Laptop needed for university

[GrayTech]

Looking to buy a new laptop for university in Germany. At first I wanted to get a Framework laptop but the price difference between USD and EUR is larger then I expected it to be. The configuration I was intreseted in is about 1200$ in the US without RAM/SSD/OS which would be 1065€. Of course it is very expensive to bring these devices into other countries but the exact same configuration costs about 1400€! Before pulling the trigger on any device I would like to get some recommendations. Should I get the Framework laptop anyways or are there better alternatives?

 

Requirements:

13-14 inch display

decent port selection including at least one Type A port

16GB RAM or less if upgradable 

500GB NVME or less if upgradable

decent build quality/touchpad/keyboard

reasonable powerful CPU

Touchscreen is always a plus but not necessary 

 

As for the CPU I'm not 100% sure what to get. AMD seems a good option since they pack an integrated Vega GPU. Ryzen 5/Core i5 is the minimum I would get but I think I would greatly benifit from R7/i7.

Most of the work I do is standard student stuff like writing papers, takes notes, researching on the internet, but I'll do some coding, light simulation and small CAD projects with it.

It is hard to tell how much demanding these tasks will be since our projects will get more demanding over time. Also remoting into my desktop is also an option.

 

I'm open for laptop recommendations but also some input on which CPU is recommended would be great. I haven't been keeping up with mobile hardware in the last few years.

[HQuan]

There's bunch on Amazon and eBay. Check 'em out!

 

[Devryd]

I just ordered my framework in germany. Its not as much more expensive as it seems, because there are no taxes added in the US. If you go for a diy version and get the RAM/SSD seperately you can save a lot of money. I went for a 1tb ssd with pcie 3 instead of 4 and that is cheaper than the framework 500gb ssd. You can also save a lot of money by buying your own windows key (if you need windows) 

[GrayTech]

18 hours ago, Devryd said:

I just ordered my framework in germany. Its not as much more expensive as it seems, because there are no taxes added in the US. If you go for a diy version and get the RAM/SSD seperately you can save a lot of money. I went for a 1tb ssd with pcie 3 instead of 4 and that is cheaper than the framework 500gb ssd. You can also save a lot of money by buying your own windows key (if you need windows) 

Oh i completely forgot that the US does this weird thing with its taxes. I'll get an SSD and RAM by myself. As for the OS I will be installing Linux. Which CPU did you get?

[Devryd]

I got the i5. I looked at benchmarks and the performance difference isnt that big and wasnt worth the extra 370€. Hopefully there will be new mainboards, by the time I need more performance