Laptop for College (CS) needed! 2000$ Budget!

[Cocijo]

Hey!

 

I start studying Computer Science in October, so naturally I'll need a laptop.

At home I do have a fairly powerful desktop pc, but I have no idea what laptop to get..

 

 

Things I definitely want:

 

long battery life

• I'd prefer not to bother with finding an outlet, especially since I'll mostly use it for school stuff (taking notes, doing presentations, but also programming!)
• but no heavy work like video rendering or gaming

lightweight and thin

• I'll be carrying it with me everywhere, everyday, and I'd prefer not to have that be a pain in the ass back 
• meaning: less than 2kg!

long lasting (new) hardware

• right now I still work full time, so paying up to 2000 bucks for a laptop is manageable for me. Once I start studying, that won't be the case however.
• meaning: It has to last for 3 years, and feel good by doing so. Buying an 8th generation i5/i7 makes sense to me for that reason. The extra cores are gonna come in handy!

Windows

• Maybe Linux as a dual boot setup, but no Mac OS.

Reliable Build Quality

• I don't need some rugged outdoor/ military system, but I'd prefer something metal, not plastic. Doesn't have to be much of a looker either. Just has to work.

 

 

Things I definitely won't need/ don't want:

 

A dedicated GPU

• Like I said, I won't be doing any graphicly intense stuff like CAD, video editing or gaming on this,
• at worse I'll be playing some Jackbox (really fun party game you play mostly on your phone), but that's nothing onboard graphics can't handle!

good trackpad

• I absolutely HATE trackpads, meaning I'll always carry a mouse with me anyways. I do want a nice keyboard though...

2in1 capabilities

• I'm not a huge fun of the way 2in1s hinges seem to be...... quite... loose all the time. Can't really describe it.
• Anyway: Don't need it, don't want it. just standard clamshell design is fine for me!

Touchscreen

• It's not like I'm actively trying to avoid it, so if it has one that's fine, but I won't use it. Just gonna get dirty and wobble. 

Paying upwards of 2000$

• From what I've seen it's not necessary. I technically could, If I really wanted to, but I honestly don't see the point. 

 

Things I'm not so sure about what I need:

 

screen size

• I've had recommendations from friends to go with 13', since that's more portable and also works better with the limited space of auditorium desks,
• but then again I'm kind of a big guy with equally big hands, and I'm afraid I'll just be getting frustrated with the 13'.

RAM

• I'm kind of a tab hoarder, meaning 16gb would be nice, but I'm pretty sure I could make 8 work. kind of depends on the price and the hardware that goes with it.

CPU power

• I'll not necessarily need the most advanced CPU for the tasks themselves, but having that extra bit of responsiveness, as well as a decrease, if tiny, of compiling time could be nice. Also great for longevity!
• On the other hand, one of the "U" processors could be nice, considering it is far less taxing on battery.

 

 

Here's the systems that seem to fit my needs I found so far:

 

LG Gram (2018 edition!)

What I like:

• great weight
• great battery

What I don't like:

• kind of seems wobbly
• Import => bad/ no customer support

 

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro

What I like:

• battery
• sturdy

What I don't like:

• kind of on the heavy side
• Import => bad/ no customer support

XPS 13/15 (2018 edition!)

What I like:

• sturdy
• the 13' is very light...

What I don't like:

• ...but the 15' is rather heavy
• battery is mediocre compared to the others

 

Any other systems you can recommend that roughly fit my need?

 

I'm thankful for any and all suggestions!

 

Laptops are just waaaay different then when I build my desktop. Kind of easy to throw in all the best stuff and be done with it. Can't really do that with a Laptop 

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

7 minutes ago, Cocijo said:

RAM

• I'm kind of a tab hoarder, meaning 16gb would be nice, but I'm pretty sure I could make 8 work. kind of depends on the price and the hardware that goes with it.

what kind of tab hoarder are you? are we talking 20 tabs or 50?

 

9 minutes ago, Cocijo said:

CPU power

• I'll not necessarily need the most advanced CPU for the tasks themselves, but having that extra bit of responsiveness, as well as a decrease, if tiny, of compiling time could be nice. Also great for longevity!
• On the other hand, one of the "U" processors could be nice, considering it is far less taxing on battery.

https://ark.intel.com/products/122589/Intel-Core-i7-8550U-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_00-GHz

quad core, hyperthreading and 15W TDP. sounds like what you want. look for laptops with that chip. 

 

seems about equal to last gen's 7700HQ, which was 45W TDP.

https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/search?utf8=✓&q=8550U

https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/search?utf8=✓&q=7700HQ

 

14 minutes ago, Cocijo said:

screen size

• I've had recommendations from friends to go with 13', since that's more portable and also works better with the limited space of auditorium desks,
• but then again I'm kind of a big guy with equally big hands, and I'm afraid I'll just be getting frustrated with the 13'.

i have kinda big hands too, and i use a 15" MacBook Pro. it's nice to have a place for my wrists. if you have the chance to use a 13" laptop for a little bit, maybe ask a friend or something, try to find out if you can have your hands and wrists in a comfortable position for typing on a 13"... if you can't just get a 15". 

 

i can't really give you recommendations on specific laptops, because i'm not too familiar with them as well.

[Cocijo]

42 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

what kind of tab hoarder are you? are we talking 20 tabs or 50?

 

On my Desktop? 50 sometimes, but not usually. More like 30-40.  But 50 is pretty close to the max it can handle. I often force myself to just close everything and start over. Way too annoying to have tabs freeze on me all the time. Also  Might actually be a good thing to have less RAM so I'll be forced to break bad habits, so to speak.

