Looking for ~1500NZD laptop for school.

[AfricaByToto]

Hey, I'm looking for a new laptop for around $1500 (NZD), preferably from PB Tech, as they are local but am open to any other alternatives.

 

I'll be using this laptop for school, as my old laptop struggles to make it halfway through the day, so battery life is a priority for me, as well as decent performance so any light photo editing or similar activities that I may have to do aren't an issue.

 

I appreciate the help, cheers.

[Bombastinator]

No idea what a NZ dollarisworthatthemoment.  There was a time when it wasn’t much. It seems to have gotten better though. Perhaps pcpartpicker has an NZ setting.

[AfricaByToto]

42 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

No idea what a NZ dollarisworthatthemoment.  There was a time when it wasn’t much. It seems to have gotten better though. Perhaps pcpartpicker has an NZ setting.

I put a link to a NZ website that I'd prefer to buy from, everything is in NZD. PCpartpicker does have an NZ setting but afaik it doesn't show build quality, battery life etc. of laptops.

[Bombastinator]

3 hours ago, AfricaByToto said:

I put a link to a NZ website that I'd prefer to buy from, everything is in NZD. PCpartpicker does have an NZ setting but afaik it doesn't show build quality, battery life etc. of laptops.

Build quality is, I understand, a big deal for college laptops.  It’s reason Apple does so well there.

 

you probably want the most rugged spill proof drop resistant thing you can find.  The more you spendin that though the less power you get though so it becomes a question of how much power you need.  Ifitsjustwritingpapers and taking notes the answer is almost none, so some used ruggedized thing would be the buy.  Tablets with a Bluetooth keyboard can actually be better for that.  Apple tablets in particular work well with their stylus.  Better than anything else.  The next closest thing is the surface series.  They’re famous for good styluses too,though you can’t draw pictures well with them.  The base m1 MacBook (which is the lowest end MacBook I would consider going with) seems to be a few hundred over budget. The surface that is in budget though is the surface go! Which I know nothing about.  An iPad Air 4thgen with a pencil2 and a Bluetooth keyboard is pretty close to $NZ 1500 when all is said and done. I don’t know if a tablet will work for you though.  I also don’t know what your power needs are.

 

if you do windupbuyig an m1 air there is a cute trick where you turn the bottom of the case into a heat sink with a thermal pad.  It makes the thing not so great in your lap because hot bottom, but the thing will boost fora long time.  It’s actually better than the one with the fan except there’s No fan. Totally silent machine.