<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I need to buy a laptop for Chem. E major in my college, but i am super low in budget.(200~400$)</p>
<p>Will pentium processor be okay? i3 or i5 are too high right now for me :-(</p>
<p>btw my school wants at least i5 but i don’t think it’s actually required</p>
<p>I have bought quite a few laptops before, and truth be told you can find a good W7 laptop with enough RAM and an adequate processor for maybe $300 if you are willing to buy second-hand. Try online or in a pawnshop; it isn’t glamorous but it’s what you need for a tiny budget.</p>
<p>bump</p>
<p>I’m not being snide in saying this…they’re all the same. Do a google search on best budget laptop and then go play with a few. We own everything from a latest gen i7 quad core with 1T SSD and a quadro graphics card to a Chromebook. In reality, if all you need is access to Internet, email, and office type apps, I’d get a Chromebook. They boot quickly, weigh nothing, have long battery life and are cheap. </p>
<p>I recommend something that can run MATLAB, Visual Studio, and Mathematica. That’s about as process-intensive as it gets; you might be able to get by without any of that, but it makes things difficult, to say the least. Particularly memory-heavy software is rarely used, and when it is, usually only in a lab with the proper software.</p>
<p>Another option is a refurbished HP directly from HPs business department. Many of them have never been opened. They were just ordered for large jobs (hospitals, etc.) where they didn’t need all of them and returned a few. I have 6 enterprise class desktops (Elite 800s) that were all “refurbished” and had never been used. I just ordered a probook (still enterprise class, but not Elitebook) with an AMD processor, decent memory and HD for $399. It’s new enough that you can still find them new, but being closed out for $650. An MSRP $399 laptop will stink. I just got my wife a Chromebook to replace a cheap Gateway. She’s much happier. Good luck.</p>
<p>I went the same route as Eyemgh and purchased a “refurbished” Dell desktop (a business unit) that has more power than anything else I have ever owned, and after three years it still performs as well as the latest computers. Lake Jr.'s school has a pricey required laptop, but he can easily run MATLAB, Python, Aspen Plus etc. on his personal Toshiba Laptop that we purchased 5 years ago from Office Depot.</p>
<p>I can’t really figure out where the school recommendations originate from. If you want to do power computations like rendering 3D graphics on your laptop (most don’t, because they do these things on desktops)), then you need far more computer than any department recommends. You need an enterprise class portable workstation. Otherwise, you can really get away with far less than any department suggests. </p>
<p>Decided to buy Acer Aspire with i5-4210U.</p>
<p>Seems pretty good. Software-wise, they’re all about the same; it’s the weight and size (and battery life) that really makes a difference in the long run.</p>