Laptop/Ultrabook Recommendation for university

[Barak Yaari]

Hello forum,
I am buying a laptop for university in the next 3-4 months.
Will be so happy if any of you can help me pick one!

1. What is your budget?
Up to 1,400$ (Canadian)
--I guess it's possible to find it cheaper
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
around 13-15''
(I like a big screen and HATE a small keyboard, and 17 is way too big and heavy for me)
3. What screen resolution do you want?

Don't really mind... for this size of screen I don't see why you need more than 1280X720. although can be FULL HD.
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

Portable. It's a laptop for studies and must be not more than 1.8 KG MAX...

5. How much battery life do you need?

Quite a lot... (at least 5-6 hours of work)
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop?
No... (maybe C&C Generals LOL)

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)

I like doing Photo editing, Video editing, so I guess I need to be able to.
I will study computer science, so if you know about any other specific need...

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?

around 500GB
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Open for suggestions, I prefer local stores.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
5 years at least
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Don't need one. (who needs one these days?)
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
I hate Apple... So please not them. why? because they think that if you bought their product they own you...
13. What country do you live in?
Canada.
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
1. I must have something comfortable for typing, because i do that a lot. Can't have annoying issues (IE function button on the left of the left CTRL key, or too small arrow keys... not enough space between the keys... power button that you might press by mistake... ETC. [I am writing this with my crappy asus eeePC and I will probably hang myself after this ] )
2. I must have a touchscreen. I know it's more expensive, but once you get used to using one I can't go back.
3. I prefer it to have at least 24GB of SSD to let it work faster (I hate slow machines).
4. If there is an option for good speakers - better.
5. Two usb slots aren't enough for me.

I guess you got the concept. I am less fussy about gaming, more about the UI, maybe some video editing ETC.
If there are other issues I didn't think of please bring it to my mind.

I hope my dream computer does exist somewere...
If you can help me get to it - I will be delighted.
Thank's a lot,
Barak

 

[VeryOldHero]

Hi Barak,

I'm a Comp Sci student at UBC right now and, honestly, you don't need an expensive laptop to do the school work. However, if you want to do video editing, then you need something that's a little bit powerful. I'm not sure how much video editing you will be doing, but I would recommend a Lenovo Thinkpad. These laptops are built like a tank and have, in my opinion, the best keyboards and touchpads in the market. The Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch will fit your needs perfectly: http/shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/webca/LenovoPortal/en_CA/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=D6FDB558A3FA4F37A5F0D0F8D2A9BB19

 

[Barak Yaari]

Thank you Veryoldhero for your response.
I love the thinkpad's keyboard keys, but the fact that they put that annoying Function button on the bottom left of the keyboard can get me crazy.
Another thing is that it has only 2 usb ports, which to my experience isn't enough (although maybe I am expecting too much for an ultrabook).
The 256GB version of it is around 1,600 which is more than my budget.
About the video editing - It's not my top priority, wow't be doing really much of it. (I guess intel i5 and 6GB ram will do)
Thank's a lot,
Barak.