What type of laptop are you going to use for law school?

[nreese970]

I keep hearing the whole "easy to use" thing, but it's not like Windows is that complicated (although one of the pros is that you can make Windows complicated if you want). I mean, in terms of your day to day use--browsing, word processing--I don't see a significant difference. Is Microsoft Word that much easier to use on a Mac than a PC? Or Chrome (or Safari I guess)? What is it that's easier?

PC4lyfe.

It's a lot of little things. Like how there's only one click on the mouse pad, only one backspace, how everything is drag and drop, and you're (supposed) to swipe through windows using two or three fingers. Yes, you can use other things if you know how to use CTRL + Click or two finger click, but I'd reckon that's a surprisingly small percentage that actually knows how to right click or forward delete on a Mac. But when you're used to Windows and having more functionality with the GUIs, it's frustrating to not be able to manipulate the screens the way I want and swap between them. Instead when I'm doing big research projects I have to do this stacking of windows and swipe with three fingers to find the other tab, instead of just doing a half window here, half window there, and using the pane at the bottom to go to ones layered below on occasion. I'd also say the "easy to use" factor comes in handy for basic users who don't know to download Final Cut Pro X and just want their software spoonfed to them, a la Apple iMovie and all of the other iLife programs. Plus, it's easy to use because I'm assuming just about everyone has an iPhone and trying to function with non-Apple products and an Apple product is deliberately difficult.

[Indifference]

Got the Spectre today. Loving it.

[Flokkness]

Got the Spectre today. Loving it.

Nice. Did you end up going with the i5 256 or the i7 512? And did you do the HP store or the MS store?

Supposedly the best laptop deals are around the corner - debating selling my XPS and going for a Spectre if the August sales are good enough. Tried a Spectre in store recently and found it way slicker than the XPS for typing.

As a former PC guy (started building PCs in my teens for the gaming; Tribes, Unreal, Quake 3 level design, etc - Jesus that was so long ago) - I definitely do miss the power and ease of use w/r/t PCs, not to mention the fun of managing your own builds. But after moving a few times in a few years I just got tired of hauling around a giant tower and a bunch of monitors. Outside of gaming there's not much relative advantage for the average user anymore, at least not any advantages that outweigh the annoyances, IMHO. For people with specific high-end performance or software needs, PCs are still great though. I sold my last gaming rig eight months ago to a cop who wanted to play TF with his bros, lol.

[rinkrat19]

I keep hearing the whole "easy to use" thing, but it's not like Windows is that complicated (although one of the pros is that you can make Windows complicated if you want). I mean, in terms of your day to day use--browsing, word processing--I don't see a significant difference. Is Microsoft Word that much easier to use on a Mac than a PC? Or Chrome (or Safari I guess)? What is it that's easier?

PC4lyfe.

It's a lot of little things. Like how there's only one click on the mouse pad, only one backspace, how everything is drag and drop, and you're (supposed) to swipe through windows using two or three fingers. Yes, you can use other things if you know how to use CTRL + Click or two finger click, but I'd reckon that's a surprisingly small percentage that actually knows how to right click or forward delete on a Mac. But when you're used to Windows and having more functionality with the GUIs, it's frustrating to not be able to manipulate the screens the way I want and swap between them. Instead when I'm doing big research projects I have to do this stacking of windows and swipe with three fingers to find the other tab, instead of just doing a half window here, half window there, and using the pane at the bottom to go to ones layered below on occasion. I'd also say the "easy to use" factor comes in handy for basic users who don't know to download Final Cut Pro X and just want their software spoonfed to them, a la Apple iMovie and all of the other iLife programs. Plus, it's easy to use because I'm assuming just about everyone has an iPhone and trying to function with non-Apple products and an Apple product is deliberately difficult.

Only one backspace is the WORST. Also, it's a backspace button but it says Delete on it. wtf. (And they know that's a terrible thing because on a full-sized Mac, it has both Delete and Backspace like a proper keyboard.)

