Looking For a Laptop For School

Jack423

Honorable
Sep 7, 2013
55
0
10,630
I am looking for a laptop for school but I want it to have a nice build quality and have it be under $1,200. I was looking at the Surface Pro 3, but I've never been able to look up the reviews for it. I would like some suggestions for a computer.
 
Solution
A Surface Pro 3 is an excellent choice in that it is a quality product that allows you to have a "laptop" (with type cover) and also the convenience of a tablet when you need it. Personally, I think they are overpriced somewhat but I'd jump at the chance to own one myself. If this is strictly a school device and you don't mind using external storage or relying almost exclusively on the cloud, the cheapest model with the i3 would serve you with no problems whatsoever.

The base i5 model is a fairly substantial jump in power for a moderate increase in price whilst also doubling your SSD size. The i5 model would allow you to purchase an external USB hard drive and a type cover and stay at or around your budget. The i3 is not...

utgotye

Admirable
A Surface Pro 3 is an excellent choice in that it is a quality product that allows you to have a "laptop" (with type cover) and also the convenience of a tablet when you need it. Personally, I think they are overpriced somewhat but I'd jump at the chance to own one myself. If this is strictly a school device and you don't mind using external storage or relying almost exclusively on the cloud, the cheapest model with the i3 would serve you with no problems whatsoever.

The base i5 model is a fairly substantial jump in power for a moderate increase in price whilst also doubling your SSD size. The i5 model would allow you to purchase an external USB hard drive and a type cover and stay at or around your budget. The i3 is not hyper-threaded so you aren't losing that like you do on desktop chips.
 
Solution

game junky

Distinguished
It all depends on what you're wanting to do on your tablet - the Surface Pro 3 would be a great portable workstation: Microsoft's app store isn't extravagant compared with the Google Marketplace or Apple Store but it still has lots of productivity apps and some freeware to keep you entertained. The weight is incredibly light, the battery life is perfect for a typical school day and there are lots of accessories to make it work well in a home office or dorm environment. The only limitation if you're a gamer is that you are using the built-in Intel graphics rather than a separate GPU - it's powerful enough to run some steam games but that's about it.

What screen size are you wanting? Are you wanting to be able to run any games? Do you have a brand preference?
 

game junky

Distinguished
If it were me, I would look at something like Lenovo's Yoga series - I had a first gen Surface Pro for work and needed the extra screen real estate so I switched to a Yoga 2 Pro. Thin, Light, Great battery life and performance. Nothing wrong with the Surface Pro 3 - I have deployed several, just hate Microsoft's expensive accessories and the keyboard still doesn't feel like a laptop keyboard to me.
 

Jack423

Honorable
Sep 7, 2013
55
0
10,630



I got the Surface Pro 3 about a month ago and I love it. It is 9000% better than my late 2009 MacBook and it is very portable and fast. It even plays most of my steam games with no issues (csgo, gmod, portal 2, Terraria, etc.). Thanks for the help!