Student Laptop Recommendations (Medium/Small Size - Multimedia + some Gaming)

[Simplicius]

How's it going folks
First I'd like to apologize if these posts are kind of obnoxious for established members, seems like I'm not the only one coming here to ask for this kind of advice.
However, it seems there are still a lot of people willing to help, which is awesome.

Here's my rough idea of the Laptop:

Purpose:
- Solid for at home use, but still portable

- Mostly Multimedia, but should be able to do a little gaming

Dimensions:
- Between 13/15'' and as light and thin as possible

Specs at least: (Not set in stone, please tell me what I really need)
- Quad-Core i7/i5 | Nvidia 950/960M | 8GB RAM | 500GB/1TB HD (SSD would be nice though)

Maximum Cost: $1250

I compared a lot and found this one: (sorry can't find the US link)
http://www.amazon.de/dp/B015RH46VO?tag=price0008_de-21&m=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF

Seems to be the best specs for the lowest price and relatively small dimensions.
Mainly I'm looking for an alternative that's cheaper (~$200), has a small spec downgrade (preferably not cpu or ram) and it would be awesome if it's only 13''

All in all I just want something that's portable, but runs smooth and can handle a few tasks at once. So I can come home, connect a display via hdmi and almost feel like I'm on a regular PC.

[don_svetlio]

Lenovo Y700

[don_svetlio]

Avoid the Acers in this price range (Nitro and Aspire) - terrible heat issues

[Senzelian]

3 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Avoid the Acers in this price range (Nitro and Aspire) - terrible heat issues

Nitros are absolutly fine. Half a year ago or something I've shown you a heat image of a Nitro and it looked pretty good.

[cesrai]

There is the MacBook Air 13-inch for ~1000$, but no gaming on it. From my daily use for it I can say it's great as a student laptop and the battery life helps me a lot ( around 8-10 hours from a full charge  ). It's been smooth for me with no hiccups at all ( but safari sometimes crashed on me sometimes in old version of OS X ).

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, Senzelian said:

Nitros are absolutly fine. Half a year ago or something I've shown you a heat image of a Nitro and it looked pretty good.

96*C on the CPU under maximum load? That is NOT fine.
I get around 85*C max

[Simplicius]

4 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

96*C on the CPU under maximum load? That is NOT fine.
I get around 85*C max

would be interesting to know what kind of results are acceptable/good in idle, or medium load. Because I don't see myself putting it on max anyway.
That being said, I'm looking at the Lenovos rn and can't find a reason not to choose them. Exactly what I wanted, option with slightly lower specs and price.

[Simplicius]

31 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Lenovo Y700

Is the height on that thing really 1.7 inches ? That would be ridiculous.

[don_svetlio]

6 minutes ago, Simplicius said:

Is the height on that thing really 1.7 inches ? That would be ridiculous.

Not sure - the screen is raised by the hinge design a bit tho - it's possible

 

24 minutes ago, Simplicius said:

would be interesting to know what kind of results are acceptable/good in idle, or medium load. Because I don't see myself putting it on max anyway.
That being said, I'm looking at the Lenovos rn and can't find a reason not to choose them. Exactly what I wanted, option with slightly lower specs and price.

Thing is, fans only ramp up based on temps so it will run hot in any game (acer)

[Simplicius]

2 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Thing is, fans only ramp up based on temps so it will run hot in any game (acer)

sorry, but could you explain that a little further ?
and do you know where I can find a picture of this same heat test with the y700 ?

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Simplicius said:

sorry, but could you explain that a little further ?
and do you know where I can find a picture of this same heat test with the y700 ?

Fans in laptops increase their speed based on temps so as to keep noise down.

Y700 temps - max on the CPU 86*C and 72*C on the GPU under a torture test with P95 and Furmark

[Simplicius]

4 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Fans in laptops increase their speed based on temps so as to keep noise down.

I get that, what I don't understand is the conclusion, that because of this the acer will run hot in any game.
I was wondering if the heat is an issue at medium load, and if the fans speed increases to counteract the heat, wouldn't noise be the problem and not heat ?
 

[Simplicius]

Damn, I'd love to choose the y700, because it's cheaper, but it's so bulky...

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Simplicius said:

I get that, what I don't understand is the conclusion, that because of this the acer will run hot in any game.
I was wondering if the heat is an issue at medium load, and if the fans speed increases to counteract the heat, wouldn't noise be the problem and not heat ?
 

