Good laptop for college?

[Murloc]

for me the golden spot is 13'' (otherwise it's not portable enough for me) with fullhd. But that's definitely outside the price range this thread is about.

I've used 768p monitors in the past, and I must say that it is a bit frustrating, if you use the width of the screen at your disposal you'll see just a few lines of text, at best.

Still, it's not like you've got much choice, but if you go that way I'd be prepared to get a cheap 21.5'' 1080p monitor (these are very cheap these days) for the desk in your room if you reside away from your main residence and you're not taking a desktop computer with you.

But I guess ergonomics are a personal preference, there's people who have used nothing but laptops their whole life....

I am not for, or against, and make no attempt to Analyze and justify.

I am just describing reality.

If you are going to Collage in the USA and you do not get (like almost every one in the pic above) the Laptop with the light in the front cover.

Chances are very good that you will buy one after few weeks in college.

are americans really willing to shell out thousands of dollars for conformity?

 

[corkyg]

Sometimes it is not a matter of conformity, but rather, community and access. BTW, these laptops do not have a light in the front cover.

http://www.usma.edu/ietd/SitePages/Computing.aspx

 

[mvbighead]

So I guess Windows is on the SSD but not much else...right?

Kind of.

Essentially, the system determines what bits to store on the 8GB SSD chunk to optimize performance. Those bits are likely primarily going to be operating systems bits, but they don't have to be. It's just going to put whatever it can there to speed things up.

Personally, I'd prefer to have no spinning disk in a portable laptop. I have simply heard from too many people with disk failures in laptops. I remember Toughbooks had a feature that would detect free fall and stop the disk from spinning, but at this point, SSDs are cheap enough and big enough to simply bypass spinning disk completely. Have a USB3 external to backup to, and that ought to be good enough.

 

[b-mac]

It's not for gaming...

Email, doing papers, research, etc. I don't think resolution will be an issue...

Yea I don't use mine for gaming at all but I prefer a bit more screen than 720p for writing papers, research, etc. 1080p is just right for me at 13.3 inches but perhaps the op would be fine with a smaller resolution. Was just giving a different idea.

 

[Anomaly1964]

Yea I don't use mine for gaming at all but I prefer a bit more screen than 720p for writing papers, research, etc. 1080p is just right for me at 13.3 inches but perhaps the op would be fine with a smaller resolution. Was just giving a different idea.

I am the OP...thanks!

 

[b-mac]

I am the OP...thanks!

Haha sorry about that. Got confused with another thread :0

Keep an eye of that UX305 at the Microsoft store. They had. $100 coupon to bring it down to $599 with great specs. 1080p, 256gb SSD, 8gb ram. Core M should handle school stuff pretty well.

 

[Anomaly1964]

Haha sorry about that. Got confused with another thread :0

Keep an eye of that UX305 at the Microsoft store. They had. $100 coupon to bring it down to $599 with great specs. 1080p, 256gb SSD, 8gb ram. Core M should handle school stuff pretty well.

That is not an i5 though is it?

 

[sm625]

That is photoshopped right? They cant all possibly be thaaat stupid can they? No frickin wonder half of them come out of college drowning in debt and cant find a job. Wow. Do NOT be like them. Buy what you frickin need and laugh at them as you get hired because you actually have a brain and do no waste money when you do not need to. If I was hiring it would be one of the questions I asked in an interview: Did you feel like you had to have an apple notebook in college? If they answer yes, then I say see ya! Good luck with your future and all that.

 

[tcsenter]

So I guess Windows is on the SSD but not much else...right?

I am not sure but I think the SSD is used for SuperFetch and Readyboost type caching. The 2nd ACER (with 8GB SSD) reportedly (user reviews) has a battery that is not user replaceable, and half the battery capacity of the first ACER (though equivalent to the aforementioned DELL and Lenovo). So being a student he might appreciate longer battery run-times. Choices and trade-offs....

