Need help buying a notebook

[paul2955tw]

Hello everyone, I'm planning to buy a notebook recently but it's my first time buying one so I would like to ask your opinions on this. I'm looking for something that's light (Around 2kg or less) as I will be taking this notebook to university. I rarely play games so this notebook will be for school work (Microsoft words etc.) and web browsing in general. My budget is around $1000. Any tips and recommendations are appreciated.

Thank you

[JoaoPRSousa]

Even though Apple products are meh, I suggest the MacBook Air

[Dude]

Even though Apple products are meh, I suggest the MacBook Air

 

Do you want him to look like a hipster?

 

Lenovo Yoga.

[mr moose]

If your not doing anything fancy then don't waste money on fancy, look for battery life and a keyboard that suit you.  If you want snappy get one with an ssd or get one and an ssd to put in it.

[JoaoPRSousa]

Or Lenovo ThinkPad X240

[ZestyJalapeno]

You can probably find a Macbook Pro in that price range. Everyone on LTT hates Apple for some reason but the Pro is probably the prettiest laptop in existence and Mac OS is good for productivity. Plus it's quite efficient and user friendly. And they're built to last, most Windows-based laptops I owned turned into snails within three years.

[KemoKa]

Get an ultrabook, but don't get a macbook Air. They're underpowered and passively-cooled. That's something you really don't want.

[GoodBytes]

If it's for school... and you are interested in the MacBook Air.. look no further.

Get the Surface Pro 3.

It's lighter, better, faster (well depends on the model you get), really awesome touch screen, and most importantly, digitize pen technology with palm rejection, thin point precision, 2 buttons on the pen (right-click and eraser), and pressure sensitivity.

With programs like OneNote (which I think it is seriously the best note taking software), it is just super powerful.

You now take notes in class, and surprise comes a formula, or diagram, or something you want to take down, well now you wont' need to pull a peace of paper and write it down and lose it. You just pull out the pen, and write on the screen. And you flip from a laptop position to tablet in a flash.

Having the Surface Pro 2, as a student myself, I think every students should at least consider one, or a similar device. It's really the pen that makes it.

[EpicAdom]

Surface Pro 3 with i5 and 256GB SSD. That will be more than enough space for your needs and you will get a high-resolution touch screen. Get the keyboard too. I am using an HP ENVY laptop for school right now and I wish I could have a Surface for school.

[Headshot_]

Since you'll not be playing games but using it for school you'll want good battery life and.... BAM

 

 

HP EliteBook E3W30UT#ABA 14-Inch Laptop (Black) 

 

^ direct copy from amazon's title for the laptop.

 

Elitebooks are glorious!

[ccaian]

Just buy a mac. Its for school right? A mac is sexy and will increase your sexiness by 10%. Also macbooks gives you lesser problems from my experience because of the way its designed and made compared to windows machines. I own a retina and its a lifesaver in my IT school, its generally snappier and faster than most windows laptops and the mac OS is really good for just casual usage and web browsing.

 

Also the trackpad. Alot of windows laptops have terrible trackpads, you know the ones where there are seperate buttons for the left and right click. For the mac, its just one press for left and two finger press for right. 

[Captain_Slow]

Get an ultrabook, but don't get a macbook Air. They're underpowered and passively-cooled. That's something you really don't want.

 

Underpowered?

 

nope

 

macbook airs have better gpus than most leading ultrabooks and similar cpus.

 

Passively-cooled???

 

Whahaaaaaaa

 

Can you spot the fan in the picture????

[Captain_Slow]

Macbook Airs are the best ultrabooks minus a HD screen.

 

period.

[GoodBytes]

Just buy a mac. Its for school right? A mac is sexy and will increase your sexiness by 10%. Also macbooks gives you lesser problems from my experience because of the way its designed and made compared to windows machines. I own a retina and its a lifesaver in my IT school, its generally snappier and faster than most windows laptops and the mac OS is really good for just casual usage and web browsing.

 

Also the trackpad. Alot of windows laptops have terrible trackpads, you know the ones where there are seperate buttons for the left and right click. For the mac, its just one press for left and two finger press for right.

