<p>I'll be attending a community college this fall & I'm in the market for a new laptop. I currently have a very outdated desktop (6+ years) & I'm hoping on making this both my primary personal & college laptop. I'm planning on majoring in Computer Science. My only problem is I plan on transffering to a 4 year after 2 years & know that certain colleges have specific requirements for students in their CS Departments. I'd like to buy a sturdy yet portable laptop with middle of the road or better performance like a business class type (Thinkpad, Vostro, etc.). With that in mind should I just get a budget laptop now & just hope I don't have to buy a better one later or just go ahead & get a higher end yet expensive one. Lenovo's laptops look great & was thinking of either a lower end Lenovo Essential or a higher end Lenovo Thinkpad. Any suggestions, advice or knowledge would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I highly recommend ASUS. I currently own one and it’s awesome! It’s sturdy, has good support, and has good tech.</p>
<p>Another brand you may want to check out is Toshiba.</p>
<p>Last but not least, if you buy a laptop now, I would buy another one in 4 years. You’ll be half way through your BS degree, but you want to keep an up to date computer.</p>
<p>Yeah I know, I’ve heard a great deal of positive feedback on the Asus brand, as well as Acer & Lenovo but not so much on Toshiba. Could you recommend a specific model from either Toshiba or Asus.</p>
<p>Thanks the R500 looks like a true beast for the value but haven’t been able to find a definite typical battery life with basic usage (web surfing with a few applications). Do any of you two have experience with this model? Why would you recommend it? </p>
<p>Looking simply at the card and the battery specs, you’re looking at 2-3 hours of real time use, with probably an advertised 3-4 hour battery life. The laptop doesn’t specify if it also incorporates Optimus with an integrated graphics card for general use purposes, so I’m assuming it’s just the dedicated card.</p>
<p>The screen resolution is terrible for a laptop screen that size. It won’t be fun trying to code with that little screen real estate. For an $800 laptop, I personally find 1366x768 unacceptable.</p>
<p>Do you plan on gaming? Because if not, there’s no real reason to get a laptop with a dedicated card.</p>
<p>No, I don’t plan on gaming. I’d like to be able to play at least a few games, but nowhere a top priority of mine. With that said, right now I’m leaning towards getting a Lenovo Thinkpad T430 & configuring it with a 1600x900, would this suffice?</p>
<p>That screen resolution is good. It depends on your budget, really. If your budget allows it, an ultrabook may be something you want to consider. I personally think that the ultrabook + desktop combination is the best option to have.</p>
<p>I use a custom built desktop for the majority of my work (CS/Economics double major), with a 13" Macbook Air for on the go stuff. For programming undergraduate stuff, most consumer laptops are viable.</p>
<p>Would adding an external monitor to the notebook be a budget friendly alternative to buying both a desktop & notebook? & any ultrabooks you have in mind? </p>
<p>Well, my main suggestion for a desktop is to have all your processing power on it. But you might not need it. If you’re fine with programming on a laptop, then you don’t have a real need for an external monitor.</p>
<p>As for ultrabooks… Acer TimelineX, Asus Zenbook Prime, Samsung Series 3/7/9 series, lenovo U300/U400 series, Macbook Airs… the list is really extensive. They all have their pros and cons. What’s your budget?</p>
<p>I think the ultrabook + external monitor would suffice.</p>
<p>Ultrabooks are on the cheaper end (compared to each other) with integrated vs dedicated GPUs, so if you don’t need to play higher end games or do a lot of video related tasks, then an ultrabook will offer a great compromise on portability and power, especially since the Intel HD 4000 is better than most entry level DGPUs (which are the GPUs you’ll find in the higher priced ultrabooks anyways). If you’re not using a docking station, then a 4’ HDMI cable will do just fine.</p>
<p>I agree that an $800+ machine should come with higher than 1366x768, but if you’re planning on getting an external monitor, then you’d only have to deal with it while you’re on the go or out and about and can rely on the external for the longer sit down computing sessions since most are 1600x900 or full 1080. If you’re willing to spend a few extra bucks you can get an HDTV that can double as a monitor via HDMI as well. That’s what I’ve done with my TV in the past. with the TV i purchased for $500 like 3 years ago, so you can get a comparable one today for $350-400, which is what many higher end monitors will run you anyway (or even more!).</p>
<p>This could potentially be even better with WiDi.</p>
<p>A budget would be best for further suggestion as Antemporal pointed out there are a wide variety of ultrabooks now that have different size screns (13 vs 14"), different storage options (HDD vs SSD), different screen resolutions (1366x768 vs 1600x900+), different ports availability, different GPU options (dedicated vs HD 3000/4000), and even different generation CPUs (some are still SB available only) - among other things.</p>
<p>I don’t really have a budget in that I’m specifically looking more for the value or deal. I’d rather spend more (1000+) for a durable, reliable, & fast laptop with long battery life than get something cheap & flimsy, just because of the price. This laptop will be replacing my first & only 6+ years desktop, so I’m willing to spend a premium, but keeping the costs down are also crucial.</p>
