Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support |
Help with buying a LAPTOP |
DVA1933
Senior Captain, B727-200
Joined on September 19 2004
Triple Century Club
Monterrey, NL Mexico
357 legs, 860.4 hours
72 legs,
132.3 hours online 255 legs,
668.3 hours ACARS 1 legs,
1.9 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 10 2010 01:08 ET by David Eugenio Gomez
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Gentlemen, I'll be probably crossing the border to McAllen TX in order to buy some stuff I need and can't get in Mexico, among them a Laptop computer (laptops here are simply way beyond expensive!!).
So I've been looking at Best Buy, which seems like my best option to purchase one, since I don't have an American address to have stuff shipped from Newegg, and BestBuy seems alright, regarding prices.
I'll be using my laptop exclusively for college and intense Engineering stuff, basically no games at all:
- Internet
- MS Office
- The most popular CAD packages (CATIA, Solidworks, Inventor, Unigraphics, ProEngineer) which require some intense processing power.
- MATLAB
One of my priorities is that the laptop LASTS. I treat my things well, so it should be solid enough not to die on me at any time in the next couple of years for no reason... TOSHIBAs seem to be the strongest laptops out there right now.
So I have narrowed it down to this:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+-+Satellite+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i3+Processor+-+Quantum+Black/9703393.p?id=1218153394199&skuId=9703393
You guys think that's enough? Or should I be looking at another equipment with an i5 CPU? I don't think it'd need a video card since I won't be using rendering programs...?
Thanks a lot!
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DVA7338
Captain, B747-400
E-MAIL
Joined on May 17 2009
"Thou shalt maintain thy airspeed." Faridabad, Haryana India
60 legs, 151.3 hours
49 legs,
135.1 hours online 58 legs,
145.2 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
May 10 2010 03:01 ET by Gurmeet Arora
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David Eugenio Gomez wrote:
You guys think that's enough? Or should I be looking at another equipment with an i5 CPU? I don't think it'd need a video card since I won't be using rendering programs...?
David with all the programs (CATIA, Solidworks, Inventor, Unigraphics, ProEngineer) you have mentioned are you sure, you don't need a graphics card. Go to Dassault site and read the minimum requirements. If your graphics card is minimum 512 MB (1 GB for decent performance), don't even bother loading CATIA on it.
Also what are you doing with all these CAD packages. Most companies will usually be standardized on one. Usually it's CATIA or SolidWorks or if someone is into CNC operations, then probably Unigraphics as a add-on. So, you need 1 and not all.
Since you are looking for a long lasting investment get something that runs CATIA and it will mostly surely run everything else.
Get a good FSB (min. 800), a decently powerful and recent processor and then everything that comes along with it is OK. Look in the budget of 1100 - 1400 USD for a machine and downsize as you see fit. The fancy stuff you can add later, but the processor and the M/B that runs is critical.
Also, in my "personal opinion", stay away from Compaq and a strict NO for Toshiba if you are planning to use CPU intensive and graphics intensive programs. HP is OK, Dell is better and best is ASUS but with a heavy price tag. Rest you choose.
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DVA7636
Senior Captain, L-1011-100
OLP
Joined on August 11 2009
50 State Club
Events Double Century Club
Burbank 250 Club
Quincentenary Club
Online Quintuple Century Club
Globetrotter
Black Pearl Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
"Uses "Sparkly Eyes" Technique on ATC" Channelview, TX USA
588 legs, 1,196.5 hours
572 legs,
1,164.8 hours online 586 legs,
1,192.9 hours ACARS 287 legs,
572.1 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 10 2010 08:25 ET by Tracy Norris
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David,
For what you're doing, I would go beyond a "laptop" and move into a "desktop replacement" (heavy-duty laptop with huge screen). Obviously some heavy-duty on-board graphics are a must. I've had very good luck with my HP Pavilion zv6000 that I bought in 2005 and it's still going strong. Runs pretty much anything I can run on my desktop
Other than having to once replace the hinges, it's never let me down.