[nreese970]

I keep hearing the whole "easy to use" thing, but it's not like Windows is that complicated (although one of the pros is that you can make Windows complicated if you want). I mean, in terms of your day to day use--browsing, word processing--I don't see a significant difference. Is Microsoft Word that much easier to use on a Mac than a PC? Or Chrome (or Safari I guess)? What is it that's easier?

PC4lyfe.

It's a lot of little things. Like how there's only one click on the mouse pad, only one backspace, how everything is drag and drop, and you're (supposed) to swipe through windows using two or three fingers. Yes, you can use other things if you know how to use CTRL + Click or two finger click, but I'd reckon that's a surprisingly small percentage that actually knows how to right click or forward delete on a Mac. But when you're used to Windows and having more functionality with the GUIs, it's frustrating to not be able to manipulate the screens the way I want and swap between them. Instead when I'm doing big research projects I have to do this stacking of windows and swipe with three fingers to find the other tab, instead of just doing a half window here, half window there, and using the pane at the bottom to go to ones layered below on occasion. I'd also say the "easy to use" factor comes in handy for basic users who don't know to download Final Cut Pro X and just want their software spoonfed to them, a la Apple iMovie and all of the other iLife programs. Plus, it's easy to use because I'm assuming just about everyone has an iPhone and trying to function with non-Apple products and an Apple product is deliberately difficult.

Only one backspace is the WORST. Also, it's a backspace button but it says Delete on it. wtf. (And they know that's a terrible thing because on a full-sized Mac, it has both Delete and Backspace like a proper keyboard.)

Lol meant forward delete, not two different backspace

[A.Taarabt7]

thinking about buying a Lenovo X250 equipped with an Intel i5 processor, 8 gig ram, and 500 gig solid state drive

Need a good laptop. I'm still using this old Vista 64 bit laptop from freshman year of college(2008). Clunky, battery dies within 30 minutes, fan hella loud, gets really hot easily, and keyboard is getting torn apart with keys missing.

What do you all think? I want to upgrade to a better laptop but I don't wanna be cheap since I plan to use the laptop a lot for school. I mean I am afterall taking exams on it. I don't wanna get some clunky, uncomfortable laptop that is gonna be choppy and slow when I am in the middle of an exam. new laptop should cost me around $1100-1300 ordered straight from the manufacturer

[ChemEng1642]

thinking about buying a Lenovo X250 equipped with an Intel i5 processor, 8 gig ram, and 500 gig solid state drive

Need a good laptop. I'm still using this old Vista 64 bit laptop from freshman year of college(2008). Clunky, battery dies within 30 minutes, fan hella loud, gets really hot easily, and keyboard is getting torn apart with keys missing.

What do you all think? I want to upgrade to a better laptop but I don't wanna be cheap since I plan to use the laptop a lot for school. I mean I am afterall taking exams on it. I don't wanna get some clunky, uncomfortable laptop that is gonna be choppy and slow when I am in the middle of an exam. new laptop should cost me around $1100-1300 ordered straight from the manufacturer

Have exactly that (except 180 GB SSD instead of 500 GB) and I'm loving my laptop so far! It's lightweight and super fast and a great keyboard for an ultrabook

[smile0751]

Aren't macs suppose to be simple???? After hours of comparing the three models, I still don't know which one would best meet my needs. Ughh

[Clemenceau]

Aren't macs suppose to be simple???? After hours of comparing the three models, I still don't know which one would best meet my needs. Ughh

Then the air is probably for you. The people who actually need macbook pros wouldn't consider the other models. And the people who can't live without the newest and shiniest will go for the macbook without hesitation.

[basedvulpes]

Post removed.

[nreese970]

I'm not planning to start law school until Fall 2016, but my work is now helping me purchase a new laptop that I'll be able to keep when I leave so I'm buying with law school in mind. Really leaning towards the XPS 13, but can't decide between i3 and i5, and 4GB and 8GB of RAM. Anyone want to offer advice?

What are your other needs? Are you a gamer at all? Do you do graphic design? Video design? Regardless, I would almost always recommend more RAM, but you could go either way on the processor depending on what your needs are.