 

[r0n]

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptop...001C9:00014EAD:&PUBNAME=Slickdeals+LLC&NID=CJ

Lenovo Z50 4th Gen i7-4510U 1080p 8.0GB PC3-12800 500GB HDD 15.6" Laptop $499 AC FS
Apply Coupon code: USPZ59972 [Exp 7/10]
the price will come down to $499.00 + tax.

Processor: 4th Generation Intel Core i7-4510U Processor (2.00GHz 1600 MHz 4MB)
Operating system: Windows 8.1 64
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4400
Memory: 8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz
Display: 15.6" FHD LED Glossy (1920x1080)
Hard Drive: 500GB 5400 RPM
Battery: 4 Cell 41 Watt Hour Lithium-Ion
Network Card: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160
Bluetooth: Bluetooth Version 4.0

 

[r0n]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Dell-In...sh=item41976f4b8d&afepn=5335869999&rmvSB=true

Dell Inspiron 13 13.1" 500GB Signature Edition 2 in 1 Laptop sold by Microsoft Store via eBay @ US $599.00 or $100 for 6 months

Its a signature edition device therefore will not contain any bloatware.

 

[r0n]

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptop...o/z-series/z50/&PUBNAME=Slickdeals+LLC&NID=CJ

Processor:4th Generation Intel Core i7-4510U Processor (2.00GHz 1600 MHz 4MB)
Operating system:Windows 8.1 64
Graphics:NVIDIA GeForce 820M 2GB
Memory:8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz
Display:15.6" FHD LED Glossy (1920x1080)
Hard Drive:500GB 5400 RPM
Battery:4 Cell 41 Watt Hour Lithium-Ion
Network Card:Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160
Bluetooth:Bluetooth Version 4.0

Use eCoupon: DBZ500178 to BRING THE PRICE DOWN TO $379.00 + tax ( some door buster deal just got a email from lenovo)

 

[Anomaly1964]

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptop...001C9:00014EAD:&PUBNAME=Slickdeals+LLC&NID=CJ

Lenovo Z50 4th Gen i7-4510U 1080p 8.0GB PC3-12800 500GB HDD 15.6" Laptop $499 AC FS
Apply Coupon code: USPZ59972 [Exp 7/10]
the price will come down to $499.00 + tax.

Processor: 4th Generation Intel Core i7-4510U Processor (2.00GHz 1600 MHz 4MB)
Operating system: Windows 8.1 64
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4400
Memory: 8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz
Display: 15.6" FHD LED Glossy (1920x1080)
Hard Drive: 500GB 5400 RPM
Battery: 4 Cell 41 Watt Hour Lithium-Ion
Network Card: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160
Bluetooth: Bluetooth Version 4.0

wow...NICE!

 

[Anomaly1964]

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptop...o/z-series/z50/&pubname=slickdeals+llc&nid=cj

processor:4th generation intel core i7-4510u processor (2.00ghz 1600 mhz 4mb)
operating system:windows 8.1 64
graphics:nvidia geforce 820m 2gb
memory:8.0gb pc3-12800 ddr3l sdram 1600 mhz
display:15.6" fhd led glossy (1920x1080)
hard drive:500gb 5400 rpm
battery:4 cell 41 watt hour lithium-ion
network card:intel® dual band wireless-ac 3160
bluetooth:bluetooth version 4.0

use ecoupon: Dbz500178 to bring the price down to $379.00 + tax ( some door buster deal just got a email from lenovo)

nicer!

**EDIT - Well at $379 its a celeron...

 

[r0n]

nicer!

**EDIT - Well at $379 its a celeron...

Opps sorry i did not add the product to my cart to check with the last the deal. But I am sure the previous one that i mentioned still works. Which is still a great deal.
Opps and i almost forgot to tell you don't forget to use a cash back site for some more savings.
F@tw@llet had 3% cash for lenovo and discover cc was giving additional 5% back on shop discover. Best of luck

 

[Anomaly1964]

Opps sorry i did not add the product to my cart to check with the last the deal. But I am sure the previous one that i mentioned still works. Which is still a great deal.
Opps and i almost forgot to tell you don't forget to use a cash back site for some more savings.
F@tw@llet had 3% cash for lenovo and discover cc was giving additional 5% back on shop discover. Best of luck

Thanks again!

