New laptop for college

[hunterak1]

so im a senor now in high school and am looking for a new laptop and I am going to college for a degree in computer engineering I would lioke to be able to do some gaming on the computer but not top of the line gaming and I would like it to be quiet and good battery life do you guys have any ideas 

[A Silver]

If you are rich id suggest a razor blade but if that isnt an option look at some acer or asus ones.

[hunterak1]

19 minutes ago, A Silver said:

If you are rich id suggest a razor blade but if that isnt an option look at some acer or asus ones.

im looking right around the $1500 range

 

[TopDollar]

Honestly I recommend getting something in the $500-$700 range. Anything over that isn't going to be necessary for the work you will be doing on it (school computers will be used for anything requiring any sort of horsepower). If you have a desktop, bring that. You'll most likely regret not doing so. If not, you could build a $1000 desktop and buy a $500 laptop if $1500 is your budget. I didn't even use a laptop my last 2 years of college; just a combination of school computers, my desktop, and my nexus 7.

[Dackzy]

2 hours ago, A Silver said:

If you are rich id suggest a razor blade but if that isnt an option look at some acer or asus ones.

NO NO NO NO, that is just shit everything about it is just shit, no quality control, thermal throttling, meh keyboard, shitty build quality (they use okay materials, but a 4 year old can put them better together.)

I cannot even belive people are still recommending this piece of crap. We have been over this so often on this sub forum.

[Dackzy]

I would recommend a Clevo laptop and @Pendragon and @D2ultima are the ones here that know the most about the new models, I have not have time to catch up with them all yet

[Pendragon]

@D2ultima knows alot more indepth about the new models. But I can give you the recommendations. For technicals @D2ultima is your guy.

 

Around 1500 gets you a 1060 15in laptop.

Two options, unlocked or locked bios. If you're going to optimize your system and play with OC and play with upping or lowering the voltage, you'll want a custom bios.

http://www.hidevolution.com/evoc-p650rp6-15-6-custom-built-gaming-laptop-w-nvidia-gtx-1060-w-g-sync.html

 

If not, and you're just going to use it stock here.

http://www.sagernotebook.com/Notebook-NP8152.html

https://lpc-digital.com/product/sager-np8152-clevo-p650rp6/?ex=1

 

4.5 hours of battery life

 

2 hours ago, TopDollar said:

snip

@OP. He makes a valid point. Unless you need to be mobile and work on projects, high end laptops are not the best price-to-performance or upgradability. Getting a chromebook and desktop makes alot of sense for most people, but if you're like some of us here who actually needs to be mobile all the time, recommendations above stand. 

 

If you need longer battery life with the same specs, you can't. You'll have to go down to the XPS15 FHD 84whr battery version with a 960m for around the same price. 

7 hours of battery life.

 

[Mark77]

In a nutshell, you need something that's very reliable, has external docking capability so you can hook 2 monitors up to it with ease.  And preferably with a decent warranty.

 

I'd look at the Dell E6440 (you can find 'em cheap on eBay with the 1080p screen), the E7450, E7470 Ultrabooks if you want to spend more money.  Make sure you get the 1080p IPS screen with any of them.  Dell Outlet is a great place to buy with their coupons.

 

The external dock is important.  First it saves your USB and HDMI ports from being damaged from over-use.  Second, it allows you to simply bring the machine "home", plunk it in the dock, and be instantly connected to full-sized LCDs.  Third, it makes adding dual external monitors a snap. 

 

Shouldn't have to spend more than $500-$800 these days on the hardware you need if you shop around.  You probably won't have much, if any time for gaming, so no need to bother with a gaming accelerator or discrete GPU.  The name of the game here is solid hardware, and using your downtime to socialize instead.  Even CPU speed isn't really that important for most CS/Computer Engineering/Electrical Engineering type stuff. 

 

IMHO, stay away from the XPS, especially if you're doing computer engineering.  Simply not enough USB ports, and no external Ethernet port which is really important for quite a bit of stuff you might want to do in the lab.  No docking port either.  Its really a 'consumer' laptop, not business/professional quality. 

[Mark77]

Another big argument in favour of the business Dell laptops is that spare parts galore are available many, many years after Dell stops selling them.  Either from Dell itself, or through after-market channels like eBay.   I can go onto eBay and basically, from parts sold there, build an entire 8-10-year-old Dell Latitude laptop from scratch.  Try that with any of the 'consumer' models like a 10-year-old XPS, lol!   And if you run into bugs with software like the Linux kernel, most of the kernel devs use the business laptops, so there's a chance your problem will get fixed.  But on some consumer laptop like the XPS, they're significantly less likely to fix the problems that may arise. 

[D2ultima]

*yawns* Am I needed? Do I have to crawl out of my cave?

