School Laptop that ISN'T a ThinkPad *gasp*

So I'm looking to buy a budget laptop for school work, but /tpg/ was disgusted by my specification of attractiveness in the machine. The thing is, I have a desktop that fulfills my performance needs, so the laptop I'm buying is just for school use. That means things like programming, CAD, Microsoft Office, and general use. So if I'm carrying it around to classes, I'd like it to be attractive.

Specs: around $500, portable/lightweight, slim/attractive, 1080p, backlit keyboard, and some sort of video output (preferably HDMI, but I'm prepared to deal with dongles)

I know elitebooks are a good solution, but there are a million options and I was wondering if Sup Forums had some specific recommendations for me to get the most out of my budget (like processing power, battery life, etc)

Other urls found in this thread:

pastebin.com/JVwVGVTW
amazon.com/dp/B01EXQHRMK/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_GDP3yb6VHCWNP
anyforums.com/
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

Honestly a mainstream Lenovo Ideapad or an Asus would be fine.

This desu

So picking from these, how do you recommend I narrow things down? Or is there a good resource (like an IRC channel) for getting an exact recommendation?

I'm relatively knowledgeable on different specs of laptops, but I'm just drowning in options and finding it hard to narrow things down without just picking at random

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Lol no, please give me other options you see fit. I want to be done with this laptop search already

Xaomi Air, I'm using the 13" fucker right now. Once you get rid of the chink shit it's actually a really solid little laptop hey. Lightweight, only two USB ports which is fucking annoying with a keyboard/mouse plugged in but you said you don't care about dongling so whatever.

Don't even consider gaming or doing heavy photo editing or video work though, you'll set your fucking house on fire. I use an external keyboard plus a cooler because I'm pretty sure they sent me a space heater.

I'm just going to throw it out there too, aesthetics aren't worth the trade off in price unless you're a grill or a fag or daddy is paying. Just get a fucking normal laptop like any other human being and stop trying so hard. Nobody is impressed with a laptop that isn't a macbook on campus so you may as well just give up and use something decent. You should know this if you work with the tools you describe.

Xiaomi Air, I got the 13" one and it's perfect. I was looking for a laptop like what you wanted for ages and the Xiaomi air is perfect for my needs. Battery life could be a lot longer though but fast charge enabling it to reach 90% within 30 mins is good enough for me.

While I had been sick of the usual lash back I hey for my attractiveness spec, you made some solid sense that I agree with. Thanks user

...

Looks like I'll go for the Xiaomi air. Any other cons of this?

$500 flat will be a bit clunky unless you go for refurbished. do you want an ultrabook? it may be worth spending $700 for the asus zenbook 330-whatever since it meets your specs. the model versions are byzantine but the most recent one has a backlit keyboard etc.

The screen itself is glossy which is annoying in bright environments like sitting outside around campus if you have nice areas like we do.

Battery life is average as that other user said but they're right, the fast charge is fast as fuck. I find that if you use power settings properly and configure everything you should be golden.

I find that the 8GB of ram is a little limiting when running intensive applications but to be brutally honest it's not that bad at all. This is only a recent issue I have and it's been after installing a specific application so it could actually be a memory leak hey, not sure about this one.

Aside from those, my only other complaint is that it gets hot if you're doing a bunch of shit on it. The bios is pretty simplistic too but you can patch that shit really easily, just don't brick your fucking laptop.

Oh, the last thing is you may need to purchase either a power point adapter if the charger is a Chinese piece of shit, I just bought an aftermarket power-pack. Cost me like thirty bucks and it's form factor is better in every way, with a power adapter some points around campus are awkwardly angled so that was a bit of a fuck around before getting a new power-pack.

Make sure you grab the driver package from the Xaomi forums AND the Samsung SSD driver. Dickheads forget that and wonder why it's not living up to it's performance promise. Don't install the bullshit Chinese apps unless you use a MiBand or something similar. I have the full ecosystem because CST got me good with those cheap prices.

Can't recommend Asus. It's built cheap af and the touchpad is going crazy if the laptop is getting hot.

Awesome, I think I can deal with all that.

>around $500, portable/lightweight, slim/attractive, 1080p, backlit keyboard, and some sort of video output (preferably HDMI, but I'm prepared to deal with dongles)
T450

it's made by Xiaomi

Just save your shekels for a MacBook Pro and an iPhone. Seriously, it's the best hardware and you'll fit in and look good instead of being that "weird kid" Best of luck OP

Surface 3

I picked up an Elitebook 1040 G3 for ~$500 and it is a great device. The only thing I'd do is slim down the bezels a tad and add an Ethernet port. Otherwise it is perfect.

