Biopharm student notebook

[MonoclonalAntibody]

Hello folks.

I'm a student looking for a notebook.

I've previously had the Lenovo E540 (i7 HQ, 8gb ram, 16tb ssd, 1tb HDD, 2gb VRAM) but I smashed the plastic hinge mount (it fell off my bed).

 

I wanted the Razer Blade but @Pendragon and @Duckzy wrote about it I became wary and indecisive.

 

I need the notebook to be: 

STURDY and well built- this is a must since I can't take the risk of buying something that will break easily.

PORTABLE since I'm going to be taking it to school every day, with that goes a must for at least 5-6h of battery.

NOT AN UGLY MONSTER like some notebooks out there, I don't need people staring :-D

 

I need it to handle 20+ tabs of chrome or Firefox and still play at least 1440p YouTube (4k preferably).

I'd also like to get into gaming again (used to play COD, GTA, Battlefield, Assassin's Creed,...) so good gaming performance would be welcome (smooth video, no glitches, 1080p is totally fine).

 

 

I can't think of any other criteria.

So what would YOU RECOMMEND?

Many thanks.

[gtx1060=value]

what's your budget?

[MonoclonalAntibody]

Anything reasonable. I wanted to get the newest Razer Blade with 521GB SSD but I don't want a stove (?).

[dizmo]

1 minute ago, MonoclonalAntibody said:

Anything reasonable. I wanted to get the newest Razer Blade with 521GB SSD but I don't want a stove (?).

You need to quote people if you want them to know you've replied.

Also "reasonable" isn't a price, it won't help us help you. Reasonable to some is completely unreasonable to others.

For example, watches. Some might think $3,000 is perfectly reasonable for a watch. Others think more than a $50 Casio is a waste.

[MonoclonalAntibody]

12 minutes ago, gtx1060=value said:

what's your budget?

I'd say anything over 2000GPB would have to be extremely well justified.

4 minutes ago, dizmo said:

You need to quote people if you want them to know you've replied.

Also "reasonable" isn't a price, it won't help us help you. Reasonable to some is completely unreasonable to others.

For example, watches. Some might think $3,000 is perfectly reasonable for a watch. Others think more than a $50 Casio is a waste.

Personally don't know of any 3000 USD notebooks that aren't literally just 17" desktop replacements with Xeons :-D

 

Edited November 1, 2016 by MonoclonalAntibody

[gtx1060=value]

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA7RD3YF8714&cm_re=thinkpad-_-34-321-307-_-Product

this is overkill, it is the rolls royce of workstation laptops and similar to the one i use, the quadro will be fine for running games - and thinkpads are rugged buisness laptops built for travel, the thinkpad is like a status symbol in the programming community

comes in at about 2040 gpb

[dizmo]

I think you're going to have some hard choices to make.

 

For starters, gaming machines are generally gaudy. Some look nice, but as a whole they're generally larger and flashy.

So if you want to game, you'll have to take that into account.

 

For battery life, your best bet is an ultrabook. Anything that's capable of gaming (more powerful GPU) generally sucks up battery like no tomorrow and is heavy if you're always carrying it around. I barely made it through 4 hours of lecture/lab with a slightly older ultrabook, let alone something that's more demanding.

 

Most higher end laptops these days are sturdy, it all comes down to how you treat them.

While Lenovo is the strongest, they have a history of spyware and such in the BIOS. Not sure how that makes you feel.

 

Honestly, with a budget like that I'd almost say just buy an ultrabook for class and a desktop for gaming.

[MonoclonalAntibody]

3 minutes ago, gtx1060=value said:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA7RD3YF8714&cm_re=thinkpad-_-34-321-307-_-Product

this is overkill, it is the rolls royce of workstation laptops and similar to the one i use, the quadro will be fine for running games - and thinkpads are rugged buisness laptops built for travel, the thinkpad is like a status symbol in the programming community

comes in at about 2040 gpb

2040 gpb is 2500 USD, I see 3,3k USD on Newegg.

[Pendragon]

35 minutes ago, MonoclonalAntibody said:

PORTABLE since I'm going to be taking it to school every day, with that goes a must for at least 5-6h of battery.

Well, I know of 3 laptops that have more than the usual shitty 3 hour battery life that won't kill itself with heat.

