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Laptop for College

Cs342
By Cs342
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I just got accepted by my first-choice university  :D

Now all I need is a laptop... I've been seriously eyeing the Acer Aspire S7 since it looks amazing and is one of Linus's favorites, but I'm slightly worried that it has no discrete GPU. I won't be doing any hardcore gaming but I'll be doing some video editing and playing games like League of Legends and Titanfall. Any recommendations for a fast, light notebook with good battery life and a 13-15 inch screen for $1200 or less?

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

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The best two go-to laptop websites:

sager notebooks

msi dragonforce

They are the best value and best for gaming. Sager even has a laptop that uses a desktop cpu (of course that will run you like $2600 though..)

Yeah but not if his main objective is academic work and taking it to classes. These are not light and have shit battery life.

MacBook Air 13 inch is great, but will struggle to run Titanfall at high settings. League is no problem... Of course only if you prefer portability, 12 hour (not joking) battery life and aesthetics over performance (which you may or may not need).

Owner of a top of the line 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display (Dual Boot OS X El Capitan & Win 10):
Core i7-4558U @ 3.2GHz II Intel Iris @ 1200MHz II 1TB Apple/Samsung SSD II 16 GB RAM @ 1600MHz

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Lenovo ThinkPad T440p

UPDATED An enthusiasts guide to video feat. MPC-HC + madVR | NEW UPDATE Supertower Build Log: Anthrax 8.0 ~ 02/21 - Follow!

Build Logs: Anthrax (2016.02.14) | Chibi PC (2014.09.22) | ThePylon (2015.10.26) | Mystery Build #4 (????.??.??) | Mystery Build #5 (????.??.??)

The HID Liberator: A Cherry MX Mechanical Keyboard Build Log | A Simple Mod: Silencing the EVGA 750Ti FTW w/ ACX

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A couple of the Asus Zenbooks come with decent discrete GPU's. I'd look into them.

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i would recommend a Lenovo Ideapad Y510p

has a fast cpu and sli gfx, and it's in your budget.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834313741

This is a great offer in terms of graphics performance but battery life is gonna suck and it weighs 4KG. Not what he wants. Light and great battery life. Gaming appears to be secondary. Recommending desktops just because the fit into his budget is stupid.

In the end he should decide if he wants gaming and carrying that thing around with him or carrying a light machine and not worrying about charging it throughout the day.

Owner of a top of the line 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display (Dual Boot OS X El Capitan & Win 10):
Core i7-4558U @ 3.2GHz II Intel Iris @ 1200MHz II 1TB Apple/Samsung SSD II 16 GB RAM @ 1600MHz

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PS: I want an Ultrabook or at least a thin and light laptop, not a gaming laptop.

As I was saying...

EDIT: Is Apple even an option for you, since this forum generally hates Apple computers?

Owner of a top of the line 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display (Dual Boot OS X El Capitan & Win 10):
Core i7-4558U @ 3.2GHz II Intel Iris @ 1200MHz II 1TB Apple/Samsung SSD II 16 GB RAM @ 1600MHz

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It's been a while since I've looked at Asus notebooks. Has the Zenbook Infinity been released yet?

It has but it didn't get great battery life reviews.

CPU: Ryzen 9 5900 Cooler: EVGA CLC280 Motherboard: Gigabyte B550i Pro AX RAM: Kingston Hyper X 32GB 3200mhz

Storage: WD 750 SE 500GB, WD 730 SE 1TB GPU: Gigabyte GTX 1050 PSU: Corsair SF750 Case: Streacom DA2

Monitor: LG 27GL83B Mouse: Razer Basilisk V2 Keyboard: G.Skill KM780 Cherry MX Red Speakers: Mackie CR5BT

 

MiniPC - Sold for $100 Profit

Spoiler

CPU: Intel i3 4160 Cooler: Integrated Motherboard: Integrated

RAM: G.Skill RipJaws 16GB DDR3 Storage: Transcend MSA370 128GB GPU: Intel 4400 Graphics

PSU: Integrated Case: Shuttle XPC Slim

Monitor: LG 29WK500 Mouse: G.Skill MX780 Keyboard: G.Skill KM780 Cherry MX Red

 