ANY laptop, from any manufacturer will eventually break the torsion hinges if they are cycled enough
Tracy NorrisSenior Captain, L-1011-100
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DVA1933
Senior Captain, B727-200
Joined on September 19 2004
Triple Century Club
Monterrey, NL Mexico
357 legs, 860.4 hours
72 legs,
132.3 hours online 255 legs,
668.3 hours ACARS 1 legs,
1.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
May 10 2010 09:34 ET by David Eugenio Gomez
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Gurmeet Arora wrote:
Also what are you doing with all these CAD packages. Most companies will usually be standardized on one. Usually it's CATIA or SolidWorks or if someone is into CNC operations, then probably Unigraphics as a add-on. So, you need 1 and not all.
Well, at college I'll have to take Inventor and ProE next semester as regular Engineering classes. Then I'll take a CATIA training course next month, and next month I'll also start working for company that uses Unigraphics. Solidworks and Inventor will be used at college in a project that I'll be directing: the development of a MINI BAJA car (should be fun!).
Thanks for the opinions. And I forgot to mention, since I'm a hungry student, I can't really afford anything beyond $700 That's why I was looking at these "lower end" laptops...
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DVA3931
Senior Captain, L-1011-100
OLP, COMM
Joined on January 19 2007
50 State Club
Tri-Jet Triumph
Million Mile Club
Online Quadruple Century Club
Flying Colonel
Globetrotter
Burbank 500 Club
Eurocap Club
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
"De oppresso liber" Surry, ME
1,882 legs, 3,806.7 hours
478 legs,
767.8 hours online 1,107 legs,
1,674.5 hours ACARS 55 legs,
114.8 hours event 195 legs dispatched, 134.4
hours
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Posted onPost created on
May 10 2010 10:20 ET by Andrew Kaufmann
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What does the school use? Or is their requirement that you have a computer powerful enough to run this stuff? Maybe you can get the same that they have with a student discount through the US...just a thought.
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DVA1933
Senior Captain, B727-200
Joined on September 19 2004
Triple Century Club
Monterrey, NL Mexico
357 legs, 860.4 hours
72 legs,
132.3 hours online 255 legs,
668.3 hours ACARS 1 legs,
1.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
May 10 2010 11:53 ET by David Eugenio Gomez
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They use stock Lenovo desktops with Intel Dual Core CPUs, 1 GB of RAM and Intel Graphics at school. It runs pretty decent actually.
They do requiere that I have a laptop, though.
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DVA7956
Captain, A320
OLP
Joined on November 05 2009
50 State Club
Event Half Century Club
Online Double Century Club
Everett 250 Club
Quatercentenary Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
"Swing on a star" Manassas, VA USA
478 legs, 905.6 hours
259 legs,
494.7 hours online 473 legs,
893.0 hours ACARS 70 legs,
123.9 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 10 2010 17:35 ET by Scott Bradley
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I'd think about buying a computer that is just about the same that everyone else has. That way your laptop doesn't stick out and become a target for theft. When I was in school I certainly had nothing worth stealing; and let's fact it, a slide rule didn't fetch much on the black market.
Scott BradleyCaptain, A320
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AFV289
First Officer, A330-200
Joined on May 05 2010
Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen DE
5 legs, 9.2 hours
5 legs,
9.2 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
May 10 2010 18:17 ET by Markus Joppich
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Hi,
700$ is a tough budget. With that, you're pretty well for MS Office and Internet. CAD, Matlab and that stuff needs some performance. Usually you don't get performance on mobile devices (at least not for that price. The Lenovo W701ds got a high performance, is way out of your budget and one could argue whether it's mobile ... or not).
Like Scott proposed. Maybe a stationary computer plus some lower end laptop (as it's required), might be a good solution. Depending on your infrastructure, you could access your computer at home to do calculations (remote desktop), while your notebook is just your front end. However, you won't be able to realise that with a 700$ budget. (Does your college has a high performance computing department where you could use their cluster to calculate some stuff?)
