New Laptop for Student?

I have a a pretty new HP Laptop and a dell AIO desktop. the desktop has a intel core i7 11 gen and the laptop has a ryzen 5. both are 2020 2021 year models.

RonCFL said:

Got this for my son , been through 4 yeas of college No problem at all

You're implying that if someone doesn't do this they'll have problems.

That would mean MacBooks are the best choice. Since they're even more money. The problem is they routinely do have problems. Like all laptops.

I've been reading people say get 'tougher' laptops if you want them to last longer. Maybe. But I'd also say 'treat your laptop well' if you want it to last longer.

For instance: we live in a world where kids routinely have to get their iPhones screens fixed. Why? Because if you give them a phone case, they can't see it. If you say 'go get a case' all they hear is 'go get a' and then they ask you 'Get a what?'. If buy them a white teeshirt and it says 'Get a case for your phone' and they look in the mirror they see...



Pardon my rant but my wife and I have owned three iPhones each and 3 OnePlus phones each.

Number of broken screens = 0.

I would suggest pretty much any Dell Precision laptop. I've had two Precision laptops - an M4800 and now a 3520 - and they have been fantastic. The M4800 is seven years old this year and is still chugging along fine with its i7-4810MQ, 16GB RAM, and Quadro K2100M. It's a chunk of a machine, but it has internal space for an mSATA SSD and a 2.5" HDD or SSD. Since getting the 3520, the M4800 is relegated to performing tasks like disk wiping and others that require it to be up and in one spot for an extended period. I'm thinking of making a permanent spot for it and using it to transcode videos and the like. It doesn't need a cooling pad; I've never been able to get it above 75C on the CPU. The cooling is quite impressive for a laptop.

My 3520, which is now my main machine, is four years old this year. I bought it in late Feb. If you are willing to get one a couple of generations old, you can get a fantastic machine for relatively little money. This one came configured with a Core i7-7820HQ @2.9 GHz and 3.9 GHz boost, 16GB RAM, a 256GB NVMe SSD, and a Quadro M620M. I have since upgraded the RAM to 32GB (where it is maxed with the i7) and a 1TB Western Digital Black SN750 NVMe SSD. I wanted one with the mobile Xeon, but those are quite a bit more expensive. Those have a limit of 64GB RAM and can use ECC RAM. This one gets hotter than the M4800. I've seen the CPU get up to 85C, but the mainboard sensor and GPU sensor have never shown over 65C. I use an active cooling pad when using it with the dock or playing games, which it does impressively well, to be honest. It runs Forza Horizon 4 and Halo MCC without blinking an eye. The 3520 is half the thickness of the M4800 and is why it gets hotter but is much lighter and easier to carry around. When not fooling around, I use it for my work and research so being more portable is a plus.

I like the Precision line because they are built very solid. They are a dream to work on and upgrade or replace components and always come configured with high-performance professional graphics. A word of advice though, if you decide to go this route, whether buying one new or used, always make sure to get one with a Full HD screen or better. Some still offer HD screens and are terrible compared to the Full HD or better. The colors are washed out and not very pleasant. For my usage, UHD or Quad HD screens are nice but are not necessary. Full HD is more than good enough.

If looking at Lenovo, I recommend the ThinkPad series. They are like the Dell Latitude and Precision lines. Solid, well-built machines.

Whatever brand you decide to get, get one with a good i5 or i7 CPU, or even an AMD Ryzen (I don't know as much about those), and make sure that the CPU model doesn't end in "U" or especially "Y" for the Intel. The "U" is the low-power CPU series, and "Y" is the ultra-low power CPU series. When it comes to video editing, those will leave you wanting more. I, personally, would never go with anything less than 16GB RAM. I run VMs from time to time, and the extra RAM is paramount for those. The discrete GPUs that come with the Mobile Workstation laptops (the Dell Precision line and various ThinkPad models) will also give a nice performance boost when editing video. Keep in mind that these are power-hungry, so make sure to get it configured with the large battery that is available (my 3520 has the 92Whr battery instead of the 65Whr), and also know that the power brick for them is larger as well. My M4800 uses a 240W brick, and my 3520 uses a 130W brick.

These are just my thoughts and experiences. Get whatever works for you.

The Pool Man said:

You're implying that if someone doesn't do this they'll have problems.

That would mean MacBooks are the best choice. Since they're even more money. The problem is they routinely do have problems. Like all laptops.

I've been reading people say get 'tougher' laptops if you want them to last longer. Maybe. But I'd also say 'treat your laptop well' if you want it to last longer.

For instance: we live in a world where kids routinely have to get their iPhones screens fixed. Why? Because if you give them a phone case, they can't see it. If you say 'go get a case' all they hear is 'go get a' and then they ask you 'Get a what?'. If buy them a white teeshirt and it says 'Get a case for your phone' and they look in the mirror they see...



Pardon my rant but my wife and I have owned three iPhones each and 3 OnePlus phones each.

Number of broken screens = 0.

Well said. Ive also never broken a phone screen, and Ive had two android phones, and all the iPhones since the iPhone 5s. Ive scratch and cracked two screen protectors in that time, but never the screen itself.

You had this on your wish list already, and now it gets a good review with ebay pricing of $578.88 and Lenovo direct for $629.85. Looks like a pretty good fit to me. Mr. Woods does ding the screen for brightness (or rather, dimness) issues, however.
HTH,
--Ed--

Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 2 review: A solid mainstream business laptop with AMD Ryzen - Neowin

Megahertz said:

I agree. Buy quality. Avoid powerful CPU and GPU. Remember that heat is an issue on laptops.

While I don't buy laptops with dedicated GPU's (don't game on laptops) I do love my high end CPU's. I currently own two laptops (2013 Asus Zenbook Prime Ultrabook, and a 2017 Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Ultrabook), both having an Intel i7 processor. Yeah they can get a little toasty at times, but it's not much of an issue... and in 2021 they still perform well. In fact my 2013 Asus is now running Windows 10 insider builds. My Lenovo is still my school, travel, and on the road photo editing laptop using Photoshop

As for the OP's assessment.... I tried telling that to both my daughters but they have this false notion that $399 gets them a good laptop. And the last time someone bought them a laptop.... well it wasn't their money so no loss if it gets tossed about and abused... dad will get me another

EdTittel said:

You had this on your wish list already, and now it gets a good review with ebay pricing of $578.88 and Lenovo direct for $629.85. Looks like a pretty good fit to me. Mr. Woods does ding the screen for brightness (or rather, dimness) issues, however.
HTH,
--Ed--

Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 2 review: A solid mainstream business laptop with AMD Ryzen - Neowin

Looks like a good machine, except the 8GB RAM that is soldered to the board so it cant be upgraded.