[Comp Eng student] Notebook purchase assistance!

[kekec]

Hello tom'sH community! I need assistance, I have to decide which laptop to buy for my academic studies of Computer Engineering. My budget is pretty tight, so I have to manage to find solid machine [i3/i5, 4GB ram min upgradable, 128GB SSD] for under 800 dollars. I want it to be light and have good battery life, nothing else. It must not be over 14", since I am going for portability and lightness. Any recommendation is very welcome. I do not care about HD screens, fingerprint readers, discrete graphic cards, touch screens, tablets with attachable keyboards and so on! I want machine that I can program and do my homework, i will be using Arch and Win7, and most of all it needs to be light (<= 2 kg) and small (<= 14" inch screen size). Thanks in advance! peace

 

[menetlaus]

Yeesh!

Good luck with the computer engineering studies, I think you will need it!

I'm saying this because if you cannot figure out a decent, lower cost, good battery life laptop without asking a forum - you are going to have a very, VERY tough time making any other decisions about computers. Especially as the questions get more technical and harder and people here are not able to guide you towards possible solutions.

 

[kekec]

I don't like that harsh tone in your post... I'm sure you didn't mean anything bad, but it made me feel bad a little bit! 🙁 I had everything sorted in my Excel spreadsheet, about 10 models with every component and dimensions and mass in spreadsheet. I came here to see if someone will post some new notebook that I can consider that I already do not have in my spreadsheet. I will make the decision, and I am not here for solution, I am here for advice, assistance and I hope I can learn something from every post, even from yours. You are 100% right but I think you judged me too quickly, without appropriate reason.

 

[velo3100]

Try this laptop: http/www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/ultraNoteII-14. You can get windows and office for free if your collage is eligible for dreamspark.

 

[menetlaus]

I don't like that harsh tone in your post... I'm sure you didn't mean anything bad, but it made me feel bad a little bit! 🙁 I had everything sorted in my Excel spreadsheet, about 10 models with every component and dimensions and mass in spreadsheet. I came here to see if someone will post some new notebook that I can consider that I already do not have in my spreadsheet. I will make the decision, and I am not here for solution, I am here for advice, assistance and I hope I can learn something from every post, even from yours. You are 100% right but I think you judged me too quickly, without appropriate reason.

Sorry about the harsh tone. You are right that I judged you too soon and harshly as you had previously looked up a bunch of models and setup an analysis table to rate them - I had assumed you had done no homework beforehand and were starting out by asking here and listing what you care about in the system. I have had too many students* (who should know how to think for themselves) come to me without giving something ay thught, ask the most basic of questions, and expect to be lead step by step by the teacher/boss/etc.

Students* - I am not a teacher, but where I work employs a lot of students (in their field of study) for the summer.