Help choosing new laptop

[imarteenez]

I am looking for a new laptop for uni, virtual dj software, and stats software. I value longevity and for it to stay fast for several years most and also portability and design. I have narrowed it down to these two, which should I go for?

www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/lenovo-yoga-3-core-i7-5500u-8gb-256gb-ssd-uma14-inch-fhd-windows-8.1-lapt-80jh002juk/version.asp

www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/grade-a1-refurbished-hp-spectre-x360-13-4118na-intel-core-i5-6200u-8gb-256g-a1-t8u40ea/version.asp

Thanks

 

[superninja12]

the first one for sure, because the i7 will help you out alot since u will run intensive cpu programs.
also the sad is way better / its a win for sure.

 

[goodguy713]

I dont know about you but the HP sounds like the better buy here.. 7.5 hours max battery for the lennox 12.5 hours for the the HP plus its a convertable.. so what if its referbished and we are only talking about minor differences in performance. both will more than handle your software needs. i would be more concerned with connectivity and ports at this point.

 

[hst101rox]

CPU performance isn't really increasing much year to year so in 5 years these laptops won't be that far behind. Longevity is structural integrity of the chassis, life of the fan (may or may not be easy to replace yourself), having the most up to date of relevant optimized CPU instruction set extensions for you and how long the LED backlight lasts, which shouldn't go out for a really long time. EDIT: of course, is the battery replaceable without a lot of labor.
All else being equal, including if the i5 has a full HD screen like the Lenovo, then i'd get the i5 skylake laptop because it's basically as fast even though a tad less clockspeed and cache. Has DX12 support in the integrated video vs 11.2 and newer OpenGl so you're set for the future. Less power consumption probably.

EDIT: The HP has more 3 USB 3 ports, mini HDMI, mini display port, card reader, headphone/mic jack. Lenovo has 2 USB3, 1 USB2, microHDMI and I think card reader(but maybe not, though can get a USB one) and headphone/mic. so HP is superior here.
USB3 and a HDMI port and a card reader should be all you need for the forseeable future.

 

[imarteenez]

When I say longevity I mean the ability to stay up to date in terms of laptop performance as well

 

[hst101rox]

Yes they both should have great performance. Only if you need more than 2 strong CPU cores (with the integrated video compute ability) in the future..
Make sure you can upgrade the 256GB SSD to something larger and that you can upgrade to 16GB of RAM in either one you get.

 

[goodguy713]

When I say longevity I mean the ability to stay up to date in terms of laptop performance as well

Well consider this laptops are generally obsolete before there even manufactured. latest and greatest only lasts so long you should consider making sure the ports and connectivity matches your needs. to be honest you would benefit more with ssd storage.