Best Laptop for College under $400

Trouble Kelp · August 5, 2015

I'm going to start college this fall as a computer engineering major and I need a laptop that's less than $500. I have one or two Computer science classes this year but I'm not sure what I'll need as far as a laptop goes for those classes. I was thinking about getting a chromebook but I think having full windows would be better so I think the HP stream 11 would be a good option. What are your recommendations?

Stigs · August 5, 2015

I'm going to start college this fall as a computer engineering major and I need a laptop that's less than $500. I have one or two Computer science classes this year but I'm not sure what I'll need as far as a laptop goes for those classes. I was thinking about getting a chromebook but I think having full windows would be better so I think the HP stream 11 would be a good option. What are your recommendations?

I'm going to college this fall for computer engineering too! Cool man! Anyway, I personally got a Razer Blade 14 to be my school laptop, but that's way out of the budget. I'd contact the university (or check their website) for what they recommend for computers. My school recommend a laptop if an i5 or i7 cpu, 8gb of ram and a minimum of a 256gb hard drive. Going with similar spec, the HP stream 11 doesn't seem to fit, but again talk to you school. For under $500 (you topic says under $400 but your post says $500, so I'll go with $500 for now) I found these with a quick search on Amazon...look at some reviews before making any decisions.

http://www.amazon.com/X550ZA-WB11-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Windows-Upgrade/dp/B00YR6BMOQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1438812157&sr=1-1&keywords=laptop&refinements=p_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A7817224011%2Cp_36%3A2421886011

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Quad-Core-A10-5745M-Processor-Refurbished/dp/B00ZAE8Y7C/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1438812157&sr=1-2&keywords=laptop&refinements=p_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A7817224011%2Cp_36%3A2421886011

Do a little browsing on Micro Center's website and Newegg for laptops under your price point and you should get some more results.

Trouble Kelp · August 5, 2015

I'm going to college this fall for computer engineering too! Cool man! Anyway, I personally got a Razer Blade 14 to be my school laptop, but that's way out of the budget. I'd contact the university (or check their website) for what they recommend for computers. My school recommend a laptop if an i5 or i7 cpu, 8gb of ram and a minimum of a 256gb hard drive. Going with similar spec, the HP stream 11 doesn't seem to fit, but again talk to you school. For under $500 (you topic says under $400 but your post says $500, so I'll go with $500 for now) I found these with a quick search on Amazon...look at some reviews before making any decisions.

http://www.amazon.com/X550ZA-WB11-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Windows-Upgrade/dp/B00YR6BMOQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1438812157&sr=1-1&keywords=laptop&refinements=p_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A7817224011%2Cp_36%3A2421886011

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Quad-Core-A10-5745M-Processor-Refurbished/dp/B00ZAE8Y7C/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1438812157&sr=1-2&keywords=laptop&refinements=p_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A7817224011%2Cp_36%3A2421886011

Do a little browsing on Micro Center's website and Newegg for laptops under your price point and you should get some more results.

Awesome! This year I don't have a lot of stuff that will require a lot of computational power so I'm going for a cheaper computer and I'll save up for something better for next year. I've looked on my school's site and their recommendations are kind of outdated but I'm also thinking that I could get a chromebook and just remote desktop to my computer at home for anything that requires windows but I'm not sure how well that will work. The laptops you listed look like good options, I've been looking for some on amazon but it's sometimes hard to know what is quality and what to avoid. Thanks for the advice!

Stigs · August 6, 2015

Awesome! This year I don't have a lot of stuff that will require a lot of computational power so I'm going for a cheaper computer and I'll save up for something better for next year. I've looked on my school's site and their recommendations are kind of outdated but I'm also thinking that I could get a chromebook and just remote desktop to my computer at home for anything that requires windows but I'm not sure how well that will work. The laptops you listed look like good options, I've been looking for some on amazon but it's sometimes hard to know what is quality and what to avoid. Thanks for the advice!

Sure. Again, do a little looking on amazon, newegg, ncix, etc for laptops in your budget with decent specs, then look for video and written reviews. I tend not to follow most reviews left on store pages for bigger purchases because I feel they may not be as accurate as a "professional reviewer's" review would be, but even with those, I look at several.