I need a new video editing laptop for college!

[Doctorfrozo]

I've done copious amounts of research trying to find the best laptop I can get for what I need.

I will be attending college soon so I need to unfortunately give my desktop some alone time and buy myself a new daily driver I can take on the go. I also like to do video editing on Premier and my budget is no more than $1,300(but I've been trying to keep it around $1,000)

I'm looking for a laptop with these four things being most important:

• Good battery life 8+ hours
• Graphics card no worse than an MX150 or 1050
• 16gb of ram
• A quad-core i7 processor (I'm especially having a hard time being willing to sacrifice this one)

I've found some potentially good choices but I have a hard time feeling like I can put my trust into these because of how great their value is (specifically the hp), I'm having a hard time finding their trade-offs and that scares me about them.

Here are my three favorite options I've found so far:

• Asus ZenBook UX430UN https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ZenBook-UX430UN-UltraBook-Laptop/dp/B077BXRBK1
• HP Pavilion Power 15 https://www.amazon.com/HP-i7-7700HQ-Processor-solid-state-15-cb079nr/dp/B075VT9LFC
• Dell Inspiron 15 7567 http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/inspiron-15-7000-gaming/spd/inspiron-15-7567-laptop/dncwf510s

I would love to hear your opinions on my current choices and to see if you have any laptop recommendations you think I should know about. Thank you for your time everyone!  

[unkn0wn1]

one important thing that i want to say is don't forget build quality, that computer is going to be tossed around in your bag all day. I don't care how careful you are a bad build quality will have the laptop breaking within in a year. I'm speaking from personal experience.

[GrandNebSmada]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=2WC-000N-00068&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=IGNEFL031318&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL031318-_-EMC-031318-Index-_-GamingLaptops-_-2WC-000N-00068-S0A&ignorebbr=1

[Doctorfrozo]

16 minutes ago, 5Beans6 said:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=2WC-000N-00068&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=IGNEFL031318&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL031318-_-EMC-031318-Index-_-GamingLaptops-_-2WC-000N-00068-S0A&ignorebbr=1

I've come across that laptop before, the battery test conducted by notebookcheck (https://goo.gl/B3Ak9w)convinced me the battery was not good enough, only was able to put out about 4 and a half hours of websurfing. Whereas the Hp was able to put out 8 hours on the same test. The one you suggested does have more power but Its not worth the sacrifice of battery for me. I appreciate your recommendation btw thank you:)

 

 

 

[Doctorfrozo]

18 minutes ago, unkn0wn1 said:

one important thing that i want to say is don't forget build quality, that computer is going to be tossed around in your bag all day. I don't care how careful you are a bad build quality will have the laptop breaking within in a year. I'm speaking from personal experience.

That is true. Thank you I will definitely put that into consideration when I make my choice.

[genexis_x]

Could you provide some links of online stores in your country? I can help

[Doctorfrozo]

1 minute ago, ZM Fong said:

Could you provide some links of online stores in your country? I can help

Thank you!

https://www.newegg.com/

https://www.amazon.com/ref=nav_logo

http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop

http://store.asus.com/us?_ga=2.170166048.1860833114.1520953963-990553267.1520953963

[genexis_x]

Asus UX461UN

Asus UX430UN

HP Spectre x360 15*

Lenovo Ideapad 720S 14 (8GB RAM, upgradable)

HP Envy x360 15* (battery life can be hit or miss)

 

Other choices with 8GB soldered RAM (single slot):

Asus UX331UN

Acer Swift 3 14*

Acer Swift 3 15*

 

*with 25W MX150

 

All with 8250U/8550U and MX150. For models above with 8GB RAM, try to find configuration with 16GB RAM.

 

FYI, most MX150 in Ultrabooks is the 8W variant which is only slightly better than 940MX. Also, i5 and i7 don't have much performance difference in ULVs due to TDP and cooling limitations.

Edited March 14, 2018 by ZM Fong

[Doctorfrozo]

10 hours ago, ZM Fong said:

Asus UX461UN

Asus UX430UN

HP Spectre x360 15*

Lenovo Ideapad 720S 14 (8GB RAM, upgradable)

HP Envy x360 15* (battery life can be hit or miss)

 

Other choices with 8GB soldered RAM (single slot):

Asus UX331UN

Acer Swift 3 14*

Acer Swift 3 15*

 

*with 25W MX150

 

All with 8250U/8550U and MX150. For models above with 8GB RAM, try to find configuration with 16GB RAM.

 

FYI, most MX150 in Ultrabooks is the 8W variant which is only slightly better than 940MX. Also, i5 and i7 don't have much performance difference in ULVs due to TDP and cooling limitations.

I've taken some time to look into all the options you've provided me, I had to unfortunately discard the options that were not available in 16gb or were available in 16gb but not without having to exceed $1,300 (Those including: Hp Spectre x360 15, Asus UX331UN, Acer Swift 14 and 15)

(I also discarded the HP Envy not wanting to take the risk on the battery which I'm glad you made me aware that it is hit or miss)

 

That being said, one of the laptops you suggested was actually in my original three favorites that I posted. So that makes me feel a little more faithful in that laptop(UX430UN).

From what I can see the UX430UN and the UX461UN are pretty much the same laptops however the UX461UN is about $100 more expensive, why is this?

 

The Ideapad 720S 14 is also very similar to those two laptops as well. But maybe because of my own bias, I feel I can trust the build quality of ASUS more. 

 

What do you think of my three original picks? What do you see that is wrong with them that may be the reason why their cost is so low? The HP and the Dell both have a better GPU, bigger screen, and better battery life. The only downside to those two that I noticed is that they are slightly thicker. But since they cost up to $200 dollars less than the Asus UX430UN I lean towards those laptops more as a better choice. Could you help tell me why I should pick one of the ZenBooks over either of those two given that they are better(on paper) and cheaper?

 

• HP Pavilion Power 15: https://www.amazon.com/HP-i7-7700HQ-Processor-solid-state-15-cb079nr/dp/B075VT9LFC?tag=linus21-20
• Dell Inspiron 15 7567: http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/inspiron-15-7000-gaming/spd/inspiron-15-7567-laptop/dncwf510s

Thank you for the research you've put into my post  

[genexis_x]

58 minutes ago, Doctorfrozo said:

UX461UN is about $100 more expensive, why is this?

Because UX461UN is 2 in 1 convertible. Comes with touchscreen display.

 

Brands don't really matter in laptops as every brand has good and bad models.

 

Pavilion Power is fairly portable and has good battery life but it's ruined by the bad exhaust design and dim display. Also Pavilion lineup QC concerns.

 

Dell 7567 has good build quality, long battery life and powerful, however it's quite bulky (~2.7kg). Some ppl don't mind that but for me, I already feeling heavy and tired carrying my Y520 (2.4kg) in my backpack.