New 15.6" laptop for university?

[dizmo]

Ok, so my cousin is looking to get a new laptop for university. My aunt asked me which one to get him, and while I have some suggestions in the lower screen sizes, I have no idea what to suggest in the larger. The only one that came to mind was the Lenovo T570. There are a couple of decent Asus products, but I couldn't find them available anywhere. The XPS 15 isn't an option because for some reason they don't currently offer the 97whr battery.

 

He's going into Sciences.

No gaming.

 

Must be from a Canadian retailer.

 

His wants:

• Bigger screen
• Doesn't care about touch screen
• Light and compact

My requirements:

• SSD
• At least 1080p
• At least 8GB of RAM
• Must be Kabylake based
• Must get excellent battery life
• Must run Windows

Price can be anything up to $2,000, but less is better.

Any suggestions?

 

 

[themctipers]

14" alright? Can sorta recommend Asus UX430UA. 

i5 7200u, 8GB DDR4, 1080p IPS, 256GB M.2 Sata, decent keyboard, decent trackpad (but mine came with a semi dead button), $900 when I bought it (strict $1000 inc tax budget) 

 

Screen doesn't get too bright, and the keyboard feels not as good as the UX330CA and the trackpad too, but it's still up to standard to me. Battery life is alright, ~5 hours or so fucking around on the internet and youtube. Speakers are alright to my standards. Only one USB 3 and one USB 2 though. It's bestbuy only. Battery is 56Wh. 

 

But, since your budget is upto $2000, you can probably get something much better for slightly more.

[Drak3]

Base 15" MacBook Pro with Windows loaded onto it.

 

Kappa.

 

Dell XPS 15.

[themctipers]

9 minutes ago, dizmo said:

The XPS 15 isn't an option because for some reason they don't currently offer the 97whr battery.

 

1 minute ago, Drak3 said:

Base 15" MacBook Pro with Windows loaded onto it.

 

Kappa.

 

Dell XPS 15.

Damnit, pyo. 

[Drak3]

Just now, themctipers said:

 

Damnit, pyo. 

The XPS 15 is the only laptop I'm aware of that meets Dizmo's requirements and doesn't have a huge compromise somewhere, other than the higher cap battery not being currently available.

[dizmo]

16 minutes ago, themctipers said:

14" alright? Can sorta recommend Asus UX430UA. 

i5 7200u, 8GB DDR4, 1080p IPS, 256GB M.2 Sata, decent keyboard, decent trackpad (but mine came with a semi dead button), $900 when I bought it (strict $1000 inc tax budget) 

 

Screen doesn't get too bright, and the keyboard feels not as good as the UX330CA and the trackpad too, but it's still up to standard to me. Battery life is alright, ~5 hours or so fucking around on the internet and youtube. Speakers are alright to my standards. Only one USB 3 and one USB 2 though. It's bestbuy only. Battery is 56Wh. 

 

But, since your budget is upto $2000, you can probably get something much better for slightly more.

For Asus I was looking for the UX550VD, but couldn't find one. I suggested the UX330 since it comes with an i7, 512GB SSD and 16GB of RAM for only a couple hundred more. You liked the keyboard on the UX330CA? I've never seen one, and was worried about the build quality over something like the Surface Laptop which is also on my recommended list.

14 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Base 15" MacBook Pro with Windows loaded onto it.

Kappa.

Dell XPS 15.

Haha, don't most Apple things shit the bed when you get rid of their OS? I seem to remember them trying to test Windows on something that originally had iOs and the battery life tanking...

Sadly, no large battery means no XPS. If the smaller one was 75ish whr, sure, but all the way down to 56 is to small.

10 minutes ago, Name Taken said:

ThinkPad P51?

...that thing is a beast. Seems to meet all the criteria, though it's a little on the heavy side. I'll add it to the suggestion list.

[Drak3]

Just now, dizmo said:

Haha, don't most Apple things shit the bed when you get rid of their OS? I seem to remember them trying to test Windows on something that originally had iOs and the battery life tanking...

I've been running Win10 in parallels, still rocking a minimum 7 hour battery life when running OS X and Windows at the same time when I'm doing things like YouTube w/ skype and word open. Haven't tested Wifi in Win 10.

 

2 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Sadly, no large battery means no XPS. If the smaller one was 75ish whr, sure, but all the way down to 56 is to small.

Would a high drain, high cap battery bank be an option?

[themctipers]

Just now, dizmo said:

For Asus I was looking for the UX550VD, but couldn't find one. I suggested the UX330 since it comes with an i7, 512GB SSD and 16GB of RAM for only a couple hundred more. You liked the keyboard on the UX330CA? I've never seen one, and was worried about the build quality over something like the Surface Laptop which is also on my recommended list.

Haha, don't most Apple things shit the bed when you get rid of their OS? I seem to remember them trying to test Windows on something that originally had iOs and the battery life tanking...

Sadly, no large battery means no XPS. If the smaller one was 75ish whr, sure, but all the way down to 56 is to small.

...that thing is a beast. Seems to meet all the criteria, though it's a little on the heavy side. I'll add it to the suggestion list.

