Good performance laptop under £500 for university

[Mike_the_knife_]

Hi, I will be starting university in September to study computing with games development. I know the course will require some light application software and some heavier software including code compiling. I would like to find a laptop suitable for the course, something with a decent amount of power that will last several years. I'd like it to be able to run a few games too. Nothing too intensive for example Minecraft. I've been looking around a bit and can't decide whether or not to buy a new 2015 laptop or go with an older laptop with better specs. For example I've been looking at the Asus Zenbook x305 which is just outside my budget although I might be able to afford it at a push. Then I have seen some older Asus models like the Asus X555LA that comes with a 4th gen i7 processor and 6gb of ram for around £480. On paper the older model sounds better to me but a lot of people from forums and review sites highly recommend newer models such as the Zenbook. Basically I want to know what is the best bang for my buck laptop at around £500 that offers good performance. Windows laptops only, preferable brands - Lenovo, Asus, Acer. I am open to all feedback and please link any suggested products, many thanks in advance

 

[velo3100]

For this type of course I would recommend at least an i5 m cpu, gt 740, gt 840m if you can, 8 gigs of ram for the laptop. You should make sure that the cpu and gpu are decent as you will need both as you are likely to be learning 3d modelling as well as the programming side.