College laptop around 450$

[rafalpl1]

Hi, 

I've been looking for a college laptop for a while now and although I seem to have a general picture of my picks, I am still a bit puzzled about specific configurations. I would really appreciate if you guys helped me.

I would like to use this laptop mostly for school work (Microsoft Office), watching Netflix, YouTube and I definitely want it to be fast. Sometimes I also do some work with Adobe InDesign. 

Number 1 on my list so far:

HP 250 - Intel Pentium N4200, 8GB of RAM, Intel HD 505 Graphics, 128GB SSD and a 1366 x 768 display. 

It's possible to have a different configuration with this laptop, for example with a worse Celeron N3060 CPU, but also a better 1920 x 1080p display. 

I don't really know which parts of my laptop I will use the most, but I need to close my budget at around 450$ (the HP on my list is 470$ in my country) 

 

Could you tell me on what parts I should focus the most? Also, will I notice the difference in better parts during those tasks that I mentioned? 

Are there any other models in that price range that are worth looking at? 

Or is it not worth spending that much for school work only and it's better to buy for example ASUS Vivobook, which costs a bit less? 

 

Cheers

 

 

[NelizMastr]

Is new a requirement? Because laptops in this price range new are poorly built and are compromised af.

 

What's your location?

[genexis_x]

If you can stretch a bit more, there's an Asus Vivobook with 8250U CPU (but many compromies like mediocre battery life, mediocre input devices, OKish build material etc)

 

I suggest you to get a used business laptop with QM CPU (can change, not soldered), much better overall build quality, speedy performance and long battery life (with new battery). Just make sure it has a 1080p display and maybe add more RAM or SSD

[Bigbootyjudy]

27 minutes ago, rafalpl1 said:

-snip-

 

 

If all you are going to be doing is stuff on the internet then I'm actually going to recommend a Chromebook (yes, a Chromebook). I own one and for typing and watching youtube I think that it is actually a good experience. You usually get free space in google drive and you get google docs, slides, sheets and other google apps. Not to mention that the battery lasts forever (mine usually lasts 7 hours on medium brightness and streaming video). You won't be able to use inDesign though

[Stagea]

6 hours ago, rafalpl1 said:

Hi, 

I've been looking for a college laptop for a while now and although I seem to have a general picture of my picks, I am still a bit puzzled about specific configurations. I would really appreciate if you guys helped me.

I would like to use this laptop mostly for school work (Microsoft Office), watching Netflix, YouTube and I definitely want it to be fast. Sometimes I also do some work with Adobe InDesign. 

Number 1 on my list so far:

HP 250 - Intel Pentium N4200, 8GB of RAM, Intel HD 505 Graphics, 128GB SSD and a 1366 x 768 display. 

It's possible to have a different configuration with this laptop, for example with a worse Celeron N3060 CPU, but also a better 1920 x 1080p display. 

I don't really know which parts of my laptop I will use the most, but I need to close my budget at around 450$ (the HP on my list is 470$ in my country) 

 

Could you tell me on what parts I should focus the most? Also, will I notice the difference in better parts during those tasks that I mentioned? 

Are there any other models in that price range that are worth looking at? 

Or is it not worth spending that much for school work only and it's better to buy for example ASUS Vivobook, which costs a bit less? 

 

Cheers

 

 

I think that's a pretty good choice. The SSD and RAM capacity would surely help make the most out of the weaker CPU.

 

This one might be snappier:

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-LED-Backlit-Bluetooth-MaxxAudio/dp/B075631BY6

 

 

[rafalpl1]

7 hours ago, NelizMastr said:

Is new a requirement? Because laptops in this price range new are poorly built and are compromised af.

 

What's your location?

Poland - definitely not a First World country

[Gung Pow Chicken]

Forget about all of these other computers and join the THINKPAD MASTER RACE!!! Just buy a T430

 

These things can become beast little machines!

Display: 1600x900 (Not Terrible in my opinion)

CPU: i7-3840QM (Still out performs current gen laptop CPU's)

RAM: 16gb Corsair Vengeance DDR3

I've got 3 1tb SSD's in it, one is mSATA which is at SATA2 speeds but I've never really noticed a difference and I use it as my boot drive.

 

You can build one of these beasts minus my drives for around $300 - $450 and it will outperform anything else in this price range, and if needed you could even go to a 3940XM which is overclockable with a nice HFS upgrade. I run one of these in my Elitebook 8570w and it handles anything I throw at it with ease.

 

Plus on top of the insane performance you could add the legendary XX20 series keyboard for an orgasmic typing experience lol

 

 

[NelizMastr]

$450 gets you a 2-3 year old Latitude, Thinkpad or Elitebook, which you can easily upgrade yourself in most cases.

 

In your price range, according to eBay listings:

 

- Latitude 7440

- ThinkPad T450

- EliteBook 840 G2

 

All excellent laptops with great build quality.