The build quality was.. acceptable. Didn't do any 'testing' as I did return all the laptops I bought. (wanted to know how ultrabooks have gotten, what a IPS screen looks on a laptop, what backlighting looks like, and how shit is the i5 7200u) I actually had gotten used to the UX330CA's chiclet keys over my G910 for typing, so there's that. Still prefer 'island' style keys; the laptop I'm using right now has that. 

I can also say the UX330CA felt more premium than the UX430UA, but I can't pinpoint that feeling to anything. They're both aluminium and felt nice and solid. The 430UA had slightly more keyboard flex though, but nothing major (you can see it dip down maybe 2mm when pushing against the keys while staring at the keyboard but nothing I had noticed when typing hard)

 

MacOS* not iOS.

MacOS is great on idle CPU management. 

[Guest]

Do you consider 1.8kg light? An Aero 14/15 might be overkill but its a random thought I had.

[themctipers]

Just now, tjcater said:

Do you consider 1.8kg light? An Aero 14/15 might be overkill but its a random thought I had.

Adding to what I posted above, 430UA felt substantially more heavier than 330CA as I was walking around on my house with the laptop on my right hand, but still pretty light when I was moving it around and a feather compared to my 6.5 pound laptop.. 

[dizmo]

5 minutes ago, themctipers said:

The build quality was.. acceptable. Didn't do any 'testing' as I did return all the laptops I bought. (wanted to know how ultrabooks have gotten, what a IPS screen looks on a laptop, what backlighting looks like, and how shit is the i5 7200u) I actually had gotten used to the UX330CA's chiclet keys over my G910 for typing, so there's that. Still prefer 'island' style keys; the laptop I'm using right now has that. 

I can also say the UX330CA felt more premium than the UX430UA, but I can't pinpoint that feeling to anything. They're both aluminium and felt nice and solid. The 430UA had slightly more keyboard flex though, but nothing major (you can see it dip down maybe 2mm when pushing against the keys while staring at the keyboard but nothing I had noticed when typing hard)

 

MacOS* not iOS.

MacOS is great on idle CPU management. 

Hmm good to know. It's pretty hard to beat spec wise and definitely wins the value award.

Haha, right. I know little of Apple.

5 minutes ago, tjcater said:

Do you consider 1.8kg light? An Aero 14/15 might be overkill but its a random thought I had.

That's about the right weight, but unfortunately the Aero is too expensive.

4 minutes ago, themctipers said:

Adding to what I posted above, 430UA felt substantially more heavier than 330CA as I was walking around on my house with the laptop on my right hand, but still pretty light when I was moving it around and a feather compared to my 6.5 pound laptop.. 

Yeah I feel ya, I've been spoiled with my 2.5 lb ultrabook.

[themctipers]

Just now, dizmo said:

Hmm good to know. It's pretty hard to beat spec wise and definitely wins the value award.

Haha, right. I know little of Apple.

That's about the right weight, but unfortunately the Aero is too expensive.

Yeah I feel ya, I've been spoiled with my 2.5 lb ultrabook.

I just wanted to try an ultrabook.. Promise!
 

I don't plan on going ultrabook as long as it has a soldered in RAM, non sata SSD (so, RIP all ultrabooks, I don't have M.2 anywhere), and good cooling. Do not care about light an thin, as long as it's not heavier than my current one.. I miss 16:10. 

 

Shit, also to mention the UX330/430 had a ANNOYING LOUD fan. 

 

 

Probably am going for a refurbished HQ/high end U series i5/i7 business laptop, or a new i5 8350u or better thonkpad. 

[ErrystioT]

You can check out Lenovo Yoga 720 15, it's on a similar boat to Dell XPS 15, just with a smaller battery (72Wh instead of 97Wh) and just at 2kg (barely 2kg exact).

[dizmo]

26 minutes ago, ErrystioT said:

You can check out Lenovo Yoga 720 15, it's on a similar boat to Dell XPS 15, just with a smaller battery (72Wh instead of 97Wh) and just at 2kg (barely 2kg exact).

Hmmm, I like the CPU but the rest of it is a little lacking compared to the P51s. I'll throw along the suggestion just in case he likes that style better though! Thanks!

2 hours ago, themctipers said:

I just wanted to try an ultrabook.. Promise!
 

I don't plan on going ultrabook as long as it has a soldered in RAM, non sata SSD (so, RIP all ultrabooks, I don't have M.2 anywhere), and good cooling. Do not care about light an thin, as long as it's not heavier than my current one.. I miss 16:10. 

 

Shit, also to mention the UX330/430 had a ANNOYING LOUD fan.
Probably am going for a refurbished HQ/high end U series i5/i7 business laptop, or a new i5 8350u or better thonkpad. 

I love my ultrabook, it does everything I need it to, and it's 5 years old

[themctipers]

17 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Hmmm, I like the CPU but the rest of it is a little lacking compared to the P51s. I'll throw along the suggestion just in case he likes that style better though! Thanks!

I love my ultrabook, it does everything I need it to, and it's 5 years old

And I have a core duo T2450.  

[dizmo]

19 hours ago, themctipers said:

And I have a core duo T2450.  

Haha, ouch!

[themctipers]

22 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Haha, ouch!

hopefully getting a new thonkpad or a decent other consumer laptop

 i5 8350u laptops come faster