Laptop for a Student

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fraso

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My son is in a certificate program at a local college and the keyboard in his laptop (Toshiba Satellite L50t-A) quit working recently. It has a touchscreen so he can switch to tablet mode to enter commands. The screen also has a dead pixel area about 1" in diameter. Since he used it since 2013 to through school, I think he's probably better off getting a new computer than trying to repair his old one.

His program involving mapping and he needs a good CPU to keep up with rendering. What are reliable laptops we should be looking for a replacement?
 
Get a business class laptop from say Lenovo, Dell or HP. DON'T compare the consumer laptops you'd see in Best Buy to the more rugged business class offerings I mentioned.
 
Originally Posted By: Andy636
Avoid ASUS like the plague...


Other than the fact Asus just signed up to participate with Nvidia and their very anti competitor GPP program, why not buy Asus? They give a good warranty, and when I bought mine, they gave a free 2 year accidental warranty as long as you registered your product with them within 30 days of purchase. They are a company that specializes in motherboards, which are the one thing you don't want to fail in a laptop, and in my experience, they make good quality products.

The bigger question is what do you want to spend? I highly recommend anything using one of the newer Ryzen based processors as they have great bang for the buck. The HP x360 spectre with an AMD Ryzen APU is a good example.
 
Originally Posted By: skyactiv
Get a business class laptop from say Lenovo, Dell or HP. DON'T compare the consumer laptops you'd see in Best Buy to the more rugged business class offerings I mentioned.


+1 on business offerings. ASUS are junk throughout line. Apple is another business class
 
Have a HP Pavilion just over a year. Its the biggest piece of junk ever. Made sure it was all intel. Big mistake, they cleverly hid the fact it was a celeron. It is beyond slow, hangs with numerous graphics and CPU errors. last week the display became distorted. Like stage lighting all across the top. The only thing good about it is battery life. One star!

Knew I should have stayed with Dell. Never have these problems. AMD looking pretty good right now
 
It's already been said - buy a business class laptop. I've bought hundreds of them, mostly HP's over the years for our school. Reliability has been excellent.
 
Thanks for the quick responses. I'll check around to see what business machines are available.

What is it that differentiates a business laptop from a consumer product?
 
Originally Posted By: fraso
Thanks for the quick responses. I'll check around to see what business machines are available.

What is it that differentiates a business laptop from a consumer product?


Quality and durability. They tend to not be loaded with junk programs.
 
I was really trying to understand how to recognize a business laptop from the specifications. I would think that quality and durability have more to do with the machine's reputation than a specification.
 
Originally Posted By: fraso
I was really trying to understand how to recognize a business laptop from the specifications. I would think that quality and durability have more to do with the machine's reputation than a specification.


Dell breaks down how to tell the difference here:
Dell Laptops

. Inspiron is home. Latitude and Vostro business.
 
I bought my daughter an Apple in 2013 and it's still working great.
I bought my other daughter a Dell...then an HP and finally an Apple....She is hard on laptops because she carried them everywhere throughout college and now grad school...the Apple is the only one that took the licking and kept on ticking. My next computer will be an Apple.
 
I would not overlook ASUS if it fits your budget. Nothing inherently wrong with them.
But, I second the business class Dell or Lenovo idea.
I've carried the same Dell for work, used literally 46 solid weeks a year, for 4 years now. Not one hiccup.
 
Originally Posted By: mazdamonky

The bigger question is what do you want to spend? I highly recommend anything using one of the newer Ryzen based processors as they have great bang for the buck. The HP x360 spectre with an AMD Ryzen APU is a good example.


I've got the Intel Spectre x360 and it's every bit as good as the Macbook it replaced. If I were in the market, the AMD version would be at the top of the list as I'm no fan of Intel. It's been banged around, dropped (yes, dropped) and still running great. I'd not hesitate from the HP Spectre or Envy line. Or the Eltiebooks.

I'm issued a "business" Dell. The last 2 have been utter garbage - random hardware issues, poor battery longevity, loose hinges, parts falling off, etc. And it's not only me - when I go to meetings, most are like that. They, like all their machines are junk. Nothing like the superior business HP's and IBMS we used to use.
 
I bought the wife an HP Pavilion with the AMD chip from COSTCO this past December. So far so good with a 4 year warranty. :--))
 
The Mid-2012 Apple MacBook Pro 13" is one I would recommend buying, model MD 101 LL/A, June 2012. This model was the last one without the Retina Display, as well as the last one with a CD/DVD burner (SuperDrive). It comes with a 500 GB hard drive, plus the RAM can be upgraded to 16 Gigabytes. Different retailers have this model available as used or refurbished, but the only way I would get one would be through the Apple Store. This way, you will get the same warranty as a new Mac, and you can purchase Apple Care, giving you 3 years of phone support and warranty protection. The Apple Store has a refurbished one available for $829.

Hope this helps,

Two
 
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