recommend a laptop for a new college kid?

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Pocatello

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To start off, I work in an office where they provide me with all Apple products. I'm on my 3rd or 4th i-phone, and I am getting a new i-pad next week. I've been running off of a MacBook for almost a year. The MacBook replaced my desktop, and I have some cool software that let's me work at home off of the MacBook as if I was in the office. I love my Apple products.

My MacBook is about 13", and it is not a touchscreen. I love the size, weight, and battery life.

My kid is going to college for the first time at the end of August, and as a high school graduation gift I will get her a laptop for use in school. Is there something similar to my 13" MacBook?

Here are the specs I think are important:

lightweight
great battery life
great keyboard with good tactile response
~$1,000 (or less)
durable enough for college
Windows 10

and the specs that I think ARE NOT important:

gaming
touchscreen
4K

Any specific recommendations? Am I missing anything?

Thanks!
 
Maybe a ZenBook from craigslist or a Latitude 13 Education Series (rugged but heavier, lesser display resolution, not Ultrabook, nice keyboard) from Dell Outlet?
 
If you're looking for touchscreen, then macbooks of any kind are out of the question..

at the moment, I would say asus zenbook and dell xps 13 stand head and shoulders above the rest of the windows competition. But tbh, I would wait until the newest versions release. They have already been shown in computex 2016 about a week ago. It's not too long (or at least should be out before the Fall semester starts) until it's out on retail stores.
 
Thanks for the responses. I will look at the Asus Zenbook and Dell XPS.

I will wait to see what comes out this summer and maybe hold off on my purchase until the last minute.
 
I've always leaned towards ThinkPad X2-0 or ThinkPad T4-0s; replace - with current number is 6. Check the outlet web sites for Dell or Lenovo.
 
My son had a Lenovo, and he liked it. He had a warranty repair issue but it was handled efficiently.

Thanks for the suggestion.
 
the_servicer said:
I used to like Lenovo until people on this forum told me to avoid Lenovo. (I still wanted a ThinkPad so I got a really old one. Are old ThinkPad notebooks [H] approved?) So now it's funny to see favorable comments about Lenovo.
Click to expand...


Lenovo still has a long way to go, but they're slowly improving hardware to the quality side. Taking lots of time to get to that point tho.

Honestly.. when I first started college, I started out with an HP DV9535nr but it died within a year. Then I had a Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q701 which lasted nearly 3yrs. All of which were covered under bestbuys warranty.

I would honestly say personally dont go cheap.. and get what you need but I was also finding myself 2hrs between a class and would go nuts so I went with a gaming system.

Buy something that caters to your needs and demands. Dont sell yourself short.

That said, Dell.. eh.. depends, thinkpads yea, stay away from Asus.
 
It has been about six years since I graduated from college, however, I think I can offer some general advice. Sorry, no specific hardware advice.
  • HDMI port is a must on a laptop. Optical drive.... not do much. Group presentations are practically a given in college, so being able to hook up to a projector was extremely helpful.
  • If you get a laptop, also get a second charger, extra battery, security cable, and a large rolling bag.
  • Be aware that the college bookstores offer educational discounts on both hardware and software. Especially the software (JourneyEd.com has Office 2016 for $30, Acrobat for $119).
  • Also, it was a few years ago (2010), but the new book prices at Amazon were just slightly more expensive than the used book prices at the college bookstore. And I believe Amazon offers a prime for students.
  • Encourage the college student to join a on-campus or weekly Toastmasters group.
  • Because I was working full-time and going to school part time, I reserved all of my days off for exams. I found it best to take the day off work whenever there was a major exam and ESPECIALLY during finals. Bosses appreciate the advanced notice.... so much so that when they had to cancel days off for an major event, I was exempted because of the advanced notice, and that exam days were non-movable.
 
Consider this model too

HP - Spectre x360 2-in-1 13.3" Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - 256GB Solid State Drive - Natural Silver

on sale for 850 is a decent price.

Battery life is around 8-9 hours of actual use. Display is phenomenal, 1080p, but superior contrast to some of the higher res screen options that drain battery faster:




It has a touchscreen that you seem to think is useless, but there might be one thing useful for a student, note taking with the active pen.




So the kid can eschew some of the standard paper notebooks... or not, that's totally optional.
 
The most basic of laptops will get the job done, so anything above that is for your own(your kids) comfort. However, my philosophy has been to go for a lightweight laptop with long battery life, as high a resolution screen as you can get, and a good keyboard.

  • Apple MacBook Pro 13" or MacBook Air (11" or 13")
  • Dell Vostro 1440, 3450, and V131
  • Lenovo Thinkpad T and X series
  • Toshiba Portege R830 and R835
 
I'd go with the Dell XPS 13. It's focused on the fundamentals (including good battery life), and its small size will be a big help when your daughter carries it in her bag or works at a tiny library desk.
 
If I was starting college again I'd want a Thinkpad, but then I'm biased since I love the damn things. Not all of them are what I'd call "Thinkpad Quality" though, especially these days.

If I was going to start all over at University with what I know now, I'd probably want something from the T460, T460p, or T460s line. Newer integrated graphics are surprisingly decent for baseline gaming if you don't want to max things out, and the battery life should be great for carrying around to class. I think at least one of those models comes with an IPS screen, which makes the laptop easy enough to see outside in sunlight (important when you actually wander around campus and use the thing in all sorts of areas). I'm also of the opinion (personal opinion only!) that a 14" screen is the sweet spot between portable and primary machine.

I had a T61p in Graduate School and it's the computer that made me into a Thinkpad fanboy. Currently I'm using an x230, and will probably stick with the X-series forever now... but it's a partner to my desktop, not my primary machine, so I like that it's only 12".
 
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Thanks for the great replies and advice.

I wish my kid would just make her own choice and say, "dad, buy me this!"

This seems like such personal choice that should be made by the person who will be using the device.
 
I would go with an XPS 13/15. I have the Insprion 7559 above and while I love it I wish I would of splurged on the XPS model.
 
I just bought a Dell Inspiron 7559 from dell.com, "rewards10" should take off 10% for you. It's a nice laptop imho, and it runs battlefield3, what more can you want. (Maybe G-Sync, still not 100% sure if this laptop has it or not)

Originally I bought it using a different coupon code and called to get the pricematch to above, and they offered me a $50 credit for customer satisfaction. Also, there is some 1 year subscription to McAfee that they force you to get, I called to cancel that and they said they would (refunds will be in 5-10 days)

So I paid 750 + tax with free two day shipping. $811 or so with tax, but should be getting two $50 credits bringing it down to $711, not bad if I dont say so myself
 
Honestly, if she's going to use it for actual WORK, unless you're going to going to also toss in an external monitor, I'd recommend going with something bigger than a 13".

The Dell Inspirons are nice machines.

Here's a fairly decent list of decent machines that are right in (or slightly above) your $1000 range. All i5 or i7, all with SSD and minimum 8GB of RAM. Some of which have a deal going where they also come with a 32" TV you could use as an external monitor.
Just ignore anything beyond the second row of them (as they jump from the "About $1000" range to $1500+.
http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-1...s=fncwsb0003bso:8~256SLC;11~10P64E;146~59DXNH
 
Just throwing in my two cents.
I have an XPS13, the one without Thunderbolt, and it is by far the best laptop I've owned.
It has very good performance and is incredibly small, comparable to my old Inspiron 1018.
Of course that made a big difference for me since I have to take with me to school everyday and it being smaller really helped.
 
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