College laptop

[alicenmc]

1. What is your budget? ~$1000

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? unsure, must be easy for my daughter to carry to classes and take notes, also sturdy, since she is a bit of a klutz.

3. What screen resolution do you want? unknown

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? portable

5. How much battery life do you need? several hours, she needs it for classes, and may not be able to charge during classes.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)? Sometimes, medium

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.) photo editing, social media. Also, my daughter has NVLD, and uses several programs to assist her with her learning disorder. (she speaks her notes, uses photo's of the board to capture notes from the board etc)

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? unknown(see above programs and needs)

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links. Open to suggestions

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? 3-4 years.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? DVD/CD Writer

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. I have not had good luck with HP laptops in the past.

13. What country do you live in? U.S.

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed. She needs something sturdy so that it will last if she bumps it, or grabs it roughly.. My current Dell laptop has cracked around the screen (screen is fine). This laptop needs to last through her college years.. Or does anyone recommend something else? Ipad, etc for this sort of use?? Help!

 

[nhasian]

You want an Ultrabook. one of the new ones with an intel 3rd generation processor. they vary in price depending specs from $700-1000.

 

[alicenmc]

You want an Ultrabook. one of the new ones with an intel 3rd generation processor. they vary in price depending specs from $700-1000.

HI, Are they durable?? (yes, she is a bit clumsy), I want to make sure it will last a while.

 

[djscribbles]

I've been looking at the Sony Vaio T for my wife. They seem to be pretty nice little machines.

Most ultrabooks don't have an optical drive, so you'll want to pick up an external USB drive.

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644852023

From the reviews I've seen of that laptop, I'm quite certain we'll be getting one later this week. They are also running a deal that you can get a free PlayStation3 if you are student, which I would recommend taking advantage of (at the very least, you can put the PS3 on ebay to cover some of the cost)

You probably won't need an i7 model, the i5 should be sufficient. The only thing this laptop (and generally speaking, most ultrabooks) can't do well is hardcore gaming. It will work great for basic games (web based games, simpler PC games), however for more advanced games (like what you would get for an Xbox) it is likely to struggle at low settings.

If you are concerned about gaming, keep in mind that there's a pretty direct tradeoff between gaming-power and battery life, if you buy a machine that has more powerful gaming hardware, it will use more battery power.

Last bit of advice, I wouldn't spring for the extra RAM (memory) since you can purchase more from newegg for less money at a later time if you want to, as long as the laptop has available slots to be used.

Edit: also keep in mind that most colleges will offer discounts on Microsoft Office to their students (I think my wife paid 50$ for her's), so I would avoid purchasing it with the laptop. OpenOffice can be a viable, free alternative as well if you don't need a lot of advanced formatting. It's also worth noting that this (and most other) ultrabook uses an aluminum/metal exterior, so it should be pretty resilient when it comes to rough handling. No laptop is really durable vs being dropped though, it's mostly luck in that category.

 

[alicenmc]

Best answer selected by alicenmc.