I'd go for a Lenovo if you want something with Windows. At least here in Germany they got pretty good deals for students and have a very good warranty policy (best imho). If you need to have a Unix environment, i'd go for MacbookPros. But they're a bit more expensive than your 700$ budget. However, try to reach the 1000$ budget, as I'd go for a business notebook. They're usually better equipped and last longer than those consumer notebooks. So anyway, whether Lenovo or Apple, try to save another 300$ and get a solid thing
Hope that helps a bit ...
P.S.: Also think about the size. 16" is heavy, and at least at university it's definitely too big for daily use. 13" is the way to go. Friends of mine got 15.4" books and they can't use it during the lectures because they can't use it while taking notes with paper and pencil ...
Markus JoppichFirst Officer, A330-200
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DVA7620
First Officer, B777-200
OLP
Joined on July 21 2009
"Dream" NJ USA
66 legs, 105.0 hours
55 legs,
89.5 hours online 63 legs,
99.1 hours ACARS 16 legs,
31.4 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 10 2010 18:33 ET by Neil Sarna
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i have a Dell studio xps 17 and it runs better than my desktop considering its a desktop replacement laptop.....it only cost me about $600
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AFV289
First Officer, A330-200
Joined on May 05 2010
Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen DE
5 legs, 9.2 hours
5 legs,
9.2 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
May 11 2010 03:47 ET by Markus Joppich
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From the name I think it might be 17" notebook", Neil?
A general rule is, the bigger it gets, the less it'll cost. So usually 17" is cheaper than 15", and that is cheaper than 13" (if equipped with same stuff). But the bigger it is, the less portable it is.
If he's looking for a notebook, I suppose he's looking for a mobile device. And a device is not mobile if it needs to be charged every three hours and/or is larger than 14" (maybe 15"). Of course, if you can live with a mobile 17" for college/university and daily mobile usage, go ahead. Dells notebooks aren't too bad, even though one hears customer service is a bit ... - well, i'd then definitely have a look at the bigger Lenovos first.
The point is, atm we only know David needs some notebook for college, that gives some performance and is <700$. David, maybe you can tell us something more about the daily use?
Markus JoppichFirst Officer, A330-200
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DVA1933
Senior Captain, B727-200
Joined on September 19 2004
Triple Century Club
Monterrey, NL Mexico
357 legs, 860.4 hours
72 legs,
132.3 hours online 255 legs,
668.3 hours ACARS 1 legs,
1.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
May 11 2010 12:34 ET by David Eugenio Gomez
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Das ist ja eine sehr interessante Ansicht, Markus
At first, I was aiming at a $1000 laptop to replace my current desktop for Engineering purposes, exclusively. Namely CAD programs and strong calculations software like MATLAB. Then I realized I didn't have that much money, yet I need a laptop pronto!
I don't really use computers for anything else. Just chatting on MSN, surfing the Internet, working with MS Office... I used (before, when I had time) to fly on FS9 and play a couple of other games. Yes, I move around a lot, but our campus is very small, really. And I have a car (no need to take the bus at all, which in fact, is suicide in Monterrey LOL).
At college, they do NOT have high performance computers. They use stock Lenovo PCs which run CAD programs very decently, as well as MATLAB, even though they're designed to run Office and that's it.
Therefore, I thought an i3 processor with 4 GB of DDR3 RAM would do.
Regarding screen sizes, I believe a bigger screen like 15.6 would be better for design programs, wouldn't it? Meaning, they give me more resolution to work with, and more detailed images.
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DVA1933
Senior Captain, B727-200
Joined on September 19 2004
Triple Century Club
Monterrey, NL Mexico
357 legs, 860.4 hours
72 legs,
132.3 hours online 255 legs,
668.3 hours ACARS 1 legs,
1.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
May 11 2010 12:55 ET by David Eugenio Gomez
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Found this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+Studio+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i7+Processor+-+Black+Chainlink/9718877.p?skuId=9718877&id=1218158729960
Seems faster than the i3 CPU one, lighter and with a decent battery. However, it comes with a ATI Radoen HD 4570.
