Good laptops for Uni?? (1 Viewer)

mmmm.

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I plan on studying commerce, so what are some good laptops?
 

mmmm.

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I'd say that the max I'm willing to spend is $1,500. But I think that a business degree won't need a powerful laptop, but idk.
 

Husky

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Microsoft Surface Pro has always been the go to for me. Mostly all models of it from its cheapest (approx $900) to its most expensive are very reliable. Albeit it’s not a gaming laptop, I’ve had my surface pro for many years now and it still runs just as fast as it did when I first bought it. It’s also extremely lightweight which makes it very easy to carry around uni.
 

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I've got an asus zenbook, cost about $1000. It is more than sufficient for school/uni work - its got like 16 gb of ram or something. I've heard Lenovo Thinkpads are quite good as well.
 

BLIT2014

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Microsoft Surface Pro has always been the go to for me. Mostly all models of it from its cheapest (approx $900) to its most expensive are very reliable. Albeit it’s not a gaming laptop, I’ve had my surface pro for many years now and it still runs just as fast as it did when I first bought it. It’s also extremely lightweight which makes it very easy to carry around uni.
Two people I know who got surfaces their hinges broke within a couple of years and had a lot of issues around the 4-5 years mark.

How long have had it out of curiosity?
 

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What do you plan to major in? Unless it's a subject which would really benefit from certain form factors/input devices (ie touch screen/stylus), I don't think you need anything special beyond what mainstream laptop makers tend to feature/focus on - ie portability, battery life, screen size/quality, keyboard, reliability, etc... Assuming you also are a one device person (ie you aren't planning to spend on a desktop/laptop at home and an iPad for uni) then just get a mainstream ultraportable.

The only thing I'd say is avoid anything which claims to be a gaming laptop - almost certainly would not be something you'd want to lug around campus and if you're in an older lecture theatre, the small little tables you get on each chair may struggle to fit a beasty large 17" (or even 15") laptop. Whilst plenty of people rave on the benefits of ChromeOS (and I have a Chromebook too), I would not have wanted one for uni due to the locked down nature of the OS. I personally used an 11" Macbook Air in my time (a decade ago) and it was great, and the new M1 ones look like they offer a perfect balance of performance/battery/features/portability/design, but it also comes down to personal preference and whether or not you'd prefer a Windows laptop with touch screen or a tablet/convertible/2-in-1 form factor.

FWIW, I have owned a Surface Pro 4 personally and also used SPs for work - they aren't considered to be super reliable for enterprise use, but for consumer use cases like this, I'd have thought they work perfectly.
 

mmmm.

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What do you plan to major in? Unless it's a subject which would really benefit from certain form factors/input devices (ie touch screen/stylus), I don't think you need anything special beyond what mainstream laptop makers tend to feature/focus on - ie portability, battery life, screen size/quality, keyboard, reliability, etc... Assuming you also are a one device person (ie you aren't planning to spend on a desktop/laptop at home and an iPad for uni) then just get a mainstream ultraportable.

The only thing I'd say is avoid anything which claims to be a gaming laptop - almost certainly would not be something you'd want to lug around campus and if you're in an older lecture theatre, the small little tables you get on each chair may struggle to fit a beasty large 17" (or even 15") laptop. Whilst plenty of people rave on the benefits of ChromeOS (and I have a Chromebook too), I would not have wanted one for uni due to the locked down nature of the OS. I personally used an 11" Macbook Air in my time (a decade ago) and it was great, and the new M1 ones look like they offer a perfect balance of performance/battery/features/portability/design, but it also comes down to personal preference and whether or not you'd prefer a Windows laptop with touch screen or a tablet/convertible/2-in-1 form factor.

FWIW, I have owned a Surface Pro 4 personally and also used SPs for work - they aren't considered to be super reliable for enterprise use, but for consumer use cases like this, I'd have thought they work perfectly.
I plan to major in accounting and marketing and will be a one device person. I'm not looking for anything which is a gaming laptop, just one which I can get my work done on and watch Netflix/videos on. I don't really care for my laptop being touch screen/tablet/2 in 1 or anything like that.

