i5, 1080p, SSD, and 8Gb ram, Help Please

[johnsrudtf]

I have a four year old lenovo thinkpad edge and it's time to upgrade. I own a desktop which I can use in my room/dorm but I need a laptop for meetings, travel, etc. I'm an engineering student and I use MatLab almost every day so I need an i5, but that being said I have my desktop for gaming and the most demanding work. Here's what I'm thinking so far:

i5 or i7 skylake
1080p or higher resolution preferably IPS
8Gb ram (will consider 6)
250Gb SSD (I definitely want an SSD and 128 is too small)
13-15 inches

Weight is not an issue, but 13 inches is the smallest I find useful, and 15 is the largest I can carry in a backpack. I also don't have a preferance to touchscreens. I doubt I'd use a convertible laptop as a tablet unless it was a 13inch, so yea. Those are not important. A dedicated graphics card is also not necessary since I'll only play minecraft and dota on this, and those are low priorities. If the laptop happens to have one though, that's a bonus I guess!

Budget is $700 but I can stretch to 800. Since I do have a desktop I don't want the laptop to be too expensive.

Thank You!

 

[Laptop_Nerd]

Hi,

Here are my suggestions for a laptop based from your preference and budget.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834319808
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232793
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834319905

 

[jaguarskx]

15.6" Dell Inspiron 7559 for $760.

- Quad core i5-6300HQ
- 1080 IPS screen
- 256GB SSD
- 8GB RAM
- nVidia GTX 960m

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i7559-763BLK-Full-HD-GeForce/dp/B015PYYDMQ

 

[johnsrudtf]

That Dell looks very nice, basically exactly what I'm looking for. What do you guys think about this? http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.G7WAA.001

 

[jaguarskx]

The Acer seems decent enough. It's new so I can't find it for less that the $700 recommended price. It's relatively small and light at 4.2lbs. But... it is hard to resist comparing it to the Dell Inspiron 7559 that costs only $60 more and would simply outclass the Acer in terms of performance. But it is a larger and heavier laptop and it will most likely have shorter battery life than the Acer. But I did read a user review that the Dell can last 6 to 7 hours with "typical usage".

 

[johnsrudtf]

Why doesn't Dell give the dimensions of the laptop?? That's frustrating, but you're right, the Dell does have a lot more horsepower. I didn't realize that the i5 would have four physical cores.

 

[jaguarskx]

Amazon provides the dimensions of the Dell. You need to scroll down to "Technical Details". Dell provides the dimension on their website as well (using mm); scroll down to "Dimensions". It weighs 5.67lbs; 6lbs for the 4k screen version.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-15-7559-laptop/pd?ref=PD_Family


Don't forget the nVidia GTx 960m... even if you don't plan on using it.