The fans keep temps in the 80s on the Acer which reduces the dGPU's lifespan significantly.

[Senzelian]

4 hours ago, don_svetlio said:

96*C on the CPU under maximum load? That is NOT fine.
I get around 85*C max

Nah, that's fine.
Reapply the thermal paste and you'll get your 85°C.

[don_svetlio]

25 minutes ago, Senzelian said:

Nah, that's fine.
Reapply the thermal paste and you'll get your 85°C.

I doubt every casual laptop owner wants to repaste their brand new machine

Also, not sure if you've checked, but in order to get to the insides, you have to completely disassembly the Nitro due to the thinner design - the screen also has a LOT of flex to it.

[don_svetlio]

4 hours ago, Simplicius said:

Damn, I'd love to choose the y700, because it's cheaper, but it's so bulky...

Nah, it's not as bad as it seems - have had the Y50 (similar size) for half a year - perfectly portable

[Senzelian]

20 hours ago, don_svetlio said:

I doubt every casual laptop owner wants to repaste their brand new machine

Also, not sure if you've checked, but in order to get to the insides, you have to completely disassembly the Nitro due to the thinner design - the screen also has a LOT of flex to it.

Well, okay, you're right. Seems like a pretty bad notebook.

[Simplicius]

I've now opted for the Asus ZenBook 13'' UX303UB Model: http://www.amazon.com/ZenBook-UX303UB-13-3-Inch-Touchscreen-Discrete/dp/B014VHVZFQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461865633&sr=8-1&keywords=asus+zenbook+ux303ub
But in Germany there are different configurations available. Mine would be: I7 6500U 2x2.5 GHZ // 8GB DDR3 // 256GB SSD // GF 940M

I like the genrally sleek design and that's it only 13''. For the price, and considering the size of it, I think it packs decent specs, especially for someone who doesn't even know how much he'll use it for gaming....In the last few days I have looked at Dell XPS 13/15, Acer Aspire VN15, Alienware 13 and Lenovo y700/other versions and after all, this seems to be the smallest machine with the best specs, dedicated graphics, and for a decent price.

Any opinions ?

[don_svetlio]

1 hour ago, Simplicius said:

I've now opted for the Asus ZenBook 13'' UX303UB Model: http://www.amazon.com/ZenBook-UX303UB-13-3-Inch-Touchscreen-Discrete/dp/B014VHVZFQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461865633&sr=8-1&keywords=asus+zenbook+ux303ub
But in Germany there are different configurations available. Mine would be: I7 6500U 2x2.5 GHZ // 8GB DDR3 // 256GB SSD // GF 940M

I like the genrally sleek design and that's it only 13''. For the price, and considering the size of it, I think it packs decent specs, especially for someone who doesn't even know how much he'll use it for gaming....In the last few days I have looked at Dell XPS 13/15, Acer Aspire VN15, Alienware 13 and Lenovo y700/other versions and after all, this seems to be the smallest machine with the best specs, dedicated graphics, and for a decent price.

Any opinions ?

Not a fan of Asus' UX series - they tend to get toasty hot, especially once you add the dGPU. The 14' Y700 would be better in that regard due to the bigger heatsink, thicker heatpipes and larger fans.

[Simplicius]

1 hour ago, don_svetlio said:

Not a fan of Asus' UX series - they tend to get toasty hot, especially once you add the dGPU. The 14' Y700 would be better in that regard due to the bigger heatsink, thicker heatpipes and larger fans.

there's no 14'' model of the y700 available in germany...

[don_svetlio]

6 minutes ago, Simplicius said:

there's no 14'' model of the y700 available in germany...

There should be - check Lenovo's site

[Simplicius]

2 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

There should be - check Lenovo's site

there's not, I've checked.

[Simplicius]

11 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

There should be - check Lenovo's site

Btw. Here's a P95/Furmark Test for the Zenbook.
74*C GPU and 82*C CPU seems up to your standards.

[don_svetlio]

2 minutes ago, Simplicius said:

Btw. Here's a P95/Furmark Test for the Zenbook.
74*C GPU and 82*C CPU seems up to your standards.

Look at the CPU - it's throttling hard on the 2nd core - that means it's overheating