The reviews seem ok. Would this be a better investment altogether, than the Toshiba with i3?
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AFV289
First Officer, A330-200
Joined on May 05 2010
Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen DE
5 legs, 9.2 hours
5 legs,
9.2 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
May 11 2010 13:41 ET by Markus Joppich
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David - at least I got a point of view that's underlined with facts. Anyway, if you get specific on what you are nagging, tell me, and I'll explain my point in detail. I am just trying to mention some things to consider. Laptops aren't cheap ...
Matlab and those CAD programs are usually capable of using multiple cores. So with a quad-core i7 you probably would gain some performance advantage anyways. Furthermore the new i7s are known for good performance.
The proposed Dell looks quite nice. At my university I see them a lot. What's the point on the AMD graphics? I am not sure whether your programs support CUDA, so unless you need CUDA, I don't see a point?
Markus JoppichFirst Officer, A330-200
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DVA7636
Senior Captain, L-1011-100
OLP
Joined on August 11 2009
50 State Club
Events Double Century Club
Burbank 250 Club
Quincentenary Club
Online Quintuple Century Club
Globetrotter
Black Pearl Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
"Uses "Sparkly Eyes" Technique on ATC" Channelview, TX USA
588 legs, 1,196.5 hours
572 legs,
1,164.8 hours online 586 legs,
1,192.9 hours ACARS 287 legs,
572.1 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 11 2010 13:50 ET by Tracy Norris
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David, I found it! Pretty cheap too! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_1
What's scary is that I got started in programming on one of these!
Tracy NorrisSenior Captain, L-1011-100
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DVA1933
Senior Captain, B727-200
Joined on September 19 2004
Triple Century Club
Monterrey, NL Mexico
357 legs, 860.4 hours
72 legs,
132.3 hours online 255 legs,
668.3 hours ACARS 1 legs,
1.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
May 11 2010 13:52 ET by David Eugenio Gomez
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Yeah, I was just saying I hadn't considered some of the things you pointed out in your first post
It seems that, for some reason, Dell doesn't support i7 720 CPUs without a dedicated video card, in this case, their HD4570.
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AFV289
First Officer, A330-200
Joined on May 05 2010
Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen DE
5 legs, 9.2 hours
5 legs,
9.2 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
May 11 2010 14:13 ET by Markus Joppich
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Dedicated graphics is important and much better than all that internal stuff (of course takes more engery ...).
But also have a look at Lenovos. They're not that stylish, but worth its money
*needs to get back to homework ...*
Markus JoppichFirst Officer, A330-200
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DVA364
Captain, B767-300
Joined on October 23 2001
Century Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett Century Club
"COWBOY UP!" Carrollton, GA
190 legs, 366.9 hours
5 legs,
6.5 hours online 150 legs,
249.2 hours ACARS
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Posted onPost created on
May 24 2010 13:31 ET by Ralph Templeman
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you would be better off getting a desk top with alot of ram and storage space. they are cheaper than the laptops just use y our laptop for college. and the desk top for flight simming.
Ralph TemplemanCaptain, B767-300
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DVA1933
Senior Captain, B727-200
Joined on September 19 2004
Triple Century Club
Monterrey, NL Mexico
357 legs, 860.4 hours
72 legs,
132.3 hours online 255 legs,
668.3 hours ACARS 1 legs,
1.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
May 28 2010 18:21 ET by David Eugenio Gomez
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If anyone was wondering...
My new laptop arrived today and I did get this one: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+-+Satellite+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i3+Processor+-+Quantum+Black/9703393.p?id=1218153394199&skuId=9703393
All I can say right now is, it's AWESOME It can run anything I've thrown at it, CATIA, Inventor, MATLAB, etc...
