Laptop Recommendations

[esotericish]

The cheapest and most noticeable upgrade for a laptop is to add RAM. Not sure how it works with a Mac, but you can get 2gb of laptop RAM for less than $50 I believe.

[Horb]

I think my computer maxes out at 4. It says I can have up to four, but all the slots are taken. So I guess I'd have to buy a new model? 

[GeoDUDE!]

Safari is by far the fastest on OSX, followed by firefox and opera. Chrome was the fastest ~5 years ago, but has slowly become more bloated as more people have added features. I still use chrome because I like some of the features, but it does have major drawbacks that safari does not have. I've contemplated switching to safari. 

 

and fwiw, my workstation runs 16 cores and 64gb of ram so its not the hardware bottlenecking my experiences. 

 

If you really want to upgrade your laptop, esotericish is right that ram is a good idea. Just note that most laptops these days only have 2 memory slots and usually have 2gb each, but a 4 gb stick of ddr3 is only ~30 bucks. I think a bigger upgrade, if you already have 4gb of ram , is a solid state drive, where you can get a 256gb one for less than 100.

 

I haven't used a windows PC in a while (~1 year) but I know on OSX/Linux that 4gb of ram is more than enough for 99% of tasks. Unless you are using big data (10^6+ data points), 1440p+ video editing, or 16 megapixel+ raw photo editing your speed increases won't be that huge from a ram upgrade above 4 gb. OSX and Ubuntu at least have very strong ram management / trash collecting so it really shouldn't be a problem. I think 8gb of ram is more for future proofing and less about what you need now. 

[esotericish]

I think my computer maxes out at 4. It says I can have up to four, but all the slots are taken. So I guess I'd have to buy a new model? 

 

nope! as geodude says you just have to buy a larger stick (4gb instead of 2gb).

 

 

 

and fwiw, my workstation runs 16 cores and 64gb of ram so its not the hardware bottlenecking my experiences. 

 

whoa! you must be doing something really intense for those specs to be necessary.

[Horb]

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to computers, so thanks for clarifying. 

[adamski]

I have the HP Spectre360x. It's basically a PC MacBook. 12 hour battery, and very, very fast.

[MidwesternAloha]

I have the HP Spectre360x. It's basically a PC MacBook. 12 hour battery, and very, very fast.

That's the laptop I'm looking at getting. I want to wait for it to be less than $1,149 though!

[Guest]

After spending most of my morning browsing for an above average 2-1 laptop, I'm now going with the Dell Inspiron 11 -  2-in 1 Laptop (11.6 inch). It's only  $399, portable/convertible (laptop to tablet), can be bought on the ground, thin, has 8 hours of battery+ 500 gigs, and has very few negative reviews compared to many other 'low-budget' 2-in 1 laptops.  The Inspiron is perfect for my budget, has everything that I want, and sounds like a perfect and slim choice for me while I am 'on the go'. I'll still keep my 2011 Macbook Pro on hand+ at home  if I need something a bit more advanced.

I've been doing a lot of research on these. The problem with the new Surface (not the Pro) is that it's not really a laptop replacement as advertised. It only has 2gb of RAM, which is frankly not enough these days, especially for normal computing tasks; a 10.8 in screen is really small, especially for day-to-day work; and, well, for a full-time student I'd personally want something closer to a laptop, not a tablet.  Plus, you have to buy the keyboard separately, which is over $100. The Surface PRO 3 on the other hand is very much a laptop replacement in terms of hardware. However, what you're getting for your money isn't a great value -- you can get a more powerful laptop for the same price (same dilemma in buying an Apple product vs. a PC). So I think if you want a more useful tablet, the Surface 3 is good. If you want a laptop with tablet functionality, you should go with the Pro version.

Yeah, I'm turned off by the Surface 3 in terms of its '2-in 1' feature now. Paying another $130 or so for that keyboard is another downside. It's still a nice machine over all  though. But it's not something that I can see for graduate school purposes or my budget constraint. Thanks for the input.

Edited May 11, 2015 by Guest

[twentysix]

I see. If they're already comfortable with Skype then most likely you're going to have to get a full laptop for them.

 

Yes the laptop you linked is overpriced. By a lot, in fact.

