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Hey all,

In a bit of a quandary atm. I dont know what to do and maybe you guys can help me out.

Here is the situation. My parents are *probably* going to buy me a laptop for going away to college with. They are going to be paying for it, so they probably wont get me a top of the line gaming laptop (which is what I want). I also have my eye on a PS3.

So, the question is....
Should I throw in some $$ for the baller laptop or should I get a PS3 and an ok laptop for music and internet surfing and *gasp* school work?

Discuss!

Thanks
BLARGAG!!!

After seeing Sony's E3 press conference I would go with the PS3 over the laptop anyday.

I am a fan of PC gaming,I love my Xbox but I find games for it are rather more expensive than their Pc counter-parts.My sister got a gaming laptop,mostly for play a free online MMO but I find that most of my PC games like "stalker" and such run fine on her laptop.But the choice is your's,and the Ps3 is a lovely little machine.

I'd have to say go with a laptop, just think of the speed at which you can run word processors and do spreadsheets.

Not sure if ur being sarcastic or not Brook.....

Well, this is *your* education we're talking about. So school should come *before* fun.

Oh ye gods, how does John keep that up?

Thanks for all of the input guys! It is much appreciated.

As of right now, I am looking at getting a decent laptop and a console (probably a PS3, but I dont know for sure atm)

This is the laptop that I am looking at.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4439636&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs

what do you guys think of it? are there any better options in this price range and at that size?

thanks again!
BLARGAG!!!

PS: I plan on upgrading the RAM to 2GB once I actually get the thing in my hands.

Those Eee PCs are nice computers but they are built for small size and light weight rather than keyboard/screen size. If you plan to do a lot of school work on your laptop you should consider a larger unit.

I wouldn't buy an expensive laptop for playing games because it will start to be out of date quite soon, compared to a console.

I actually like the smaller unit because it makes it easier to take around places. I borrow my dad's laptop (17.5 or 18 inch screen) occasionally, and it it just too heavy. It makes my backpack a LOT heavier and so the netbook (being REALLY tiny) works for me in that respect.

one of my friends has the ACER netbook and loves it. I have used it a couple of times and the only thing that I dont like is the mouse pad, but I plan on getting a wireless mouse anyway so its not an issue.

anyone else?

Thanks

I love my Acer One netbook, but when at home, would much rather use a larger keyboard/screen.

It is possible to get a 17"+ screen, proper keyboard and mouse for you to plug your netbook into when at home.

my laptop is also an acer, and it has served me quite well
i don't really game on it that much, but for school work, its been gold

Don't buy either... save your money for beer, pizza, and/or strippers.

I have both PS3 and expensive gaming laptop, heres my take:

Gaming wise, a console beats the laptop hands down, no upgrading needed, only small software updates needed. The laptop will be out of date in 2 years and upgrading parts is the biggest pain due to space you have to fit bigger things, yes the games are slightly cheaper but i love my blue-ray games and they are coming out swinging now, and im so glad i have a PS3.

I voted on geting an ok laptop and a PS3

There's no great reason to own a PS3 for at least another year. Get the laptop, and wait on the PS3.

Better yet get a desktop, a tablet for class, and wait on the PS3.

That Acer is definitely not a gaming laptop.

How do I know this? The specs on my own laptop are better, and I can barely run Half-Life. Yeah, you read that correctly. That's pretty much notebook-only material. Stay far, far away from Integrated Graphics Cards, Single Core Processors, and Single Gig RAM in this day and age if you're looking to play anything even remotely new (And by that, I mean anything past like 2003). Also, Laptops are quite difficult to upgrade.

If you're looking at getting that and a PS3 to go with it, I'd say go for it.

Or, you could take the middle road, and get that Notebook and a 360 for quite a bit cheaper (As I did, despite wanting a PS3 more out of the two for quite a while). Let's face it. Unless you have some incessant need to play Metal Gear Solid 4 (Which you should), there's no real deciding factor between the two. I used to hate the X-Box. I was a PS2 fan to the core. But I got over it as soon as the 360 became half the price of the PS3 (And gained all of the PS3's 'exclusives'), and I haven't looked back since.