Looking for Laptop Recommendations for Graduate School

[appleache]

1 minute ago, techiemind said:

This fact alone makes me never wanna look at the surface book again 

good while it lasted lol, by my book already have connection issue while it attached, stuff on the base won't recognize(gpu, etc), I have to wiggle it to get it connected. the replacement unit I got now start to have issues too. I'll say it is a design flaw and I don't think they can get rid of it until they can use dot connector like the surface pro line.

[JERKSON]

21 hours ago, goodylee said:

Hello, everyone! I'm a graduating college senior looking at graduate schools in physics. I'm currently looking for laptop recommendations based on my specific use case. Any information you guys could provide would be greatly appreciated!

• I have a need to do moderate to demanding computational tasks such as running Matlab code, C, python, or possibly other languages in the future.
• I need the ability to run the full Office suite for presentation designing etc.
• All-day battery would be a nice thing to have, but I can work with less than that.
• I need a nice keyboard. Trackpad isn't as vitally important.
• I would like to have a dedicated graphics card for any free-time gaming I can do
• I want a device that is great for multimedia consumption as well (primarily YouTube)

I've been looking at devices such as the Dell XPS 13 and the Surface book as my potential next buys, but I figured I could crowd-source some knowledge out of an informed community! Please if there's any more info you'd like I'll provide it as soon as I can. I appreciate everything!

Even though many users would disagree, I just bought a surface laptop 2, and I love it! The keyboard is fantastic, the screen is stunning, and the fit, finish and overall polish are outstanding. I am not the biggest Apple fan, as I would assume most users on this forum are, But after having this notebook for a week I finally get it, I wasn't too happy spending $1299 on an i5 laptop with 256gb of storage, but it is swift, and just feels fast in everything that I would use a notebook for. I do have a banging desktop and a beast of a gaming laptop also, but needed something smaller with better battery to carry around every day. The downsides are; No expansion, AWFUL I/O with no USB C and only one USB port, and Apple-like prices with similar performance. Luckily I was willing to spend a little bit more for a great screen and battery life. I was also looking at a Lenovo Thinkpad because I like the retro style and expandability, also the Thinkpad's keyboard was AMAZING IMO, maybe even better than the surface laptop, but the 3:2 IPS screen on the surface book was the tipping point, it is almost the perfect laptop, and gets a HUGE recommendation from me!

[genexis_x]

13 hours ago, JERKSON said:

it is almost the perfect laptop,

Not for me, anti-consumer product IMO

[appleache]

rip dude, it just got discounted

[appleache]

I still dont understand why people likes surface laptop more than pro. they have same battery, same thermal and almost the same weight when pro has the cover. and laptop has much lower ppi and brightness than pro. I only reason I can think of is the look and the bigger screen. I think the pro is much much more flexable than laptop due to the tablet mode.