You get what you paid for. A 1000$ laptop will be solid, a 400$ one, won't be. The more you pay for the specs, the better the quality, quality of components and engineering will be, including increase battery life. It is a miss conception that PCs are necessarily lower build quality. PC business class systems, are even more solid than Apple products. Sure they are in plastic, but you can drop that device not worry about scratching it, and it will be a good.

 

Underpowered?

 

nope

 

macbook airs have better gpus than most leading ultrabooks and similar cpus.

Yea but the CPU is slower, at only 1.4GHz, while the Surface Pro 2 and 3 Core i5 model is 1.9GHz CPU.

Also, the MacBook Air is only 1366x768 resolution on a TN panel. While, many other ultrabooks are better. If you want an example, here again, Surface Pro 3 as it is the closest device in terms of weight and size: 2160x1440, and IPS panel. The Pro 1, and 2 are also IPS panels, and 1080p.

An despite more components being powered by the Surface Pro 3, it has 9+ h of battery life, like the MacBook Air.

The Surface Pro 3 does only have 1 USB port. So, either get a bluetooth mouse (which to be honest I haven't found any good ones), you may want to actually use OneDrive to sync files between your systems. Which is fine, as it's built-in Win8.

[Captain_Slow]

You get what you paid for. A 1000$ laptop will be solid, a 400$ one, won't be. The more you pay for the specs, the better the quality, quality of components and engineering will be, including increase battery life. It is a miss conception that PCs are necessarily lower build quality. PC business class systems, are even more solid than Apple products. Sure they are in plastic, but you can drop that device not worry about scratching it, and it will be a good.

 

Yea but the CPU is slower, at only 1.4GHz, while the Surface Pro 2 and 3 Core i5 model is 1.9GHz CPU.

Also, the MacBook Air is only 1366x768 resolution on a TN panel. While, many other ultrabooks are better. If you want an example, here again, Surface Pro 3 as it is the closest device in terms of weight and size: 2160x1440, and IPS panel. The Pro 1, and 2 are also IPS panels, and 1080p.

An despite more components being powered by the Surface Pro 3, it has 9+ h of battery life, like the MacBook Air.

The Surface Pro 3 does only have 1 USB port. So, either get a bluetooth mouse (which to be honest I haven't found any good ones), you may want to actually use OneDrive to sync files between your systems. Which is fine, as it's built-in Win8.

 

the the i5-4250 has a base clock of 1.4ghz, and turbos to 2.7ghz, the i5-4210u has a base clock of 1.7ghz and turbos to 2.7ghz

 

the performance is the same, having a lower base clock allows for better poer managment.

 

also the 13 inch mba has 1440 by 900

[GoodBytes]

the the i5-4250 has a base clock of 1.4ghz, and turbos to 2.7ghz, the i5-4210u has a base clock of 1.7ghz and turbos to 2.7ghz

 

the performance is the same, having a lower base clock allows for better poer managment.

 

also the 13 inch mba has 1440 by 900

True i guess.

But, 1440x900 is still not good. My 2008 laptop had this resolution, AND it was non glossy (Dell Latitude E6400)

And you still can't write. So no math, no ability to draw quickly for diagrams, graphs and such, and well heavier (both the 11 and 13inch). So you still need to carry a notebook with you. Although, the 13inch you do get better battery.

[Captain_Slow]

True i guess.

But, 1440x900 is still not good. My 2008 laptop had this resolution, AND it was non glossy (Dell Latitude E6400)

And you still can't write. So no math, no ability to draw quickly for diagrams, graphs and such, and well heavier (both the 11 and 13inch). So you still need to carry a notebook with you. Although, the 13inch you do get better battery.

 

the resolution is outdated for sure, but it has a longer battery life, better SSD, and most importantly doesnt use Windows 8

[ccaian]

True i guess.

But, 1440x900 is still not good. My 2008 laptop had this resolution, AND it was non glossy (Dell Latitude E6400)

And you still can't write. So no math, no ability to draw quickly for diagrams, graphs and such, and well heavier (both the 11 and 13inch). So you still need to carry a notebook with you. Although, the 13inch you do get better battery.

 

True i guess.

