| Snaap Germany. July 18 2012 18:33. Posts 18 | Profile # |
Hey guys,
I'd like to buy a new laptop for university, I'd like to be able to browse, watch movies / stream and have same basic word / exel stuff, so I dont plan on playing video games.
I will have a pretty powerful PC at home, so i probably dont need a very powerful laptop I think.
To be honest I'm not sure whether a cheap laptop or a netbook, but considering that I have an Ipad it would probably be better to buy a laptop and not a netbook? I'd like to hear your opinion on this.
sorry for my awful english btw, havent used it for a while 
Snap |
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| Gotmog Serbia. July 18 2012 18:42. Posts 863 | Profile # |
I can only say that i would personally take a laptop over netbook.
At university you can expect to have to write quite a bit...and i never managed to get accustomed to typing on that small netbook keyboard (and i have/had 2...) |
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 Womwomwom July 18 2012 18:53. Posts 5557 | Profile Blog # |
Netbooks suck. The dinky processors may struggle with more intensive stuff such as 1080P video, keyboards and touchpads are frankly uncomfortable to use compared to a decent laptop, and the screens are all universally terrible. Netbooks back in the way were simply a way for companies such as Asus to offload excess hardware that couldn't be used elsewhere...I feel the attitude hasn't changed very much.
11" ultrabooks, such as the offerings from Asus and Apple, are much better but of course cost quite a bit more.
How much are you willing to spend? That's probably the most important thing. Last edit: 2012-07-18 18:56:09 |
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| Snaap Germany. July 18 2012 19:13. Posts 18 | Profile # |
Well, I think I could go up to 1200$ if I really need to, but I'd rather get away with 700-800$.
The dilemma is that I'm note sure that I really need an ultrabook, as I really dont plan to use it for more then browsing / word / videos so I wonder if not an simple notebook would suit me better.
The more I think about a netbook I kinda have to agree to both of you, it's prabably not really better than an IPad so in the end I probably will end up not using the netbook at all.
So the question for me right now is whether it's worth spending more money to get an ultrabook over a notebook in my situation right now. |
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| Aelfric Turkey. July 18 2012 19:34. Posts 922 | Profile Blog # |
| Buy a Samsung notebook, they don't make problems as much as others. I'm pretty happy with mine. |
| | Tomorrow never comes until its too late... |
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| Silvanel Poland. July 18 2012 19:56. Posts 1837 | Profile Blog # |
I dont know laptop prices in Germany but i got a feeling You dont need to pay that much for laptop if all You want is type, watch movies/streams and use excel (i assuming basic level not so macro heavy hunderts of tousneds cells calculations). I have laptop that i got for around 400$ two years ago and altough its shitty as hell when it comes to gaming its doing the things You want to do just fine.
Edit: I dont know what You are studying but for things like mathlab, heavy excel, some graphic/drwing programms You need standard PC anyway. Shitty laptop+heavy PC is the combination i am using right now i am happy with it.Last edit: 2012-07-18 20:00:28 |
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| Alryk United States. July 18 2012 20:37. Posts 2408 | Profile Blog # |
If you want an ultrabook, go for the Asus. A MacBook air is also still overpriced but at least somewhat better than Macs other offerings.
If you want Jude a plain notebook, go for a thinkpad edge at 550$. Surprisingly good specs (add a webcam, and a bigger hdd if needed but I never used more than 320) and probably built better than anything else in that price range. Alternatively, spend a bit more and get a rhinkpad T series, which is basically the same thing but more options, more expensive, and its built better. |
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| Womwomwom July 18 2012 21:47. Posts 5557 | Profile Blog # |
How is the Macbook Air overpriced? A new model is pretty much the same price as the alternative high end ultrabooks. The screen isn't as good as an IPS/PLS screen but it still has extremely good contrast, good brightness, good vertical real estate because of 16:10, and very good battery life in OSX. Not to mention its still got the better keyboard and by far the better trackpad. Its even cheaper if you're a student and/or buy a refurbished model from the Apple outlet store, which are as good as brand new models.
The Thinkpad Edge is decent. It isn't built that well (think of typical Dell/Asus models) but it does have three things going for it: rock solid keyboard, the red pointing stick, and metal display hinges (IIRC). Besides that, its as good as your typical consumer laptop. Oh and the newly released Edge S430 has a 1600x900 display upgrade for a really low sum.Last edit: 2012-07-18 21:48:17 |
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| Snaap Germany. July 19 2012 00:06. Posts 18 | Profile # |
I probably wont get an ultabook, I just dont feel like it's worth the money for me. I think a 11' - 13' notebook would be the best solution for me. I checked out the ones by levono (edge and x220/230), is there anything else I should check out? (asus?)
Thanks fot the help, everyone! |
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| LJ July 19 2012 00:23. Posts 203 | Profile # |
| $1200? you are looking at spending maybe 1/3 of that amount for what you need. $1200 buys you a high end i7 gaming laptop which I thought was not what you were looking for? |
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| SinCitta Germany. July 19 2012 00:33. Posts 982 | Profile Blog # |
Are you freshman (first semester)? A lot of those think that they need a laptop, although they don't (most of the time). Depends on what you are studying.
Especially if you have an iPad already, think twice if you need one. What you describe as your basic workload is not too far from what an iPad already is able to do.
