Need Help Finding A Laptop for University

[SpeedyINFIDEL]

So I'm looking to get a laptop basically exclusively for school. I'll need to be able to take notes, get online, watch youtube, etc. I don't want to spend a lot of money obviously, but I want a laptop that's not crap quality. I'll spend at least $300.

Would like:

- it to be portable
- have decent battery life
- look like it belongs in this decade

Can anyone help me find something reasonable?

EDIT: Filled out the questionnaire to make this easier on anyone trying to help....

1. What is your budget? - $300 + not more than $500 ish

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? - Need something portable, that can fit in my backpack with room to spare.

3. What screen resolution do you want? - 720p+ ?

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? - Portability is essential. Will be taking to class.

5. How much battery life do you need? - Enough to get me through the day at school

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? - No.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? - Note taking, powerpoint, microsoft office, school work, youtube, school related stuff, etc.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? - Probably 250gbs

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

None, need help choosing.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? 2 years or more

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? None

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. - Have had bad experiences with Lenovo in the past.

13. What country do you live in? US

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

 

[AdanClinton]

Personally I like brand such as DELL or Lenovo . Most of my classmates used these laptop when at university.but now my laptop is Thinkpad (I use it for business work ),though it belongs to Lenovo .

 

[SpeedyINFIDEL]

Personally I like brand such as DELL or Lenovo . Most of my classmates used these laptop when at university.but now my laptop is Thinkpad (I use it for business work ),though it belongs to Lenovo .

I'm not tech savvy, so could you link to a laptop that won't be slow and would meet the criteria? I have no idea if what I randomly pick is going to be slow or have issues, etc.

 

[AdanClinton]

Personally I like brand such as DELL or Lenovo . Most of my classmates used these laptop when at university.but now my laptop is Thinkpad (I use it for business work ),though it belongs to Lenovo .

I'm not tech savvy, so could you link to a laptop that won't be slow and would meet the criteria? I have no idea if what I randomly pick is going to be slow or have issues, etc.

What screen size do you want ? And actually most of hard drive is 500 gbs now.

 

[SpeedyINFIDEL]

Personally I like brand such as DELL or Lenovo . Most of my classmates used these laptop when at university.but now my laptop is Thinkpad (I use it for business work ),though it belongs to Lenovo .

I'm not tech savvy, so could you link to a laptop that won't be slow and would meet the criteria? I have no idea if what I randomly pick is going to be slow or have issues, etc.

What screen size do you want ? And actually most of hard drive is 500 gbs now.

Small screen size, 13 inches or so. I've actually been looking at some of the chrome books, not sure which ones are good or not though...

 

[jaguarskx]

12.5" to 13.3" laptops are pretty expensive because they are the smallest laptop with Intel Core series CPU. They pack a lot of performance for their size therefore they can be rather expensive. The least expensive 13.3" laptop is the Asus UX305 which costs $699 and has a Core M CPU which is a less power than the more traditional Core i3 CPU. The least expensive 12.5" laptop that I know of is the ThinkPad X250 which has a base price of around $900.

You can look at the small 11.6" laptops which are pretty inexpensive ($300 or less) and obviously small, but they use less powerful Intel Atom CPUs which is generally fine for doing basic things like word processing, watching videos and surfing the internet. But overall, they are pretty weak compared to Intel's Core series CPUs which means you may want to replace it sooner than you prefer with something more powerful.

That leaves the 14"+ laptops. These laptops can be relatively inexpensive and also have an Intel Core series CPU. But they will definitely take up more space in your backpack. The following 15.6" ASUS F555LA-AB31 is a pretty good value since it has a 5th generation Core i3-5010u CPU and a 1920x1080 resolution screen which means you can see a lot of information on the screen for $350 (not sure how long that sale will last). But it is probably a bit too big and it weighs 5.1lbs which is a bit less than average for a 15.6" laptop.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011KFQASE/ref=psdc_565108_t2_B0088L182C


The following 14" ThinkPad E450 for $428 is probably better suited for you if you want small and light laptop. It comes with a 4th generation Core i3-4005u CPU and weighs 4lbs, but it only has 1366x768 resolution screen which is pretty typical for a laptop in this price range.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V54T39O/ref=psdc_565108_t1_B00U7ZXN8Y

 

[jaguarskx]

If you want to use MS Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, etc) then be aware you cannot use it on a ChromeBook which uses the Chrome OS and is not compatible with Windows programs.

 

[SpeedyINFIDEL]

12.5" to 13.3" laptops are pretty expensive because they are the smallest laptop with Intel Core series CPU. They pack a lot of performance for their size therefore they can be rather expensive. The least expensive 13.3" laptop is the Asus UX305 which costs $699 and has a Core M CPU which is a less power than the more traditional Core i3 CPU. The least expensive 12.5" laptop that I know of is the ThinkPad X250 which has a base price of around $900.

You can look at the small 11.6" laptops which are pretty inexpensive ($300 or less) and obviously small, but they use less powerful Intel Atom CPUs which is generally fine for doing basic things like word processing, watching videos and surfing the internet. But overall, they are pretty weak compared to Intel's Core series CPUs which means you may want to replace it sooner than you prefer with something more powerful.

That leaves the 14"+ laptops. These laptops can be relatively inexpensive and also have an Intel Core series CPU. But they will definitely take up more space in your backpack. The following 15.6" ASUS F555LA-AB31 is a pretty good value since it has a 5th generation Core i3-5010u CPU and a 1920x1080 resolution screen which means you can see a lot of information on the screen for $350 (not sure how long that sale will last). But it is probably a bit too big and it weighs 5.1lbs which is a bit less than average for a 15.6" laptop.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011KFQASE/ref=psdc_565108_t2_B0088L182C


The following 14" ThinkPad E450 for $428 is probably better suited for you if you want small and light laptop. It comes with a 4th generation Core i3-4005u CPU and weighs 4lbs, but it only has 1366x768 resolution screen which is pretty typical for a laptop in this price range.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V54T39O/ref=psdc_565108_t1_B00U7ZXN8Y

So Chromebooks definitely can't use MS office, even the online version? There's no work around for this or anything? I mean it seems like it would defeat the purpose of anyone even buying it....

If the chromebook thing falls through and there's nothing more reasonable, I'll probably go with the Asus, though I wish it was smaller.

 

[jaguarskx]

No Chromebooks cannot use MS Office Online. Instead there is Google Docs which is an office suite for Chromebooks. Ironically, MS Office Online is available for Android Tablets, but Chromebooks do not use the Android OS.

Most people seems to by Chromebooks because it is an alternative to a Windows laptop and they do not have the need / desire to use Windows programs.


There are inexpensive laptops using Intel Atom CPUs that may be enough for your needs; these CPUs are a lot less powerful than a Core i3 CPU. The 11.6" HP Pavilion x2 Detachable Windows Tablet is an example for $300 and the HP Stream 11 laptop is an example for $200.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73__csZpwtE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-xgNlp-L7A


If you don't mind a used laptop, then perhaps the 12.5" ThinkPad X230 for $400 might be a viable option. They use 3rd generation Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs and has an Intel HD 4000 graphics core. Definitely less powerful than the Asus laptop I recommended but it is smaller and lighter (just under 3lbs.). It was considered a pretty powerful "road warrior" laptop when it was new and it has very good build quality.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X230-Tablet-Intel-i5-3320M-2-6GHz-4GB-RAM-128GB-SSD-WebCam-12-5-/281842826054?hash=item419f243b46:g:RiAAAOSw14xWMr3H

 

[SpeedyINFIDEL]

Thanks for all the info Jaguarskx! Was able to finally make up my mind!