[IsThisForReal]

I'm not planning to start law school until Fall 2016, but my work is now helping me purchase a new laptop that I'll be able to keep when I leave so I'm buying with law school in mind. Really leaning towards the XPS 13, but can't decide between i3 and i5, and 4GB and 8GB of RAM. Anyone want to offer advice?

How much stuff do you usually have running at once?

I do a lot. Usually word doc, browser, sometimes image editing all open at once, so I'm gonna go with the i7 and 8GB. But it just depends on how you use your computer.

[Indifference]

Got the Spectre today. Loving it.

Nice. Did you end up going with the i5 256 or the i7 512? And did you do the HP store or the MS store?

Supposedly the best laptop deals are around the corner - debating selling my XPS and going for a Spectre if the August sales are good enough. Tried a Spectre in store recently and found it way slicker than the XPS for typing.

As a former PC guy (started building PCs in my teens for the gaming; Tribes, Unreal, Quake 3 level design, etc - Jesus that was so long ago) - I definitely do miss the power and ease of use w/r/t PCs, not to mention the fun of managing your own builds. But after moving a few times in a few years I just got tired of hauling around a giant tower and a bunch of monitors. Outside of gaming there's not much relative advantage for the average user anymore, at least not any advantages that outweigh the annoyances, IMHO. For people with specific high-end performance or software needs, PCs are still great though. I sold my last gaming rig eight months ago to a cop who wanted to play TF with his bros, lol.

Went with the i7 512, and surprised myself by getting it at Best Buy, which had the best deal. Got a student discount of 150 off, and 12 month financing which will allow me to wait on paying till I can get a supplemental loan from HLS for the laptop Also if anyone else goes for this, hold off on getting a warranty! HP sent me a message a day after I bought it with a discount code. Got 140 off a 3 year warranty (+accidental damage coverage), and it ended up being cheaper than Best Buy, Square Trade, or the Microsoft Store.

I would have waited to buy it till August/September, but my old laptop up and finally died last week, so I figured why not.

The Spectre itself is amazing. I find myself loving the touch features and using it for things I never thought I would. Not the novelty crap you do once, but little day to day useful things that are just easier when you can touch/flip the screen. Also the keyboard is magnificent for an ultrabook. Take everything I say with a grain of salt though, cause I just replaced a Macbook Pro mid-2009, so this is my first foray into good battery life and SSDs.

Plus it plays Civ V, so I'm happy.

[basedvulpes]

Post removed.

[Indifference]

I'm not planning to start law school until Fall 2016, but my work is now helping me purchase a new laptop that I'll be able to keep when I leave so I'm buying with law school in mind. Really leaning towards the XPS 13, but can't decide between i3 and i5, and 4GB and 8GB of RAM. Anyone want to offer advice?

How much stuff do you usually have running at once?

I do a lot. Usually word doc, browser, sometimes image editing all open at once, so I'm gonna go with the i7 and 8GB. But it just depends on how you use your computer.

I don't do much that's very advanced, usually browsing, word, excel, listening to music. I occasionally do some multimedia editing. I'm mostly leaning towards a better processor and more RAM because it's more likely to last 4 years. But wondering if anyone currently in law school feels like like 8GB is just total overkill. I suppose my needs for law school won't be all that different than my needs for work.

The i5 will definitely be enough juice for you. The differences between the current gen i5 and i7 are negligible, especially in ultrabooks that tend to bottleneck processor performance in pursuit of lower temperatures. The RAM is a personal decision. I'd go with 8 to make sure you can keep up with more demanding apps and operating systems as they come up, but 4GB will probably be fine for anything thrown your way in the immediate future.

[Flokkness]

Got the Spectre today. Loving it.

Nice. Did you end up going with the i5 256 or the i7 512? And did you do the HP store or the MS store?

Supposedly the best laptop deals are around the corner - debating selling my XPS and going for a Spectre if the August sales are good enough. Tried a Spectre in store recently and found it way slicker than the XPS for typing.