 

[VirtualLarry]

I am not sure but I think the SSD is used for SuperFetch and Readyboost type caching. The 2nd ACER (with 8GB SSD) reportedly (user reviews) has a battery that is not user replaceable, and half the battery capacity of the first ACER (though equivalent to the aforementioned DELL and Lenovo). So being a student he might appreciate longer battery run-times. Choices and trade-offs....

The "1TB HDD + 8GB SSD", is no such thing. It's just a 1TB SSHD (Hybrid Drive). Most likely a Seagate, as they come with 8GB of NAND. It's not a separate SSD.

 

[r0n]

Thanks again!

for $50.00 more you could add a NVIDIA GeForce 820M 2GB

http://imgur.com/a/O4SgA

 

[s44]

The most important elements of a school laptop are screen and weight.

You could cheap out with one of the 15" boat anchors, but the Asus UX305 is a fantastic package: just 2.5 pounds, 13" 1080p IPS (not crappy TN) display, and SSD.

The MS Signature edition is sold out, but you can still get it for $700 at Amazon or Newegg. You used to have to pay well over $1000 to get this sort of form factor. Windows 8 sort of sucks, but Windows 10 will be a free upgrade by the end of the month.

 

[tcsenter]

Honestly, the i7-4510U is not much better over the i5-5200U. Slightly more cache, higher turbo frequency, but still just 2 cores (4 threads) same as the i5 and has inferior HD 4400 graphics compared to the HD 5500. The GeForce 820M is also inferior to the 940M. Pretty much using older generation parts.

Yeah sorry if any confusion about the SSHD hybrid drive, did not intend to suggest it was two separate drives. It's all built into one drive.

 

[FwFred]

+1 on the ASUS ux305 recommendation. 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD. As long as you aren't into non-casual gaming, it's great. I got one for my inlaws, and it was snappy.

 

[Anomaly1964]

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptop...001C9:00014EAD:&PUBNAME=Slickdeals+LLC&NID=CJ

Lenovo Z50 4th Gen i7-4510U 1080p 8.0GB PC3-12800 500GB HDD 15.6" Laptop $499 AC FS
Apply Coupon code: USPZ59972 [Exp 7/10]
the price will come down to $499.00 + tax.

Processor: 4th Generation Intel Core i7-4510U Processor (2.00GHz 1600 MHz 4MB)
Operating system: Windows 8.1 64
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4400
Memory: 8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz
Display: 15.6" FHD LED Glossy (1920x1080)
Hard Drive: 500GB 5400 RPM
Battery: 4 Cell 41 Watt Hour Lithium-Ion
Network Card: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160
Bluetooth: Bluetooth Version 4.0

I wound up getting this one!

Thanks to everyone for the advice!

Great forum!

 

[r0n]

I wound up getting this one!

Thanks to everyone for the advice!

Great forum!

Congrats on the your new laptop.
Next step get a SSD ...... hahaha...
Recommendations
1.Samsung 850 Pro
2.Sandisk Extreme Pro
3.Crucial MX200
or basically any drive that has at least 19mm MLC nand or atleast a MLC nand. ( don't worry if it is a pro drive or not, as long as it is a MLC drive you are good.)

 

[Anomaly1964]

Congrats on the your new laptop.
Next step get a SSD ...... hahaha...
Recommendations
1.Samsung 850 Pro
2.Sandisk Extreme Pro
3.Crucial MX200
or basically any drive that has at least 19mm MLC nand or atleast a MLC nand. ( don't worry if it is a pro drive or not, as long as it is a MLC drive you are good.)

Ok but...how can I transfer windows to the new drive?

 

[r0n]

I can send you link from where to download Windows 8.1 it pick up the key as it is embedded in. Or you can make recovery disk or clone the hhd.
Or.... I just call lenovo they will send you install disks. But once you are done with school and have money to spare. Always invest in business notebooks like T series I get exceptional customer service.
Send me pm in morning I too drunk to find the link at this moment. Hahaha