Laptop for college, around $1000?

[Bill56]

Hello, I've been trying to decide for a while know what laptop I should get for college. After a lot of searching, I came up with these criteria: Around $1000, 4k display, > 256GB SSD, touch-screen, decent enough processor (I'm not planning on gaming or editing), and a nice to type one keyboard. This eventually led me to a bunch of 2 in 1s. However, I'm not sure I really need a 2 in 1. I plan to use it mostly for school work, video/movie watching, and other general purposes, nothing too intensive. The touchscreen is more of a novelty than anything else because I don't have any graphic design needs. Above all, however, I would like it to last throughout college, which is why my budget is a bit bigger than I usually would be willing to spend on a laptop. I would rather have one very nice laptop for four years, than a few "ok" laptops over the same time period. The few that have stood out to me have been the Surface laptop 2, Surface book 2, Xps 13, and Xps 13 2 in 1. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Avve1000]

none of those mentioned are 4k, having 4k on a laptop is not just expensive af but also unreasonable, useless. The screen is so small so it doesnt matter if its 1440p or 4k. 

[genexis_x]

1 hour ago, Bill56 said:

4k display

Why 4k display?

 

Where are you from? Any preference on display size and battery life? Mind non-upgradable RAM?

[Bill56]

3 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Where are you from? Any preference on display size and battery life? Mind non-upgradable RAM?

If there isn't a discernable difference, I would absolutely be willing to forgo the 4k. I've always used desktops, so I'm not very well versed in the laptop scene. I'm American. I would be ok with anything between around 12 inches to at most 15. I would also prefer if the battery lasted for the better part of the day, so I wouldn't need to charge it in between classes. And once again, I've only built desktops and I don't know much about laptop components, so I would not mind at all if it was not upgradeable. (Sorry for the double post, this is my first time using this forum and I'm not sure how to delete the other one.)

[genexis_x]

8 hours ago, Bill56 said:

I would also prefer if the battery lasted for the better part of the day, so I wouldn't need to charge it in between classes

Min how many hours of battery life?

[Bill56]

6 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Min how many hours of battery life?

I guess around 7 or 8 would be nice. Also, I did some more searching and found some new info. I posted this to a separate thread: Hello, I've been looking for a college laptop and just noticed that Dell is currently running a 15% off purchase promotion. My budget is $1000 (not including tax) and there are two configurations that fall within. The first has an i5-8265u, 4GB DDR3, 128GB PCIe SSD (which I figure I can add to with a micros sd card), and an FHD 1080p display for $832.99. The second has the same processor, 8Gb DDR3, a 256GB SSD, and the same screen for $1000. Are the differences enough to make the more expensive worth it? If it's cheaper to buy the less expensive one and upgrade the ram and storage myself, I would do that, assuming it's not much more difficult than doing the same in a desktop. (I only have build experience with desktops.) Also, that is assuming its possible to upgrade the 9380 without breaking anything. I would appreciate a response, as I'm not sure how long this promotion will last. Thanks!

[Bill56]

Hello, I've been looking for a college laptop and just noticed that Dell is currently running a 15% off purchase promotion. My budget is $1000 (not including tax) and there are two configurations that fall within. The first has an i5-8265u, 4GB DDR3, 128GB PCIe SSD (which I figure I can add to with a micros sd card), and an FHD 1080p display for $832.99. The second has the same processor, 8Gb DDR3, a 256GB SSD, and the same screen for $1000. Are the differences enough to make the more expensive worth it? If it's cheaper to buy the less expensive one and upgrade the ram (I'm not sure if the Ram upgrade would be necessary because I don't intend to use this for anything intensive, just school work, movie/video watching, and other general purposes, no gaming or editing) and storage myself, I would do that, assuming it's not much more difficult than doing the same in a desktop. (I only have build experience with desktops.) Also, that is assuming its possible to upgrade the 9380 without breaking anything. I would appreciate a response, as I'm not sure how long this promotion will last. Thanks! 

Edit: Having done some more research it seems that the SSD is upgradeable, however, the ram is soldered in. So if I assume that I am going to get the cheaper one and upgrade the SSD, is 4GB of ram enough?

[Deep Fried Mars Bar]

At the $1000 dollar limit ur probs better going inspiron, you can get way more pc for $1000, XPS puts the price up nearly as much as a apple sticker,

and no chrome (or any browser will eat 4gb ram for breakfast

Edited April 27, 2019 by Deep Fried Mars Bar
forgot to answer question about ram

[Theguywhobea]

4GB of RAM is not enough, I wouldn't consider anything with less than 8GB's of RAM. Especially at that price.

[Bill56]

1 hour ago, Deep Fried Mars Bar said:

 

At the $1000 dollar limit ur probs better going inspiron, you can get way more pc for $1000, XPS puts the price up nearly as much as a apple sticker,

 

Do you think Inspiron is still better if I don’t need it for more than docs, videos, movies, and similar tasks? I was also interested in ultrabook, although I did look at the Inspirons and they are remarkably light, some even below the three pound mark. 

