Random College Tech

[james_mesc]

I'm a rising senior and my parents agreed to get me some tech and a new laptop as a graduation gift. As of right now I'm thinking about getting an Dell XPS 13 but that might be a little overkill. In the context of all other tech, I am flying blind. I know for sure I should get a external battery pack but that's it. Thank you in advance for the reply.

[Kered124]

The XPS 13 is not for gaming, so don't expect it to do so. but is an excellent laptop. It has a sturdy build, a nice screen, keyboard, and speakers. They just feel solid, and snappy.

As far as other handy tech, battery banks, wireless chargers, dongles, headphones, and a second monitor are all things I would consider. The second monitor is surprisingly helpful for homework, and tasks in general. Having some dongles set up so that you can walk up and plug one or two cables and use your laptop with all of your extra gear is super handy.

[AngelOfBodom]

1 hour ago, james_mesc said:

I'm a rising senior and my parents agreed to get me some tech and a new laptop as a graduation gift. As of right now I'm thinking about getting an Dell XPS 13 but that might be a little overkill. In the context of all other tech, I am flying blind. I know for sure I should get a external battery pack but that's it. Thank you in advance for the reply.

The Acer Aspire E15 is a good bang for the buck and can be upgraded with additional RAM, M.2 SSD and larger 3.5in drive if you wanted to do so. As for other tech, maybe a nice wireless mouse, keyboard, etc. Don't bother getting anything crazy expensive unless you have the money to throw away. I've wasted a lot of money on things I think I needed. Now I'm a poor grad student and wish I had that money for bills T-T 

[AngelOfBodom]

1 hour ago, Kered124 said:

The XPS 13 is not for gaming, so don't expect it to do so. but is an excellent laptop. It has a sturdy build, a nice screen, keyboard, and speakers. They just feel solid, and snappy.

As far as other handy tech, battery banks, wireless chargers, dongles, headphones, and a second monitor are all things I would consider. The second monitor is surprisingly helpful for homework, and tasks in general. Having some dongles set up so that you can walk up and plug one or two cables and use your laptop with all of your extra gear is super handy.

totally agree with a second monitor (granted, a cheap 1080p panel with vesa mount and monitor arm) OR laptop stand to match the height with the monitor. Definitely agree with these suggestions. 

[Guest]

Everything @Kered124 said. 

[AngryBeaver]

21 hours ago, james_mesc said:

I'm a rising senior and my parents agreed to get me some tech and a new laptop as a graduation gift. As of right now I'm thinking about getting an Dell XPS 13 but that might be a little overkill. In the context of all other tech, I am flying blind. I know for sure I should get a external battery pack but that's it. Thank you in advance for the reply.

I think you are missing some important information. What are you planning to major in for college? Are you wanting to game on the laptop?

 

Your major will help determine what you need in a laptop. Maybe you want to do something with virtualization? Maybe you are wanting to do 3d design? Maybe none of those.

 

Maybe you want something to game and just need a basic laptop for school?

 

If you need certain things out of a laptop like graphical horsepower then that changes what you need vs say just something to run excel and word. One scenario needs a pretty beefy laptop, but the other means you might be better off buying a decent gaming PC and picking up a $300 laptop for school.

 

We really need to know more of what is planned before we can give you solid advice.

[james_mesc]

@AngryBeaver Sorry for the lack of clarification. I was really trying to find something that would be a fairly snappy laptop that I could carry on my person around campus. I do plan on attending a major university and I also plan on building a mini itx gaming build to take with me. The way I have it figured in my head is that I would use the laptop for notes and stuff in class but and major work could be done in the comfort of my dorm room on the desktop. All in all I'm tryna go for the cheapest option. Thank you and sorry again

[AngryBeaver]

13 hours ago, james_mesc said:

@AngryBeaver Sorry for the lack of clarification. I was really trying to find something that would be a fairly snappy laptop that I could carry on my person around campus. I do plan on attending a major university and I also plan on building a mini itx gaming build to take with me. The way I have it figured in my head is that I would use the laptop for notes and stuff in class but and major work could be done in the comfort of my dorm room on the desktop. All in all I'm tryna go for the cheapest option. Thank you and sorry again

In that case you just need something cheap. Grab a cheap i3 or i5 laptop with or without an SSD. You can pick up an SSD for cheap and swap it yourself. That will insure you have a snappy system.

