MxRider9637

You want something that is tough? Look into the Lenovo ThinkPad T/X/W series, Those laptops WILL last you 4 years.

I have seen 8 year old thinkpads that are still going strong, so yea good choice then.

Then yeah, I'd go for the customized option, and have the 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD for $1300 total

Pick the one with better battery life. That will be the most useful spec for school work.

This is why I recommend the 5200U using integrated graphics. The thing has a TDP of 15 watts and can downclock itself to use 7.5 watts on power saving mode. I have recommended two of my friends to laptops with a 5200U and the things will run forever on one chrge. And they only cost around 500$-600$ for a decent laptop with one.

Then X1 Carbon is the clear winner here... no need to lug around the extra weight for power you'll never use

I vote for the Y50 as it's probably also got a good GPU and can be used for light-medium gaming if away from home.

Anything with a 5200U using onboard graphics would last you +4 years for that application, just take the money you save and throw a SSD in it.

i will definitely look into that. thanks! 

i really like the y50 but i feel like thats more towards gaming than rather work.. i have my own gaming rig so i find its not needed. the U430 doesnt look bad.

As I said, you could use Prallels to run Windows alongside OSX or Bootcamp to make Windows run on it's own. It's pretty easy to do.
Also you get an excellent battery life, a great trackpad and keyboard and one of the lightest, but still made out of aluminum notebooks. I guess the fanboy just came throuigh a bit. Sorry for that. Kind of.
 
Or does your school require you to get a stock Windows notebook?
In this case Lenovo has some interesting small and light ultrabooks like the U330.
If you need a little more power than that a you could look into the Lenovo Y50-70, but be sure to get one with an IPS panel, because the TN panel ones are total garbage.

take a look at HP stream 13 or 14 they are running X86 windows.

A tablet for school... meeh. Tablets are mostly for consuming, not creating content (which schools are all about, supposedly). Are you going to write programs on it?

Probably something in software?
 
Or make one of these: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/217479-diystereo-io-ab-selector-image-heavy/
 
Plug a male-male 3.5mm cable into the one port connected to the center of the switch, then the dac to one of the side ports, and headphones to the other side port, that way you just flip a switch and boom, good to go.

More horsepower for video editing and virtual machines.

ohhhhhh ok i see know.. also i think in my opinion the coiled wire would be great because i get the modmic i can put the modmics wire through the coil. 

I tried, little bit over budget I guess.
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant   CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($325.99 @ SuperBiiz)  CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($104.99 @ NCIX US)  Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($114.89 @ OutletPC)  Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($112.14 @ Amazon)  Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($177.89 @ OutletPC)  Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($123.89 @ OutletPC)  Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ Video Card  ($709.98 @ Newegg)  Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case  ($79.99 @ NCIX US)  Power Supply: Corsair 760W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($99.99 @ Newegg)  Total: $1849.75 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-07 16:45 EDT-0400

DT 990 Pro, Fidelity X2, or AKG Kxxx. I have the DT 990's and I love them, very comfortable. I wear them around 8 hours a day because I work at home. 

i was close enough
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($104.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK S ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($269.00 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($177.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($142.45 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Superclocked Video Card  ($669.00 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT H440 (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($94.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1938.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-07 16:42 EDT-0400

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/tprdP6Exactly,what I'm saving up for but it'll have a 4790k,

Because the majority of this forum is young PC "enthusiasts", of which group the loudest majority tends to be incredibly ignorant and arrogant.

ok gotcha

wow, keep it! You seem to be one of the lucky winers. I'd recommend something square with static pressure for the H220, so the noiseblockers would be good.

I used some bequiet shadow wings on my H220. If you use those, you have to mount the H220 res-down, because you have to actually screw all the way through the fans. So, shadow wings would be good static pressure wise but are a bit unhandy. The H220 though is a whole new topic. I returned mine the day after i recieved it, let's leave it at that.
 
For a fan controller i can recommend the bitfenix recon. It's pretty basic. It has 5 channels, 10W each (~ 3 fans, using fan splitters), you can control the channels manually (turning off is also possible) or use thermal sensors to control them automatically.
It's a bit of fiddeling to get it set up properly but the install is actually easy.