$1200 laptop for school?

[Guest]

yeah but dat CPU...

 

unless all peripherals become wireless, no one will want to carry all those splitters

I mean, if you're an Apple power-used (like I am ), then you have an Apple TV which allows AirPlay display mirroring and audio streaming, you have a Time Machine for wireless backups and storage (I actually don't have one of those, but in theory it would work), and AC wifi means if you have a good connection, using sites like Dropbox for copy tasks are non-issues. My point is that this is a computer for a few years down the road, when gigabit connections are more common and wireless standards are overtaking cables.

 

basically,

 

THE CLOUD!

[Guest]

I said modern tasks. Not gaming.

Again, It's not going to run 10 Chrome tabs, but using the browser version of Pages, having a few tabs open for Twitter/research and listening to Spotify are non-issues on my MacBook. It does have an SSD, but it's capped to like 250mbps reads because of the slower sata bus.

[Guest]

IMO the best school laptops are Macbooks

 

basically what im saying is, get the macbook

(take this with a grain of salt, coming from someone who uses a MBA as their daily driver for high school)

Preach.

 

No grain of salt, since you're someone who uses it every day, you have a good reason to recommend it instead of saying 'try this laptop I've never actually used in person.'

[Swndlr]

Preach.

 

No grain of salt, since you're someone who uses it every day, you have a good reason to recommend it instead of saying 'try this laptop I've never actually used in person.'

i love it, OSX is so smooth and clean for schoolwork like word and powerpoint and all that good stuff.

[Guest]

Preach.

No grain of salt, since you're someone who uses it every day, you have a good reason to recommend it instead of saying 'try this laptop I've never actually used in person.'

But you're an Apple fanboy it says right In your sig so why should people take that seriously? better remove that part.

I say go with Dell XPS though.

[Dzzope]

in the next year or so i plan to buy a new laptop to finish high school and take to collage, any suggestions? SSD required, id like it to be atleast 256GB but not a must, 8GB of ram is always good, and MUST BE LIGHT.

 

In a year or so? 

 

Come back and ask then.. 

[Captain_Slow]

No they really won't.

 

I've had macs since the iBook G3 Clamshell, 

 

since I've had an iBook G4, a Powerbook G4, 4 Macbook Pros (different generations, of course), 2 different MacBook Airs, 2 different Mac Minis, a eMac G4, 3 different iMacs, and now a 15inch Retina Pro. 

 

the only thing I've ever had go on me was 2 mechanical HDDs, 

 

other than that not a thing went wrong. 

 

and I still have my original clamshell iBook, which works, my eMac from 2005, which works, and my one G4 Powerbook, which... works. 

 

so yea they will last you forever. 

[Captain_Slow]

As for OP, I'd recommend the Air over the MacBook (USB-C) 

 

since 1st gen apple products have a funny way of .... not being the best investment. 

[Shakaza]

I've always been sort of iffy on Macbooks. My Dad has a 2011? Macbook Pro with a 2.5 GHz i5, 16 GB of RAM (Upgraded from 4), a 512 GB SSD (Upgraded from a 500 GB HDD that failed after the first year), and a 1280x800 screen (I think). He was always complaining how slow it was with only 4 GB since he does a lot of productivity on it, and was also annoyed that the hard drive failed on him. He is also hesitant to upgrade to Yosemite because of all the negative reviews for it. I do like its keyboard and sleek design, though.

 

He also has a 17.3in 2006 model with a 2.16 GHz Core2 Duo, 2 GB of RAM, a standard HDD for the time (I forget the size), and a Mobility Radeon X1650. The thing still works, but so does my Granpa's Pentium III machine. I can't watch a YouTube video without the fans cranking up to max, the thing can't have the latest version of Chrome, it overheats like you wouldn't believe, and it even had to have its RAM swapped out a couple times because of weird lines on the screen. If you ask me, that's not lasting "forever."

 

But, you can go with whatever you want. Macbooks are great for their portability, screen resolution, beautiful, sleek designs, great keyboards, a good OS, and good trackpads. Apple products also have good warranties. If you value those over a more powerful machine, say, with a quad-core i7 or powerful mobile graphics, I'd say go for a Mac. If you're more oriented to doing more computationally expensive tasks such as gaming or rendering, go for a Windows laptop of the same price, but you will be sacrificing on quality in some of the other areas like the keyboard, design, weight, and trackpad.

 

Myself, I'd go for a powerful Windows laptop because I am going to be doing a lot of 3D modelling, rendering, and gaming while I'm at college, so a Mac with only a dual-core CPU and integrated graphics isn't going to do much for me. But, for most people and for most tasks, something like a Macbook Pro/Air is fine.

[Ahaber]

I've had macs since the iBook G3 Clamshell, 

 

since I've had an iBook G4, a Powerbook G4, 4 Macbook Pros (different generations, of course), 2 different MacBook Airs, 2 different Mac Minis, a eMac G4, 3 different iMacs, and now a 15inch Retina Pro. 

 

the only thing I've ever had go on me was 2 mechanical HDDs, 

 

other than that not a thing went wrong. 