 

If you don't need new... then I would check for retired lease machines (2 years old) so you would still get a 4th gen or higher intel machine... it would probably have an SSD in it already. The retail on those new are normally 900-1500 and you can find them used for a couple hundred. Heck, you might be able to get the docking station and all with it.

 

Dell,Hp,Lenova are the most common lease brands.

[dizmo]

Honestly, I'd try and find either a mint used or NOS Lenovo T460 and grab that. With an i7, upgradable RAM and storage, and the possibility to fit it with multiple battery choices, it's a very versatile powerhouse that will still be quite affordable, light and portable.

 

As for other tech, a good battery bank was super useful for long days. USB drives are a must be I imagine you already have some of those. I liked having an MP3 player for music while working; it saves you from the distractions a phone can have.

[cflanders]

7 hours ago, AngryBeaver said:

In that case you just need something cheap. Grab a cheap i3 or i5 laptop with or without an SSD. You can pick up an SSD for cheap and swap it yourself. That will insure you have a snappy system.

 

If you don't need new... then I would check for retired lease machines (2 years old) so you would still get a 4th gen or higher intel machine... it would probably have an SSD in it already. The retail on those new are normally 900-1500 and you can find them used for a couple hundred. Heck, you might be able to get the docking station and all with it.

 

Dell,Hp,Lenova are the most common lease brands.

Can you explain about these lease brands? Kinda curious as my current laptop with an intel core 2 dou is dying despite all the upgrades I have done. 

[AngryBeaver]

16 hours ago, cflanders said:

Can you explain about these lease brands? Kinda curious as my current laptop with an intel core 2 dou is dying despite all the upgrades I have done. 

So a lot of companies get a lease agreement with one of the brands I previously listed. Normally the terms of the lease are 2 years. Meaning every 2 years they get a new laptop. So that means these business laptops which are most of the time in pretty good condition hit the used market for cheap.

 

Since they are only 2 years old in most cases that means they still have relevant and powerful hardware. So for example I just got a new laptop with an 8600 in it, but my old laptop was using a 6600u. So if someone was able to pick up that old laptop for 250-300 then it would wipe the floor with anything new in that price range. Then on top of that my old laptop was only for when I worked remotely which wasn't too terribly often, which means it was in like new condition.

[Krolic]

The main question I would ask before anything is what are you going into in college/university? I recently finished my undergrad and went through an unnecessary amount of laptops throughout my time in undergrad. Do you want it to take notes, and if so, type or pen/stylus? If you are in sciences or mathematics a stylus could be useful to write out equations (that's what I ended up doing and found it significantly easier, especially on my back when I did not have to carry as much). Are you planning on using it for anything particular, ie, does you college program require certain programs for work? 

 

If you are simply going to use it work Word/Latex, Netflix, Facebook, etc. then a thin and light from Asus/Dell/Lenovo/HP are all great choices. Dell's can be a more expensive sometimes, but generally have great build quality, which should be one of the main factors you should be looking at. What ever you end up buying will need to withstand a lot of wear between moving it around, backpacks/bags, etc. Something that is plastic may not be able to hold-up. Personally, I find that Lenovo's generally have worse build quality but I have not looked at one in a while so that may have changed (well, at least not without spending a crap ton and their military tested line-up). 

 

Also, if you are going to have an ITX gaming rig, maybe a Microsoft Surface would be a good choice, especially if you get a good deal on a refurbished one. One thing I will say is that depending on your school work you may not want to do as much work in your dorm but with other people so mobility is important. 

[TECH is LIFE]

What laptop should i buy for college. I am a computer science student so programming is what i need to do primarily with some gaming involved. I need something portable but powerful and under $1500 . I know its hard to answer but any recommendations will be much appreciated. Hope you all have a great day.