Laptop Suggestions

[zahrrr]

Hi guys! just wondering if anyone can give me some suggestions on some good laptops.

 

Im using the laptop for school and this involves using adobe programs. I want it to be powerful and fast enough to run programs like adobe smoothly. My budget is around $1200. (Preferably not a Mac!)

 

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated

 

Thank you!

[Arcanekitten]

also for gaming?

[TheKDub]

What programs from adobe do you want to run?

[zahrrr]

also for gaming?

no

 

[zahrrr]

What programs from adobe do you want to run?

illustrator, flash, dreamweaver 

[Arcanekitten]

maybe this one http://store.asus.com/us/item/201503AM110000025/A18486

 

[spwath]

maybe this one http://store.asus.com/us/item/201503AM110000025/A18486

Why a gaming laptop?

I'll find something in like 30 min

[spwath]

Here, this looks nice

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/w-series/w550s/

[DotoreN]

Here, this looks nice

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/w-series/w550s/

 

Doesn't have SSD though... and that's what most people want for their OS, especially at college. You don't want to get in the classroom having to wait 10mins for it to boot up.

 

You'll pay so much money for putting a SSD on the thinkpads...

[EpicAdom]

XPS 13?

[DotoreN]

XPS 13?

 

He wants to run adobe programs and probably sony vegas and such (multimedia)... 

[GoodBytes]

A a Flash developer myself, doing very large project (for Flash, essentially pushing it's limits, and expending it with some good old C++, yes)

And as a recently graduated student in Computer Science. I say safely say that the Surface Pro will deliver perfectly on that front.

Many people don't see the value in the Surface Pro, as they don't understand the practicality of the device. The most critical component, and underrated by many reviews as seeing it as a gimmick, or a bonus thing of 0 value: The digitize pen. The pen is everything, it what makes the device powerful in usage for school. Mixed with OneNote (which is free by the way), you have the ultimate tool for students, as it is the best (so far) note taking software by considerable margins.

The pen, thanks to its precision tracking, pressure sensitivity, and thin tip, allows you to write on your screen, like you normally do with pen and paper. It's aspect ratio is focused on large writing surface for note and drawing usage. You can now type your notes, and every time you have an equations to write, you want to highlight something, or circle something, draw a graph, sketch, do a diagram, well you can, and then continue typing your notes.

It is N-Trig technology, and WinTab drivers are indeed available. So if you draw, you will like the ability to draw or sketch directly on the screen. The pen supports 256 level of pressure sensitivity. Yes, it is obviously not as good as Wacom dedicated digitizer tablet but pretty darn good none the less. I do know that many artists uses it. The up site of drawing directly on the screen, surpasses the lack of fast tracking for fast smooth, curved strokes movement (unless Microsoft is able to improve that with the Surface Pro 4), not to say it is awful, but not as good as Wacom dedicated digitzer table. I highlight dedicated as the Wacom companion (Surface Pro like device, but super expensive), and Surface Pro 1 and 2, both had Wacom digitizers and it was still not as good as a good dedicated drawing tablet from the same company. Maybe it is due to the thinnest of the device or screen, which doesn't allow the best pen tracking. Then again the Wacom Cintiq, an IPS monitor with digitize, is very big, bulky, and expensive, probably for that reason (to compensate for it). I guess it depends on how you draw, to see how it will affect you. But something to consider.

The device is very light (considering the specs), portable, has great battery life, good build quality. It has a Core i5 or i7 u series CPU that delivers in term of performance. However, well obviously it is not a desktop machine, and you'll be using Intel integrated graphics, which while many people say it is great, to me it ruins the device, but it is wishful thinking that an Nvidia or AMD GPU can fit inside, and not throttle the whole thing down continuously due to high heat output.

Worth considering.

Here is a nice review of the Surface Pro 3:

Keep in mind that students gets 10% off on the device and also any accessories purchased from the Microsoft online (or offline) retail store.

If you plan on getting it, obviously get the keyboard, and I would recommend a sleeve to not scratch the device, and keep it neat and clean. I would also recommend getting Microsoft Complete. It is an extended warranty of 2 years, but the most important thing is that it has accidental damage protection (up to twice, 50$ fee applies if accidental. Standard stuff.), it is not that expensive, I think it was like 100$ or something. I don't usually recommend getting extended warranty, but I do it for laptops, or in this case convertible, as you can drop it, at school for sure you'll be bump around a few times, and well it is good to know that you have 2 year protection on it if anything happens, and not unexpectedly needs to cash out serious money on another device. Personally I always get the max warranty on my portable device (but only directly from the manufacture. I want my device to be fixed properly, and get the full service treatment, nit some BestBuy crap service.... although getting thw BestBuy accidental damage protection, might be in your favor if you want a system replaced by a new one immediately and you don't have a Microsoft store near you, and if there is a new Surface Pro after a year, you might be able to get a new one.. worth considering. Of course, you could get both warranties (hmm should of thought of that...), but yea definitely would be over your budget).