Will this laptop meet my needs?

[nicelapps]

I don't really know a lot about laptops and so do you guys think this is a good laptop for me:

VAIO Fit 15E Touch Custom Laptop
Total: $750.74
3rd gen Intel® Core™ i5-3337U (1.80GHz / 2.70GHz with Turbo Boost)
Windows 8 64-bit
No Fresh Start
Imagination Studio™ VAIO® Edition software
15.5" LED backlit display (1366 x 768) [$0 base option]
Touch Screen
8GB (4GB x2) DDR3L-1600MHz (Free upgrade from 4GB, regular price $80.00)
1TB (5400rpm) hard drive (Save $60 now, regular price $70.00)
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 740M (1GB) hybrid graphics with Intel® Wireless Display technology
CD/DVD player / burner
English only with Backlight [$23.75]
Microsoft® Office 2013 trial version

I could also get the 1900x1080 pixel but when I saw the difference between the two, to me it seemed minimal. So that's an extra 47.50 but I don't know if I actually need it?

I'm going to uni so I want a fast computer that can help me do my work easily like word documents and what not. Also, which type of games will the graphics card allow me to play? I'm not gonna game a lot but I might next summer so at medium settings, which games can I play with this laptop?

And lastly, is this a good laptop for the price? ie. Is it worth the investment?
Does this laptop have polymer cells or ion? I heard ions die quickly?
Up till now, I've been using Pentium 4 for the past 8-10 years.

 

[Jaxem]

I don't think any laptops have lipo cells at this point because they're pretty dangerous (like exploding in a fireball if overcharged) and can die much more quickly than lithium ions if you don't treat them just so. Ions last a year to year and a half at most before you start to notice the life shortening, but that's totally normal.

the GT 740m should play 2013 games (eg. Tomb Raider, XCOM:E.U., etc) at medium to high settings and older games at high/ultra with maybe some AA on. With the lower resolution screen you'll probably get better than that even and keep playing newer games for longer.

It sounds like a pretty good buy, i bought my laptop at around that price point with somewhat similar specs but no touchscreen or discrete graphics, i'd jump on that if i saw it.

 

[nicelapps]

Alright thank you very much! And how long do you think this laptop can last? I need it for 5 years, will it last that long? And can I switch the batteries every 2-3 years? How much would that cost?

 

[Jaxem]

The cost of the batteries varies with how many laptops are made that use the same pack (varies a bit, and you never really know beforehand, i got a surprisingly good replacement battery for my laptop a couple years ago for ~$30).

How long a laptop last is about how you treat it, and luck. Sometimes they'll crap out after 2 or 3 years just because of some bad component or build quality, my last one only made it about 3 years, but i don't think 5 years is overly optimistic. Sony's are pretty good build quality and i've seen people using 7+ year old VAIO's, so i think there's a strong possibility of getting 5 years out of it.