This.

Although which model doesn't matter. I paid a little more and got the surface pro 3 little bit after its release and I don't regret it at all. Thing is solid and runs everything you need to. Great for emulators and light gaming like csgo. The tabletness with it being a full usable computer makes it a no brainer.

OP being a fag, as usual, finds thinkpads "not attractive"

you have to go back numale beta faggot

You're trolling me! Quit it!

How did you find that for 500?

kill yourself

>So if I'm carrying it around to classes, I'd like it to be attractive.
It's like a vain babysitter talking. I assume you are male but you sure as shit act like an attention whore.

Get second hand MacBook and sign up for gender studies.

After that, kill yourself.

ThinkPads looks great and the build quality is good.

I like having a laptop which doesnt look retarded, it's just a nice black box and that it's durable so I don't have to worry it breaks when I open it or carry it and I can rely on it that it will work tomorrow too

If you're wanting to get a surface, make sure it's a minimum of 8 gb ram. I wouldn't even go with just basic surface 3, just get pro 3 or 4.

I say 8 gb ram because the surface cannot utilize ram correctly so it's just better to have more. I think the pro 4 has better battery but if you want to save money, go pro 3.

Fucking disgusting. What happened to this?

>why does my battery life suck
>oh I use fast charging by the way

eBay open box item. I got the 1080p matte i5 256G model.

people got tired of lugging around 10 pound hunks of steel roll cage and decided to streamline the design, especially given the improvements in thermal design

I used to have an 8460p, and while it was built like a damn tank, the fans would ramp up during even the slightest load and temps would often get into the 70s despite regular cleaning

*roll eyes*
kill yourself

eBay open box item. I got the 1080p matte i5 256G model.

HP with kaby lake i3 is dirt cheap and works fine

Does it look like anyone gives a shit
Pro 4 with core m3 is best

So the contenders are:

Surface 3 (but apprentice I should shell out for the pro 3)
Xiaomi Air
Asus Zenbook 330

Please shit on one of these that you don't like, as you do best.

Just buy a ThinkPad T420 or something like that, retard.

But not $500

It's $600 + $100 type cover you can do it

Or just get an IdeaPad

And you don't have an issue with the 4GB RAM like this guy?

>slim/attractive
macbook
>Macbooks are overpriced
>Ok, show me a similarly priced laptop with the same specs or better. Reminder that $1300 rMBPs are light, have a 2560x1600 retina display, the best keyboards and trackpads in existence, 8GB RAM, outstanding battery life, NVMe SSDs, and the best build quality and support in the business
>...

Can we finally put an end to this meme?

wtf

MACFAG DETECTED

OK I'm going to settle this once and for all

Use the fucking discount from /tpg/ and you can get an actual ThinkPad with Kaby Lake i7 for cheap

pastebin.com/JVwVGVTW

Go do this and then look at E series for the cheapest, don't worry about memes the E series far surpasses any consumer laptop you would have bought anyway

HP is cancer

>$1300
>not $500

ALSO make sure it has something like a 940MX so you can do CAD

>Thread title says "ISN'T ThinkPad"
>Posts ThinkPad

The point is this is another way to get a ThinkPad not usually considered, it is neither spending little on an old CumPad nor spending exorbitant Lenovo default prices

Stallman can't dance.

>So if I'm carrying it around to classes, I'd like it to be attractive.
try to lose weight first, dress better and start showering everyday/two times a day depending on weather

people actually dont care what laptop you lug around

hell with a chinkpad you can score few hipster points with dumb college bimbos but for that you have to look good in the first place

idiots why are you taking such a obvious bait?

This and get a modern ThinkPad they are the sexiest and for only $600 an E series is waiting for you

What's the downside of IdeaPads?

Elitebooks are decent and if you can get one at $500 they're well enough for school. The only knock about them that really gets me is that the screen is shit. The colors are VERY washed out.

Worse keyboard, modularity, no CAD capable graphics, less warranty, cheaper plastic

Screens can be OK. IdeaPad work fine but the ThinkPad is on discount so you don't save anything anyway.

EliteBooks are great, though if you can get Zbook

chromebook

The ZenBooks look nice as hell and actually have real quality. Any specific one?