 

GS43VR (the hottest of the bunch, you are required to have a repate to make this work. Has about 4.5 hours of battery)

P650Rx (in MSHybird mode you can get past 5 hours on it)

AW15R3 (99whr battery gives this around 6 hours of normal use)

 

Nothing else on Pascal gets more battery life than these 3. Literally nothing. Maybe the upcoming AW13R3 but that is unconfirmed. Razer Blade doesn't count cause it's too hot and throttling all day. 

[MonoclonalAntibody]

5 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Honestly, with a budget like that I'd almost say just buy an ultrabook for class and a desktop for gaming.

The budget has to be justified. My parents would give many fucks about financing my gaming (big opposers of virtual reality). That's why I wanted a notebook that could handle some and would be more than great for all my student needs.

I've had a Lenovo before, I ran Ubuntu and it was fully encrypted, I don't like having backdoors but seriously using a bios backdoor as an argument when everyone is using Windows and Google is kinda...

[MonoclonalAntibody]

2 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

Well, I know of 3 laptops that have more than the usual shitty 3 hour battery life that won't kill itself with heat.

 

GS43VR (the hottest of the bunch, you are required to have a repate to make this work. Has about 4.5 hours of battery)

P650Rx (in MSHybird mode you can get past 5 hours on it)

AW15R3 (99whr battery gives this around 6 hours of normal use)

 

Nothing else on Pascal gets more battery life than these 3. Literally nothing. Maybe the upcoming AW13R3 but that is unconfirmed. Razer Blade doesn't count cause it's too hot and throttling all day. 

Pascal isn't a must.

Would the aforementioned Lenovo (or any variation of that model) with the Quadro game?

[gtx1060=value]

14 minutes ago, MonoclonalAntibody said:

2040 gpb is 2500 USD, I see 3,3k USD on Newegg.

3.3k canadian dollars - your ex colony's currencies are horrible

[Pendragon]

1 minute ago, MonoclonalAntibody said:

Pascal isn't a must.

Would the aforementioned Lenovo (or any variation of that model) with the Quadro game?

Well I have the M2000M which is what you'll get in a P50 max specced out. No it will not play upcoming games well as the performance of the M2000M falls between a 950m and 960m. So think of it as a stock 750ti. Plays current games fine at 1080p at med-high settings, but moving onwards will be shit. I've already offered you 3 perfectly acceptable choices. If you get a P60 (which isn't a bad choice) you'll be paying hella for the build and support as is the case of all business workstations. 

 

6 minutes ago, MonoclonalAntibody said:

I've had a Lenovo before, I ran Ubuntu and it was fully encrypted, I don't like having backdoors but seriously using a bios backdoor as an argument when everyone is using Windows and Google is kinda...

Thinkpads have never had backdoors. It was their consumer lineup. 

[MonoclonalAntibody]

11 hours ago, Pendragon said:

I've already offered you 3 perfectly acceptable choices. If you get a P60 (which isn't a bad choice) you'll be paying hella for the build and support as is the case of all business workstations.

Out of the three you offered, all are primarily focused on having that crazy card in them and seem to have shit build quality and build materials.

in the OP I stated that DURABILITY is quite important.

I also mention the gaming as a secondary preference so I'm not sure if gaming notebooks is what I need, I'd much rather build a gaming pc and have an ultrabook.

 

I've been looking at the P50 with the 1080p screen and that seems to be what I'll get unless someone gives me a better idea.

I've also been repeatedly told by my friends to get a MBP.

I'm really not sure.

I tried out the Microsoft Surface Book and it felt sturdy and I loved the pen but its is just extremely top heavy and the unlock system lagged in the shop so I am afraid that it would lag in real life even more.

 

[Pendragon]

4 hours ago, MonoclonalAntibody said:

I also mention the gaming as a secondary preference so I'm not sure if gaming notebooks is what I need, I'd much rather build a gaming pc and have an ultrabook.

The latter is definitely the better option. getting a desktop and ultrabook is a great option. 

 

P50 is very solid, and very expensive as expected of a business notebook

Surfacebook has hinge issues. It's top heavy like many others mentioned. I would only get it if I plan to do presentations with it in tablet mode. 

[MonoclonalAntibody]

5 hours ago, Pendragon said:

Getting a desktop and ultrabook is a great option.

Which ultrabook is the sturdiest possible and would be able to handle a lot of tabs and 4k YouTube smoothly?

Which of the three gaming notebooks is the best built with durability in mind?