Laptop recommendation

[Gregg101]

I'm a college student looking for a laptop. Ill be spending a large amount of time on the khanacademy, doing math problems.

What is the best system for working problems on the khanacademy? I'm guessing I just need a general purpose business laptop, but I wouldn't mind being able to play a few games as well, although this is not a priority.

I'm not looking to spend more than $500, and even that is pushing it a bit.

 

[Gregg101]

Hp had a laptop bundle with a backpack, or perhaps it was the laptop itself, it had something like 18 gigs of memory, is that good?

I'll try to find it

 

[NightHawkRMX]

https://www.newegg.com/obsidian-bla...oV5BAc_mTi2ujh3LmSRoChd8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Great FHD screen.
Very fast 256GB SSD
8GB ram
Ryzen 7 2700u


This processor is pretty high performance and includes a decent VEGA 10 Igpu. It can run most games at reduced settings.

 

[Gregg101]

Does that laptop only have 2.2 ggz of processor speed?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

When you are lightly using the laptop it will run at 2.2ghz in order to save battery.

If you run a game or cpu workload, the CPU will run a little below 3.8ghz.

 

[Gregg101]

What about these options?


Lenovo Ideapad 330S

Microsoft Surface Go

Asus F505ZA-DB31 VivoBook Laptop


What about the Microsoft surface line of products?

Do these have clearer screens?

just asking

 

[Gregg101]

500 might be pushing it a tad :/

 

[NightHawkRMX]

If you want to type documents or game at all, the surface isnt a great idea. They are great at being lightweight, but very underpowered and non upgradable.

I would suggest looking at a thin and light laptop with a physical keyboard but decent specs.

You would want at least 8gb ram and an ssd.
A hard drive or less ram can make a machine feel sluggish.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

https://www.newegg.com/platinum-gray-lenovo-ideapad-330-81d2005cus-mainstream/p/N82E16834850877
Pretty powerfull and very fast.

Very clear 1080p screen.

Thin and light. Good all around.

 

[Gregg101]

Any thoughts on Chromebooks?

This is the khanacademy after all that I want to be dealing with

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Chromebooks are very good at some things, but very bad at others.

Pros:
Good for web browsing and kahn academy.
Great for typing documents.
Very lightweight and small.
Great battery life.
Inexpensive.
Less succeptable to viruses.

Cons:
Not going to game well at all.
Poor software support since it doesnt run windows.
Unimpressive screens.
Usually a tiny 32 or 64gb storage amount.

 

[Gregg101]

And are the screens good? / Image quality?

Does Acer still make the white Acer 11/14 or whatever?

I remember with PCs there was always so much configuration that seemed to be needed to be done for optimization.

Such as clean windows installs and etcetera?


Any advice here?

 

[Gregg101]

How is this one?
Do they have a 14 or 15 inch version?
Acer Chromebook 11, Celeron N3060, 11.6" HD, 4GB DDR3L, 16GB Storage, CB3-132-C4VV

 

[Sagar_20]

If you can up your budget little bit, then Acer Aspire E15 will be the absolute best choice. It comes with the most powerful mid-range graphics and supports up to 32 GB RAM which is amazing for a 600 $ laptop. Otherwise Lenovo Ideapad 330s is also a pretty good option.

Microsoft Go is a really underpowered laptop, but solid for a portable laptop for reading and editing documents.

and any Ryzen-3 laptop is not worth 500+.

 

[Gregg101]

So far the Acer swift 1 looks like the best deal, it looks better than the Asus that was also recommended in the same post.

Any other recommendations?

 

[Gregg101]

Is there a particular model of the Acer swift 1 that I should be looking for?

Aren't there Acer aspire E 15s that cost a lot less? Would those still be a good option?

 

[britechguy]

A hard drive or less ram can make a machine feel sluggish.

I just want to add that "sluggish" is relative to what you're used to already.

I am quite sure that early adopters of SSDs would find my machine almost intolerably sluggish since it has a 2TB HDD, but I don't. It's far faster than the last machine I was using.

When it comes to Windows 10, these days I'd say that 8GB of RAM is the minimum I'd want. However, anything above that may or may not improve "end user experience" depending on what the end user typically does.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Since small and speedy ssds have come to some of the most entry-level for machines, i dont see the point in a HDD unless you need to store a lot of data.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Aren't there Acer aspire E 15s that cost a lot less? Would those still be a good option?

Yes, but they are models with dual-core i3s, 4gb ram, and hard drives. Not a good idea when better options exist at that pricepoint.

 

[Gregg101]

Bump, let's bring it back on subject.


Im looking at the Acer Swift 1, is there a particular model to go for?

Also, does the extra performance of the Acer aspire E 15 justify it's price?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

How is this one?
Do they have a 14 or 15 inch version?
Acer Chromebook 11, Celeron N3060, 11.6" HD, 4GB DDR3L, 16GB Storage, CB3-132-C4VV

Not actually a bad deal. The Celeron N3060 is bad on windows. I have a laptop with that CPU and 2gb ram. It cant even play HD youtube. It takes like 1 min to load a webpage.

But, with a different os the whole experience is snappy, so that chromebook would be ok. Screen isnt going to be great and colors will be pretty bad.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Bump, let's bring it back on subject.


Im looking at the Acer Swift 1, is there a particular model to go for?

Also, does the extra performance of the Acer aspire E 15 justify it's price?

None are particularly great due to the weak cpus offered and a max of 4gb ram.
If i would get one it would be this spec: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Swi...442204339?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0
The 128gb upgrade isnt worth the massive price hike.

The E15 is definately worth the price jump.

 

[Gregg101]

Alrighty, I'm thinking of going with the E 15 then.


Hmm...

Is there a particular model to look for?


What needs to be done when I get the computer right out of the box?

Clean windows load? Delete things from the registry?
Ect?

Coming from an hp stream.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Generally, Acers are pretty good about bloatware.

I have acquired 2 of them for family members or myself. A netbook and a gaming laptop.
None had too much bloatware. What they did have was actually somewhat useful software for photo editing and changing fan speeds.

However, from what i read, the E15 might not be that way. I would try to uninstall the stuff you dont want.

 

[Gregg101]

It's still quite a lot of money

If I'm restricted to getting something under $300, would a chromebook be recommended?

Do they have a 15 inch Acer chromebook in white ?