Laptop for Studying CS at Uni

[atiab.bz]

I'm looking for a 14" laptop for studying undergraduate computer science at university. 13" is too small and 15.6" is too big for me. I've narrowed it down to two choices with nearly identical specs. Also, please don't hesitate to give any advice or opinions you might have regarding my situation.

• I'm confused about the battery-life. It says the HP lasts up to 6 hours and the Lenovo is double that. How much will they actually differ in the real world?
• My other concern is the build-quality. Since these are very new models, there aren't any reviews for them. Can anyone compare the build-qualities of the Pavilion and the IdeaPad laptops of recent times for me?
   

1. HP Pavilion
   http://bit.ly/2Mhz1AM
   Price: $1135 $765 (US)
   Processor: 10th Gen. Intel Core i5-1035G1
   RAM: 8 GB (1×8 GB)
   GPU: NVIDIA GeForce MX250
   Storage: 512GB PCIe SSD
   Display: IPS 1080p
    
2. Lenovo IdeaPad
   http://bit.ly/2Mi4ToK
   Price: $1200 $790 (US)
   Processor: 10th Gen. Intel Core i5-1035G1
   RAM: 8 GB (2×4 GB)
   GPU: NVIDIA GeForce MX250
   Storage: 512GB PCIe SSD
   Display: IPS 1080p

[FUIT1985]

A PC with a dedicated graphics card, because you will need parallel computing programs like CUDA or AMD Stream Processor.
It is better for you to choose a workstation with nvidia quadro or radeon pro.

[Stormseeker9]

1 minute ago, mionome12 said:

A PC with a dedicated graphics card, because you will need parallel computing programs like CUDA or AMD Stream Processor.
It is better for you to choose a workstation with nvidia quadro or radeon pro.

And how is he gonna take that with him to uni everyday?

 

perhaps OP already has a home workstation. 

[jj9987]

5 minutes ago, mionome12 said:

A PC with a dedicated graphics card, because you will need parallel computing programs like CUDA or AMD Stream Processor.
It is better for you to choose a workstation with nvidia quadro or radeon pro.

I highly doubt undergraduates will be working with tools that really require or can't work without CUDA. 

[5x5]

Get a business laptop. Lenovo ThinkPad, Dell Vostro/Latitude or HP ProBook/EliteBook. Business laptops are MUCH more durable and reliable.

[FUIT1985]

12 minutes ago, Stormseeker9 said:

And how is he gonna take that with him to uni everyday?

 

perhaps OP already has a home workstation. 

 

7 minutes ago, jj9987 said:

I highly doubt undergraduates will be working with tools that really require or can't work without CUDA. 

 

13 minutes ago, mionome12 said:

A PC with a dedicated graphics card, because you will need parallel computing programs like CUDA or AMD Stream Processor.
It is better for you to choose a workstation with nvidia quadro or radeon pro.

 

1 minute ago, 5x5 said:

Get a business laptop. Lenovo ThinkPad, Dell Vostro/Latitude or HP ProBook/EliteBook. Business laptops are MUCH more durable and reliable.

a workstation laptop or gaming laptop

[Stormseeker9]

4 minutes ago, mionome12 said:

 

 

 

a workstation laptop or gaming laptop

That’s not what you suggested in your opening post. What is your max budget ? Location HK?

[atiab.bz]

3 minutes ago, Stormseeker9 said:

That’s not what you suggested in your opening post. What is your max budget ? Location HK?

HK$ 6.5k-ish.

I get big discounts from uni.

[Stormseeker9]

5 minutes ago, atiab.bz said:

HK$ 6.5k-ish.

I get big discounts from uni.

Okay so the laptop can be more expensive than 6.5k because discount or is that the budget with discount?

[atiab.bz]

1 minute ago, Stormseeker9 said:

Okay so the laptop can be more expensive than 6.5k because discount or is that the budget with discount?

That's the MAX budget with discount.