It's a little heavy, but the screen's size is quite decent, runs cool, and the battery is great. Despite being a little overweight, it's all I needed!
P.S. No, this is not an FS laptop, it's only for work...
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DVA7636
Senior Captain, L-1011-100
OLP
Joined on August 11 2009
50 State Club
Events Double Century Club
Burbank 250 Club
Quincentenary Club
Online Quintuple Century Club
Globetrotter
Black Pearl Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
"Uses "Sparkly Eyes" Technique on ATC" Channelview, TX USA
588 legs, 1,196.5 hours
572 legs,
1,164.8 hours online 586 legs,
1,192.9 hours ACARS 287 legs,
572.1 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
May 28 2010 22:56 ET by Tracy Norris
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If you don't use it to run FS then is ANYTHING really important? LOL
Tracy NorrisSenior Captain, L-1011-100
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DVA1933
Senior Captain, B727-200
Joined on September 19 2004
Triple Century Club
Monterrey, NL Mexico
357 legs, 860.4 hours
72 legs,
132.3 hours online 255 legs,
668.3 hours ACARS 1 legs,
1.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
May 29 2010 11:19 ET by David Eugenio Gomez
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HAHA!
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AFV064
Senior Captain, A220-3(CSeries)
Joined on April 20 2006
Online Century Club
International Tourist
Double Century Club
"BAFD, our experience saves lives" Howell, MI USA
255 legs, 1,315.4 hours
184 legs,
929.2 hours online 251 legs,
1,279.7 hours ACARS 3 legs,
9.1 hours event 304 legs, 1,416.0 hours total 0 legs dispatched, 1.1
hours
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Posted onPost created on
May 31 2010 16:50 ET by Steve Orloff
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Dave,
I know you've only had a couple of days of use with it, but how do you like it? I'm needing a laptop for my engineering courses next year, but I'm unsure on what to get.
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DVA1933
Senior Captain, B727-200
Joined on September 19 2004
Triple Century Club
Monterrey, NL Mexico
357 legs, 860.4 hours
72 legs,
132.3 hours online 255 legs,
668.3 hours ACARS 1 legs,
1.9 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
May 31 2010 20:09 ET by David Eugenio Gomez
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Well Steve, so far it's flawless, and runs anything I've thrown at it, even CATIA which is very very very intensive. MATLAB loads in 20 seconds, and other CAD software also runs great.
It's extremely good for the money, very cheap. The battery lasts a lot (5 hours or so), the laptop itself is very solid, and the speakers are very nice too!
The only cons I've found... it's a little heavy and the screen size is a pain (there's very few backpacks or covers for 16'' laptops), and the built-in software takes up a lot of RAM.
What kind of programs will you be using? Are you majoring in Mechanical?
I'd recommend this laptop any day of the week, if you don't mind the work out you get out of carrying it around college LOL.
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AFV064
Senior Captain, A220-3(CSeries)
Joined on April 20 2006
Online Century Club
International Tourist
Double Century Club
"BAFD, our experience saves lives" Howell, MI USA
255 legs, 1,315.4 hours
184 legs,
929.2 hours online 251 legs,
1,279.7 hours ACARS 3 legs,
9.1 hours event 304 legs, 1,416.0 hours total 0 legs dispatched, 1.1
hours
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Posted onPost created on
June 02 2010 20:09 ET by Steve Orloff
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I'll be majoring in either naval architecture and marine engineering with a secondary bachelors in aerospace, biomedical, or aerospace - we don't have to declare majors until the end of sophomore year. They haven't exactly told us which programs, so I'm shooting a bit in the dark and looking for a laptop that will be able to power its way through a variety of tasks.
It's good to know that so far the reviews have been positive. U of M has a history of requiring students to do quite of bit of outside the box thinking, so I'm looking to run (at a minimum): Cyberlink power director, Adobe acrobat suite, MS office, and other engineering programs as they arise.
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