<p>I have definitely considered purchasing an ultrabook, the only problem is I haven’t found any with a decent enough keyboard, at least 4+ hours of battery life, a 1600x900 resolution & all without the laptop feeling cheap or flimsy. </p>
<p>Fortunately as you mentioned I do have a 32 inch HDTV, & it never crossed my mind that it could serve as an alternative for a monitor. So using that for bigger screen real estate is something I’ll definitely do.</p>
<p>I use a 25" HDTV as my monitor. I feel like 32" sitting a couple feet away is simply too much. With a theoretical $1000+ at your disposal, you open a lot of options up.</p>
<p>The HP Envy Spectre XT, Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A, and lenovo ThinkPad X1 are out there, as well as the classic Macbook Air. All of them are incredibly similar in both design and features. Envy Spectre is not something I would opt for, since it has 1366x768 I think. Zenbook Primes actually are 1080p, and lenovos are 1600x900.</p>
<p>I’ll go out on a limb and throw in my vote for the MBA, simply because Apple’s touchpads outclass quite literally everything on the market. Sure, Asus has a nice screen going, but finicky touchpads are quite annoying. Additionally, AppleCare has outstanding service, whereas Asus… hit or miss. I also don’t really like the 1980s design chassis that lenovo keeps pushing.</p>
<p>The PC makers make good alternatives, but there’s always one glaring issue (either display, keyboard, touchpad, or some combination of the three) that made me choose Apple. You do pay an Apple tax, but overall build quality wise, they win. You also float at about 5-7 hours of battery.</p>
<p>Well I do recognize Apple’s superiority in the notebook market, with their superb Applecare, trendy notebooks & quality products; but outside of using an iMac in a photography & art classes, I’ve never really felt as confident using a Mac than using a Windows. I’d like to stick with a PC like Lenovo as I don’t mind their old school design, but if MBA is as good as you mentioned, I wouldn’t mind switching Operating Systems. My only questions are if you had to choose a PC, which model would it be & why? Also do you find the MBA’s absence of a dedicated Ethernet port & disc drive troublesome or just minor inconveniences? Thanks for all your feedback.</p>
I’ll suggest a model I’ve been eying for a while: Dell XPS 14 Ultrabook</p>
<p>The keyboard is great (and backlit), it has an 8-cell battery (Dell rated at 11 hours of life, but will most likely get you 7 in application), a 1600x900 resolution, and is made out of aluminum (top, like an MBA), silicone (bottom, to prevent heat), and magnesium alloy palm rest. It has Gorilla corning glass covering the screen edge to edge (to prevent scratches and smears). Looks extremely high quality and comes with options up to an IB i7 and dedicated GPU in the $1,100-2,000 range (with different RAM, Hard Drive, GPU, and CPU options).</p>
<p>Other than that, I agree with the general populace that Mac still has a slight edge with overall build quality, but a lot of PCs are catching up quick though (Like Dell’s consumer XPS line and HP with the Envy Spectre XT).</p>
<p>EDIT (totally hit submit without finishing the post >.<) :
That’s great. As long as you get a computer with an HDMI port or an adaptable port, then you’re good with that.</p>
<p>BTW, the Dell XPS 14 has an HDMI port and Ethernet port, as well as SD and 2x USB3.0 ports, but no optical drive.</p>
<p>
A general tip is that if you’re comfortable using Windows, then you should stick to Windows. It’ll be enough ‘new’ trying to get in the rhythm of classes and such, but adding the possible frustration of learning how to use a computer all over again to do tasks for those classes. I’m not saying that OSX is hard to learn, but it is different enough from Windows to take some time to pick up.</p>
<p>
I don’t own a Mac, but I can’t remember the last time I used either my ethernet port or optical drive outside of work. Most things you can download online these days (even OSX Mountain Lion upgrade which was released by Apple today - no more OS disks or even USBs) and WiFi is so proliferate everywhere that it’s harder not to find a free wireless connection (between all the Starbucks on every corner, and school, and other places). I wouldn’t hold to much weight to either aspect.</p>
<p>The downside to the MBA is its lack of ports. That’s my only complaint, but it’s so insignificant that I don’t even consider it that negative.</p>
<p>The times I’ve needed HDMI, I’ve just used the DisplayPort to HDMI converter dongle. I’ve almost never used ethernet on my notebook, but my desktop is still tethered to ethernet. I haven’t needed to use an optical drive for 3 years.</p>
<p>OS X isn’t that difficult to learn, in my opinion. I crash course learned it for one of my classes last semester and now I’m almost proficient with it, whereas I’m extremely experienced with Windows.</p>
<p>Do note that the Dell XPS 14 that turtlerock mentioned does not come with an SSD standard, which means if you want an SSD option, you have to start at $2k. Alternatively, rip out the HDD and install your own SSD. Either way, that puts the cost at higher than the base price for an MBA for equivalent specs.</p>
<p>For PC alternatives to the MBA, I suggest looking at the Asus Zenbook Prime (UX31A) or lenovo ThinkPad X1. An (expensive) alternative is the Sony Vaio line. Acer TimelineX is also worthy of mention.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I’ve advised friends of mine on which laptops are the most cost efficient for their money, and only recently have I started to recommend Apple, since usually the cost efficiency of Macs was simply too inefficient to justify the prices. Macbook Pro is still inefficient for college students in my books, but Macbook Air is now very competitive with PCs, due to legendary AppleCare.</p>