Laptop Options for University

[bellabichon]

Hi all,

 

I'm looking for a new laptop to replace my aging Surface Pro 4. I'd like it to last for at around the next 5 years, as I want to keep it all through university and hopefully beyond.

 

Budget is around $2000-2500 CAD, but is somewhat flexible. 

 

My basic requirements are:

• i5 or i7 / AMD equivalent (min 4 cores, hyperthreading preferred)
• 16GB RAM
• Integrated graphics is fine, it's going to be used for primarily schoolwork
• 512GB SSD
• 13"-14" screen (15" is too big to be easily portable IMO), 1080p or higher resolution 
• Good battery life, should last at least a full day in school (like 6-8 hours ish)

So far, some options I've been looking at are:

1. ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9
2. XPS 13 Laptop
3. 13-inch MacBook Air

Any thoughts on these models? Any other ones I should be considering? All input is super helpful, so thanks in advance. 

[Acid Panda]

I would say Dell or the Mac. Maybe wait to see what apple does with their Air lineup with the new M1 chips

[JLO64]

If you don't mind me asking, what is your major? If your workload involves light word processing any of these laptops will be fine, but if you're something like a CS or architecture major then the picture changes.

 

As for my recommendation, for your budget the Framework laptop would be my number one recommendation. It's designed to be a repairable laptop (iFixit gave it a 10/10), but it also has plenty of other features as a result. It's repairable, upgradable, and customizable. internally it has four thunderbolt ports which can be connected to its ports which can be swapped out for a variety of other ports and expansion cards. It also has a good webcam (god I hate zoom), fingerprint reader, screen, and amazing Linux support. It's also worth noting that the guy who owns this forum dumped a quarter of a million into the company making this product. (Video1, Video2)

 

Between this laptop and all your other options, this one will easily last the longest just because of how repairable it is and the parts availability it has straight from the manufacturer. In the future you will be able to swap out the mainboard for another one so your 2021 laptop i7 can eventually be replaced with a 2025 laptop i7. (technically you can already do this but there's not much point in doing so)

 

The main issue with this laptop is that as of right now it's taking them a while to fulfill their orders. It's not video game console bad, but it will take over a month for it to ship. It's also worth noting that they aren't shipping to Europe or Asia yet. Additionally I've heard mixed things about battery life which is one of your main concerns. However, it does charge over USB-C so if you use a battery bank for your devices on the go like I do you should be fine.

 

From your list I would probably go with the M1 MacBook. It's the most powerful, battery efficient, and you can get a discount on it as a Uni student. However, as an apple product repairablity is not ideal. Then there's the question of the Operating System. MacOS is great for certain things, but not if you want to run Windows or Windows programs.

[bellabichon]

2 hours ago, Acid Panda said:

I would say Dell or the Mac. Maybe wait to see what apple does with their Air lineup with the new M1 chips

Thanks for the reply, and good point about the new M1 lineup. I’ll definitely take a raincheck and see if I can wait ‘till a refreshed Air model launches. 

[bellabichon]

1 hour ago, JLO64 said:

If you don't mind me asking, what is your major?

Thanks for the reply. Major is most likely gonna be general humanities/polisci so I don’t need a crazy GPU for CAD or anything, but I would like something that can handle some photo/video editing. 
 

That laptop you linked to looks like a really interesting product, but I’m not sure I can wait a month to get a unit tbh. I’ll definitely keep it in mind as I keep looking. 

[JLO64]

1 hour ago, bellabichon said:

Major is most likely gonna be general humanities/polisci

With a major like that what should probably be your top priority is comfort. If you can, try and head over to a local Best Buy or electronics store and try and sample the keyboards of the laptops you're considering. Different people have different preferences and I would imagine you're gonna spend a bunch of time typing essays on it.

 

With regards to the Framework laptop, here's a link to a graph some Reddit users made about how long it took them to get it delivered. Overall, not bad but not great.

[Imbadatnames]

For Uni probably a MacBook. 
 

A base 14” pro just squeaks into your budget by C$1 and in my opinion is worth the money over the air. More ports, especially for uni as it has a HDMI out and photography as it has a SD slot. Also has significantly more grunt along with more ram and storage as standard.