To find a laptop for mostly school, hardly any gaming.

benstalls · August 20, 2021

First forum post I'm making on a Raspberry Pi in school, so that's fun.

Anyway, I'm not fond of the chromebooks my school uses. They're an updated model, but the screen is dim and Chrome OS does not have the features I want. I have been using Backmarket to look for refurbished Mac Book Pros and Think Pads. Here are my current choices so far:

Lenovo Thinkpad T460 (2016)

Mac Book Pro (2015) (Edit: This listing has changed, and is no longer the model I purchased.)

I'm trying to decide between the two, or perhaps someone on the forum has a completely different idea. I have a gaming computer at home, so I'm not at all worried about if it can game or not. My biggest needs are the Adobe Suite of products and the Eclipse Java Dev Kit, but most other things are online. I'd like the laptop so I can do other schoolwork in classes when I have free time, as I'm not fond of any online alternatives.

In the past, I would have gone windows. BUT... I know the Mac Book Pro has a great battery, great screen, lots of great everything. I also know the Think Pads are reliable too, and have way more IO.

I'm really interested in what the community will have to say. The only thing I can think of being a maybe issue is the battery being hard to replace on a Mac Book, I'd imagine. Thank you!

CustomEnchants · August 20, 2021

To be honest just get any laptop with a ryzen 4500u / 5500u and your good.

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Processor-Graphics-Included-81X20005US/dp/B086226DDB/ref=sr_1_14?dchild=1&keywords=lenovo+5500u&qid=1629479923&sr=8-14

^ Is just a example. The bang for the buck is great with either of these cpus

Darkseth · August 20, 2021

Macbook: Better Display (MUCH brighter, sharper, and 16:10. You will see more lines of Code), better Trackpad, and Unix-based System, which might be interesting for your development stuff. If needed, you can use VM for Windows/Linux, or install Windows via Bootcamp.

You get the best of all 3 Worlds.

Thinkpad: More sturdy, repairable, upgradeable, very great Keyboard, better IO, 2 batteries (one can be swapped while turned on)

In this case, you could slap in a 1TB SSD and a second 8gb Stick, and you have 16gb Ram. And if i'm not mistaken, 32gb Ram are possible (but questionable if that makes sense).

If you want something for a longer time, that can be repaired and serviced better, Thinkpad it is.

benstalls · August 25, 2021

On 8/20/2021 at 3:00 PM, Darkseth said:

Macbook: Better Display (MUCH brighter, sharper, and 16:10. You will see more lines of Code), better Trackpad, and Unix-based System, which might be interesting for your development stuff. If needed, you can use VM for Windows/Linux, or install Windows via Bootcamp.

You get the best of all 3 Worlds.

Thinkpad: More sturdy, repairable, upgradeable, very great Keyboard, better IO, 2 batteries (one can be swapped while turned on)

In this case, you could slap in a 1TB SSD and a second 8gb Stick, and you have 16gb Ram. And if i'm not mistaken, 32gb Ram are possible (but questionable if that makes sense).

If you want something for a longer time, that can be repaired and serviced better, Thinkpad it is.

Both seemed to have their ups and downs. This was hard to choose between, but I did find something that seemed really hard to pass up after the fact.

On 8/20/2021 at 12:20 PM, CustomEnchants said:

To be honest just get any laptop with a ryzen 4500u / 5500u and your good.

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Processor-Graphics-Included-81X20005US/dp/B086226DDB/ref=sr_1_14?dchild=1&keywords=lenovo+5500u&qid=1629479923&sr=8-14

^ Is just a example. The bang for the buck is great with either of these cpus

This was a good idea, honestly. I have 2200G in my Desktop PC, and even today it's an amazing little quad core machine.

I ended up finding an amazing deal on an i7 2.8GHz (4.0 Boost) Dual Graphics MacBook Pro 15" with 16GB of ram and the 512GB SSD. I could get a way bigger one down the line, too. It was only slightly more expensive than the Lenovo Think pad I had listed, too.

It was also a matter of wanting to try something new, because I haven't touched macOS or any real Apple device in YEARS.

I expect it to be plenty powerful for my scholarly needs, and now maybe even some intermediate Premiere Pro and Photoshop. The IO on these 2015 models are plentiful as well. Bootcamp seems to make it the ultimate productivity machine, I'll definitely get that just in case. This 2015 model in particular seems to be praised amongst the Apple community. 30 Day money back guarantee anyway... So even though I think I'll like it, I won't be dead in the water if things go a little crazy.

GeorgeMKane · August 25, 2021

There's also this one. It's actually being sold by Amazon for $489.99 (you have to go through the "Used & New" bit to find them).

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Processor-Graphics-82KT00AMUS/dp/B08YKDYWK5/

Both the storage and the RAM (one of the sticks) can be upgraded.

benstalls · August 27, 2021

Laptop got here today. No scams, and the correct model came, just needed a little extra cleaning. I really hope this small thread finds its way to someone in need, because I'm sure many people like me are displeased with their school laptop.

Although, just in case... I'll say that I'm 110% aware that the school can't buy everyone Mac Books. I took the not-problem and made it one, but I know this laptop will last me a good long while. Thank you to everyone who contributed too! There are so many good mobile AMD options out there, it's crazy the bang for your buck you can get.