Anyone got any laptop recommendations for my use case?

[KieranThePCGuy]

HI all,

 

I'm currently looking for a laptop for my University studies next year and struggling to come across some compelling options. I just wanted to ask the fellow LTT community if they have any recommendations for my use case scenario. I plan to slap in a 120GB Evo anyway to speed things up.

 

Requirements

• Powerful enough for Office and Web Browsing and Watching Media - YouTube, HD Video etc.
• Under £500
• Good Build Quality
• Great Portability (Not of that thick stuff)
• Good Battery Life - 4+ Hours Preferably
• Touch Screen

While I would like a good screen too it's not an necessity. I just want a laptop that is fast for my use case, won't slow down though my lectures or run out of battery. The cheaper the better! I have a current rig where I will do most of my work on, it's just a laptop would be handy for portability.

 

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated!

[solosdk]

The only things that I can think of that comes under that price and perform great are the following:

 

iPad Air with a Keyboard Case (£435):

 

- Powerful enough for Office and web browsing, watching media

- Is under £500

- Has good build quality

- Has GREAT portability

- Has an EXCELLENT battery life - 8-12 hours average

- Touch screen

- http://goo.gl/L0YJcA - Keyboard case (£36)

 

You have two options here:

 

You get the whole iWork suite for free with this. That means Pages (Word), Numbers (Excel) and finally Keynote (PowerPoint). 

 

You can also get the Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps from the App Store but they require an Office 365 University subscription for full functionality which I believe is around £55 for 4 years

 

You may also get a small discount on the iPad Air if purchasing as a Uni student.

 

Surface 2 with Type Cover (£469): 

 

- Meets all of your requirements

- Not as portable as the Air

- Not as long lasting as the Air

- Offers better expansion (USB 3 ports etc)

- Has a built-in kickstand and comes with Office apps free

 

This picture sums up the differences: 

 

 

You can read the whole article here: http://blog.laptopmag.com/ipad-air-vs-surface-2

 

Personally I'd go with the iPad Air, because you want it to do the job for you right? And it comes at a better value than the Surface (with keyboard), but 16GB less storage space. But you have various online storage apps to solve this problem. You have two options of Office Suites to choose from and a much better App Store/Accessories selection to choose from.

 

In the end it's your choice!

[KieranThePCGuy]

The only things that I can think of that comes under that price and perform great are the following:

 

iPad Air with a Keyboard Case (£435):

 

- Powerful enough for Office and web browsing, watching media

- Is under £500

- Has good build quality

- Has GREAT portability

- Has an EXCELLENT battery life - 8-12 hours average

- Touch screen

- http://goo.gl/L0YJcA - Keyboard case (£36)

 

You have two options here:

 

You get the whole iWork suite for free with this. That means Pages (Word), Numbers (Excel) and finally Keynote (PowerPoint). 

 

You can also get the Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps from the App Store but they require an Office 365 University subscription for full functionality which I believe is around £55 for 4 years

 

You may also get a small discount on the iPad Air if purchasing as a Uni student.

 

Surface 2 with Type Cover (£469): 

 

- Meets all of your requirements

- Not as portable as the Air

- Not as long lasting as the Air

- Offers better expansion (USB 3 ports etc)

- Has a built-in kickstand and comes with Office apps free

 

This picture sums up the differences: 

 

You can read the whole article here: http://blog.laptopmag.com/ipad-air-vs-surface-2

 

Personally I'd go with the iPad Air, because you want it to do the job for you right? And it comes at a better value than the Surface (with keyboard), but 16GB less storage space. But you have various online storage apps to solve this problem. You have two options of Office Suites to choose from and a much better App Store/Accessories selection to choose from.

 

In the end it's your choice!

That's very informative thankyou! Out of them two as you have agreed upon, I prefer the iPad Air, that Battery Life is outstanding! Thanks for your help anyway, will take this into serious consideration!

[solosdk]

That's very informative thankyou! Out of them two as you have agreed upon, I prefer the iPad Air, that Battery Life is outstanding! Thanks for your help anyway, will take this into serious consideration!

 

No problem I'm very happy to help

 

Since you mentioned you already have a home desktop, I just didn't think a conventional laptop would be useful for you. I then thought that a tablet with a keyboard would be more beneficial for you as you can always detach the case/cover and have a light tablet in your hand. Also take into note if you like games, iOS is the way to go. There's FTL on there, Terraria, Blek (iOS exclusive), Leo's Fortune and some other PC remakes as well as originals from Sega. Hope this helped. Good luck.

[C_Mike]

How about the Acer c720 chromebook. 

 

http://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/chrome/devices/acer-c720-chromebook.html#overview

 

Its got a touchscreen

Is icredibly light at only 1.25kg

Up to 8.5 hours of battery life

Is only £200

 

You can use Google Docs for all of your work, it saves it all as you're working on it. 

You can make Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations etc.

 

I use Google docs for all of my school work and the transition from using Microsoft office was easy and painless.

[KieranThePCGuy]

No problem I'm very happy to help

 

Since you mentioned you already have a home desktop, I just didn't think a conventional laptop would be useful for you. I then thought that a tablet with a keyboard would be more beneficial for you as you can always detach the case/cover and have a light tablet in your hand. Also take into note if you like games, iOS is the way to go. There's FTL on there, Terraria, Blek (iOS exclusive), Leo's Fortune and some other PC remakes as well as originals from Sega. Hope this helped. Good luck.

That makes it even more compelling to be honest. I just don't know what to do about my desktop computer though, do I take my desktop and a laptop, or just stick with a laptop and sell my PC. I game on my PC too which is what I do in my free time, however, sticking with a laptop seems more practical.

[KieranThePCGuy]

How about the Acer c720 chromebook. 

 

http://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/chrome/devices/acer-c720-chromebook.html#overview

 

Its got a touchscreen

Is icredibly light at only 1.25kg

Up to 8.5 hours of battery life

Is only £200

 

You can use Google Docs for all of your work, it saves it all as you're working on it. 

You can make Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations etc.

 

I use Google docs for all of my school work and the transition from using Microsoft office was easy and painless.

Completely forgot about Chromebooks! Damn! Thanks for the recommendation! Will look into deeper detail, cheers!

[solosdk]

That makes it even more compelling to be honest. I just don't know what to do about my desktop computer though, do I take my desktop and a laptop, or just stick with a laptop and sell my PC. I game on my PC too which is what I do in my free time, however, sticking with a laptop seems more practical.

 

It's completely up to you my friend. I don't know how much you game or anything, so this decision is all up to you. IMO I would always have a PC as my only gaming machine, laptops don't cut it for me!

[KieranThePCGuy]

It's completely up to you my friend. I don't know how much you game or anything, so this decision is all up to you. IMO I would always have a PC as my only gaming machine, laptops don't cut it for me!

I game a LOT on my PC It's my primary platform. I'm still deciding but will wait closer to the time for some sales to arise, in which Amazon UK do a "Back to Uni" sale if I recall correctly. Sure they did one last year!

[SSOB]

My reccomendation:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-ATIV-13-3-inch-Touchscreen-Laptop/dp/B00DM6E654/ref=sr_1_10?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1399230207&sr=1-10&keywords=laptop

[SSOB]

Or if you want a convertible:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-Satellite-12-5-inch-Processor-Integrated/dp/B00BJHB3LI/ref=sr_1_9?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1399230442&sr=1-9&keywords=laptop