Laptop for College

[Aereldor]

I never thought I'd start one of these threads.

 

Hey everyone. I'm going to be joining a conservatory in New York in three months and I need a laptop to get me through four years of it. I can only comfortably afford $1000, but I'm willing to extend that by up to $200 if it's really worth spending extra. I'm a musician and I also edit videos and do a little photo work, all of which will carry on through college. Here are a list of essential and non-essential features- please read them in their entirety before making any recommendations.

 

ESSENTIAL

• Good build quality and durability 
  I need this thing to last me four years, and I don't want to have to be too cautious with it. I will not consider laptops with poor quality control and high failure rates. This means stuff like the Dell Inspiron 7559 is out. I don't want to have to deal with failing hardware, and if extending my budget covers that base, I'm okay with it. I just won't have the time to deal with RMAs or servicing or DIY repairs.
• Good onboard headphone audio
  I don't mean the speakers. I need the headphone audio output to be clean, as I will be mixing audio here for my projects, probably using Tracktion 5 on Windows or Garageband on Mac.
• USB Type A Ports
  I need these. I'll have to use a MIDI keyboard, an external HDD, and a mic. I don't want to use dongles for all this.
• A capable processor
  Hopefully something that exceeds the performance of my current Core i3 4160 for video editing. The only exception are Mac laptops, due to Final Cut and iMovie's software integration destroying render times.
• Good battery life
  I don't need a complete tank, but I probably won't have a charger on hand all the time, so I'm looking for 3 hours or more of battery life under an average workload.
• A good IPS panel
  I'm not a pro, so I don't need something with 100% Adobe RGB coverage, but I do need reasonable sRGB performance for content creation and content consumption. I don't care too much about screen size.
• A good keyboard
  I'm not too miffed about the trackpad since my MX Master will always be by my side, but I need a good keyboard with reasonable response, travel, and some tactility. I particularly like the keyboards on Pre-2016 MacBook Pros and the old Thinkpads. I'm going to be spending a lot of time typing, so this is very important. I don't need a numpad. My preferred layout is that featured on pre-2016 MacBook Pros or the Venom BlackBook Zero.
• Upgradeable
  I would like to be able to replace the stock drive with a 500GB SSD and 16GB of RAM rather than have to buy a preconfigured model. The only exceptions to this are if I can get both of those for cheap; then I won't have to upgrade.
• A top-mounted webcam
  I HATE when the webcam is situated at the bottom of the screen. I'll be using this for video calls frequently, and I might even record a few videos using it, so it needs to be above the screen.
   

NON-ESSENTIAL

• Good speakers
  Since my Shure SE112s are coming with me, this is not essential. However, it would still be nice to have good, reasonably loud speakers for quick stuff. I understand that anything will do in a pinch, but it won't hurt if the backup was good.
• A good trackpad
  I'll use my MX Master whenever I can, but it would certainly be nice to have a good trackpad, as I may not be able to use my mouse in class, and probably won't on the go. I've been spoiled with a 2009 MacBook Pro, so my standards for trackpads are high
• A discrete GPU
  I don't plan to game, but I would certainly appreciate the option. Something around the level of a GTX 960M or GTX 1050 would be perfectly adequate. The iGPU would do in a pinch for light titles like Rocket League, but again, I'd appreciate having the option of playing more demanding games.
• Lightweight
  Of course, super-heavy 'performance beasts' are already out, as this is a college laptop recommendation thread. I don't mind a slightly bigger laptop, but having something more thin and light is a nice bonus.
   

I'm going to be buying this in July or August, so if there are any new technologies I should look out for (Ryzen/Raven Ridge Laptops, Intel Coffee Lake), let me know.

If you're going to recommend a Mac, I'd appreciate if you can point me towards a refurbished product sale link, as they're way too expensive to buy new, even with a student discount.

 

Regards,

Aereldor.

[yathis]

Lenovo is a good brand I would buy, that or ASUS, or MSI.

[Aereldor]

Just now, yathis said:

Lenovo is a good brand I would buy, that or ASUS, or MSI.

You're recommending three brands that have hundreds of models, which doesn't help at all.

[Aereldor]

2 minutes ago, Abyssal Radon said:

Dell XPS 15 9560 literally checks all of your boxes. 

I can only afford the cheapest model with the HDD. Is it easy to replace it with a 480GB SATA SSD?