 

For instance, you could buy that same laptop and get a free TV for the exact same price:

http://dealnews.com/Dell-i5-Dual-16-Touch-Laptop-32-720-p-HDTV-for-700-free-shipping/1326700.html

 

As a rule of thumb, don't buy laptops directly from a manufacturer's website unless they're running some kind of deal (holidays, clearance, etc.) - they are often overpriced and carry hidden fees that don't show up until the final payment screen. Looking for deals on Google or buying from Amazon/Newegg is generally a better idea.

 

I was going to say, I just saw this laptop from a tech dealer on eBay (with like 350,000 positive reviews) for $499, except it had the touch screen and more ram.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/391131086273?rmvSB=true

Edited May 11, 2015 by twentysix

[MidwesternAloha]

Can someone explain what a solid state drive is, and why upgrading from 256 to 512 is $150?

[GeoDUDE!]

Can someone explain what a solid state drive is, and why upgrading from 256 to 512 is $150?

 

A solid state drive is a nonmechanical hard drive. On mechanical harddrives, data is stored on a metal platter and accessed physically where as on SSD it is storred on flash memory, similar to your cellphone (but much higher grade). This allows the data transfer speeds (read and write) to be much faster. A 7200 rpm harddrive can read/write ~ 80 mb/s where as SSDs can read and write up to 1 GB/s (over 10x faster than mechanical harddrives). Because of this your boot times will be faster, and load times will be faster. Saving will be faster. Basically it makes every thing you do faster with the exception of calculations.  My 2011 Macbook pro hard boots in 12 seconds. WHen it had a mechanical drive, it took about 1 minute. 

 

Another benefit is that because the SSD is not mechanical (no moving parts) it is much more shock resistant.  They also draw less power, so you will get a 1-3% improvement in battery life. 

 

THe reason why SSDs are expensive in general is because they are more expensive to manufacture at this point. MLC ( Multilayered flash) that is used to make these SSDs have not been manufactured as long as Mechanical Harddrives so the efficiency is down. ANother reason is there is greater demand: They also use flash for cellphones, mp3 players, RAM on computers and pretty much any electronic device that has non mechanical storage. There is actually a flash shortage, causing the prices to go up.

 

Its important to note that when I bought my 512 SSD 3 years ago it was ~500 dollars. So getting one for ~350 is still a pretty good deal. 

[esotericish]

Can someone explain what a solid state drive is, and why upgrading from 256 to 512 is $150?

 

Normal hard drives (hard disk drives) is what computers have had for many many years. They've become incredibly cheap to manufacture and you can buy like 3 terabytes for less than a $100. ~25 years ago 3 TB of storage was almost literally unimaginable. It would have taken up thousands of square feet. However, normal HDDs are slow because they have physically spinning pieces and data takes a while to get recalled from them -- think how long it takes your computer to boot up.

 

Enter solid state drives. SSDs do not have any moving pieces, they're just flash memory, so things can be recalled very quickly. This is most noticeable when booting up Windows, for example (it takes about 10 seconds for my computer to restart) or when opening up big pieces of software (Photoshop, e.g.) or video games. However, they're still expensive to manufacture, so the marginal cost of additional space is still a significant premium. Basically there's an inverse ratio between cost and the physical size of the storage device. Think how a microSD card costs.

 

What I and most people do is get an SSD and install the operating system and key pieces of software on it. Then they get a normal HDD which is much cheaper and put the majority of large programs and files, such as games, music and movies.

[MidwesternAloha]

Thank you, geodude and esotericish!! I haven't bought a laptop in almost ten years (used a netbook in college and have a desktop at work that I use now, no need for a laptop since I can use my smartphone at home) - so I am learning all the new technology. Thanks for breaking it down! I'm guessing the 512 upgrade is worth it, and will likely go with that option.

Edited May 11, 2015 by MidwesternAloha

[GeoDUDE!]

Thank you, geodude and esotericish!! I haven't bought a laptop in almost ten years (used a netbook in college and have a desktop at work that I use now, no need for a laptop since I can use my smartphone at home) - so I am learning all the new technology. Thanks for breaking it down! I'm guessing the 512 upgrade is worth it, and will likely go with that option.

