop harddrive with media
also a server makes a nice storage point
--shawn

 

[z-component]

You want to replace your zv5240us? That's a really nice computer. Anyway, take the reviews into consideration when it comes to the actual computer (i.e. if one notebook's lid hinges are loose and the keyboard is flimsy, etc) more so than the company being 'evil.' What does that mean anyway? Poor customer service?

I guess what you'll have to do is determine what's most important for you. Will it be thin and light but a slower processor or heavier but more powerful?

 

[physicsCU]

yes, hypersonic's reviews indicated extrememly horrible customer service. I mean, I can handle indian tech support, but that part turned me off in a big way. I have looked into cyberpowerinc, and i am leaning that way if i could get a reply to my inquiry about their modular battery option (the option to order it with the laptop).

I am not really familiar with servers, but what you are describing would be great! can you point to a tutorial to do that? I would use the HP for that for sure! especially since that would breathe new life into it.

My HP is meh for me, I really need something that isn't so power-hungry but still decently powerful. I don't do large-scale drawing on it, that is my desktop's purpose. But i want a nice laptop so I can use it for a long while. So really, long battery life is the driver here. If i can play music, watch movies, light editing and light programming on it, that is fine; again something future proof. My HP just seems sluggish and >2 hours of battery is unacceptable, especially since I am going to be on a plane for 4 hours next week, no laptop, and driving 8 hours in april to wichita, again no laptop (yes, 8 hours is impossible, but its an example). With how often I am mobile and away from my desktop, I need battery life.

Yes, I would like to dual boot. I did have suse/windows on it, but i couldn't stand the fact that wireless and ACPI didn't work in suse, so i got rid of it. K/Ubuntu seems nice though, I have checked out the live cd for kubuntu, going to do ubuntu next.

PS, I am trying to decide to get a new laptop or upgrade my desktop, but at this time i am leaning to a laptop. my desktop is only a year old, so it isn't due for an overhaul for another year or so.

 

[Shawnzyoo]

i personally enjoy ubuntu (almost everythings works right out of the box)

here is a step by step to set up a server
it is very detailed
http://www.publisheraid.com/hosting/Become+Your+Own+Web+Host+in+75+Steps.html

here is a good reference/walk through if you use ubuntu
http://help.ubuntu.com/starterguide/C/faqguide-all.html#fg-ing

here is a site that shows how compatible certain laptop are with which linux distro
http://tuxmobil.org/mylaptops.html

hope this helps
--shawn