Laptop for university use, help me choose one

[Alexaldin]

Hello everyone, I need some advice, my girlfriends needs a notebook for university use. She asked me for a laptop with a 15.6" monitor, a decent battery life to get her through a long university day (7-8 hour), lightweight, a numpad and that she can use for 5-6 years without it getting old. I know that in the future maybe she has to work on it. She is studying chemistry, and she need a dedicated gpu for viewing the molecule in 3D. Since I can't find a damn laptop with numpad AND all the rest of her necessities, I finally found 5 notebook that meets her request. 

 

 

We live in Italy, and, boy, it's damn hard to find a decent laptop for a decent price here. Her budget is 1000€-1200€.

For now, on these 5 laptop, my gf likes the Dell Inspiron 15 7580 and the Lenovo Ideapad 530s.

Can you help me on choosing one of these five? Which is the best at it's price, and which can really do the difference and not be a rock in the near future. 

Thank you all for the help, and if you have more laptop to suggest I gladly accept them

 

 

[r2724r16]

4 minutes ago, Alexaldin said:

Can you help me on choosing one of these five? Which is the best at it's price, and which can really do the difference and not be a rock in the near future. 

I'd get the XPS, but upgrade the RAM to 16GB and get more storage.

[Alexaldin]

10 minutes ago, r2724r16 said:

I'd get the XPS, but upgrade the RAM to 16GB and get more storage.

It costs 1899€, out of budget.

[r2724r16]

2 minutes ago, Alexaldin said:

It costs 1899€, out of budget.

I meant upgrade the RAM yourself.

[Alexaldin]

1 minute ago, r2724r16 said:

I meant upgrade the RAM yourself.

Oh, yeah I can do that in the future. So the Dell XPS it's the best for its price?

 

She'd like to use it to play indie game too, not triple A game. The i5+1050 is enough?

[r2724r16]

1 minute ago, Alexaldin said:

Oh, yeah I can do that in the future. So the Dell XPS it's the best for its price?

Yes, if you consider the unmatched build quality and screen.

2 minutes ago, Alexaldin said:

She'd like to use it to play indie game too, not triple A game. The i5+1050 is enough?

Look up GTX 1050 benchmarks for the games your gf plays.

[Alexaldin]

15 minutes ago, r2724r16 said:

Yes, if you consider the unmatched build quality and screen.

Look up GTX 1050 benchmarks for the games your gf plays.

K, thank you for the feedback  

[genexis_x]

1. Inspiron 7580 will NEVER get 8 hrs battery life, 6 hrs is possible

2. XPS 15 doesn't have numpad

3. Ideapad 530s and G5 15 has low sRGB IPS

 

Does she need a good quality (high sRGB) display? Preferred max weight in kg/lbs? Any other requirements?

 

Any links of online stores?

[Alexaldin]

2 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

1. Inspiron 7580 will NEVER get 8 hrs battery life, 6 hrs is possible

2. XPS 15 doesn't have numpad

3. Ideapad 530s and G5 15 has low sRGB IPS

 

Does she need a good quality (high sRGB) display? Preferred max weight in kg/lbs? Any other requirements?

 

Any links of online stores?

None of the laptop I have chosen has the numpad. We opted to buy a Bluetooth one. 

 

The high sRGB is not necessary, but liked.

Max 2kg. 

I don't think of any thing more that I al ready wrote. 

 

For the online store: amazon.it - eprice.it  - asustore.it - drako.it - dell.com - alex.it - shop.akinformatica.it - afkstore.it - ebay.it - nexths.it - vginformatica.com

And there's more but I can't remember them. 

[genexis_x]

With 25W MX150 and low sRGB display:

1. Lenovo Thinkpad T580 (i5-8250U, 8GB, 256GB, 32+48Wh battery, optional WQHD display/backlit keyboard/other stuffs)

3. Acer SF315-52G / SF315-51G (soldered RAM, bulkier with thicker bezels)

4. HP Envy x360 15

5. Lenovo Ideapad 530s 15

 

All options above are with i5-8250U CPU. No need to go for i7-8550U, only minimal to none performance gain especially multi core performance

 

With GTX GPU and good sRGB display:

1. Lenovo Ideapad 720s 15 - undersized charger issue (not a big deal if you don't stress the hardware hard), battery life need some stretch

2. Lenovo Yoga 720 15

3. Dell XPS 15 (i5-8300H, 1050 4GB, 97Wh, no 2.5 inch bay) - excellent display, many issues

[Alexaldin]

3 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

With 25W MX150 and low sRGB display:

1. Lenovo Thinkpad T580 (i5-8250U, 8GB, 256GB, 32+48Wh battery, optional WQHD display/backlit keyboard/other stuffs)

3. Acer SF315-52G / SF315-51G (soldered RAM, bulkier with thicker bezels)

4. HP Envy x360 15

5. Lenovo Ideapad 530s 15

 

All options above are with i5-8250U CPU. No need to go for i7-8550U, only minimal to none performance gain especially multi core performance

 

With GTX GPU and good sRGB display:

1. Lenovo Ideapad 720s 15 - undersized charger issue (not a big deal if you don't stress the hardware hard), battery life need some stretch

2. Lenovo Yoga 720 15

3. Dell XPS 15 (i5-8300H, 1050 4GB, 97Wh, no 2.5 inch bay) - excellent display, many issues

Thank you for your suggestions. I think we will opt for the XPS 15 or the Lenovo 530s. Or the Dell 7580. It depends on the Black Friday deals. 

[genexis_x]

3 hours ago, Alexaldin said:

Or the Dell 7580

Be aware of short battery life. I have no idea why Dell put UHD panel in the models with 56Wh battery

 

And XPS 15 has many issues. Usually I didn't recommend it