Laptop for college

[Jackestrel]

My old laptop died and I'm looking for a new one for college. Will be majoring in Cyber Forensics/Security

 

Care about: (not requirements just preferences)

Looking for something under 900$

Smallish screen size (like smaller than 15") kinda light

Preferably not touch screen or 2 in 1 but IDC a whole lot (I feel like these tend to break easier)

somewhere near or above 250gb ssd

Quad-core for vm's or something

Wifi Card w/ monitor mode

more than one usb

 

Don't care about:

battery life

Gpu

 

was looking at 

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ZenBook-Ultra-Slim-i5-8250U-UX331UA-AS51/dp/B07FW7D635/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

and 

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-Touchscreen-Computer-Quad-Core/dp/B07D56W5KF/ref=pd_day0_hl_147_2/138-0007551-4354579?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07D56W5KF&pd_rd_r=dc084b55-652f-11e9-94bd-393e388bbf8d&pd_rd_w=ebFN5&pd_rd_wg=ybL4S&pf_rd_p=ad07871c-e646-4161-82c7-5ed0d4c85b07&pf_rd_r=N97T0XT3PKBQ91K6N49F&psc=1&refRID=N97T0XT3PKBQ91K6N49F#customerReviews

 

Thanks!

[Chevrolet]

That Dell looks pretty good. Has two USB A ports, which is good.

[Jackestrel]

2 minutes ago, Chevrolet said:

That Dell looks pretty good. Has two USB A ports, which is good.

Yeah, I just am not sure about the 2 in 1. I feel like they break a lot

[Chevrolet]

4 minutes ago, Jackestrel said:

Yeah, I just am not sure about the 2 in 1. I feel like they break a lot

I have an Acer 2-in-one and the only issue I ever had with the screen was it being low resolution, like 1366*768. The hinge never broke. If it bothers you just never use it in tablet mode. That Dell looks to have a decent screen, the Asus looks good too. I've had good luck with both brands but the engineering firm I worked for uses Inspirons and XPS laptops and they rarely have issues, maybe some issues with the thermal paste but that's easy enough to replace. 

[Flamerenter]

hMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM I'd say get the ASUS bc it's hella light and convenient, dell is good too. 

[genexis_x]

10 hours ago, Jackestrel said:

kinda light

Max weight preferred in kg/lbs? Mind low sRGB display and non-upgradable RAM?

[Jackestrel]

14 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Max weight preferred in kg/lbs? Mind low sRGB display and non-upgradable RAM?

somewhere around 3lbs (2-4) 

don't care about sRGB

and I *probably* won't be upgrading my RAM I think 8 would be enough although it certainly would be an upside if possible

 

Thanks for the Reply!

[Basher17]

Hey, I had more or less your same requirements when I bought my laptop last year as I was looking for sonething portable, for college. 

I ended up choosing an asus zenbook ux331un (the i7 version) and I have to say that it's a great machine to get things done without frills. It doesn't have thunderbolt ports or other fancy things like displayport/audio transfer other the type-c connector, the SSD is just sata3 and the matte screen is just average. 

However, it is incredibly thin and lightweight, the build is super-solid (thanks to the all-alluminium chassis), the typing experience on the keyboard is amazing (no flexes at the center) and the touchpad is large and gives a great feedback (it's glass-aluminum). 

It could not be the best-looking laptop around, but it's just perfect to get things done effectively

[genexis_x]

Lenovo Thinkpad T480 customize*

Lenovo Thinkpad L390 customize, L480 customize*

Lenovo Thinkpad A485 customize*#

Lenovo Thinkpad E490s customize, E490 customize*, E485 customize*#

Lenovo Ideapad 530s 15 81EV009UUS

Acer Swift 3 SF315-52-52YN* / 51NV*, SF314-54-53BQ / 56L8

Dell Vostro 14 5471/5481#, Vostro 13 5370#

Dell Inspiron 14 7472# - good sRGB IPS

 

*manual SSD upgrade

#below average battery life

 

Upgrade RAM by yourself if not enough