Laptop or Tablet for Computer Science - Already Have A Gaming Computer

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Greetings guys and gals, I am a current senior in high school, and will be majoring in Computer Science this coming fall. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction on what I should buy for the coming year. I currently have a pretty high-end gaming computer with all the programs and software I would ever need, and would be bringing it to the dorms with me.</p>

<p>I'm currently looking at 3 possible options on what I could buy, and numerous products with those options. A laptop, ultrabook, or a tablet/laptop hybrid. It would mainly be used for leisure time with mobile apps, and note taking / basic programs like Word or Powerpoint. My budget for it would be below 1K if possible. I really do not want to spend more than necessary. Would not mind waiting on a new release if any are announced for around that time (June-August 2014). Strongly considering the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 or an iPad Air/Macbook Air. </p>

<p>Thanks for your time.</p>

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<p>Unless you go the used route a iPad Air/Macbook Air wouldn’t be below the 1K mark. I think that would almost be 1.5K plus tax.</p>

<p>Unless you mean you’re getting an iPad Air OR a MacBook Air. In that case the MacBook Air would run you $999+tax, and the iPad Air would be $499+tax (no LTE), and that’s just for both base models.</p>

<p>I don’t know too much about the Microsoft Surface Pro 2, so I can’t comment on that, sorry.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the response. I meant to get a MacBook Air, OR an iPad Air.</p>

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<p>I’d say get the MacBook Air. It would be $999+ tax unless you don’t mind going the refurb route. Which you could get $50-$100 off on the online Apple Store.</p>

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<p>Consider the MacBook Pro over the Air. They are now almost the same weight and the new MacBook Pro is upgradable while the air is not. I do not think a tablet is enough to comfortably write papers for school.</p>

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<p>The tablet would just be used for note taking, and for its apps. I’d be writing papers on the desktop I brought from home.</p>

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<p>You’ll probably wish you could write code on your portable in the library, coffee shop, team projects… I wouldn’t buy a second machine without the power to write and test programs.</p>

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<p>A tablet should be fine. Get a reliable keyboard. Logitech has great ones. Most things are web base anyways.</p>

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<p>If you are a CS major, get a laptop that you can actually code on. You will work on group projects, and you will want to have a computer that you can take with you to do that. I think a Surface would meet that requirement, since it’s got all the functionality of a Windows computer, but an iPad won’t.</p>

<p>Most of the things you will likely be writing at first won’t require a lot of horsepower. Still, for $1000 you can get some pretty great specs in a PC. I got a Thinkpad configured to my requirements for <$900, for my primary machine.</p>

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<p>You can do coding on any Macbook. I used to do coding on my 2010 white Macbook all the time. You’re correct about an iPad not meeting the OP’s requirements, I don’t even think you can do any CS assignments on the iPad.</p>

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<p>Why not get a convertible tablet PC?</p>

<p>Picture: <a href=“http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/1xAR5vY6DoA/maxresdefault.jpg[/url]”>http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/1xAR5vY6DoA/maxresdefault.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Would you guys recommend a Macbook Air, or the Microsoft Surface Pro 2? I’m considering these two mainly right now. A friend of mine is willing to sell me MSI G Series GE40 for 1K as well.</p>

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<p>If you can’t live without the Mac OS , then get the MBA. The Surface Pro 2 has a Wacom digitizer which will allow you take to handwritten notes but if you want to type , you’ll need a keyboard.</p>

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<p>I’d recommend the MacBook Air. It’s lightweight, fast, has about 12 hours of battery life, so if you wanted to keep it uncharged all day while you went to lectures it wouldn’t be a problem. Also, from my personal experience, MacBooks last a long time. I’ve had mine for 3 years now with no real problems. It’s fast, still has 85% of it’s battery life left (which has held up pretty good considering I that I just bought my windows laptop a new battery and it only lasts 1.5hours, and my MB’s battery lasts about 7-8 hours).</p>

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<p>smurray09 , what Windows based laptop did you buy? 1.5 hours is considered pretty bad battery life for any modern laptop unless you are running intensive games or something similar for the whole time.</p>

<p>A Windows based laptop like this has great battery life:
<a href=“http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Lenovo-ThinkPad-T440p-20AN-006VGE-Notebook.108423.0.html[/url]”>http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Lenovo-ThinkPad-T440p-20AN-006VGE-Notebook.108423.0.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This one isn’t that bad either:
<a href=“http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Lenovo-ThinkPad-Yoga-Convertible.107937.0.html[/url]”>http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Lenovo-ThinkPad-Yoga-Convertible.107937.0.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>My windows laptop is almost 5 years old lol. I bought a new battery or what I thought was a new battery from amazon. I barely use this computer because I have a MacBook now that’s a little newer.</p>

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<p>Been looking at a couple more. People on tomshardware have been recommending a Yoga Pro 2, Note 10.1 2014 Edition, or the Surface Pro 2.</p>

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<p>The Surface Pro 2 is pretty cool…
<a href=“Surface Pro 2 Class style note taking - YouTube”>Surface Pro 2 Class style note taking - YouTube;

<p>It doesn’t have a real keyboard though so you’ll have to get a dock or use a bluetooth keyboard or something similar.</p>

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<p>If you don’t want to deal with installing Ubuntu on a PC, just get a Macbook. Once you get to your later years of college, you will have to get a better computer though (Macbooks are great for everyday stuff, but for more complex things, nope nope nope).</p>

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<p>Anything without windows 8. If you have a Microcenter near you, they have great deals. I wouldn’t spend to much, because whatever you get will be out dated in a couple years.</p>