Laptop for college

[Guest]

Hi guys, I have a budget of £450 maximum and am looking into getting a laptop for college next year. I really would like it to be able to last most of the day with regular/constant use. Does anyone have any suggestions on a good laptop?

Also, I hear that Ryzen laptops are coming out soon however I don't know if they will be making budget laptops or if that will just be for gaming laptops - anyone know?

Thanks

 

[Eximo]

I would still probably stick with Intel for laptops. The construction and support is well understood. Give AMD a year or two with the vendors and then look at AMD again. The only laptops they are making so far inlcude their new Ryzen chips, which don't have onboard graphics, so they are being paired with GPUs.

Your price range pretty much excludes any laptop with a discrete GPU.

450 is quite low, so the laptop you will get won't be amazing. It is best to spend a little more so you aren't constantly replacing cheap laptops when they no longer perform or break.

Still here are a few decent options:

https/www.scan.co.uk/products/14-acer-aspire-e14-e5-475-1366x768-core-i3-6006u-8gb-ram-128gb-ssd-hdmi-vga-ac-wifi-plus-bt-42-2x-us

https/www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-Ideapad-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B01GCNYZI6/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1497621049&sr=1-2

https/www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-X541UA-XX202T-Processor-Resolution-Refurbished/dp/B071ZDWB4Y/ref=sr_1_9?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1497621083&sr=1-9

 

[Guest]

I would still probably stick with Intel for laptops. The construction and support is well understood. Give AMD a year or two with the vendors and then look at AMD again. The only laptops they are making so far inlcude their new Ryzen chips, which don't have onboard graphics, so they are being paired with GPUs.

Your price range pretty much excludes any laptop with a discrete GPU.

450 is quite low, so the laptop you will get won't be amazing. It is best to spend a little more so you aren't constantly replacing cheap laptops when they no longer perform or break.

Still here are a few decent options:

https/www.scan.co.uk/products/14-acer-aspire-e14-e5-475-1366x768-core-i3-6006u-8gb-ram-128gb-ssd-hdmi-vga-ac-wifi-plus-bt-42-2x-us

https/www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-Ideapad-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B01GCNYZI6/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1497621049&sr=1-2

https/www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-X541UA-XX202T-Processor-Resolution-Refurbished/dp/B071ZDWB4Y/ref=sr_1_9?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1497621083&sr=1-9

Hi, thanks for your reply. Thank you for your suggestions. I have also been searching constantly for laptops and came across these two.

The problem I am having is trying to figure out which one would have better battery life since that is the most important to me right now and also, whether getting an older skylake over kaby lake since it is and i5 vs i3?

http/www.argos.co.uk/product/5498411

http/www.dell.com/uk/business/p/inspiron-15-5567-laptop/pd?oc=cn55711&model_id=inspiron-15-5567-laptop

Thoughts?

 

[Eximo]

Acer one is okay, about the same as the Lenovo above.

I can't get the Dell link to work, just takes me to all Inspiron 15 5000 series models. What are its major components?

 

[Guest]

Acer one is okay, about the same as the Lenovo above.

I can't get the Dell link to work, just takes me to all Inspiron 15 5000 series models. What are its major components?

Okay, the Dell is as follows:

Price: £374
CPU: 7th Gen i3-7100U
8GB DDR4 2400MHz
1TB 5400rpm drive (i could change to ssd at a later date)
Optical Drive
Primary Batery: 42 WHr, 3-Cell Battery (integrated)

Battery
42 WHr, Prismatic 3-Cell Battery (integrated)

A/C Adapter
45 Watt AC Adapter (with standard graphics)

 

[Eximo]

To maximize battery life the 7100u isn't a bad choice. That 1TB drive is about as bad as it gets for power requirements and speed.

 

[Guest]

To maximize battery life the 7100u isn't a bad choice. That 1TB drive is about as bad as it gets for power requirements and speed.

Yeah, although I just realised that since that Dell laptop is under the 'business' section, if something goes wrong, my warranty will probably be invalid since I am not using it in a business. Wish there were companies that did deals for students on laptops. Guess I will have to look elsewhere

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Eximo]

Dell does do many deals for students. Some universities offer vouchers or discount login portals. They get kickbacks and the vendor gets more business.

I don't believe there is any penalty to using a business class laptop outside of a business, they should honor the warranty regardless. Particularly in the UK.

 

[Guest]

Dell does do many deals for students. Some universities offer vouchers or discount login portals. They get kickbacks and the vendor gets more business.

I don't believe there is any penalty to using a business class laptop outside of a business, they should honor the warranty regardless. Particularly in the UK.

hm, that's interesting. Thank you!

 

[Guest]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from Curious_aja : "Laptop for college"

I have been trying really hard to find an affordable laptop for college. I wanted at least a 7th gen i3 with battery life that will last me 4+ hours of fairly hard and consistent use.

I have got the options down to these two laptops.

http/www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/dell-inspiron-15-5000-15-laptop-black-10151884-pdt.html

http/store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=1GM04EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB

My question is if anyone knows which will give me the better battery life. If so, how long roughly with multitasking such as microsoft office with web browsing, skype, steam etc open.

Dell says up to 10 hours for theirs. HP say up to 8 hours for theirs. I am aware that companies are not entirely truthful about their battery life (at least not in terms of real world usage).

I am also curious if HP's laptop has an easily removable battery without voiding warranty unlike Dell's. Another thing I have read is that the battery HP are using, 'Li-on' wears out slower over time than the type of battery Dell are using.

Please help :s

 

[Eximo]

They are all using the same type of Lithium Ion cells. Basically the most rechargeable energy density you can buy right now. Due to the extremely large amount of production mostly. Certainly not the safest or most stable chemistry. They want people to buy replacement batteries after 3 or 4 years after all.

They use ideal conditions for battery life. 8 hours on that HP says it uses less than 5W. Under idle conditions with the screen off or set to low I might believe that.

Yes the HP battery is easily removable. http/h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04438537