Need help choosing a laptop for college

courier

Honorable
Jan 8, 2014
5
0
10,510
So I'm going to university in a few months and need a portable computer. I have dedicated gaming PC at home so performance is not important (but I want to be able to use eg. MS Office/browser with no problems). I also don't care much if it's a macbook/laptop/ultrabook/tablet with a keyboard/etc. I will be mainly using to take notes and write seminars. Maybe play some indie games (FTL, mincecraft etc)/web games/watch movies during long breaks.

The most important things are:

  • Battery life - I don't know what's the average but the longer the better

    Performance - able to run a browser and MS Office (or whatever) with no problems, maybe watch HD movies or do some very casual gaming (no need for dedicated GPU)

    Price - 350$ (but I'm willing to go higher if necessary, max max would probably be ~615$) - since I'm from Europe the price is probably going to vary wildly from what it is in the USA

    Ergonomics - comfortable keyboard, good cooling (so it doesn't feel like my hands are on a frying pan) and low weight (very important)

    Capacity - 1 TB would be ideal, but I could work with 500 GB, maybe an SSD (but not necessary)

    Misc - Wi-Fi, good viewing angle, HDMI port, USB ports (at least one 3.0 would be nice), Win7 gets the advantage over any other OS (but I'm willing to work with others), bluetooth (again not important)

Thanks for all the help. And since 400$ in USA could be 300$ here don't be too limited by the 350$ budget (if it's even possible to get good laptop for that amount).
I'm also willing to buy used if the lower price will get me better performance.
 

courier

Honorable
Jan 8, 2014
5
0
10,510

Croatia. I translated the currency via google but it's 2000 HRK, with a 3500 HRK max.


From looking at the reviews it seems most are barely above average (I'm mostly worried about the sluggishness). And what specific model? Because there seems a lot of different g505 subtypes. I'm looking at two different g505 and one is double the price of the other (diffrent RAM, CPU, HD...).

Any other recommendations? I'm willing to buy used if it will get me better performance.


I think I've changed my mind about wanting a tablet. Too much hassle. Do you have any specific thinkpad model in mind?


Any thoughts on Samsung Ativ Book 9 Lite for ~600$ ? I like that it has a touch screen.


 

courier

Honorable
Jan 8, 2014
5
0
10,510


I looked at different lenovo thinkpads but I definitely don't like the way it looks. I actually have one ancient thinkpad and think that thedesign is horrendous.
What would be the next upgrade to Samsung Ativ Book 9 Lite? Something with a bit more performance?

How do these compare between themselves and the 9 lite (all of them are in the 2000-2500 HRK range)? :

Lenovo IdeaPad G505, 59-390276, 15.6", AMD A-Series A4 5000 1.50 Ghz, 1TB HDD, 4GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 8330, Free DOS

Lenovo Essential G505, 59-416465, 15.6", AMD Dual Core/AMD E Series dual core 1.0 Ghz, 500GB HDD, 4GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 8210, Windows 8

Lenovo G505, AMD Dual-Core E1-2100, 2048 MB, 15,6" 1366x768, SATA 500 GB, Free DOS, AMD Radeon HD 8210, DVD±RW DL, 1x 10/100, 802.11b/g/n, BT 4.0, HDMI 1, USB 2.0 1, USB 3.0 2, 2,6 kg, 59-390263

I may also be able to buy something somewhere else in the EU and have it delivered, what about these from amazon.uk:
Asus X102BA
Asus X551CA
Asus VivoBook S200E-CT216H
Toshiba Satellite C55-A-1R8
Any opinions on them?




 

courier

Honorable
Jan 8, 2014
5
0
10,510

Those were just the top ones according to amazon reviews. If you know any other good models I can try to find them elsewhere. Even the x551ca might be cheaper ordering from USA and paying for taxes and shipping. You don't have to be limited by location. I'd rather you give me a few good models so that I can try to find them. Maybe with a touchsreen if it dosen't make the price skyrocket.

So if I had 615$ budget in america what would be my top 3 choices, with and without a touchscreen?