Laptop recommendations for lil' sister

GnomeQueenGnomeQueen The Lulz QueenMountain Dew Mouth Icrontian
in Hardware

Hey team,

My sister is about to go to law school and needs laptop recommendations. She'd like something easily portable that has good battery life. Her max budget is $1100. She isn't going to be gaming or anything on it. Just needs to be reliable for the next three years. We'd appreciate any suggestions!

Thanks,
GQ

Comments

  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian

    If she can swing 1170 and her school is in the program, she can get a good surface pro.

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/d/product/8NKT9WTTRBJK/1TSK

    I've heard nothing but good things about them.

    BobbyDigiprimesuspectmertesn[Deleted User]
  • DontCallMeKelsoDontCallMeKelso Kelso 'The Great Asshole' San Jose, CA Icrontian

    For law school/postgrad in general, I'd honestly recommend a Macbook Pro or even a Surface Pro, they're a touch more than $1100, but reliable and perfect postgrad. Also the usually have student discounts on them that might bring them down closer to $1100 from... $1300-1400

  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited July 2017

    I love @DontCallMeKelso MacBook Pro suggestion. That said, if she can work with a 13.3" screen, wants something super light, the MacBook Air for $999 is a beautiful piece of tech. Only 128 GB of local storage, but if she is not using it for media work, it will be fine, and Apple Cloud storage is cheap if she needs some. If you want something light and super portable, consider a MacBook Air. Great little machine. Snappy, good touchpad and keyboard for input. Screen quality is very good. Build quality is nice. 2.9 pounds and ultra slim. Will be very easy to fit in just about any bag. I have several users on the MacBook Air and I'm always thinking about buying one for myself.

    If she would rather stay Windows, I think the Surface pro is fine if you are going to get a lot of mileage out of the pen, but that God awful keyboard... It is so bad. I would not want to type a paper on it, obviously you can use whatever wireless keyboard you want when you get it back home but something to consider. I imagine she will be typing a ton. I love everything about it but the base keyboard, that keyboard is the pits, it's awful, I hate it.

    Avoid the Lenovo Carbon, it is beautiful and durable feeling, light and powerful but.... they often fail. I'm constantly replacing boards in them. It is a shame because the keyboard and touchpad are a dream. It is ultra light, and you can be rough with it, but I have had a frustrating number of failures, I can't recommend it.

    If the MacBook Air has a worthy competitor on the Windows end, I'd say it is the Asus Zenbook 3. Ultra Portable, powerful, great price at $899 with latest gen i5 and 8 GB of DDR4. I have touched those, not as many, I'll say the build on the Apple feels modestly superior but not by leaps and bounds. The Zenbook 3 is a great Ultra Portable Windows laptop.

    https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834234408&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC--pla--Notebooks-_-N82E16834234408&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2tGEh-CR1QIVx4qzCh3f6QiWEAkYASABEgI8T_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian

    Dell XPS13. It's widely regarded as one of the world's best notebooks. It's a total knockout.

    SonorousBuddyJMt_Goat
  • SonorousSonorous F@H Fanatic US Icrontian

    @Thrax said:
    Dell XPS13. It's widely regarded as one of the world's best notebooks. It's a total knockout.

    Solid recommendation. The XPS13 is a sure winner. That's what I would buy. I will admit that general users will most likely get an extra year or two out of Apple hardware as compared to a Windows based PC, which is also something to consider.

  • NiGHTSNiGHTS San Diego Icrontian

    ?XPS13?

  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian

    Surface Pro.

    primesuspect
  • KarmaKarma Likes yoga Icrontian

    Xps13 I lube mine

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian

    The surface pro is incredible. The keyboard only bothers old men :laugh:

    CBCliff_ForsterThrax
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian

    @primesuspect said:
    The surface pro is incredible. The keyboard only bothers old men :laugh:

    My fingers are stiffer than yours man.

    Sincerely, whoever spaced that keyboard out and covered it with the same stuff they make kiddie pool liners out of should be fired.

  • elyxandraelyxandra St. Catharines, Ontario Icrontian

    @primesuspect said:
    The surface pro is incredible. The keyboard only bothers old men :laugh:

    I assume it would take it out of the price range, but I love my Surface Book. Not quite as light, but it can function in tablet mode and the keyboard is a bit better than the one for the pro.

  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian

    @Thrax said:
    Dell XPS13. It's widely regarded as one of the world's best notebooks. It's a total knockout.

    I approve of this recommendation as well. They are solid as he'll and the infinity screen reduces the overall size thus making it more compact.

  • GnomeQueenGnomeQueen The Lulz Queen Mountain Dew Mouth Icrontian

    Thanks for all the information, everyone! :)

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