[DarkDragon2K04]

I feel you should wait for a month because with the wave of upcoming laptops with amazing prices you will get much more bang for your buck from them unlock this xps for such an outrageous price with only 4gb ram

[genexis_x]

Why limited to XPS 13? You won't get good config with $1000

 

There are other good options too

[Bill56]

16 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Why limited to XPS 13?

I thought the deal was very good, but if I could have a similar quality ultrabook with better specs (while still being quiet and not overkill for my purposes) I would love to get that.

[Bill56]

1 hour ago, DarkDragon2K04 said:

I feel you should wait for a month because with the wave of upcoming laptops with amazing prices you will get much more bang for your buck from them unlock this xps for such an outrageous price with only 4gb ram

Would you recommend getting a laptop that is out now once the new ones come out and the prices drop or getting a new one with better specs for a similar price to what I would be paying now? Also, do you know specifically which brand/type of laptops are coming out?

[DarkDragon2K04]

34 minutes ago, Bill56 said:

Would you recommend getting a laptop that is out now once the new ones come out and the prices drop or getting a new one with better specs for a similar price to what I would be paying now? Also, do you know specifically which brand/type of laptops are coming out?

I recommend getting the new ones for a similar price. Most top companies are bringing out laptops very soon mostly with the release of intel's 9th gen mobile processors and the nvidia  gtx 16 series laptop gpus.

[Bill56]

2 hours ago, DarkDragon2K04 said:

I recommend getting the new ones for a similar price. Most top companies are bringing out laptops very soon mostly with the release of intel's 9th gen mobile processors and the nvidia  gtx 16 series laptop gpus.

Ok. Do you have any specific releases in mind or is May just a time when new ones are generally released?

[DarkDragon2K04]

25 minutes ago, Bill56 said:

Ok. Do you have any specific releases in mind or is May just a time when new ones are generally released?

The ROG Zephyrus G GA502 with a ryzen 7 3750h and gtx 1660ti

[Bill56]

2 hours ago, DarkDragon2K04 said:

ROG Zephyrus G GA502 with a ryzen 7 3750h and gtx 1660ti

Thanks. I’ll look into that

 

Edit: I did some research on that laptop and it seems like an excellent, portable gaming oriented laptop. However, I think it may be a bit overkill for my purposes. I was also hoping for something a bit more discrete. Sorry for the continued posts, I just want to make sure I get the right one.

 

 

[Bill56]

Also, is there a particular time that is best for buying laptops? I know there are deals around late July and early August. I also know the prices for the older models generally go down when new ones are released, however I couldn’t find any info about new releases from Dell, Microsoft, Lenovo, etc. 

[Bill56]

Hi, I recently made a couple of posts about buying an ultrabook for college. I Received some great advice and recommendations, however, I'm still not sure when to buy. It would kill me if I jumped the gun and bought one now, only to have a newer version released a month from now. I know it's not an exact science, but generally, I think the rule is that once a newer model is released the now older models go down and the newer ones assume a similar price. If this is true I would, of course, wait for new versions to come out and then buy what is out now for a lower price or buy the newer one with better specs for a similar price to what I would be paying now. Unfortunately, the only information I could find about upcoming releases was on Dell's "coming soon" page which says a new Xps 13 will be released in September, which is too late since I need it for college. So ultimately what I'm asking is, if there is nothing new coming out in the next month or so which would drop prices, should I just buy something that's out now?

[genexis_x]

No one will know what models will come out

 

Ask again for recommendations when you're buying. Or buy now

[Bill56]

17 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Ask again for recommendations when you're buying. Or buy now

Ok, thanks.

[genexis_x]

On 4/27/2019 at 11:55 PM, Bill56 said:

I thought the deal was very good, but if I could have a similar quality ultrabook with better specs (while still being quiet and not overkill for my purposes) I would love to get that.

Unless you need a super bright display, you can choose other options other than XPS 13. Quality wise, many models have good build quality while QC is still consumer grade so not much different here

 

Any preference on weight, battery life and display size? Mind low sRGB display and non-upgradable RAM?

[Bill56]

On 4/30/2019 at 4:23 AM, GeneXiS_X said:

Any preference on weight, battery life and display size? Mind low sRGB display and non-upgradable RAM?

I would prefer something on the lighter side, maybe about 3.5 pounds and under, I would like the battery to last around 5 hours, and I would like a 13-inch display. I'm not too sure about sRGB, but if that determines the picture quality, I would like that to be on the nicer side. Also, if there is at least 8GB of ram, I don't mind if it's not upgradable.

[Chokichi]

Have you considered the Surface Laptop 2? From all I've read above, it seems like portability and battery life are your top priorities. The Surface Laptop 2 with an i5, 8 GB RAM, and 128 GB storage is $999. It has a 2256 x 1504 display, touch screen, and incredible battery life. It should more than meet your needs and as a student you can probably get a discount.