Also, yuck, mobile Core i3.

[yathis]

Choose what you want, use the filters to filter it down.
Screen size

RAM

CPU

hdd

pcpartspicker has something there about that

but I cant seem to find it

https://pcpartpicker.com/

 

 

Lemme try newegg

Yeah they got filters

https://www.newegg.ca/Laptops-Notebooks/SubCategory/ID-32?Tid=6741

 

Down to 2

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100006741 600568944 601214468 600004921 601286795 601286800 600136700 50001186 50001312 50001315 50010418 600566986 4084

[Aereldor]

Just now, yathis said:

Choose what you want, use the filters to filter it down.
Screen size

RAM

CPU

hdd

pcpartspicker has something there about that

but I cant seem to find it

https://pcpartpicker.com/

 

 

Lemme try newegg

Please stop. PCPartPicker's laptop section hasn't been updated in a year, and PortablePicker was shut down last year.

[Aereldor]

3 minutes ago, Abyssal Radon said:

I would maybe consider splurging the extra $350 for the i5 model. I don't know how easy it is to upgrade. 

I can't do that; I'll have to conjure the money out of nowhere. My initial budget was $800, but I played a few more gigs and brought it up to $1000. I can only go up to $1200 if I borrow a little or cut into other expenses. I'll keep your recommendation in mind, but it doesn't look like I can make it work just now.

Edit: Maybe I can get the 13-inch model.

[yathis]

Buy used/refurbished

There ya go

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100006741 4016 601283906 601283903 601283904 601290225 600003982 601283905 601283909 601286756 601283908 601290003 600003988 600136700 600566986 600004720 601296064

[Droidbot]

go refurbished? imho the Zbook 14 suits you perfectly here, just not on the CPU power forefront

you can often pick up zbook 14 g2 units with a 5th gen i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and a dGPU (albeit low end) for around $670

 

[Aereldor]

Just now, Droidbot said:

go refurbished? imho the Zbook 14 suits you perfectly here, just not on the CPU power forefront

you can often pick up zbook 14 g2 units with a 5th gen i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and a dGPU (albeit low end) for around $670

 

Really? Could you point me towards some?

I was considering getting the now $1100 2015 MacBook Pro 128GB and just expanding it with a 200GB microSD card using one of those slimline microSD to SD adapters that sits flush with the computer's edge.

[Droidbot]

Just now, Aereldor said:

Really? Could you point me towards some?

I was considering getting the now $1100 2015 MacBook Pro 128GB and just expanding it with a 200GB microSD card using one of those slimline microSD to SD adapters that sits flush with the computer's edge.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-zBook-14-Backlit-FHD-i7-5600U-16GB-RAM-512GB-SSD-1TB-HDD-AMD-FirePro-Touch-/262897455534?hash=item3d35e8d1ae:g:bFgAAOSw2gxYypbF

 

Even for some shits and giggles you can hackintosh it, Zbooks/Elitebooks are great mobile hackintoshes everything considered. PM me if you do decide to go down that route. 

 

Alternatively you can go for something like an E6440 from Dell, a bit heavier but has the ability for a full Haswell quad with turbo bins unlocked. Which will whoop your poor i3 into oblivion.

 

 

[Aereldor]

11 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-zBook-14-Backlit-FHD-i7-5600U-16GB-RAM-512GB-SSD-1TB-HDD-AMD-FirePro-Touch-/262897455534?hash=item3d35e8d1ae:g:bFgAAOSw2gxYypbF

 

Even for some shits and giggles you can hackintosh it, Zbooks/Elitebooks are great mobile hackintoshes everything considered. PM me if you do decide to go down that route. 

 

Alternatively you can go for something like an E6440 from Dell, a bit heavier but has the ability for a full Haswell quad with turbo bins unlocked. Which will whoop your poor i3 into oblivion.

 

 

RIP community standards.

That looks like a good deal, and I might consider it. What do you think of the idea of getting the cheap refurb MBP and adding the 256GB SD card for storage? 

Might PM you anyway. Trying to move my Mac work from my dying laptop over to a partition on my PC.

[Droidbot]

12 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

RIP community standards.

That looks like a good deal, and I might consider it. What do you think of the idea of getting the cheap refurb MBP and adding the 256GB SD card for storage? 

Might PM you anyway. Trying to move my Mac work from my dying laptop over to a partition on my PC.