 

The larger capcity drives also last longer (flash has limited read/write speeds). They should all last 5+ years.

[pentaprism]

While SSD is a worthwhile option, don't order it from the place you buy your laptop from. If you're tech-savvy, you can save some money by upgrading the harddrive yourself.

 

I notice that the price difference for a laptop with 500 GB magnetic harddrive and one with 256 GB SSD is about $250. For the same amount of money, you can get a 512 GB SSD.

 

In other words, if you can upgrade the harddrive yourself, for the price Dell (or any other laptop maker) charges you for a 256 GB SSD, you can get a 512 GB SSD, and a 500 GB magnetic drive as a backup disk.

 

I've done this for 3 laptops.

[MidwesternAloha]

Where do you recommend buying the necessary equipment from? I've replaced RAM but never anything else... Tips would be appreciated. I'm all about saving money if I can do it myself. Thank you, btw!

[eeee1923]

Newegg.com and Amazon are pretty solid choices

[WhatAmIDoingNow]

I've been doing a lot of research on these. The problem with the new Surface (not the Pro) is that it's not really a laptop replacement as advertised. It only has 2gb of RAM, which is frankly not enough these days, especially for normal computing tasks; a 10.8 in screen is really small, especially for day-to-day work; and, well, for a full-time student I'd personally want something closer to a laptop, not a tablet.  Plus, you have to buy the keyboard separately, which is over $100. The Surface PRO 3 on the other hand is very much a laptop replacement in terms of hardware. However, what you're getting for your money isn't a great value -- you can get a more powerful laptop for the same price (same dilemma in buying an Apple product vs. a PC). So I think if you want a more useful tablet, the Surface 3 is good. If you want a laptop with tablet functionality, you should go with the Pro version.

 

 

You can find good deals on the SP3 if you watch the Microsoft Ebay store for refurbished SP3s.  They come with the manufacturer's warranty and qualify for the 3 year insurance. 

[MidwesternAloha]

Just a tip I thought I'd share - the HP spectre x360 is excluded from all promotions and won't be a part of any back to school bundles this summer. I called their sales number and basically said I want a better price, or more stuff included if I have to pay retail. They said Okay we will take $100 off. They can put together accessory and warranty packages, too! So whole you're shopping, don't forget to call! It never hurts to ask! T

[shinigamiasuka]

I finally decided and got myself a laptop to use for my grad studies (using it right now!). It's a HP Pavilion x360. I realised that I didn't need a very high end computer for my productivity needs, so I went with a mid-level convertible laptop. If I had the money to spare, I'd have definitely gotten the Surface Pro 3, but that's going to remain a dream for now. Also, my previous idea of getting a Surface 3 + a good laptop/desktop would have costed a lot more.

[talkcherty2me]

How much RAM do you think is necessary for an engineering PhD student? I'm looking at the Dell XPS 13 and the max it comes with is 8gb (not upgradable). I don't want to get a very large laptop because I'll be walking to and from campus. My other option is to deal with my 4 year old Mac for another semester and wait for the new XPS 15, which should be the same size as a normal 13" laptop. Thoughts?

[shinigamiasuka]

How much RAM do you think is necessary for an engineering PhD student? I'm looking at the Dell XPS 13 and the max it comes with is 8gb (not upgradable). I don't want to get a very large laptop because I'll be walking to and from campus. My other option is to deal with my 4 year old Mac for another semester and wait for the new XPS 15, which should be the same size as a normal 13" laptop. Thoughts?

It depends on the kind of software, simulations, and coding you'd need to run. It's better that you take advice from current students and from your advisor. Some universities allow remote access to the PCs on campus, in which case you wouldn't need more than 8GB.

[talkcherty2me]

It depends on the kind of software, simulations, and coding you'd need to run. It's better that you take advice from current students and from your advisor. Some universities allow remote access to the PCs on campus, in which case you wouldn't need more than 8GB. 

Unfortunately, my advisor hasn't answered my email about it yet and I need to order in the next few days if I want it before classes start. Thanks for the advice, though. 

[talkcherty2me]

I don't remember if this was already said here or a different thread, but I'd like to remind everyone to ask their advisors about computers before buying one. Even though my guess at what I'd need was pretty accurate, my advisor offered to cover the cost my computer!