From my experience, if you buy a cheap laptop you will most likely buy another one not much later - everything must be what you want it to be at the "first try". Most important is that the laptop case doesn't wear off. |
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| Snaap Germany. July 19 2012 00:55. Posts 18 | Profile # |
@ LJ
I think the prices here in Gernamy are higher then you are used to, I dont really feel like I could get a highend lap for 1200$ here. On the other hand I also wrote that I'm open to buy an ultrabook, but more interested in cheaper stuff. (<700-800$)
The problem is, that I'm simply not really sure whether I need a powerful lap or something cheap for browsing only etc. I tend more towards something cheaper atm so.
@SinCitta
I kinda think I do because I'll have to travel between 2 cities (nürnberg erlangen) and will probably end up spending time in the univ. waiting unfortunatly. Plus I'm really not a fan of typing on the IPad, browsing is pretty much the only thing I can do, but well I guess I could get used to it.
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| Nari Germany. July 19 2012 01:19. Posts 10 | Profile # |
I was in the same situation as you one year ago 
from what I experienced I'd recommend a high quality 13" notebook (Macbook Pro/Air, Ultrabook). Don't get some Asus/Acer 500€ 15"Notebook just way to heavy and the battery life is a joke (for people who actually have to work with their notebooks). |
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 fatfail United States. July 19 2012 01:44. Posts 386 | Profile Blog # |
On July 19 2012 01:19 Nari wrote:I was in the same situation as you one year ago from what I experienced I'd recommend a high quality 13" notebook (Macbook Pro/Air, Ultrabook). Don't get some Asus/Acer 500€ 15"Notebook just way to heavy and the battery life is a joke (for people who actually have to work with their notebooks).
Yeah I agree for travel, 13 inch is the way to go. Comfortable keyboard, reasonable size. 14 might be possible if you are on a budget, but 13 is ideal in my opinion. |
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| bailando Germany. July 19 2012 01:51. Posts 296 | Profile # |
yeah..why do you need a laptop if you have a ipad? use this.
no reason for a laptop. better save your money. |
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| D_K_night Canada. July 19 2012 02:47. Posts 605 | Profile # |
On July 19 2012 01:51 bailando wrote:
yeah..why do you need a laptop if you have a ipad? use this.
no reason for a laptop. better save your money.
and you tried taking notes using ipad? |
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| Mackin Ireland. July 19 2012 04:34. Posts 175 | Profile Blog # |
Why don't you buy an attachable keyboard / stand for your iPad and use that?
I'm fairly sure iPads do decent video streaming as well? I wouldn't be buying a laptop if I had a powerful PC and portable iPad?
But if you want the laptop for more than typing word / streaming then I guess a $600 laptop would be more than powerful enough for the next few years. I'd recommend ASUS or Samsung - affordable and decent.Last edit: 2012-07-19 04:35:37 |
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| Alryk United States. July 19 2012 04:50. Posts 2408 | Profile Blog # |
On July 18 2012 21:47 Womwomwom wrote:
How is the Macbook Air overpriced? A new model is pretty much the same price as the alternative high end ultrabooks. The screen isn't as good as an IPS/PLS screen but it still has extremely good contrast, good brightness, good vertical real estate because of 16:10, and very good battery life in OSX. Not to mention its still got the better keyboard and by far the better trackpad. Its even cheaper if you're a student and/or buy a refurbished model from the Apple outlet store, which are as good as brand new models.
The Thinkpad Edge is decent. It isn't built that well (think of typical Dell/Asus models) but it does have three things going for it: rock solid keyboard, the red pointing stick, and metal display hinges (IIRC). Besides that, its as good as your typical consumer laptop. Oh and the newly released Edge S430 has a 1600x900 display upgrade for a really low sum.
Well I actually use overpriced very loosely with the Air... I think the 999$ starting point is a little bit silly, a 64GB storage system is kind of laughably small. The models with 128GB/256GB are definitely recommendable though. Admittedly, I haven't really been following the second gen ultrabooks and their pricing scheme, and I do know apple cut prices, so they could be very very reasonably priced now.
My brother just got one, and in my opinion it's built (the edge btw) a tad better than a normal consumer notebook. Nothing like the T series, but it seems fairly rigid when I play around with it. The trackpoint is very nice like you said, and yes, the hinges seem to be metal. Keyboard is also very nice, and it has a decent battery (around 6ish hours max I think). Everything hardware wise is fairly consumerish - crap screen etc.
And I imagine that support is a bit better in business Lenovo than consumer anything. (Except apple, since business and consumer is the same product line... and it's apple) |
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| goldrush Canada. July 19 2012 05:17. Posts 695 | Profile Blog # |
| In my opinion, if you pay for more than 600$ after tax for a laptop that's only going to do basic entertainment stuff, you're overpaying (though this is only my experience in Canada). Getting an i3 with integrated graphics and 8GB memory will be plenty. That was the guideline I used for myself, but admittedly my program is only 1 year so I wasn't too worried about how long it would hold up. Last edit: 2012-07-19 05:18:08 |
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| Snaap Germany. July 19 2012 19:14. Posts 18 | Profile # |
Using an Ipad to take notes is kinda hard with the touchscreen keyboard, an option would be to get a logitech keyboard case or sth, but I'm not really sure how well this works out. Does anyone have any experience with them?
Problem is on the Ipad I'm not able to watch for example SC2 streams and stuff and you cant just copy a movie to it and watch it in avi or sth. (or can you? there might be an app I dont know about :D)
I'll go a local store today or tomorrow and will have a look what they have to offer and try out some stuff to see what suits me best. I checked out a netbook altready and didnt really like the feel of it, it's kinda to small - so yeah I'm pretty sure now that a reasonably cheap 13' screen is what I want.
Thanks for the good advice. |
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