I'm looking at getting a laptop for Uni, but my question is "What model should I be looking at?"
Points to note:
I am in my second year of Uni studying Photography and Digital Imaging.
I have a big editing desktop rig that I built at the start of the course so that handles all my intensive editing needs (video and photo.)
I would primarily use the Laptop for lecture notes, essays and the occasional bit of image viewing (straight from the card not imported on to the laptop.)
My main requests would be adequate power (say a 2nd/3rd Gen i5?) A nice quality screen is a big deal breaker, discrete graphics would be nice but not vital, and it needs to be fairly portable. Oh and an SSD would be nice but no big deal if it's a fairly fast HDD.
I have a budget of around £800-900 (give or take)
I like the look of the Samsung 900X3B, using that as a basis for specifications do you guys have any other recommendations?
Thanks Guys
:EDIT: I'm after PC specific hardware (not open to Mac)
@Jpeg9: The Macbook Air or Macbook Pro might be in your future. They're both solid notebooks, and (at least the air) is within your pricerange. Take a look at Apple's education pricing, too.
I suppose this raises another question: are you open to the possibility of a Mac, or are you looking more into staying with PC-OEM hardware?
You see my issue is that a decent spec Apple product tips me over the £1k barrier that I didn't want to cross. As well as the fact a large proportion of the programmes I used are windows based (which would require boot camp W7.)
I want a windows PC so that I have no issues with back ups, compatibility with my Desktop, and obviously the lower price bracket.
A secondary point to make would be that I'm not a big fan of OSX, I can use it fine and a number of my family members have Macbooks, but I just don't like it. If I were to get an MBA/MBP then I would most likely have to wipe it and install W7 and take the drivers for the trackpad and touch gestures from the OSX boot disk, which is extra hassle, especially when I am basically having to construct a working computer from 2 separate operating systems.
But primarily I'm after PC based hardware
(I will go back and edit my initial post to mention this)
Another update to this topic: In the end I actually bought a Macbook Air... I almost wish to apologize for wasting time, but I was offered a deal I couldn't really refuse, it dropped it to a price I was happy to pay for it, and as such I am writing this from the new MBA itself.
The price drop allowed me to afford to set up the MBA with bootcamp into Win 7 and I have so far (subject to the 3/4 days I've owned it) enjoyed having such a nice portable laptop.
I guess it goes to show that price really does matter even when previously you might have disagreed with a product previously (By this I'm hinting at the HP Tablet during that crazy firesale)
As an aside, does any one have any good MBA cases they can recommend? I have come to the conclusion that the case that came with my camera bag is a little too loose to be practical.
I'm looking at getting a laptop for Uni, but my question is "What model should I be looking at?"
Points to note:
I am in my second year of Uni studying Photography and Digital Imaging.
I have a big editing desktop rig that I built at the start of the course so that handles all my intensive editing needs (video and photo.)
I would primarily use the Laptop for lecture notes, essays and the occasional bit of image viewing (straight from the card not imported on to the laptop.)
My main requests would be adequate power (say a 2nd/3rd Gen i5?) A nice quality screen is a big deal breaker, discrete graphics would be nice but not vital, and it needs to be fairly portable. Oh and an SSD would be nice but no big deal if it's a fairly fast HDD.
I have a budget of around £800-900 (give or take)
I like the look of the Samsung 900X3B, using that as a basis for specifications do you guys have any other recommendations?
Thanks Guys
:EDIT: I'm after PC specific hardware (not open to Mac)
@Jpeg9: The Macbook Air or Macbook Pro might be in your future. They're both solid notebooks, and (at least the air) is within your pricerange. Take a look at Apple's education pricing, too.
I suppose this raises another question: are you open to the possibility of a Mac, or are you looking more into staying with PC-OEM hardware?
Cheers.
If Apple, a MacBook Air, if not Apple, then that's a mistake. (I think, most PC laptops compromise somewhere - screen, trackpad or kb)
I wouldn't get a 13" MBP as they are a pretty bad buy, no SSD and lower res than both the 11" and 13" AIr. Yikes.
The 13" Air is the only one that has an SD card slot though.
You see my issue is that a decent spec Apple product tips me over the £1k barrier that I didn't want to cross. As well as the fact a large proportion of the programmes I used are windows based (which would require boot camp W7.)
I want a windows PC so that I have no issues with back ups, compatibility with my Desktop, and obviously the lower price bracket.
A secondary point to make would be that I'm not a big fan of OSX, I can use it fine and a number of my family members have Macbooks, but I just don't like it. If I were to get an MBA/MBP then I would most likely have to wipe it and install W7 and take the drivers for the trackpad and touch gestures from the OSX boot disk, which is extra hassle, especially when I am basically having to construct a working computer from 2 separate operating systems.
But primarily I'm after PC based hardware
(I will go back and edit my initial post to mention this)
Quick Update:
I've had to reduce the budget a little meaning the Series 9 isn't quite so realistic any more...
So I'm now looking in the £600-700 ($950-1100) price range
You should Checkout the Lenovo IdeaPad Y570 here is a link: http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=457&Code=08626JU&category_id=F41BC8E1656C5F85171FBDB172571912
I own this laptop and can do just about everything you are looking for, best part is if you buy now its only $700!
If not an Air, then I'd take a look at the Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A or the Lenovo Thinkpad X230.
While both of them have IPS displays, the Zenbook has a resolution of 1920 x 1080.
Hi all,
Another update to this topic: In the end I actually bought a Macbook Air... I almost wish to apologize for wasting time, but I was offered a deal I couldn't really refuse, it dropped it to a price I was happy to pay for it, and as such I am writing this from the new MBA itself.
The price drop allowed me to afford to set up the MBA with bootcamp into Win 7 and I have so far (subject to the 3/4 days I've owned it) enjoyed having such a nice portable laptop.
I guess it goes to show that price really does matter even when previously you might have disagreed with a product previously (By this I'm hinting at the HP Tablet during that crazy firesale)
As an aside, does any one have any good MBA cases they can recommend? I have come to the conclusion that the case that came with my camera bag is a little too loose to be practical.