12" laptop for college... with HD screen?

[Laggger164]

This is a very mind boggling question for me. I need a new laptop to use at college since I don't have one at all right now, just a very nice desktop.

 

This year I will still be in High school, but next year I gotta go to college studying IT (most likely not engineering). Any and all tips will be very much appreciated!

 

I was looking for something very durable and cheap and I found some refurbished Dell Latitudes.

 

Specifically I was looking at a Latitude e7240 for around 300€ from a well known refurbisher in my country (www.refurbished.sk however those f*cks put the Warranty void stickers everywhere they can, good thing Linus made a video about them) since it is thin enough (I am not one of those Apple dummies who really need that milimeter of thinness at all costs), it is very customizable at the hardware parts and it is VERY rigid compared to any consumer laptops, not to mention macbooks. Also, the changeable battery is a nice plus too and Dell offers their Power Companion, which is a power bank with 2 USBs and a laptop connector.

 

Why Dell? Because they have the best support for Linux out of all manufacturers and I love Linux! However I will only Dual boot into it.

 

But there is a problem. It only has a 1366x768 display. I really don't know if that is going to be enough, but since it is a 12.5" display, it shouldn't be that bad right? And modern OSes have virtual desktops so multitasking might not be that bad.

 

I am not looking to game on it, maybe something very light, like TF2, some older games, etc. Nothing too crazy, no Witcher 3 on Ultra at 4K.

 

If I was to buy one, I'd buy a model with a touchscreen, while I think it's stupid on laptops at 15" and larger, it might be pretty good on a 12.5" one.

 

There is also a 14" version of that laptop, but other than a larger screen and a 2.5" harddrive option, I didn't see a difference and so far I didn't find one with a HD+ or FullHD resolution.

 

What do you guys think? Would that be a good enough for what I wrote here or should I look for something more powerful like the Dell Latitude e6440 or e6540?

 

EDIT: Also, I forgot to mention. My budget would be up to 600€, but that does not mean I have to use it all up.

 

Secondly I also have an Nvidia Shield Tablet, which I use daily for watching youtube videos, sometimes for web browsing, but that one is clearly better on a computer. Yes it has a Full HD screen, but I can't tell the difference much from 720p and 1080p video. I do notice a difference, but I am fine with 720p.

Edited July 14, 2017 by Laggger164

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, Laggger164 said:

snip

Get a macbook

 

EDIT:
Put windows on your NVIDIA tablet

 

EDIT EDIT:

For those of you thinking I am being useless; I was being not helpful on purpose. We talk a lot on steam.

[Laggger164]

Just now, fpo said:

Get a macbook

Yeah, I said my budget is up to 600€, not 2000€...

[Emzijs]

If you are searching for a 12.5" inch laptop, you really only have 3 choices here - Lenovo ThinkPad X series, Dell Latitude and HP EliteBook series. I would personally advise you to go for Lenovo Thinkpad X series because of their price, they are really strong and rigid, great Linux support, parts are relatively cheap and easy to replace. I had Thinkpad X201 few years ago, and it died because of my own stupidity. Few days ago I bought refurbished Thinkpad X220 for university and it's a great laptop, gonna upgrade it soon with msata SSD and extra ram. If you don't like the looks of Thinkpads. This guy -  @Icuw1pc , convinced me few years back to go for Thinkpads and I have stayed since. I think he can help you and tell you all about Thinkpads.

[themctipers]

Asus UX330CA

 

1080p IPS, $850 CAD, 250gb SSD, 7th gen M3. 

[RuLeZ]

Maybe this?

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-Swift-1-SF113-31-P2CP.220524.0.html

[ProjectBox153]

6 minutes ago, Emzijs said:

 

Yes. ThinkPads (while the only one I own is a Pentium II) are very durable, and I've seen some out in the wild that have been to hell and back looking better and functioning better than my laptops.

[RuLeZ]

Just now, Jamiec1130 said:

Yes. ThinkPads (while the only one I own is a Pentium II) are very durable, and I've seen some out in the wild that have been to hell and back looking better and functioning better than my laptops.

They are not the same as the old days, they are made from cheaper materials now.  

[Laggger164]

4 minutes ago, themctipers said:

Asus UX330CA

 

1080p IPS, $850 CAD, 250gb SSD, 7th gen M3. 

Eeeh... I don't like that it looks so fragile. Also, a core M processor? I will most likely be doing programming, not just web browsing.

 

1 minute ago, RuLeZ said:

Maybe this?

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-Swift-1-SF113-31-P2CP.220524.0.html

Intel Pentium? COME ON that won't compile a Hello world script in 10 minutes! (OK I am exaggerating, but still! That's too weak... performance and durability wise)

[themctipers]

1 minute ago, Laggger164 said:

Eeeh... I don't like that it looks so fragile. Also, a core M processor? I will most likely be doing programming, not just web browsing.

