I need a laptop to use just for research, papers, and other college-related stuff. I will not be using it for taking notes. I already have an older Acer Aspire that I will be using for recreation and gaming, so this laptop isn’t going to be burdened down. All I really am looking is for a good computer with a long battery life, decent amount of memory, and a strong processor.
If it helps at all, I’m going to be a biochemistry major. What PC laptop should I consider? I’ve seen names like Acer, Asus, and Dell thrown around but I don’t know the pros and cons of each. Any help would be much appreciated!
EDIT: Also, forgot to mention that I would prefer for it to have full Microsoft Office already downloaded on it if possible. I don’t know if that’s the way it works or not, since I haven’t been in the laptop market for a few years.
Most popular computer I see on campus is a 13" Macbook /Macbook Air / Pro. Light weight, large enough screen to be usable, and can plug into an external monitor for serious work, gaming or video watching. Depending on your budget, The 13" MBP Retina would be my choice if you consider yourself a power user. Battery life is 3-10 hours, depending on usage type and screen brightness.
I’d get:
8Gb RAM, 16Gb preferredif you want to run windows or another OS in a virtual machine.
Enough storage - include your virtual machine storage.
Parallels or VMWare fusion emulator
MS Office for Mac, Windows 8 (both cheaper at Campus bookstore)
Runs OSX for stability. Really great multi-window interface.
Applecare (3 yr warranty inc phone support).
An external USB portable HD for backup
If you are getting a windows laptop, I’d get whatever brand is serviceable on Campus. Dell & Lenovo are most popular.
Apple has the best service and support of any of the laptop brands.
After some research of my own, I didn’t really progress far. I looked at Lenovo and it’s a contender. However, the Dell XPS series really caught my eye. At first, I was looking at the 13 but the 15 looks good too. I liked that it was a little bigger and had more memory.
I did see that the Macbook Air was really good and is a top college laptop, but I didn’t really want to go Mac.
My D just got an Asus X551 laptop for $200. It has Win 8.1 and works great. Low price would mean that you could upgrade sooner if needed. We did pay for the extra spill/drop warranty from Walmart where we got it.
Amazon or Best Buy might have it as well.
I would consider the Lenovo Thinkpad series. The T4xx series are business class machine that will hold up to being carried around. If cost is a issue consider a used one. Since these are popular laptops for the business world, you can find good deals on EBay. They are not sexy but they are well built and easy to repair.Other laptops in the series such as the Thinkpad X1 Carbon will have better battery life.
I would consider build quality as being as important as performance since you are likely to be putting this in a backpack. That is one reason people love Macs and Thinkpads. A cheap computer is less likely to survive 4 years.
I strongly suggest you read reviews on whatever laptop you decide to buy. The better reviews will give you a feel for what the real battery is as compare to the often fantasy numbers claim by the manufacturer. They will also give you a better feel for the build quality.
From what you posted almost any laptop has the performance you need. It will come down to balancing the battery life, build quality, weight, upgradability and cost. I would also consider if your school has on site repair for the brand you choose.
Most schools have a site license for MS Office and you will have access for free or a small fee so that should not be a factor.
If you want a PC and not a Mac, Lenovo scores well for customer service. All of my campus PCs are Lenovo and the IT department is very pleased with the vendor.
Have you considered getting a Surface Pro 4? It has a really good keyboard this time and is a great tablet and full laptop. Also, it has Microsoft hardware and software which means really less driver issues.
I have a Dell XPS 13 (the 2015 model with the InfinityEdge display) and I really like it. However, it’s plagued by weird, randomly appearing driver issues. Works good most of the time. But my sister’s Surface Pro 3 is much better (the color accuracy of the screen too is substantially better on the Surface).
Do NOT get a Macbook. They are fine until you realize a program you want isn’t compatible with mac. They are also 2-3x the price for similarly specced PCs. windows has a majority market share for a reason. If all you want is basic computing and portable, take a look at ultrabook -class of laptops. I’d recommend atleast an i3 cpu and if you can afford it, an i5.
As much as I agree with the price of Macs being a bit high I see value in it. You get top notch build quality, great customer service and a simple easy to use OS among other things. I am actually considering returning my Surface pro 4 and getting a MacBook air because for $47 dollars more I get 4GB more RAM ( 4GB on the Surface vs 8GB on the MacBook pro 13 inch retina). Both have intel i5 CPU,s inside.