I am looking for a laptop for college. I have a budget of up to $3000, (this includes shipping, warranty, and tax). I will be an aerospace engineering student in the fall. I game and it would need to be able to handle engineering apps. If anyone has any suggestions on a brand and/or parts, it would be much appreciated. I would like to get as much bang for the buck as possible. Thanks

It would probably be better if the price was in the $2500. Although if $3000 is absolutely necessary or significantly better, it could be arranged.

The Clevo M570RU rebranded as the Sager NP5793.

How I configured:
WUXGA+
Core2 T9300
GeForce 8800mGTX
Vista Home Premium
4gb RAM (the combo special)
100gb 7200rpm HDD
8x DVD burner
1 year warranty
Total 2529.00 (add your shipping charge)

http://www.sagernotebook.com/produ [...] =customize

The Clevo is also sold by other companies like Killer Notebooks and XoticPC, if you contact them, they might be able to offer you a competing price for the laptop.

thats a killer config

I am wondering if it is worth to get the upgrade to Vista Ultimate over Vista Premium. Any suggestions?

I'm not a Vista user, but from what I gather it's only worth it if you feel you need the extra networking and security features of the Business edition.

Yes, K|N would be a good option if you are willing to push your budget a bit. It's the same basic unit as the 5793, but he has added modifications to the heatsinks to allow the unit to run cooler and has come up with his own "turbo button" which OC's the CPU (both the base T9500 and the upgraded X9000). Add onto that the fact that you are getting support directly from the owner and not a run around like Sager might give you (they will handle certain issues and then reroute you for others). Is it worth it? That's for you to decide www.killernotebooks.com

No if u ask me unless u need extra security features

the oem version of utimate will be offered for free...

Holly hell. Aerospace R&D? get a sparcbook, and load up matlab or macsyma.

The General Dynamics Sparcbook? I don't think you need something that's...not sure what the word for it is, specialized? Runs the Solaris operating system, 650 mhz Ultrasparc IIi processor...4 gigs of ram...it doesn't seem to match up to what a student will want. Plus it doesn't mention anything about a graphics card, so rendering would take a long time...unless I'm mistaken about the configuration. It's the first time I've heard of it

Im not really sure about the whole "sparcbook" idea. I mean, I still want to play games and have a compatible system with many apps. On another note. I was thinking the T9300 b/c it has the 6mb of cache and it has a good clock (2.5Ghz). Good Choice?
On a graphics card, it seems that the 8800m GTX is the most powerful of the market right now and should last a while in the entire spectrum of things. Though on some websites, lets use alienware as an example, it is $500 more for it over the 8600m GT. And $350 over the 8700m GT. Is it worth it.
Next, in a builder's, more experienced than mine, mind, do you think it is a good idea to get Vista Ultimate over Vista Premium, in a yes or no answer? (Of course taking into account that I am a student and other factors.)
Also, Sager and KillerNotebooks have been mentioned as places to shop. Are there any others to look at, besides the obvious (Dell XPS and Alienware)?
Also should I buy the Laptop with low memory (RAM) and install more ram myself? I calculated the cost and it seems over all I could save about $100. (Except with the Sager deal.)
Does a Hard Drive with a faster speed, 7200 vs 5400, really matter that much?
Is it a good idea to get a long warranty, 3 years, or is it not worth it after 1 or 2 years?
Thanks for all the advice.

ibm, *cough*, i mean, lennovo. Highly energy efficient. perhaps useful for you? I would recommend buying a few new batteries now, for the laptop, because used ones are terrible. And keeping them in cold storage or something. Because by the time yours are failing they may have stopped making them. </shrugs>

1) Well, there are a few other high end computer companies out there, like Falcon Northwest and VoodooPC, but 3000 dollars is barely enough to scrape the bottom of their laptop lines. You can check out Gateway if you'd like, they're making the move into the gaming PC sector with their FX series. I'd almost suggest against considering Alienware, I've heard mixed reviews about their customer support.

2) If you can save money by getting your own RAM, go for it, since it's so cheap now.

3) Yeah, there's a noticeable difference between a 7.2k and 5.4k RPM hard drive, at least in my opinion. If you're willing to wait longer for loading, then don't bother, but in most laptops, it's an annoying bottleneck, because you can't overclock a hard drive, and it just slows load times. Luckily they're easily upgradeable.

4) If you're extremely careful with your laptop, you can probably swing by with the 1 year, but then again, if you're covered by warranty and your hard drive decides to melt, the company will replace it for you. If you can afford it, get the higher warranty, I think at least. It's a precaution, and some peace of mind.