 

Intel Pentium? COME ON that won't compile a Hello world script in 10 minutes! (OK I am exaggerating, but still! That's too weak... performance and durability wise)

You can upgrade it to a i5 7200u I believe, it would be $1100 CAD (Canadian rupee) though. But it does have 16gb of ram and now a 3200x1400 screen or something along those lines. 

[ProjectBox153]

4 minutes ago, RuLeZ said:

They are not the same as the old days, they are made from cheaper materials now.  

Well, even the newer ones I've seen are great. The only one  I have ever had a bad experience with was one model I can't even remember. I had to use one for a bit of research and 3D modeling I was doing in order to use the facility's 3D printers, and it's trackpad was HORRIBLE. I quickly found a spare USB mouse laying around somewhere, and brought my own the next day. I couldn't get any work done with that touchpad.

[Laggger164]

10 minutes ago, RuLeZ said:

They are not the same as the old days, they are made from cheaper materials now.  

 

4 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

Well, even the newer ones I've seen are great. The only one  I have ever had a bad experience with was one model I can't even remember. I had to use one for a bit of research and 3D modeling I was doing in order to use the facility's 3D printers, and it's trackpad was HORRIBLE. I quickly found a spare USB mouse laying around somewhere, and brought my own the next day. I couldn't get any work done with that touchpad.

What do you guys think of when you see Dell Latitude vs Lenovo Thinkpad vs HP elitebook? I like all of them, but the Dell ones look very nice.

 

6 minutes ago, themctipers said:

You can upgrade it to a i5 7200u I believe, it would be $1100 CAD (Canadian rupee) though. But it does have 16gb of ram and now a 3200x1400 screen or something along those lines. 

Well that would just be too damn expensive, I will stick with the idea of a refurbished one for now.

[RuLeZ]

21 minutes ago, Laggger164 said:

Eeeh... I don't like that it looks so fragile. Also, a core M processor? I will most likely be doing programming, not just web browsing.

 

Intel Pentium? COME ON that won't compile a Hello world script in 10 minutes! (OK I am exaggerating, but still! That's too weak... performance and durability wise)

If you want FHD, 12-13" and you have a limited budget, you cannot expect to get a premium solution, unless you are going to compile massive programs, you are not going to notice a big difference between a Xeon 28 cores and a Pentium 4 cores. The biggest limitator for programming will be the screen size, 12" is fairly small for programming.

[Laggger164]

Just now, RuLeZ said:

If you want FHD, 12-13" and you have a limited budget, you cannot expect to get a premium solution, unless you are going to compile massive programs, you are not going to notice a big difference between a Xeon 28 cores and a Pentium 4 cores. The biggest limitator for programming will be the screen size, 12" is fairly small for programming.

I don't need FHD at 12 or 13", thats overkill. HD+ would be enough (1600x900).

 

Would you recommend 14"? Also, would it even be worth taking an ultrabook at that size compared to a proper powerful e6440 possibly with dedicated graphics?

[AmateurPCGuy]

Well, let's be real here first. 12" and Full HD? Throw that idea out of the window, there's barely any laptops that has that feature.

 

Second, with the theoretical amount of work that you're gonna give your laptop once you entered college (especially with IT), You best be getting a decent laptop with a 2-core, 4-thread processor with dedicated graphics. Personal opinion? Get this Acer laptop and call it a day: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-E5-575G-57D4-15-6-Inches-Notebook-i5-7200U/dp/B01LD4MGY4/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1500038966&sr=1-1&refinements=p_n_shipping_option-bin%3A3242350011%2Cp_n_operating_system_browse-bin%3A12035945011%2Cp_n_intended_use_browse-bin%3A9647499011%2Cp_36%3A2421887011%2Cp_n_graphics_type_browse-bin%3A14292273011 plus its just about 500 euros (as of writing this). You can use the extra money in the budget to swap the HDD in there with an SSD, and put the HDD in an external enclosure or something. Oh wait, second looks tells me that the laptop already has an SSD, so just buy an external drive with the extra budget

[RuLeZ]

2 minutes ago, AmateurPCGuy said:

Well, let's be real here first. 12" and Full HD? Throw that idea out of the window, there's barely any laptops that has that feature.

 

Second, with the theoretical amount of work that you're gonna give your laptop once you entered college (especially with IT), You best be getting a decent laptop with a 2-core, 4-thread processor with dedicated graphics. Personal opinion? Get this Acer laptop and call it a day: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-E5-575G-57D4-15-6-Inches-Notebook-i5-7200U/dp/B01LD4MGY4/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1500038966&sr=1-1&refinements=p_n_shipping_option-bin%3A3242350011%2Cp_n_operating_system_browse-bin%3A12035945011%2Cp_n_intended_use_browse-bin%3A9647499011%2Cp_36%3A2421887011%2Cp_n_graphics_type_browse-bin%3A14292273011 plus its just about 500 euros (as of writing this). You can use the extra money in the budget to swap the HDD in there with an SSD, and put the HDD in an external enclosure or something.

Looks good, but the 940MX is a glorified iGPU, it has just 384 cuda cores with 64bit bandwidth.