But, 1440x900 is still not good. My 2008 laptop had this resolution, AND it was non glossy (Dell Latitude E6400)

And you still can't write. So no math, no ability to draw quickly for diagrams, graphs and such, and well heavier (both the 11 and 13inch). So you still need to carry a notebook with you. Although, the 13inch you do get better battery.

 

Dudes! The macbook retina cost 1200$ and has a 2k resolution. Its about as slim if not slimmer than most ultrabooks. Go to a store and feel it up. If not, you can opt for the lower resolution macbook air. But its still really good.

[KemoKa]

Underpowered?

 

nope

 

macbook airs have better gpus than most leading ultrabooks and similar cpus.

They have the exact same shitty iGPU that you'll find in any ultrabook. Intel HD graphics.

[Captain_Slow]

They have the exact same shitty iGPU that you'll find in any ultrabook. Intel HD graphics.

do your research before you comment...

[GoodBytes]

Dudes! The macbook retina cost 1200$ and has a 2k resolution. Its about as slim if not slimmer than most ultrabooks. Go to a store and feel it up. If not, you can opt for the lower resolution macbook air. But its still really good.

Dude, it's 13inch, cost more than the Surface Pro 3, is heavier (1.57kg compared to 800g), it's laptop, so not really helpful for school.

No point in getting it, as yes the CPU is more powerful.. but for what? Note taking? Even if you do programming, the Core i5 U4300 is plenty powerful, AND no pen. The pen is everything. This is why I say the Surface Pro 3 is a must consider for students. It's because of the pen. And it's not some low end pen technology slap inside either. Microsoft pick the best that is offered.

AND, the Surface Pro 3 is a tablet also.

[GoodBytes]

do your research before you comment...

He is saying, that while it is the HD5000 compared to the HD4400 (assuming we consider the i5, because the i7 model has the HD5000). The performance different isn't big, and the big problem with Intel integrated graphics is their shitty drivers, and full proper support of DirectX and OpenGL. While Intel claims that it support fully DirectX, and OpenGL, and keep reiterating it (I wonder why?), it doesn't. Some games still crashes with DirectX or OpenGL unsupported API call. So despite having the power, you must reduce the game graphics settings, to avoid these DPI, rendering the extra performance, really useless. Granted it got better than before, but still an issue. Hopefully next gen Intel CPUs

In addition, Intel drivers are VERY buggy, clearly not well tested, or tested at all, it seams.

[Dude]

Just buy a mac. Its for school right? A mac is sexy and will increase your sexiness by 10%. Also macbooks gives you lesser problems from my experience because of the way its designed and made compared to windows machines. I own a retina and its a lifesaver in my IT school, its generally snappier and faster than most windows laptops and the mac OS is really good for just casual usage and web browsing.

 

Also the trackpad. Alot of windows laptops have terrible trackpads, you know the ones where there are seperate buttons for the left and right click. For the mac, its just one press for left and two finger press for right. 

 

Macs only appear to be faster because their underpowered hardware is optimized for MAC OS X. Now if a Mac were to run Windows it would probably die. Also, the Macbook track pads are a failed abortion from Hell.

[ccaian]

Macs only appear to be faster because their underpowered hardware is optimized for MAC OS X. Now if a Mac were to run Windows it would probably die. Also, the Macbook track pads are a failed abortion from Hell.

 

Well your last statement is somewhat subjective, but 90% of people prefer macbook trackpads (see reviews). Also if you get used to it, it would make your life infinitely easier. Having physical left and right click buttons are a terrible idea.

Yes macbooks appear faster, which is a good thing since OP I assume does not need to strain its hardware that much. 

 

Maybe the macbook is not the best laptop, but for a student its the best thing ever.

[LemonSpice]

Hello everyone, I'm planning to buy a notebook recently but it's my first time buying one so I would like to ask your opinions on this. I'm looking for something that's light (Around 2kg or less) as I will be taking this notebook to university. I rarely play games so this notebook will be for school work (Microsoft words etc.) and web browsing in general. My budget is around $1000. Any tips and recommendations are appreciated.

Thank you

dell xps 12.5 with that flip in screen i've used one before they are soo nice