These are some laptops of interests right now for me:

M1air, refurbished mbp, surface laptop 3 or go, LENOVO THINKBOOK 14S, asus zenbook 14, Acer Aspire 5.

but I'm leaning towards Acer Aspire 5 since it's cheap and has good ratings.
 
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The Acer Aspire 5 is also considered a budget gaming laptop since it has decent specs and a decent graphics card.

A youtuber called Austin Evans made a video about it a couple of years ago


I know you’re not particularly interested in gaming, but thought I’d mention it anyway.
 

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I plan to major in accounting and marketing and will be a one device person. I'm not looking for anything which is a gaming laptop, just one which I can get my work done on and watch Netflix/videos on. I don't really care for my laptop being touch screen/tablet/2 in 1 or anything like that.

These are some laptops of interests right now for me:

M1air, refurbished mbp, surface laptop 3 or go, LENOVO THINKBOOK 14S, asus zenbook 14, Acer Aspire 5.

but I'm leaning towards Acer Aspire 5 since it's cheap and has good ratings.
Acer Aspire seems decent.

If you are looking at a refurbished MacBook pro, the 2014 model is probably my favourite model wise.
 

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Two people I know who got surfaces their hinges broke within a couple of years and had a lot of issues around the 4-5 years mark.

How long have had it out of curiosity?
That's interesting tbh I've had mine for 4 years and haven't noticed any problems. Although people usually buy a new laptop after 4-5 years.
 

mmmm.

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Acer Aspire 5.
I’ve used mine for school as well as for uni and it never did anything wrong.
Have U had any sort of issues with yours, because I plan to use the laptop I buy for atleast 5 years. I've had a HP notebook for 3 years, and now it needs to be plugged in for it to turn on. Also are there any negatives with the aspire?
 

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Have U had any sort of issues with yours, because I plan to use the laptop I buy for atleast 5 years. I've had a HP notebook for 3 years, and now it needs to be plugged in for it to turn on. Also are there any negatives with the aspire?
5 years is too long for laptop lol
 
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Have U had any sort of issues with yours, because I plan to use the laptop I buy for atleast 5 years. I've had a HP notebook for 3 years, and now it needs to be plugged in for it to turn on. Also are there any negatives with the aspire?
I bought mine at the start of 2018 and haven't had any issues since. My experience with the Aspire has been very positive. I first bought a Lenovo laptop which had inferior specs to the Aspire. It was unbearably slow (it had an i3) and the battery was terrible (I was getting less than 5 hours for basic tasks). That's when I ditched it for the Acer.
 

BLIT2014

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Have U had any sort of issues with yours, because I plan to use the laptop I buy for atleast 5 years. I've had a HP notebook for 3 years, and now it needs to be plugged in for it to turn on. Also are there any negatives with the aspire?

Laptop Batteries are only designed to last for ~3 years worth of charging cycles so you may need to replace the battery .
 

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Don't get a surface. I've had many friends who complained about theirs.
 

mmmm.

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I won't be getting the surface with all the issues you guys are saying, also my brother has had one for a year and already has some problems. I'm thinking of either M1air, refurbished mbp, acer zenbook, acer aspire 5, but am unsure as to which one (leaning towards apple). PS i may choose to do business with a major in finance/marketing or i may do project/construction management. So would these laptops be fine for either course?

@aandablitzer where did you get your zenbook from and which model was it because all the zenbooks i see are like $1.7k
 

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I won't be getting the surface with all the issues you guys are saying, also my brother has had one for a year and already has some problems. I'm thinking of either M1air, refurbished mbp, acer zenbook, acer aspire 5, but am unsure as to which one (leaning towards apple). PS i may choose to do business with a major in finance/marketing or i may do project/construction management. So would these laptops be fine for either course?

@aandablitzer where did you get your zenbook from and which model was it because all the zenbooks i see are like $1.7k
Apple sucks UNLESS you have the Quintet as seen here. I know I did vouch for the surface, but I got one for an extremely low price from an airport auction so you really can't complain about a huge bargain.

 

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