<p>I've done a little bit of research but am still stuck. I've trimmed it down to Lenovo, Samsung, or Apple, but not sure where to go from here.</p>
<p>Lenovo (thinkpad or ideapad?) vs.
Samsung (series 9) vs.
Mac Book (pro or air?)</p>
<p>For Lenovo, I was thinking either "IdeaPad U410 Touch Laptop" or "IdeaPad Yoga 13."
For Samsung, I was thinking "Series 9 13.3".
As For Apple, I was thinking the new Mac Book Air 13".</p>
<p>I've never used a Mac before, but I heard it's easy to navigate so I'm not extremely worried about that. I'm thinking of majoring in neuroscience.</p>
<p>Also, does having a touch screen help (when taking notes in class, etc.)?</p>
<p>Samsung is okay, but it tends to be overpriced for the performance it offers. I’ve also heard some complaints about the actual build quality (hinges, keyboard, fan, etc), which should be enough to keep you wary of anything short of an amazing deal from the brand. </p>
<p>Compatibility issues aside, Macs are overly expensive and offer little bang for the insane amount of buck you pay.</p>
<p>Unless the laptop is convertible, I doubt the touchscreen will help much when taking notes. A touchscreen for note-taking is really only valuable if you can write on it, and it’s difficult to write on a traditional laptop screen.</p>
<p>Do they all have similar prices (after things like discounts and sales; Apple has student, teacher and military discounts)? Personally, I live in a Mac family because we got fed up with Windows and had an impossible time finding Linux computers. That said, we also have a student, teacher, and military employee, AND were able to use those discounts together (I don’t think that’s allowed anymore).
As you’re thinking neuroscience a non-Apple computer might be your better bet as you’re more likely to need to transfer between non-Apple and your potential Apple, plus Apple caters more towards the “artsy” careers.
On touch screens, I find them rather annoying in general and would think it would be a pain to have fingerprints all over your laptop screen.</p>
<p>@baktrax: A number of the computers his is looking at are convertible. </p>
<p>My kids are used to editing with a touch screen so that works well for them. I think in general, it is our future so when buying something to last several years, I would get a touch screen, but still get a full size usable keyboard so you have your choice.</p>
<p>I tried to get my kids interested in the Yoga, but they ended up getting Lenovo twists. They didn’t like the keyboard being in their lap when using it as a tablet, they like the eraser head mouse control, they liked the ability to plug in hard wired ethernet when they needed it, and at the time they got more bang for the buck (I got a pretty good price on an i7 Twist). A lot of folks are concerned about breaking the twist, but I am taking my chances. </p>
<p>I dislike windows in general, but windows 8 so far seems pretty indestructible. I am not a fan of the mac’s planned obsolescence (programs are often not compatible between OS releases, and OS releases are often not compatible with older hardware). With a windows machine when you get fed up with windows you can install a good linux distribution like ubuntu and keep on going.</p>
<p>Get something light enough that you don’t mind carrying it around, get enough memory/cpu to last for 4 years or so. I don’t know much about samsung to speak to that choice.</p>
<p>Hahaha thanks everybody. Does my profile say that I’m a guy? It’s kind of funny to see everyone assuming I’m a guy. Anyhow, I actually settled on MacBook Air but now after reading your comments… ughhh I’m uncertain again. </p>
<p>I’ve decided against touchscreen since apparently many profs don’t allow laptops in classes so I can’t really use the touchscreen to take notes (which was the main purpose for me). Are Macs really THAT overpriced? People around me who use Macs don’t really seem to think so but then again people who use PCs all seem to think so hahaha.</p>
<p>So if I were to try out MacBook… (I think I’ll try it out myself and afterwards determine if I like Mac or PC better.) Do you recommend Air or Pro?
Currently thinking of getting an Air and purchasing an ethernet adapter. How does that sound?</p>
<p>Apple’s price is really not that bad if you think about it - still expensive but not so overpriced. Students get a $100 gift card and a $50 student discount.</p>
<p>I got a MacBook Air because of the light weight compared to the Pro.</p>
<p>My son just got a Lenovo Thinkpad w530. He asked for Windows 7 (required at his University) so the is no problems with touchscreen.
Pros: super fast processor and graphics card ( dedicated 2 GB card). Sturdy construction and great keyboard.
Cons: computer took 2 months to arrive
Heavy and 9 cell battery does stick out from case ( something not shown on picture). Mouse pad feels unusual at first. The rubberized plastic case is a finger print magnet.
Overall my son is very happy with it, even though last night a fan error appeared on the screen. If you are looking for a light, sleek computer, the Thinkpad is not for you. I recommend it for someone that wants the most reliability and power he can get out of a laptop without having to switch to a MAC. The total price fully loaded was just under $1500, and included a Full HD screen, 250GB solid state hard drive, 2GB dedicated video card, 8GB of RAM and other minor optionals.</p>
<p>For students, Apple offers a $50 dollar discount off of base prices. So if you were to get a top of the line 13" Macbook Air, it would cost you $1249. Because adding RAM is usually a good idea on the Air (because you can’t add any later - all hardware parts are soldered to the motherboard), upgrading to 8 GB RAM will cost you $90. </p>
<p>So for a lightweight, highly portable 13" Macbook Air with 256 GB of storage in a solid state hard drive, 8 GB RAM, the new i5 processor (which will give you 12 hours of battery life assuming you aren’t watching movies all day nonstop), and the new Intel 5000 HD Graphics card, it will run you about $1350. AND you get a free $100 App Store gift card that you can use to buy Pages, Numbers, and Keynote (the Mac equivalents of Microsoft Office), and you’ll still have $40 left over on that gift card for any other app that you fancy. If you decide you need Microsoft Office, you can opt not to get P/N/K and buy Office 365 for about $80 for a 4-year subscription with automatic upgrades and all that jazz.</p>
<p>For about $1350 (plus applicable taxes for your region, etc…), you get a very high quality Macbook Air and $100 to spend in the App Store. I’ve been using my new one (I’m a rising college freshman) for a couple weeks and I’ve noticed NO compatibility issues. Just download Flash and Adobe Reader and you’re good to go. There’s a learning curve of course, but that always happens when you switch from operating system to operating system.</p>
<p>And, as always, the Macbook has the reputation of being very hardy despite its lightweight design.</p>