 

59 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

https://ark.intel.com/products/122589/Intel-Core-i7-8550U-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_00-GHz

quad core, hyperthreading and 15W TDP. sounds like what you want. look for laptops with that chip. 

Looks like the perfect one. Both the LG Gram and the Xiaomi already run that one, so that's great 

 

1 hour ago, firelighter487 said:

i have kinda big hands too, and i use a 15" MacBook Pro. it's nice to have a place for my wrists. if you have the chance to use a 13" laptop for a little bit, maybe ask a friend or something, try to find out if you can have your hands and wrists in a comfortable position for typing on a 13"... if you can't just get a 15". 

Great idea! It never even occurred to me that the keyboard will be cramped too on a 13'.

Only ever thought about screen size so yeah I'll definitely try that!

[TLCH723]

For CS, you probably will be programming so a 15 inch is better so you can still read without going blind using split screen

 

What your location? Since you need import the LG Gram

[Cocijo]

2 minutes ago, TLCH723 said:

 

What your location? Since you need import the LG Gram

Germany.

 

Their local website doesn't list a single laptop. Kinda weird if you ask me. Their UK website lists it though, so I might get it from them. Certainly better than importing it straight from the states  

 

7 minutes ago, TLCH723 said:

For CS, you probably will be programming so a 15 inch is better so you can still read without going blind using split screen

You sound like you have some experience with programming, any idea what else I'd need in a laptop?

I'm assuming the 8550U is powerful enough, but what about RAM? any need for 16gb?

[genexis_x]

1 hour ago, firelighter487 said:

seems about equal to last gen's 7700HQ

KBL-R needs great cooling and unlocked TDP to match 7700HQ performance which most laptops don't have

 

@Cocijo if you want anything below 2kg with good battery life and powerful components, you have to sacrifice on cooling

[TLCH723]

1 minute ago, Cocijo said:

You sound like you have some experience with programming, any idea what else I'd need in a laptop?

I'm assuming the 8550U is powerful enough, but what about RAM? any need for 16gb?

Depend on what you are programming. Machine and deep learning required GPU and ton of RAM. If you are starting out, anything will work.

 

Also get a good keyboard

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

16 minutes ago, Cocijo said:

On my Desktop? 50 sometimes, but not usually. More like 30-40.  But 50 is pretty close to the max it can handle. I often force myself to just close everything and start over. Way too annoying to have tabs freeze on me all the time. Also  Might actually be a good thing to have less RAM so I'll be forced to break bad habits, so to speak.

8 might be really cramped, as i see 6gb used very often on my desktop with a few background apps running and 2 or 3 tabs... 

especially if you want to use it for a few years go with 16... chrome loves ram a lot

 

17 minutes ago, Cocijo said:

Looks like the perfect one. Both the LG Gram and the Xiaomi already run that one, so that's great 

oh yeah didn't check that. i just know a load of intel chips specs.

 

18 minutes ago, Cocijo said:

Great idea! It never even occurred to me that the keyboard will be cramped too on a 13'.

Only ever thought about screen size so yeah I'll definitely try that!

yeah if you have big hands definitely check if a 13" is comfortable.. i don't have much experience with them because my eyes are bad, so 15" is really the only option for me. 

i don't know how big your hands are, me personally i have used 13" and 14" laptops from time to time and it was fine, but my 15" is definitely more comfortable for me. 

 

4 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

KBL-R needs great cooling and unlocked TDP to match 7700HQ performance which most laptops don't have

oh okay. i didn't know that. i just looked at benchmarks. 

[Cocijo]

8 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

if you want anything below 2kg with good battery life and powerful components, you have to sacrifice on cooling

How I understand the workloads I'll be having, this shouldn't be an issue. with only peaks of needed power, a system that has high potential speed but gets hot over time seems to be perfect. Able to be quick and responsive as well as compile every once and again could be invaluable, with the only drawback being something that won't happen ever. In theory that sounds great....

 

13 minutes ago, TLCH723 said:

Depend on what you are programming. Machine and deep learning required GPU and ton of RAM. If you are starting out, anything will work.

Aren't the Quadro cards meant for deep learning? Would be kinda silly for a University to expect such things. Pretty sure I won't need that.  And if I did, I always have my desktop.

 

10 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

8 might be really cramped, as i see 6gb used very often on my desktop with a few background apps running and 2 or 3 tabs... 

especially if you want to use it for a few years go with 16... chrome loves ram a lot

16gb it is 8 would probably be a mistake considering my level of self control

[Tarun10]

I guess your best bet is getting an ultrabook with an i7-8550U with 16GB RAM. The chip is really decent provided thermal design is somewhat adequate. I don't open many tabs I barely have three open at once but I think it could handle about 30 tabs. For best build quality and performance I think the Dell XPS is your best bet. You can easily get better battery life and thermals with a few changes to settings and undervolting. I reduced temperatures on my Envy x360 from close to 85C to 65-70C in Prime95.

[TLCH723]

39 minutes ago, Cocijo said:

Aren't the Quadro cards meant for deep learning? Would be kinda silly for a University to expect such things. Pretty sure I won't need that.  And if I did, I always have my desktop.

The best bang for the buck card is the 1060 6GB for deep learning. However, if you have a huge dataset, then the quadro with its 32GB of VRAM will help. These, of course, are for desktop usage

[Jbonn386]

Thinkpad T580 or an X1 carbon they have great keyboard and are built to mil specs.

[genexis_x]

I'll suggest Thinkpad P52 but it's a bit bulky

[ChocolateNachos]

I would do a Thinkpad P52s or P52.