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I'm starting college this fall and need a laptop. I'm not a tech guru so I need some opinions. I have a few in mind that I've read good reviews about. Here are some things I need in a laptop:
Ill be studying more liberal arts areas, nothing involving math, science, or graphic design and things of that nature.
I want something that's nice to type on, as I'll probably be writing a lot.
Fancy stuff doesn't really matter. I want something that's easy to operate.
Something that's fast, preferably light and easily portable.
Price isn't an issue.
Some laptops I've read good reviews on and have been choosing from are:
Dell XPS 13 (lots of good reviews)
Apple MacBook
Asus Chromebook Flip
Microsoft Surface
If anyone has any other suggestions besides the ones listed feel free to let me know. Thanks
It sounds like basically word processing, checking email, and logging into Blackboard to check homework assignments. If it's nothing involving graphics, I'd probably say either a Surface or the Dell XPS.
I've recently added a Surface Pro for its small footprint, capability and ease of tablet/keyboard interchangeability, along with notes/pen to text conversion.
The downside is that they are relatively expensive (unless you buy a used or refurbished - which I have done. Note: there is very little difference between the SP3 and SP4). Also, if you break/shatter the touch sensitive screen (which I have done), you will find that screen replacement will run over $400! (about the same as a 'new' refurbished SP3).
I've used everything in your list aside from a Chromebook. I have an XPS13 for work, love it. I have an XPS15 for home use. I also have a Mac that was replaced with the XPS15, I doubt I'll buy another one of those. Expensive and non-upgrade-able. Nice screen though, which is why I bought it at the time. I also had a Suface Pro 4 for work for a bit. It was nice, the size and weight were great, but it was a bit of a pain to use as an actual "laptop" until you got used to it.
FWIW, every Surface Pro 3 we deployed in my office has come back. Most on the pilot didn't like them, only a few kept them for the full "term". Screens are expensive to fix, we had a couple pop up with bad SSD's and had to ship them back to MS for repair. That was a pain.
I'd buy a Chromebook unless you have some application that needs to be run. Long battery life, cheap enough that you don't care, store everything in the cloud. Lots of screen sizes available. Much safer computing environment, you can loan it out if need be with no problems.
They also make a Chromebox if you need a desktop unit with big/multiple screens.
Watch out that you need to print over the internet, so some printers may not work.
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