It's on eBay.com

Not even my locale, ffs

 

If you're dead set on a Mac that's your best bet IMHO

or selling the SSD and buying an OWC replacement SSD, but no warranty

 

[Pendragon]

Wait. The 7559 had high failure rates??? I was gonna say the Dell 7567 checks all your boxes. 

[Aereldor]

11 hours ago, Pendragon said:

Wait. The 7559 had high failure rates??? I was gonna say the Dell 7567 checks all your boxes. 

The 7559 did have high failure rates due to enormous quality-control issues.

 

I was interested in the 7567 because it's cheap and looks nice, but I hear the keyboard and trackpad just plain suck. I was also looking into a Clevo- this one in particular-

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np7850-clevo-p650hp3.html
 

It also checks all my boxes and fits in some much nicer hardware for the price. @Droidbot mentioned you know Clevo laptops well. How are the keyboard and trackpad on these? I'm more worried about the keyboard than the trackpad.

Something else I'm considering is a  refurbished 2015 MBP Retina- the cheapest 128GB variant. I intend to expand the storage by 256GB with an SD card.

[Pendragon]

5 hours ago, Aereldor said:

snip

Oh those keyboards are great. P BGA series have really nice keyboards. Also I'd suggest you take a look at LPC Digital for it. But his advice to take second hand business laptops and putting quad cores in them are great too. More fun to play around with. 

[Droidbot]

Just now, Pendragon said:

Oh those keyboards are great. P BGA series have really nice keyboards. Also I'd suggest you take a look at LPC Digital for it. 

In the PM he has with me he also looked at the Eluktronics RP6 unit on Amazon, how about that? 

[Pendragon]

1 minute ago, Droidbot said:

how about that? 

Best for price to value. RP6 annoys me cause of the 6700hq but it's one of the best price to value laptops currently. 

[Aereldor]

42 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

Best for price to value. RP6 annoys me cause of the 6700hq but it's one of the best price to value laptops currently. 

Actually, the Sager has better value at twice the RAM, the 7700HQ, and the larger SSD for not much more. That is, unless the Eluktronics RP6 goes on sale again, because I've seen the 8/128GB 6700HQ 1060 6gb variant go for as little as $1050. 

 

47 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

Oh those keyboards are great. P BGA series have really nice keyboards. Also I'd suggest you take a look at LPC Digital for it. But his advice to take second hand business laptops and putting quad cores in them are great too. More fun to play around with. 

I can't find any reviews of that model, but it's the best value and checks all my boxes, although it gets rekt by the MacBook at build quality, render times, and probably the trackpad.

Glad to hear the keyboard is good. How's the trackpad? I'll use my MX Master primarily, but I'd still like to know.

[Pendragon]

14 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

That is, unless the Eluktronics RP6 goes on sale again

I was thinking about sale price, because that's the only reason to buy from eluktronics. 

 

15 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

render times

Wat r u rendering??? On final cut? 

[Aereldor]

2 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

I was thinking about sale price, because that's the only reason to buy from eluktronics. 

 

Wat r u rendering??? On final cut? 

1080p videos. iMovie until I can afford Final Cut, but it still has the same background rendering. Even a Core M3 using iMovie/FCP can absolutely wreck a high-end Windows editing desktop using Premiere, Resolve or Vegas.

 

How is the trackpad on the Clevo P650 I mentioned?

[Pendragon]

1 minute ago, Aereldor said:

How is the trackpad on the Clevo P650 I mentioned?

Meh. I'd never use it without a mouse. It's fine. 

[Aereldor]

2 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

Meh. I'd never use it without a mouse. It's fine. 

Are there any points of comparison? I've used a MacBook Pro (holy grail of trackpads), a new Lenovo Thinkpad (Meh), and a Dell Vostro 2420 (unusable garbage). I'll try to keep my mouse, but I may have to stick with the trackpad in class, on the train etc.

[Pendragon]

6 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

snip

Usable. Not as good as macbook or windows precision. But not trash. Not unusable. It's similar to an Alienware. 

[Droidbot]

Just now, Pendragon said:

Usable. Not as good as macbook or windows precision. But not trash. Not unusable. It's similar to an Alienware. 

synaptics or elan?

 

I've heard that the new Gigabyte Aero 15 is a good machine, any thoughts? It looks like an XPS 15 with dual NVMe and a 1060 6GB