As a former PC guy (started building PCs in my teens for the gaming; Tribes, Unreal, Quake 3 level design, etc - Jesus that was so long ago) - I definitely do miss the power and ease of use w/r/t PCs, not to mention the fun of managing your own builds. But after moving a few times in a few years I just got tired of hauling around a giant tower and a bunch of monitors. Outside of gaming there's not much relative advantage for the average user anymore, at least not any advantages that outweigh the annoyances, IMHO. For people with specific high-end performance or software needs, PCs are still great though. I sold my last gaming rig eight months ago to a cop who wanted to play TF with his bros, lol.

Went with the i7 512, and surprised myself by getting it at Best Buy, which had the best deal. Got a student discount of 150 off, and 12 month financing which will allow me to wait on paying till I can get a supplemental loan from HLS for the laptop Also if anyone else goes for this, hold off on getting a warranty! HP sent me a message a day after I bought it with a discount code. Got 140 off a 3 year warranty (+accidental damage coverage), and it ended up being cheaper than Best Buy, Square Trade, or the Microsoft Store.

I would have waited to buy it till August/September, but my old laptop up and finally died last week, so I figured why not.

The Spectre itself is amazing. I find myself loving the touch features and using it for things I never thought I would. Not the novelty crap you do once, but little day to day useful things that are just easier when you can touch/flip the screen. Also the keyboard is magnificent for an ultrabook. Take everything I say with a grain of salt though, cause I just replaced a Macbook Pro mid-2009, so this is my first foray into good battery life and SSDs.

Plus it plays Civ V, so I'm happy.

Nice. I'm gonna take the plunge too.

Also--grats on HLS.

[nreese970]

I'm not planning to start law school until Fall 2016, but my work is now helping me purchase a new laptop that I'll be able to keep when I leave so I'm buying with law school in mind. Really leaning towards the XPS 13, but can't decide between i3 and i5, and 4GB and 8GB of RAM. Anyone want to offer advice?

How much stuff do you usually have running at once?

I do a lot. Usually word doc, browser, sometimes image editing all open at once, so I'm gonna go with the i7 and 8GB. But it just depends on how you use your computer.

I don't do much that's very advanced, usually browsing, word, excel, listening to music. I occasionally do some multimedia editing. I'm mostly leaning towards a better processor and more RAM because it's more likely to last 4 years. But wondering if anyone currently in law school feels like like 8GB is just total overkill. I suppose my needs for law school won't be all that different than my needs for work.

I don't think anyone has ever regretted having more RAM, although maybe you could ask the people who have 32GB of it on their custom PCs. That may be overkill unless you work at Pixar. Up to you and your finances and personal preferences on the i5 v i7, though.

[FloridaCoastalorbust]

Just got the Dell XPS 13, i-5, 4GB RAM, for $720 on ebay. Win.

[basedvulpes]

Post removed.

[FloridaCoastalorbust]

Just got the Dell XPS 13, i-5, 4GB RAM, for $720 on ebay. Win.

Wutttttt. Refurbished or new?

It's labeled as a manufactured refurb - but these types of refurbs aren't ever technically refurbed. They were just returned to Dell by the owner within a 21-day purchase window. Dell warranty until July 2016, etc.

[basedvulpes]

Post removed.

[Sideshow Raheem]

Apologies if this has been discussed a bunch already but what's TCR on law school notetaking software? Evernote? OneNote? Just plain old Word?

[haus]

Apologies if this has been discussed a bunch already but what's TCR on law school notetaking software? Evernote? OneNote? Just plain old Word?

There are at least a few threads here talking about OneNote.

I have not used OneNote enough to comment on it to the extent that others can. I have spent a lot of time in Word and Evernote, and for initial note taking I do not like either of these products as they have a habit of getting in the way. Personally, most of my live time note taking is done with pen and paper, but when I am using a computer I will pick a text editor. On my laptop I use TextMate. It is very basic, it does not get in my way for producing quick streams of input.

Good luck with your selection.

[FloridaCoastalorbust]

Apologies if this has been discussed a bunch already but what's TCR on law school notetaking software? Evernote? OneNote? Just plain old Word?

OneNote by a mile. Check it out - it's amazing.

[tortsandtiaras]

How does one get OneNote?