 

and I still have my original clamshell iBook, which works, my eMac from 2005, which works, and my one G4 Powerbook, which... works. 

 

so yea they will last you forever. 

 

You don't realize that I have a mac myself that I am using now. I think that MacBook are fine laptops, but they do have shortcomings and pitfalls as with any products. I don't think that it is going to last for ever, and application support although greatly improved is not as good as windows especially in the gaming and professional productivity programs.

[Captain_Slow]

You don't realize that I have a mac myself that I am using now. I think that MacBook are fine laptops, but they do have shortcomings and pitfalls as with any products. I don't think that it is going to last for ever, and application support although greatly improved is not as good as windows especially in the gaming and professional productivity programs.

 

because OP asked to use it for gaming and professional productivity programs? 

 

and "forever" is a figure of speech. 

[CatzRuleZWorld]

I suggest a 13" MacBook Air. I haven't used newer windows netbooks but my MBA works very good; multiple-day battery, works for light gaming (LoL, Portal, HL2), and it's very sturdy unlike most <700 laptops. There are pretty good deals on them quite often. There was a deal from best buy I think for a 13" 2015 model for $800 or $750 for students.

[Ahaber]

because OP asked to use it for gaming and professional productivity programs? 

 

and "forever" is a figure of speech. 

 

OP did not ask for those specific things, but I don't understand what would make a MacBook so appealing to OP compared to many of the windows thin and light laptops.

[Ahaber]

I suggest a 13" MacBook Air. I haven't used newer windows netbooks but my MBA works very good; multiple-day battery, works for light gaming (LoL, Portal, HL2), and it's very sturdy unlike most <700 laptops. There are pretty good deals on them quite often. There was a deal from best buy I think for a 13" 2015 model for $800 or $750 for students.

 

Did you not read the title? he is looking to spend $1200 on the laptop and that deal from Best Buy sounds like there must be some sort of catch to it.

[Captain_Slow]

OP did not ask for those specific things, but I don't understand what would make a MacBook so appealing to OP compared to many of the windows thin and light laptops.

 

build quality, battery life, superior os, better parts... etc.

 

this apple vs pc stuff is happening again lol im out

[Ahaber]

build quality, battery life, superior os, better parts... etc.

 

this apple vs pc stuff is happening again lol im out

 

Ok I think the problem is that Apple as only a few options while there are so many PC options so anything that apple has could be counteracted by some PC, but of course it cant have all of them.

 

I also strongly disagree that OSX is superior. I think that both Windows and OSX have strengths and weaknesses in different areas.

[GoodBytes]

Who ever told you that the Surface Pro is horrible, clearly has never experience the device, Linus included, despite his "review".

As a student that just graduated. I would highly suggest get the Surface Pro... well wait for the Pro 4 to come out, which should be soon as Microsoft is dropping the price of the Pro 3 since a while with promos.

You have 10% off everything from the Microsoft Store online as a student. It's super light, lighter than the MacBook Air, high resolution, very good build quality (I drop my Surface Pro 2 on concrete on the edge (the worst part), and beside paint chip and a dent, the glass is perfect, and everything works).

Why the Surface Pro? The PEN. Many people (and mass majority of reviews, including Linus) don't understand the power of the pen, they see it as a bonus gimmick. The pen is everything. It is isn't a stupid stylus. The pen is thin point, the device detects the pen when it hovers on the screen, and detects how much pressure you apply with the pen for a better, more realistic hand writhing experience. It is what makes the device unique, and super powerful.

The pen allows you to type your notes, comes an equation in class, or you want to put an arrow or highlight something, or draw a graph that the professor is drawing, you can pull the pen out do it, and continue typing. Math class, no need for a book notes, and annoying problem of having your example or notes cut in 2 or 3 pages. Now you can have everything together. And that is all with the power of OneNote which you have for FREE. In fact, as a student the FULL Office suit is free (Outlook, OneNote, Access, Info Path, etc). Even if you don't buy the Surface Pro, OneNote will be god send note taking software. It is powerful as it is smart, it knows what you try to do. For example: You type text, hit Tab key, and boom table... type tab again, boom new column. You can click anywhere and type, and texts, images, imported pdf, and so on, all are blacks that you can move around. You can draw, record sound clip and so on, and have it all sync automatically between all your devices.

But really the Surface Pro, is simply amazing. And the keyboard is amazing to. People think it is like a netbook, but actually the keyboard width is very close to a the size of a normal full size keyboard. I can code on it for hours and have no problem. Very quickly to adjust to, and you have all the keys.

The device has high-attention to details, well built, fast charging, long battery life (and should be even better with the Surface Pro 4 with Intel more power efficient CPUs), 100% junk free, the drivers don't even have the control panels to make sure everything is extra clean. You can get the recovery image online at Microsoft website if you ever delete the built-in one by accident. It is simply the best Windows experience you can have.

