please help. I am going into college, and I'm getting a laptop for graduation, and I was wondering which one is better. I'm going to major in astronomy. Thanks!
I guess either would handle any astro software you'll ever use, if it was me I'd be looking at the one that uses the least power...if you intent to go remote (off grid) that is.
My 'OLD' Vaio draws over 5 amps, it can suck a 40Ah, 13 kilogram battery dry in an evening & you don't want to be lugging a bank of those around.
Jennifer, if i had to choose again it would be the Dell, we have bought two from them in the past and have had absolutely no problems, plus other stuff we have also bought from them has worked from day one beautifully.
Their after sales service is spot on and they will come to you if anything dose go wrong.
We bought online, and from their site you can build the machine to your liking without the bits you don't need.
I think Sony "make" a better machine, I think Dell have better after sales support.
I would choose the based on these criteria
Warranty/Support - get 3yrs, with the easiest mechanism to return for support. You dont want to be spending $100 to ship it across the country, and you dont want to be spending 4 hrs travelling across town for support.
Machine - get the machine with the most RAM capability. You dont have to populate it right now, but having a machine the can be expanded in memory footprint will make it last longer. CPUs are so powerful now that it isnt a great concern. Still opt for a full multi-core machine (not celeron), but 2Ghz v 3Ghz is not much difference.
Faster HDD = better perfomance. Choose SAS over SATA (if you have a choice) and 7200rpm or faster, rather than more space for the same price.
Weight - choose lighter, it is more convenient in the long run and you will use it more.
Get everything builtin, ie DVDs, bigger battery capacity etc, dont go with systems that have "portable" docking stations, because they aren't as portable as they seem.
After using my laptop mine has good spped being a Dual Core 64bit, but the negative is that I would now select a laptop with OpenGL video driver. Many Astro program rely on this.
& you don't want to be lugging a bank of those around.
