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I'm planning on buying my grandson a laptop this month for him to take to his first year of college in the fall. Like me, he is more a desktop person, so when I try to get his preference on things, he just doesn't know and doesn't really have an opinion. So I've been doing some research and was hopeful to get opinions on some of these laptops.
Firstly, I'm still debating with myself (he has no real opinion, like I said, and just doesn't know what would be preferred) about going with a smaller 13" size vs a 15"...each has pros and cons, most particularly weight and portability. But with having to write papers and such, wouldn't the larger size ultimately be more comfortable for extended typing as well as for, say, watching netflix on his off hours?
I also was questioning video card vs no video card. The Iris Xe chips seem to be decent. He's more studious than not, but when he games it's something like Crusader Kings or Skyrim, and I think the Iris chip would work...but, again, he's going to be out of state, at a college in Iowa that will be pretty isolated in the heavy snowy weather, so maybe playing games might actually be something he'd do more often, so a discrete card might be worth considering, despite the extra weight and heat.
I'd get the 12th generation i7 CPU and 16 GB ram.
I think I've settled on the Dell XPS with the FHD screen (don't think OLED is necessary here, despite it being a big selling point in the advertising). Leaning more on the 15" size but unsure about the GPU. And I think this one might be the heaviest of the bunch.
I had also considered the Lenovo Nano/Thinkpad, which look like great machines, but as this is his first laptop, I'm not sure he'd need business class. And these Lenovos are pretty expensive.
Considered Microsoft Surface Laptop 4. I love the Surface line myself, but as these machines don't lend themselves to repair, if something goes wrong, his repair options will be limited. And, of course, there's not a separate GPU, so that option is off the table.
Considered the HP Omen just because a family member has one and really likes it.
These are the only models considered. While I'm sure there are others, for reasons and prejudices of my own, I've only focused on these.
Any comments would be appreciated, particularly as regards to size and the importance or non-importance of a video card.
Firstly, I'm still debating with myself (he has no real opinion, like I said, and just doesn't know what would be preferred) about going with a smaller 13" size vs a 15"...each has pros and cons, most particularly weight and portability. But with having to write papers and such, wouldn't the larger size ultimately be more comfortable for extended typing as well as for, say, watching netflix on his off hours?
I also was questioning video card vs no video card. The Iris Xe chips seem to be decent. He's more studious than not, but when he games it's something like Crusader Kings or Skyrim, and I think the Iris chip would work...but, again, he's going to be out of state, at a college in Iowa that will be pretty isolated in the heavy snowy weather, so maybe playing games might actually be something he'd do more often, so a discrete card might be worth considering, despite the extra weight and heat.
I'd get the 12th generation i7 CPU and 16 GB ram.
I think I've settled on the Dell XPS with the FHD screen (don't think OLED is necessary here, despite it being a big selling point in the advertising). Leaning more on the 15" size but unsure about the GPU. And I think this one might be the heaviest of the bunch.
I had also considered the Lenovo Nano/Thinkpad, which look like great machines, but as this is his first laptop, I'm not sure he'd need business class. And these Lenovos are pretty expensive.
Considered Microsoft Surface Laptop 4. I love the Surface line myself, but as these machines don't lend themselves to repair, if something goes wrong, his repair options will be limited. And, of course, there's not a separate GPU, so that option is off the table.
Considered the HP Omen just because a family member has one and really likes it.
These are the only models considered. While I'm sure there are others, for reasons and prejudices of my own, I've only focused on these.
Any comments would be appreciated, particularly as regards to size and the importance or non-importance of a video card.
