In a few weeks I will be attending a mechanical engineering course in university, and I'm gonna need a decent laptop. I will mainly be using it for some note taking, browsing, some movies and a little bit of gaming on the side. Since the course is engineering I will also be using CAD, however that will be in my 3rd year, and I plan to buy another beefier laptop in 2 years ( it will be more gaming style as that should provide sufficient performance). However, that being said, plans can change so I would also like this laptop to be able to decently run some CAD software if need be.
My main problem is that I live in Malta, and electronics here are relatively expensive, and it is also really hard to find websites that will ship here too.
As a result of this I have ended up with a choice of 2 devices :
An Acer Aspire S3 392 Ultrabook : https
/www.klikk.com.mt/product/13012_acer-aspire-s3-392g-54204g50tws-13-3-inch-i5-4gb-500gb-laptop
and an Acer Aspire v15 Nitro vn7-571G : http/www.scanmalta.com/scanshop/computing/laptops-1483/acer-aspire-vn7-571g-5055-15-6-i5-628gb-8gb-gtx-850m-win8-1-laptop.html
They both have similar prices but different specs.
I know some of the benefits that ultrabooks generally have over conventional laptops, but in this case there is not really that much difference. The battery life of both devices is similar, as is their general power (the ultrabook is only slightly less powerfull in this case - except for the ram anyway). The only real differences I can see is the design and size ( the ultrabook is obviously smaller and more appealing, which can help with lugging it around, although the difference isnt major), the build quality (aluminium vs plastic), and the screen ( the size difference makes no matter to me, but the ultrabook has a touchscreen). (And of course the RAM and GPU really)
My problem here is that I am confused as to which is more appropriate. Both seem to handle the basics pretty well, but I'm not sure that it is worth sacrificing 4GB of RAM, some GPU performance and an SSD to have a slightly smaller, sturdier ( and prettier for that matter) chassis and a touchscreen and vice versa.
So basically tl;dr : Which of the 2 laptops listed above do you think is more suitable for a uni student?
Any decent advice in this would be greatly appreciated
...and I would also like to thank anyone who managed to read through this travesty of a question hehe
My main problem is that I live in Malta, and electronics here are relatively expensive, and it is also really hard to find websites that will ship here too.
As a result of this I have ended up with a choice of 2 devices :
An Acer Aspire S3 392 Ultrabook : https
/www.klikk.com.mt/product/13012_acer-aspire-s3-392g-54204g50tws-13-3-inch-i5-4gb-500gb-laptop and an Acer Aspire v15 Nitro vn7-571G : http
/www.scanmalta.com/scanshop/computing/laptops-1483/acer-aspire-vn7-571g-5055-15-6-i5-628gb-8gb-gtx-850m-win8-1-laptop.htmlThey both have similar prices but different specs.
I know some of the benefits that ultrabooks generally have over conventional laptops, but in this case there is not really that much difference. The battery life of both devices is similar, as is their general power (the ultrabook is only slightly less powerfull in this case - except for the ram anyway). The only real differences I can see is the design and size ( the ultrabook is obviously smaller and more appealing, which can help with lugging it around, although the difference isnt major), the build quality (aluminium vs plastic), and the screen ( the size difference makes no matter to me, but the ultrabook has a touchscreen). (And of course the RAM and GPU really)
My problem here is that I am confused as to which is more appropriate. Both seem to handle the basics pretty well, but I'm not sure that it is worth sacrificing 4GB of RAM, some GPU performance and an SSD to have a slightly smaller, sturdier ( and prettier for that matter) chassis and a touchscreen and vice versa.
So basically tl;dr : Which of the 2 laptops listed above do you think is more suitable for a uni student?
Any decent advice in this would be greatly appreciated
...and I would also like to thank anyone who managed to read through this travesty of a question hehe 
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