Hello! I’m currently a high school senior but my old laptop is on its last legs (5 year old toshiba) and I’m looking to get a new laptop soon. I’m hoping to find one that (fingers crossed) lasts me through undergrad. My budget is from around $400-$600 and both the Dell Inspiron and HP Pavilion have models in my price range, so I was just wondering if anyone knows anything about how sturdy those laptops are? I’m planning on going into poli sci or international relations, so I mostly need the laptop for a lot of writing. I’d also like it to be fast enough to handle music streaming and YouTube videos. Webcam and cd/dvd player are a must. Any and all advice is welcome. Thank you!!!
Dell all the way. HPs don’t hold up well. I really like the Dell Inspiron 7000 2 in 1 in 13 inch. It is very sturdy with good battery life. The Lenovo E450 is also fantastic, with the best keyboard around. Lenovo is very generous with its student discounts on the student website.
The other really nice one is the Acer R 14 available at Best Buy only for $649. The website has it listed at $699. This model has state of the art components.
I would still get the Dell over the other two. If you can get to $750 you can get it with the best componets and a solid state drive.
I will NEVER purchase another HP product as long as I live. Junk. And HORRIBLE to non-existent customer service.
@MsMommy Agreed, the consumer models are essentially disposable.
I am quite the opposite lol. I will never buy a Dell product ever again with a mixture of horrible build quality and horrible customer service. Had a HDD fail twice after only owning it for a month. HP for me at least has lasted at least four years for me. I actually got a HP pavilion for my first time in college back in 2009 which lasted me until 2013. My next laptop was a HP one as well and it lasted me a year before I willingly gave it to my brother after I wanted something more powerful. As far as I know he still uses it today.