Does this look like a good laptop for college at a good value? Has decent reviews Anybody object?

[G+_Joel G. J]

Does this look like a good laptop for college at a good value? Has decent reviews. Anybody object?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IO69GVQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=268TTYL1ZKHL2&coliid=I15CM3YZU4IIBB

[G+_Scott Nelson]

I didn't get a touch screen but I'm not happy with my Lenovo. Sent it in for warranty repair twice and they never even checked what I said was wrong. Had to pay shipping both times, and I work 5 miles from the service center. Not a fan of Lenovo.

[G+_Brad Whitfield]

Meh... It's not a bad deal, but we really need more info. What do you plan to study? What is your price range? Do you know what software you will be using, beyond the unfortunately required Microsoft Office?

 

Lenovo is great, in my honest opinion. They cost a bit more than some, but usually the hardware is really nice. If I don't buy Lenovo for myself, I either buy ASUS or a business end DELL.

[G+_Joel G. J]

Brad Whitfield I'm going to major in Computer science. I'll do some of the future maintenance myself, such as RAM upgrades and installing an SSD later on in its lifetime. Any alternatives for cheaper. I might need to have an i5 for later use. I like the abundance of USB3.

Budget: around 500.

[G+_Brad Whitfield]

Cool. I'm a CS major myself, so I do have some knowledge. If you want to skip the rational, the last paragraph is a quick summary.

 

Note that this is a mobile i5. It should be fine for day to day use on battery, but if your school will require you to do anything like .NET coding, things like Intellisense under VS might be slow unless it's plugged in. Newer Intel processors underclock by almost half when on battery, but resume normal performance when plugged in. Intellisense basically does on the fly compiling of your code, so it's pretty hefty on the processor. If you do any Java coding, then you will have a similar experience with something like Eclipse or IntelliJ (probably Netbeans, too).

 

You will want to upgrade to an SSD or Hybrid drive and 8 GB of RAM if possible. If you are just starting your degree, you probably won't need the raw computation power in the early days, so this can be done at a later date. If you wait too long, DDR3 will skyrocket in price, since DDR4 is coming soon, and manufactures will stop making DDR3.

 

Typically in Computer Science degrees, you will have a lot of book work, since it is theory. You could do a lot of your day-to-day class work on a tablet, if you really wanted to. But there will be times you will want to play with, or need things like the fancy IDE's, Virtual Machines, or maybe even Vagrant and Docker. These will potentially be more resource intensive.

 

The 1366x768 screen will be a bother at times, but that's what an external monitor is for. I personally the same resolution on my ultrabook, and I get by.

 

So basically, to sum all of this up, i5 or an i7, if you can, 8GB of RAM, and at least something with SSD cache should be a must. The more computational power you can get, the better, and the longer it will last. Assuming you plan to upgrade, this laptop should be okay (just make sure it can be upgraded). You could get by less hardware, but you will probably run in to limitations once in a while.

[G+_Brad Whitfield]

Lance Pelissier, that's a good point, too. I didn't even think about that. Most schools that I know of will let you use either or (or Linux), for most classes, but you should double check that. The only classes in the CS department I have had that require Windows were my two Windows Programming classes. Everything else I've used Linux for.

[G+_Joel G. J]

Not trying to be a bother, but is this truly the best bang for the buck? I am open to other suggestions. Also, are there  any student coupons for Amazon when buying a laptop?

[G+_Brad Whitfield]

In that price range, probably. After a quick search of Newegg and Amazon, nothing in the price range really jumped out at me as better. Do you know what classes you would be taking? That could make a huge difference.

 

Without knowing your exact needs, I would probably go with one of two things; either buy this one and upgrade it as you get more funds, or buy something decent that's refurbished and save up money for a nicer laptop. General rule of thumb is the more money you spend, the longer it will last, and the more upgradable it will be. There are two exceptions, however. If you buy something like a MacBook Pro, or an UltraBook, your upgradability will be limited, and it is ALMOST always cheaper to put in an SSD yourself.

 

Here are some refurbished laptops I found looking quickly.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231588

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834300534

 

The Dell is the second link is probably the better deal of the two. That specific series of the Latitudes are built like tanks in both how big they are, and in the fact that they generally last forever. I personally have used both series of laptops in these two links and have been pleased with both for the appropriate needs.

 

Another option you have is build a decent and upgradable desktop, then buy something like a Chromebook for notes and stuff in school. Really the possibilities are endless without knowing exactly what your needs are/will be. I'm not going to tell you at all which way you should go, but I can give you some pros and cons for each.

 

As for what Lance Pelissier suggested, the mom and pop shops are something to explorer, but I would probably steer clear of Best Buy, and Apple and Microsoft probably won't have anything in your price range, if I'm not mistaken. Best Buy laptops are usually either junk or way over priced.

[G+_Joel G. J]

Brad Whitfield are these laptops haswell? Just wondering. The Dell does not specify.

[G+_Brad Whitfield]

The refurbished are not. Probably not going to find a refurbished Haswell very cheap, yet.

[G+_Brad Whitfield]

If you have to have a Haswell, that Lenovo is probably your best bet.