Looking for a laptop for Computer engineering and programming in college

[PenguinsInVans]

I am in my first year for computer engineering in college and i was looking for a laptop i could have to take notes on, run visual studio for c,c++ programming and maybe other applications like auto cad.

Price really isn't the issue but i was maybe looking for something under $2000. Gaming also isn't an issue since i have my own gaming computer from home.

I was looking at the XPS and Surface Pros. 

LED keyboard preference I don`t care, just something that can last me through out the day with out slowing down and something i can store all my projects in

[Legolessed]

3 minutes ago, PenguinsInVans said:

I am in my first year for computer engineering in college and i was looking for a laptop i could have to take notes on, run visual studio for c,c++ programming and maybe other applications like auto cad.

Price really isn't the issue but i was maybe looking for something under $2000. Gaming also isn't an issue since i have my own gaming computer from home.

I was looking at the XPS and Surface Pros. 

LED keyboard preference I don`t care, just something that can last me through out the day with out slowing down and something i can store all my projects in

does screen size matter? and also do you want a touch screen?

[Pendragon]

XPS15. refurb it. don't buy it new. 

[Mr.Humble]

Hi,

 

Czech out the ASUS's Zenbook lineup, the UX310UQ and UX410UQ have a dedicated Nvidia GPU (the 940MX) which isn't anything to write home about in terms of gaming, but would help a lot with GPU acceleration. They seem to be quite well built and (at least in Europe) you can get a 1080p IPS screen, i5, 8GB of RAM and 512GB SSD for about 1000€

Edited February 11, 2017 by vojta.pokorny
forgot the -UQ suffix

[PenguinsInVans]

4 minutes ago, Legolessed said:

does screen size matter? and also do you want a touch screen?

Something around maybe around 12-17 inchs,somthing too big would take up too much space and somthing too small would make the screen seem way too small for me to use it. Touch screen would be nice, like have a stylus while doing labs which i write down notes, another reason why i was looking at the surface pro

[Legolessed]

1 minute ago, PenguinsInVans said:

Something around maybe around 12-17 inchs,somthing too big would take up too much space and somthing too small would make the screen seem way too small for me to use it. Touch screen would be nice, like have a stylus while doing labs which i write down notes, another reason why i was looking at the surface pro

those dell xps 2-1 might work. the 13 inch model would be more convenient. also those xps laptops have quite the battery, especially if you buy dells external battery bank.

[Mark77]

Dell Latitude (ie: the E6440, E7440/E7450/E7470/E7480, whatever you can find a good deal on), or the business-class notebooks from HP or Lenovo.  Pick up a E-Dock off of eBay for $20 or so.  Attach good quality external LCDs to the dock. 

 

Stay away from the XPS. 

[Mark77]

8 hours ago, viggo11_dk said:

Why?

Not business class.  No docking port.  

[Pendragon]

9 hours ago, viggo11_dk said:

Not in a classic fashion no, but you can buy Dell's new dock that connects via thunderbolt on the new 9560 - that should get the job done, charging, ethernet, display and some more?

 

Yes. But build and service will be worse than business class as always.

[SpaceNugget]

7 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

Yes. But build and service will be worse than business class as always.

No its not. I bought the developer edition and it comes through the business division not the consumer division. The support is light years better than almost any other company I have dealt with. The build quality is much better than the business class inspiron (or was it latitude?) lineup we used at my previous office job, which weren't bad to begin with.

[Pendragon]

3 minutes ago, WaxyMaxy said:

No its not. I bought the developer edition and it comes through the business division not the consumer division. The support is light years better than almost any other company I have dealt with. The build quality is much better than the business class inspiron (or was it latitude?) lineup we used at my previous office job, which weren't bad to begin with.

 

Well there you go, you proved my point. Developers and Quadro editions go through business service, not consumer. Also build quality is actually worse for comparable laptops. Sure it's got aluminum and carbon fiber and feels good, but by that logic go for a Razer Blade right? no. Your latitudes are built of a magnesium alloy built for taking shit from business. The latitudes and precisions are built as well as Thinkpads. 

[SpaceNugget]

9 hours ago, Pendragon said:

Well there you go, you proved my point. Developers and Quadro editions go through business service, not consumer. Also build quality is actually worse for comparable laptops. Sure it's got aluminum and carbon fiber and feels good, but by that logic go for a Razer Blade right? no. Your latitudes are built of a magnesium alloy built for taking shit from business. The latitudes and precisions are built as well as Thinkpads. 

But my point is that the business division sells xps machines too. Yes the consumer support from dell is garbage. But XPS =/= consumer. and the build quality is better than some of the business laptops. the magnesium flexes so badly it scares me.