Best tablet/laptop for me?

[Cvdasf]

Hey guys! I'm going back to college and need some advice. I am in need of a laptop/tablet for school. It will be doing a LOT of typing for notes/reports and such. My main concern is that I've never actually owned a tablet or laptop. I've always had enthusiast grade desktops and am kinda scarred/clueless on which to pick for a laptop/tablet. I'd like it to also have a nice screen, be easy to carry around ( not 20 pounds ) type well, and most importantly I want it to be quality. Dont want some crappy thing that will lag, break, freeze, or crash any advice? I will also most likely be watching the occasional movie on it,spottily, or be doing some heroes of the storm 😛 Budget is to be determined so just recommend things for now.

P.S. I use microsoft office to do my excel/typing/powerpoints. So it must run that. AKA Full versions of windows only.

 

[bootcher]

It's little use to recommend anything without a set budget. I would recommend consider the following first:
- Screen size: 17 inch or 15 inch or even smaller? 17 inch are more heavy but they won't weigh 20 pounds. They also usually have a full sized keyboard, where 15 inch or smaller laptops usually don't have the numeric keypad.
- Screen quality: 1080p or 4k screen? regular LCD led or IPS?
- storage: smaller laptops usually have only 1 slot for a harddrive or SSD
- performance: do you want desktop performance CPU and/or GPU wise?
- battery performance: will you be on the battery a lot or will it usually be plugged in?
-

 

[Cvdasf]

Not sure why a budget is needed when I said it's unknown.. meaning it can be whatever.. but let's say $2k for fun 😉 obviously doesn't have to be thay expensive though. Don't care what size the screen is as long as it's not like 12 inch or something weird. Doesn't matter resolution wise. Cpu I want a i7. Have a 5960x in my desktop so as close to that as you can get 😛. A nice screen is important I guess but not really set on a certain type. Resolution doesn't matter to me either. Obviously a higher one would be better but it doesn't HAVE TO be higher then 1080p but 1080p is minamum. What do you think of the xps 13?

 

[jaguarskx]

If typing is a high priority then you should look into Lenovo ThinkPad laptops. They are business laptops, but they have a reputation for having one of the best or the best keyboards found in laptops. Dell Latitude (business) laptops also have a reputation for having really good keyboards.

If you live near a Best Buy, then you should be able to check out the 14" ThinkPad Yoga 14 (2nd gen) with a Core 5-5200u and nVidia 940m that is currently selling for $940. Try out the keyboard to find out if it feels good to you. Best Buy carries other Lenovo laptops, but they are consumer laptops rather than business laptops.

http/www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-thinkpad-yoga-2-in-1-14-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-1tb-16gb-hybrid-hard-drive-black/7067032.p?id=1219668752948&skuId=7067032


The laptop is fairly light at 4.18lbs, it has an IPS 1080p display a standard 2.5" 1TB hard drive which you can upgrade on your own to a SSD later on and it has a M.2 slot for the 16GB SSD cache. You should be able to install a larger M.2 format SSD drive in the M.2 slot since others have already done for this particular laptop. The laptop is also designed to meet or exceed the Department of Defense's MIL-SPEC requirements which means it is a semi-rugged laptop which can withstand rough handling and harsh environments if necessary.

The nvidia 940m GPU is nothing to write home about compared to nVidia's GTX series GPUs, but it will give you better performance in HotS than the integrated Intel HD 5500. Then again, this a business laptop, not a gaming laptop.

On a side note, while the Intel HD 5500 graphics core is above the min system requirements for HotS, it is definitely below the recommend specs. Below is HotS - Closed Beta (Feb 2015) being demonstrated at 1366x768 and mostly medium settings. Hopefully game engine has been optimized a bit since then. Keep in mind that recording gameplay with software does lower FPS performance so actual performance should be a bit higher when not recording; could be anywhere between 10% - 30% depending on the game itself and the actual software used. If that looks good enough for you, then you can buy a laptop w/o dedicated graphics which means spending less money.

https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zYesi-krWc

 

[jaguarskx]

The Dell XPS 13 is a pretty good laptop.

https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP6oTd_OhoA

 

[velo3100]

If money is no object then the lenovo thinkpad t400 series is the best for you. Has a great screen and a good keyboard,

 

[jaguarskx]

If money is no object then the lenovo thinkpad t400 series is the best for you. Has a great screen and a good keyboard,

More specifically, that would be the ThinkPad T450s which can be upgraded with a 1080p IPS screen. The 1600x900 screen is a typical TN panel screen with mediocre viewing angles.

 

[bootcher]

Also the T450 has an incredible longlasting battery, it can go 15 hours+ without charging.