Unofficial Advice on Buying a Laptop for UNC Use

By Dr. Gregory Newby

In order to provide alternate viewpoints and my experience with laptop purchases, I have assembled these pages.

None of this laptop information is official documentation or official advice from UNC or SILS. It is simply one individual's attempt to help people in making their laptop purchase decision.

• Buying a laptop: guidelines, background and choices
• CCI price tracking (this page)
• Partial vendor list and vendor resources

CCI Price Tracking

NOTE: I HAVE NOT UPDATED THESE PRICING SPECIFICATIONS RECENTLY. PLEASE DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE GETTING A GOOD DEAL! THE CCI PRICING FOR IBM LAPTOPS HAS BEEN VERY GOOD FOR THE 2001-2002 ACADEMIC YEAR, FAR BETTER THAN 2000-2001. HOWEVER, OTHER BRANDS MIGHT OFFER BETTER BANG FOR YOUR BUCK. BE AN EDUCATED CONSUMER!

One of the difficulties in the CCI program has been to keep up with rapid changes in technologies and pricing for laptop computers. According to Russ Walker's Secret Guide to Computers and other sources, computer prices drop an average of 10% per month. At the same time, new models are constantly introduced, and comparison across models or brands is not easy.

On this page, I present some simple data that anyone could gather, but UNC has not made available. I have tracked the pricing and models for the CCI laptop computers, and compared them to pricing for comparable or identical models from other sources.

As the CCI pages state clearly, students, faculty and staff are able to purchase computers from sources other than UNC's RAM shop. I believe that the data on this page make it evident, to me, that the price advantage of the CCI models is short-lived, although non-price advantages (particularly on-campus service) may offset the price for many people's needs. (See my Buying a Laptop page for more analysis of price and purchase issues.)

Historically, new CCI models have been introduced about twice per year. For most students, the important price and feature set is that available at the start of the fall semester, since that is when they will purchase.

* Please note: In 2001, CCI prices include NC State sales tax of 6%. Other prices do not include sales tax. This is important to take into account! If you live in another state, you will need to pay that state's sales tax if you buy the computer there.

Evaluation category detail:

• Brand: Brand name.
• Model: The model number from the manufacturer. CCI has never made the model number publicly available on their Web pages, which inhibits price comparison.
• Source: Where you purchase from. CCI is from UNC's RAM shop, IBM is from their online store. Other vendors are from their online stores.
• Date checked: When I got my pricing information. Remember, this stuff changes quickly! When you do your shopping, make sure you get current pricing and data.
• Date avail.: CCI laptops are typically announced months before they become available. In 2001, the new models were announced in early May, but not available until mid-July. Given the price and performance trend in laptop computing, this meant that in May the CCI models beat the best available computers from IBM (e.g., they were faster than any model available at the time), but by July they were in the middle of the pack.
• CPU (MHz): Faster is better, but you can pay a premium for the fastest current CPU. Top CPU speeds change several times per year, so you won't have the fastest for long!
• Screen size: Bigger is better, but you pay a premium for the largest size (currently about 15.1"). If you are using an external monitor (recommended!), screen size might not matter much. Video RAM is not included in the table, because what's included with the computer is always enough for mainstream use. If you are planning on using your laptop for lots of graphics production, shop to get a high-end multimedia laptop (the CCI models are not IBM's high-end multimedia models).
• Memory (MB): More memory is better, and some laptops are not very upgradable. Consider at least 256MB if you can afford it.
• Hard drive (GB): Laptops have a minimum of about 10GB, and a maximum of about 40GB.
• CD/DVD: CD drives can be read-only, read and write-once (CD-R), or read and re-writable (CD-RW). DVD drives can also read CDs. Writable DVDs are not yet widely available for laptops. You can also get a CD-RW/DVD integrated drive. DVDs can play movies on DVD, and they also have more data storage than a CD.
• OS (Operating System): You want the Microsoft Windows 2000 OS. But if you buy a computer with Windows 98 or Me, you can get Windows 2000 freely to upgrade from ATN.
• Ethernet: Nearly all modern network interface cards (NICs) enable 10Mbit or 100Mbit networking (10baseT or 100baseT). Sometimes they're built-in to the laptop, other times you need an expansion card. Wireless Ethernet is also available, but is seldom standard (it's either an expansion card, or an option).
• Modem: All modern modems are 56Kbaud. Many laptops have them built-in, others require an expansion card.
• Warranty: This varies considerably. The CCI models come with a 4-year warranty, including walk-in service with a loaner. All warranties, including the CCI model, exclude some types of damage. You can almost always buy an extended warranty, for $100-200 for a 3-year extension. Some brands come with a 1-year warranty, but the better brands now usually come with a 3-year standard warranty.
• Approx. weight: Screen size is a big factor in weight, as are the number of "spindles." More spindles mean that the computer can run more media devices. Most computers have two, one for the hard drive (which is typically not removable, but sometimes is), and another for a CD or floppy (which are interchangable). Some only have one, and use an external pack for the CD or floppy.
• Thickness: How tall the computer is when closed.