<p>Hi CC! My Dell inspiron is just about ready to give out, so I'm on the lookout for a good replacement for college. A lot of the websites list computer specs (like ram, resolution, memory) but tbh i have no idea what most of it means. Was hoping some tech savvy kids here could help me out.</p>
<p>Preferred...
Dimensions: 13"ish wide, 1" or less in thickness. Lighter than 5 lbs. </p>
<p>Capabilities: Nothing too fancy. I just need it to run the usual MS Office, and 2D graphic design software like Photoshop and illustrator. </p>
<p>Price: <$700</p>
<p>Other than that, it has to have a long long battery life and be easy to fix. </p>
<p>Im also considering a macbook. But it's a bit pricier and i feel like I won't be using it to its full capacity. What do you guys think? TY if you respond.</p>
<p>If it were me, I would go for a PC over Mac, I would go with an AMD cpu based laptop over Intel, price and preference for me, dual or single core, w/e you prefer,I would recommend Dual w/at least 2.1 Ghz as it allows fair multitasking and video editing/gaming, for a laptop anyway. as for Ram, many laptops have 4 gigabytes which is a nice amount, however try to avoid getting less than 2 gigs. 15.6 inch screen, Idk the width of that, should be roughly the same, and you should trying going for a 1366 by 768 resolution, around there anyway, just defines how for lack of better words defined the screen is, which is nice and well in my opinion. That right there should give you pretty nice performance topped with price. You can always change things here and there if you want to edit the performance/price ratio but have a guy give you a tour at Best Buy or wherever you want to shop and he can give you a list of laptops that fit that criteria as well as how it will help you. If you plan to buy online than just input some of that info and a decent list should be generated. Just indicate w/e extra features you want and take your pic :). I hope you get what you’re looking for for less than <$700!</p>
<p>thanks for the replies guys. i will look into asus. they look pricy though @turbo93 i have a tablet, so zooming is pretty easy (I’m using a 13in now). i’ll check out the lenovo.</p>
<p>@smud96 wow, thanks for all the info. whats the difference between amd and intel? i’ve only heard of intel. and what’s ram? is it worth paying 300$ extra for more?</p>
<p>Not much, many people choose Intel over Amd because they average better performance, but these are for the elite gamers and to class video editors, that easily put at least $300 into JUST the cpu. Amd is highly known for their performance being very good, especially when you look at how much your spending. If you were going to spend $1200+ on a laptop then that is a different story. and RAM is simply Random-Access-Memory. Ram goes with cpu in terms of performance. More RAM=equals more multitasking=no painstaking computer slow down when you want to have 10+ windows opened up. cpu= roughly how fast your computer can go, ram=how many things at once your computer can do. Even if you simply have Facebook, Youtube, Email, Windows media player er sumthing opened up, you’re going to want at least 2 gigs. 4 however is excellent for a college student like you who wants reliable work done fast, Airgo, you shouldn’t need to pay $300 more just on Ram, but if you are given the opportunity to spend a bit more, I would suggest investing in the CPU/RAM area. Unfortunately, laptops can only become so good until Desktops are the performance monsters you need. I didn’t mention this earlier but laptops often come with different types of mass storages. Either Hard drive(HDD) or Solid State Drive(SSD) now a days. SSD are extremely good, but horrifically expensive. So make sure the laptop you get has HDD over SSD, unless however you are able to get a laptop with above criteria as well as a SSD with at least 120 gigs and <$700 after taxes and crap. I say at least 120 considering the Windows OS uses like 20 gigs already, and I’m assuming you’re going to want to be able to hold a solid amount of pics/videos/games/papers. Verdict-Go with HDD where you would be getting 320-500 gigs of awesome space for a convenient price.</p>
<p>I’ll be honest: “nothing fancy” and Photoshop/Illustrator conflict. That’s like saying that you’d like a car with “nothing fancy,” but needs to be able to tow a horse trailer.</p>
<p>You can upgrade the RAM yourself, or find a geeky friend to do it. For reference 8GB of laptop RAM costs ~$60.</p>
<p>That said, I second the ASUS U-series recommendation. They’re great for the price and also much more durable than most laptops out there. Also consider the following, more expensive (but even more durable) laptop lines: Dell Latitude E-series, Lenovo Thinkpad T-series, MacBook Pro, HP EliteBook ($$$$).</p>