I don't know shit about them but they must be fine, look for student discounts on that too

They have some god tier workstation tier stuff though then you spend $1000, the ZenBook Pro and if you can afford ZenBook pro that is worth it

Not gonna be able to run all necessary programs with Chrome OS

I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Chrome OS, is in fact, GNU/ChromeOS, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Chrome OS. Chrome OS is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called "Chrome OS", and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.

There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Chrome is the browser: the program in the system that runs web applications. The browser is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Chrome OS is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Chrome added, or GNU/ChromeOS. All the so-called "Chrome OS" distributions are really distributions of GNU/ChromeOS.

amazon.com/dp/B01EXQHRMK/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_GDP3yb6VHCWNP

Okay, I like to learn and that is good to know. But my point stands, no? There are still programs not made capable (like solidworks) for GNU/ChromeOS, right?

No, Richard, it's 'Chrome OS', not 'GNU/Chrome OS'. The most important contributions that the FSF made to Chrome OS were the creation of the GPL and the GCC compiler. Those are fine and inspired products. GCC is a monumental achievement and has earned you, RMS, and the Free Software Foundation countless kudos and much appreciation.
Following are some reasons for you to mull over, including some already answered in your FAQ.
One guy, Linus Torvalds, used GCC to make his operating system (yes, Chrome OS is an OS -- more on this later). He named it 'Chrome OS' with a little help from his friends. Why doesn't he call it GNU/Chrome OS? Because he wrote it, with more help from his friends, not you. You named your stuff, I named my stuff -- including the software I wrote using GCC -- and Linus named his stuff. The proper name is Chrome OS because Linus Torvalds says so. Linus has spoken. Accept his authority. To do otherwise is to become a nag. You don't want to be known as a nag, do you?
(An operating system) != (a distribution). Chrome OS is an operating system. By my definition, an operating system is that software which provides and limits access to hardware resources on a computer. That definition applies whereever you see Chrome OS in use. However, Chrome OS is usually distributed with a collection of utilities and applications to make it easily configurable as a desktop system, a server, a development box, or a graphics workstation, or whatever the user needs. In such a configuration, we have a Chrome OS (based) distribution. Therein lies your strongest argument for the unwieldy title 'GNU/Chrome OS' (when said bundled software is largely from the FSF). Go bug the distribution makers on that one. Take your beef to Red Hat, Mandrake, and Slackware. At least there you have an argument.
1/2

Chrome OS alone is an operating system that can be used in various applications without any GNU software whatsoever. Embedded applications come to mind as an obvious example.
Next, even if we limit the GNU/Chrome OS title to the GNU-based Chrome OS distributions, we run into another obvious problem. XFree86 may well be more important to a particular Chrome OS installation than the sum of all the GNU contributions. More properly, shouldn't the distribution be called XFree86/Chrome OS? Or, at a minimum, XFree86/GNU/Chrome OS? Of course, it would be rather arbitrary to draw the line there when many other fine contributions go unlisted. Yes, I know you've heard this one before. Get used to it. You'll keep hearing it until you can cleanly counter it.
You seem to like the lines-of-code metric. There are many lines of GNU code in a typical Chrome OS distribution. You seem to suggest that (more LOC) == (more important). However, I submit to you that raw LOC numbers do not directly correlate with importance. I would suggest that clock cycles spent on code is a better metric. For example, if my system spends 90% of its time executing XFree86 code, XFree86 is probably the single most important collection of code on my system. Even if I loaded ten times as many lines of useless bloatware on my system and I never excuted that bloatware, it certainly isn't more important code than XFree86. Obviously, this metric isn't perfect either, but LOC really, really sucks. Please refrain from using it ever again in supporting any argument.
Last, I'd like to point out that we Chrome OS and GNU users shouldn't be fighting among ourselves over naming other people's software.
2/3

But what the heck, I'm in a bad mood now. I think I'm feeling sufficiently obnoxious to make the point that GCC is so very famous and, yes, so very useful only because Chrome OS was developed. In a show of proper respect and gratitude, shouldn't you and everyone refer to GCC as 'the Chrome OS compiler'? Or at least, 'Chrome OS GCC'? Seriously, where would your masterpiece be without Chrome OS? Languishing with the HURD?
If there is a moral buried in this rant, maybe it is this:
Be grateful for your abilities and your incredible success and your considerable fame. Continue to use that success and fame for good, not evil. Also, be especially grateful for Chrome OS' huge contribution to that success. You, RMS, the Free Software Foundation, and GNU software have reached their current high profiles largely on the back of Chrome OS. You have changed the world. Now, go forth and don't be a nag.
Thanks for listening.