The device is powerful with a ultrabook class CPU, and cool and quiet. The fan rarely spins. Like you need to play a game to have the fan spin, and Microsoft use good quality fans that are fairly quiet, and can push a lot of air, allowing proper cooling, and minimizing throttling. This is a common problem with many laptops. They give you all these fancy specs at a great low price, but it is filled with junk, cheap build quality, no attention to details, and crappy cooling, where the fan nearly always spins.

I strongly suggest to consider the Surface Pro. Here are a good proper review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfpl5V7DMl4

Microsoft has some nice videos talking about the pen if you check their channels. Some are on the new Surface 3, but I recommend the Pro series, regardless, the points on the pen are very true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35jXB7DjR28

They have other cool videos which I mostly agree upon as being true (let's be a honest, some points are ehh... like "I get better grades"... if you study hard, you get good grades. If you are lazy, writing your notes won't help you if you dont' study them), if you want to check it out.

But all to say: Surface Pro + Pen (included) + OneNote = Awesomeness.

If you want me to go in more details, I can. I can even show you my notes and everything.

I did my degree in Computer Science, where a somewhat powerful system is needed, and I have LOTS of notes of different kinds (theory, logic, math, programming, you name it), I even took some business classes (electives).

BUT, if you feel that a shitty MacBook Air, where you are missing key keyboard, low resolution that my 2008 laptop had, crappy TN panel, heavier, no touch support or pen support is what you need for about the same price, well so be it.

[CatzRuleZWorld]

Did you not read the title? he is looking to spend $1200 on the laptop and that deal from Best Buy sounds like there must be some sort of catch to it.

There's no catch, macbook airs aren't that expensive. No reason to waste money for something you don't need IMO. I didn't get an i5 for League of Legends in my desktop because it's completely unnecessary.

[Guest]

Did you not read the title? he is looking to spend $1200 on the laptop and that deal from Best Buy sounds like there must be some sort of catch to it.

My brother got a brand new 13" MBA from Best Buy for $849 out the door. He used his student discount + some other deal they had going on.

Even then, the regular price is less than $1200 for a 13" Air.

[Guest]

Ok I think the problem is that Apple as only a few options while there are so many PC options so anything that apple has could be counteracted by some PC, but of course it cant have all of them.

I also strongly disagree that OSX is superior. I think that both Windows and OSX have strengths and weaknesses in different areas.

By options, you mean models? I think Apple's method of 'a few things done really well' eliminates the massive sea of different hardware configs that Windows has to deal with - similar to Android. It means that the OS can be extremely well-optimized for specific hardware, and not have to have drivers for everything under the sun.

Besides, any new Mac has options to customize the CPU, RAM, storage, and in some models even the GPU. People seem to think Apple sells one model of each and that's it. This is simply not true.

[alicskysareblue]

I'm not GAMING on it.

 

Any site works fine other than heavy flash things, and it runs OS X lion, which still has enough app support.

 

Mainly I love the keyboard, and use it for schoolwork and essays.

good to hear,  best to have a laptop for pure productivity and leaves your desktop for everything else

 

I advice getting a business laptop,  a dell lattitued, thinkpad, hp probook (elite books are way to expensive) or fujitsu lifebooke I suggest this because they are much better build then standard consumer grad laptops (usually have been tested to meet minumu, military standards), have more ports, are easier to maintain, and above all have a keyboard built to type comfortably on

 

My suggestion is something around 13-14 inches and at least 1600x900 resolution  (1366x768 is way to small)  I  also recommend taking a look at this site http://www.notebookcheck.net they due very thorough reviews.

 

on a side note the surface pro 3 is an excellent device, I had it for a short time and really loved using it, however I found it inappropriate for my usage sceneraio (changing degrees and going into I.T) so I  brought back to best buy, and bought a thinkpad yoga instead, that has its own problems but I would not sell it for the world.

[chowdog13]

I suggest a 13" MacBook Air. I haven't used newer windows netbooks but my MBA works very good; multiple-day battery, works for light gaming (LoL, Portal, HL2), and it's very sturdy unlike most <700 laptops. There are pretty good deals on them quite often. There was a deal from best buy I think for a 13" 2015 model for $800 or $750 for students.

 

I'm strongly considering a Macbook pro retina for college this year, I'm not purchasing it for games, but I wouldn't be opposed to firing up Portal and HL2 every once in a while. A nice way to kill time How well do they run on your Air, playable I assume? 

[CatzRuleZWorld]

I'm strongly considering a Macbook pro retina for college this year, I'm not purchasing it for games, but I wouldn't be opposed to firing up Portal and HL2 every once in a while. A nice way to kill time How well do they run on your Air, playable I assume? 

Max settings at more than enough FPS (60+). It stutters for loading but that's all.

[chowdog13]

Max settings at more than enough FPS (60+). It stutters for loading but that's all.

Nice!   Looks like I'll be fine. 

[PaulKolby]

in the next year or so i plan to buy a new laptop to finish high school and take to collage, any suggestions? SSD required, id like it to be atleast 256GB but not a must, 8GB of ram is always good, and MUST BE LIGHT.

The Lenovo y40 or y50 would be a great option, for not a lot of money...