[alexbianchi15]

10 hours ago, TopDollar said:

Honestly I recommend getting something in the $500-$700 range. Anything over that isn't going to be necessary for the work you will be doing on it (school computers will be used for anything requiring any sort of horsepower). If you have a desktop, bring that. You'll most likely regret not doing so. If not, you could build a $1000 desktop and buy a $500 laptop if $1500 is your budget. I didn't even use a laptop my last 2 years of college; just a combination of school computers, my desktop, and my nexus 7.

I agree but 1000$ is overkill for a pc. Unless to want a 1080 and an i7 lol

Do a 650$ computer and a dell xps 13. 

the pc should be something like thi

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/YZFMcc

and the xps 13 should be this one

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-13-9350-laptop/pd?oc=fncwt5149b&model_id=xps-13-9350-laptop

it comes out to 1550 but if you buy something used or find a good deal then the 5$ could easily be saved.

[TopDollar]

16 hours ago, Pendragon said:

@OP. He makes a valid point. Unless you need to be mobile and work on projects, high end laptops are not the best price-to-performance or upgradability. Getting a chromebook and desktop makes alot of sense for most people, but if you're like some of us here who actually needs to be mobile all the time, recommendations above stand. 

 

If you need longer battery life with the same specs, you can't. You'll have to go down to the XPS15 FHD 84whr battery version with a 960m for around the same price. 

7 hours of battery life.

 

Good advice. Completely agree. My recommendation comes from my own past experience in Engineering school (Aero/Mech). YMMV of course as I found complete lack of a need for a laptop past Sophomore year due to most of my time being spent in the lab. Not saying it's not useful, I just didn't find a need to carry it around when I had a desktop in my apartment and a tablet to keep my sanity while in class. Not saying this is good for everyone as there were definitely times where I wish I had one; which is why I still recommend having a laptop.

 

I would say highest priority for college laptops is battery life and mobility. No need to get a powerhouse or mobile desktop when the most you'll be doing is working on reports in MS word or writing MATLAB code (all I used a laptop for in college). Any engineering programs I personally used were all site licenses on the school computers and couldn't get on my laptop even if I wanted to.

 

9 hours ago, alexbianchi15 said:

I agree but 1000$ is overkill for a pc. Unless to want a 1080 and an i7 lol

Do a 650$ computer and a dell xps 13. 

the pc should be something like thi

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/YZFMcc

and the xps 13 should be this one

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-13-9350-laptop/pd?oc=fncwt5149b&model_id=xps-13-9350-laptop

it comes out to 1550 but if you buy something used or find a good deal then the 5$ could easily be saved.

$1000 out the door price for a desktop is about the minimum I would recommended for a power user. By spending a little more now, you can save a lot more in upgrades down the road. You can't build a well rounded desktop with a GTX1080 for $1000.

[D2ultima]

14 hours ago, alexbianchi15 said:

I agree but 1000$ is overkill for a pc. Unless to want a 1080 and an i7 lol

GTX 1080 = ~$700 USD for a decent one

i7-anything = over $300 USD 

 

Even if I were to say you find a 1080 for $600 and an i7 for $300 flat, there is no way, in this UNIVERSE, you're finding a motherboard, PSU, HDD, case, monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers for $100

[Dackzy]

17 hours ago, alexbianchi15 said:

I agree but 1000$ is overkill for a pc. Unless to want a 1080 and an i7 lol

Do a 650$ computer and a dell xps 13. 

the pc should be something like thi

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/YZFMcc

and the xps 13 should be this one

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-13-9350-laptop/pd?oc=fncwt5149b&model_id=xps-13-9350-laptop

it comes out to 1550 but if you buy something used or find a good deal then the 5$ could easily be saved.

oh god you really have no idea of what things cost do you?

 

A i7 CPU + a 1080 is already 1k USD

[Mark77]

Quote

I would say highest priority for college laptops is battery life and mobility. No need to get a powerhouse or mobile desktop when the most you'll be doing is working on reports in MS word or writing MATLAB code (all I used a laptop for in college). Any engineering programs I personally used were all site licenses on the school computers and couldn't get on my laptop even if I wanted to.

 

Very true.  And a Computer Engineering student may additionally use a laptop to do programming on development boards (for FPGAs, microcontrollers, etc.) and things like Raspberry Pi's for their projects.  That's why I recommended the business laptops (ie: the Latitude or Thinkpad Ultrabooks), with the Ethernet port and the extra USB ports, versus what you have on the XPS (no wired Ethernet!). 

 

But does a CompE student need an i7?  Of course not.  Nor do they need a fancy graphics accelerator.  Those are just battery life suckers and money wasters basically.  The docking station capability is pretty important, IMHO, because if you're doing long programming sessions at home, having easy drop-on access to dual LCDs is very nice.