[5x5]

1 minute ago, atiab.bz said:

That's the MAX budget with discount.

Can you get a ThinkPad E480?

[atiab.bz]

These are the all the laptops available at student discounts:

 

HP: https://www.hknotebook.com/np19/hku-hp/catalog_pcs?nb

Lenovo: https://www.hknotebook.com/np19/hku-lenovo/catalog_pcs?nb

Dell: https://www.hknotebook.com/np19/hku-dell/catalog_pcs?nb

Acer: https://www.eduoffer.com/online/catalog/otherProductList/acer/tor/47?categoryId=&subCategoryId=&groupId=11

Apple: https://www.eduoffer.com/online/catalog/otherProductList/apple/hku/67?categoryId=&subCategoryId=&groupId=2&hu=1

[FUIT1985]

3 minutes ago, atiab.bz said:

These are the all the laptops available at student discounts:

 

HP: https://www.hknotebook.com/np19/hku-hp/catalog_pcs?nb

Lenovo: https://www.hknotebook.com/np19/hku-lenovo/catalog_pcs?nb

Dell: https://www.hknotebook.com/np19/hku-dell/catalog_pcs?nb

Acer: https://www.eduoffer.com/online/catalog/otherProductList/acer/tor/47?categoryId=&subCategoryId=&groupId=11

Apple: https://www.eduoffer.com/online/catalog/otherProductList/apple/hku/67?categoryId=&subCategoryId=&groupId=2&hu=1

I think that after all you know what you want. You don't listen to anyone and buy what you want.

[genexis_x]

1 hour ago, atiab.bz said:

My other concern is the build-quality

If that's your main concern then go for business grade laptops (less QC+QA issues), however they aren't cheap

1 hour ago, atiab.bz said:

I'm confused about the battery-life. It says the HP lasts up to 6 hours and the Lenovo is double that. How much will they actually differ in the real world?

Never trust marketing stuffs

 

I'm actually surprised that how did you find those 10th gen laptops. So far I have 0 info on them

 

Budget before student discount? Prefer min how many hours of battery life? Mind low sRGB display and non-upgradeable RAM?

[atiab.bz]

24 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

If that's your main concern then go for business grade laptops (less QC+QA issues), however they aren't cheap

Never trust marketing stuffs

 

I'm actually surprised that how did you find those 10th gen laptops. So far I have 0 info on them

 

Budget before student discount? Prefer min how many hours of battery life? Mind low sRGB display and non-upgradeable RAM?

The thing about my budget is that the maximum amount of money I can spend is HK$ 6.5k regardless of discounts.

 

I'm guessing these Ice Lake (10th Gen.) CPUs are initially being released into the Chinese/Hong Kong markets. They'll probably start showing up in the US markets in the near future.

 

I don't plan on bashing the laptop around or anything. I just wanted to know how the build-qualities of the recent ~Coffee Lake (8th Gen.) models of Pavilion and IdeaPad laptops compare to each other.

 

I'd like the battery to last at least 6 hours+ under regular usage mostly including Chrome, Word, PowerPoint etc.

 

The screen has to be 1080p and at least somewhat reliable for personal use editing (nothing crazy professional-grade).

 

Non-upgradable RAM isn't a problem.

[genexis_x]

10 minutes ago, atiab.bz said:

I just wanted to know how the build-qualities of the recent ~Coffee Lake (8th Gen.) models of Pavilion and IdeaPad laptops compare to each other.

Well it depends on model, however Pavilion line is worse in general (if talking about consumer grade)

11 minutes ago, atiab.bz said:

The screen has to be 1080p and at least somewhat reliable for personal use editing

So fine with low sRGB?

[atiab.bz]

20 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Well it depends on model, however Pavilion line is worse in general (if talking about consumer grade)

So fine with low sRGB?

Yes, fine with low sRGB.

[genexis_x]

Ideapad S540 14 with 10W MX250 or Swift 3 SF314-54G with 25W MX250 (slight throttled)