But I still would buy it for the price.

[Laggger164]

3 minutes ago, AmateurPCGuy said:

Well, let's be real here first. 12" and Full HD? Throw that idea out of the window, there's barely any laptops that has that feature.

 

Second, with the theoretical amount of work that you're gonna give your laptop once you entered college (especially with IT), You best be getting a decent laptop with a 2-core, 4-thread processor with dedicated graphics. Personal opinion? Get this Acer laptop and call it a day: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-E5-575G-57D4-15-6-Inches-Notebook-i5-7200U/dp/B01LD4MGY4/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1500038966&sr=1-1&refinements=p_n_shipping_option-bin%3A3242350011%2Cp_n_operating_system_browse-bin%3A12035945011%2Cp_n_intended_use_browse-bin%3A9647499011%2Cp_36%3A2421887011%2Cp_n_graphics_type_browse-bin%3A14292273011 plus its just about 500 euros (as of writing this). You can use the extra money in the budget to swap the HDD in there with an SSD, and put the HDD in an external enclosure or something. Oh wait, second looks tells me that the laptop already has an SSD, so just buy an external drive with the extra budget

Well I could, but I haven't had good experience with Acer's products. Mostly with the cheap models since they are well... cheap. I want something durable, reliable. Business laptops look like the best option right now and both the e6540 and e6440 have dedicated graphics and upgradeable CPUs from 2 cores with HT to 4. 

[AmateurPCGuy]

1 minute ago, Laggger164 said:

Well I could, but I haven't had good experience with Acer's products. Mostly with the cheap models since they are well... cheap. I want something durable, reliable. Business laptops look like the best option right now and both the e6540 and e6440 have dedicated graphics and upgradeable CPUs from 2 cores with HT to 4. 

well, the durability depends on how you'll take care of it. I'm pretty sure you're not gonna throw it around the campus all day long. I had a number of friends using Acer laptops since first year, still stands strong up to this day.

[themctipers]

25 minutes ago, Laggger164 said:

 

What do you guys think of when you see Dell Latitude vs Lenovo Thinkpad vs HP elitebook? I like all of them, but the Dell ones look very nice.

 

Well that would just be too damn expensive, I will stick with the idea of a refurbished one for now.

$850 USD actually..  Or something like that. 

[Laggger164]

48 minutes ago, themctipers said:

$850 USD actually..  Or something like that. 

Still, I want a powerful desktop. It still has a lot better price/performance ratio and benefits like bigger screen, better audio, better keyboard, better ergonomics (mostly), even more customizability than the business laptops mentioned here and lots of other benefits.

 

Now guys. May I ask what is wrong about a Dell Latitude e7240? Is the CPU really that much of a bottleneck?

[themctipers]

6 minutes ago, Laggger164 said:

Still, I want a powerful desktop. It still has a lot better price/performance ratio and benefits like bigger screen, better audio, better keyboard, better ergonomics (mostly), even more customizability than the business laptops mentioned here and lots of other benefits.

 

Now guys. May I ask what is wrong about a Dell Latitude e7240? Is the CPU really that much of a bottleneck?

You asked for a laptop and we gave you laptop suggestions. 

 

The laptop screen is only 768p and it has a U CPU (u standing for ultra shit, or actually ultra low power)

 

you have to pick between saving a lot of money while sacrificing that screen, or paying more and getting a slightly faster CPU and a much higher resolution display 

[Laggger164]

Just now, themctipers said:

You asked for a laptop and we gave you laptop suggestions. 

 

The laptop screen is only 768p and it has a U CPU (u standing for ultra shit, or actually ultra low power)

 

you have to pick between saving a lot of money while sacrificing that screen, or paying more and getting a slightly faster CPU and a much higher resolution display 

Well it is a 12" laptop, I wouldn't think it would be that bad.

 

Other option would be a Latitude e6440 which can have a HD+ or Full HD screen, a proper CPU with a quad core option, an extended battery, an awesome wi-fi antenna behind the display that might catch some wifi networks on the friggin moon (again, exaggerating, but it really is so good).

[themctipers]

3 minutes ago, Laggger164 said:

Well it is a 12" laptop, I wouldn't think it would be that bad.

 

Other option would be a Latitude e6440 which can have a HD+ or Full HD screen, a proper CPU with a quad core option, an extended battery, an awesome wi-fi antenna behind the display that might catch some wifi networks on the friggin moon (again, exaggerating, but it really is so good).

then do that one.  

either that or a used thonkpad

[Laggger164]

Just now, themctipers said:

then do that one.  

either that or a used thonkpad

You wrote thonkpad 2 times, is that intentional?

[Emzijs]

2 minutes ago, Laggger164 said:

You wrote thonkpad 2 times, is that intentional?

Probably a troll. But yeah, If you want a 12" notebook - you need to sacrifice some things like gaming, high-res display and beefy GPU. Since I have a decent desktop PC for games and Lightroom, ThinkPad does everything I need from laptop - MS Office, web browsing and general consuming.