Budget Rig 1 - Sold For $750 Profit

Spoiler

CPU: Intel i5 7600k Cooler: CryOrig H7 Motherboard: MSI Z270 M5

RAM: Crucial LPX 16GB DDR4 Storage: Intel S3510 800GB GPU: Nvidia GTX 980

PSU: Corsair CX650M Case: EVGA DG73

Monitor: LG 29WK500 Mouse: G.Skill MX780 Keyboard: G.Skill KM780 Cherry MX Red

 

OG Gaming Rig - Gone

Spoiler

 

CPU: Intel i5 4690k Cooler: Corsair H100i V2 Motherboard: MSI Z97i AC ITX

RAM: Crucial Ballistix 16GB DDR3 Storage: Kingston Fury 240GB GPU: Asus Strix GTX 970

PSU: Thermaltake TR2 Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX

Monitor: Dell P2214H x2 Mouse: Logitech MX Master Keyboard: G.Skill KM780 Cherry MX Red

 

 

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samsung ATIV book 8 is a solid choice. But the price is kind of the drawback if u look at the price to performance ratio. Or u could get lenovo laptops as well, but their battery life isn't the best.

If u want a light and portable laptop then go for ultrabooks. If u download the beta graphics drivers, then u should be able to play titanfall without much lag on them.

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Don't buy a laptop for uni that can play games. Because what will you do with it? ... Play games :P

 

I would recommend the ThinkPad T440s as it's a pretty good laptop spec wise but has around 14 hours battery life with the extra $5 6 cell battery upgrade.

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


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This may sound crazy but I recommend a chrome book. The battery life is great(7-12hours) and paired with office 365,you are set. 

It is would I use for college and when I want play games I just use my desktop. 

So you would recommend I build a separate desktop and bring it to my college dorm?

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

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So you would recommend I build a separate desktop and bring it to my college dorm?

with that budget you could, or you can ship you old build to your dorm.

It is really up to you. Chromebooks are really nice for browsing the web and getting work done. On top of that they are super cheap. They are also linux based so no viruses. 

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This may sound crazy but I recommend a chrome book. The battery life is great(7-12hours) and paired with office 365,you are set. 

It is would I use for college and when I want play games I just use my desktop.

Yeah this actually makes a ton of sense. Alternatively a Surface 2 maybe?

Owner of a top of the line 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display (Dual Boot OS X El Capitan & Win 10):
Core i7-4558U @ 3.2GHz II Intel Iris @ 1200MHz II 1TB Apple/Samsung SSD II 16 GB RAM @ 1600MHz

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So no one here recommends the Aspire S7?

I'll take a look at it now.

Owner of a top of the line 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display (Dual Boot OS X El Capitan & Win 10):
Core i7-4558U @ 3.2GHz II Intel Iris @ 1200MHz II 1TB Apple/Samsung SSD II 16 GB RAM @ 1600MHz

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Similar to MacBook Air (13) in performance or actually a little bit slower. Better display. And touch.

However, at that price you want to get the base model retina MacBook Pro 13 inch that would be faster.

Except if you want touch. Overall, they are very similar, so get the one you like. MacBook Pro will game MUCH better. Intel Iris is more than twice as fast as HD 4400. However, I believe for the same specs it costs like 100 dollars more.

In the end it is personal preference. If you want Windows, though, you'd have to get it separately with the Pro.

Owner of a top of the line 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display (Dual Boot OS X El Capitan & Win 10):
Core i7-4558U @ 3.2GHz II Intel Iris @ 1200MHz II 1TB Apple/Samsung SSD II 16 GB RAM @ 1600MHz

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Yeah but not if his main objective is academic work and taking it to classes. These are not light and have shit battery life.

MacBook Air 13 inch is great, but will struggle to run Titanfall at high settings. League is no problem... Of course only if you prefer portability, 12 hour (not joking) battery life and aesthetics over performance (which you may or may not need).

MSI Notebooks are light? Sager has a place on there website where it lists their thin notebooks. NEVER... EVER... recommend a macbook.....

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