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)
Honestly a mainstream Lenovo Ideapad or an Asus would be fine.
Zachary Murphy
This desu
Connor Sullivan
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?
Leo Rogers
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
Kayden Foster
Shameless advertisement.
Ayden Bailey
Lol no, please give me other options you see fit. I want to be done with this laptop search already
Eli Sanders
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.
Hudson Gomez
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.
Ryder Peterson
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
Carson Williams
...
Jonathan Phillips
Looks like I'll go for the Xiaomi air. Any other cons of this?
Daniel Jackson
$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.
Gabriel Kelly
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.
Levi Gonzalez
Can't recommend Asus. It's built cheap af and the touchpad is going crazy if the laptop is getting hot.
Jace Adams
Awesome, I think I can deal with all that.
Ryder Williams
>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
Jose Collins
it's made by Xiaomi
Eli Ramirez
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
Tyler White
Surface 3
Nolan Garcia
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.
Carson Anderson
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.
Oliver Gonzalez
OP being a fag, as usual, finds thinkpads "not attractive"
Alexander Jenkins
you have to go back numale beta faggot
Oliver Reed
You're trolling me! Quit it!
Tyler Diaz
How did you find that for 500?
Bentley Allen
kill yourself
Elijah Allen
>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.
Carter Green
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
Gavin Perry
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.
Nathaniel Walker
Fucking disgusting. What happened to this?
Charles Jackson
>why does my battery life suck >oh I use fast charging by the way
Jason Lopez
eBay open box item. I got the 1080p matte i5 256G model.
Carter Richardson
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
James Sullivan
*roll eyes* kill yourself
Anthony Parker
eBay open box item. I got the 1080p matte i5 256G model.
David Adams
HP with kaby lake i3 is dirt cheap and works fine
Wyatt Perry
Does it look like anyone gives a shit Pro 4 with core m3 is best
Wyatt Murphy
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.
William Rivera
Just buy a ThinkPad T420 or something like that, retard.
Cameron Barnes
But not $500
Blake Edwards
It's $600 + $100 type cover you can do it
Or just get an IdeaPad
Nolan Nguyen
And you don't have an issue with the 4GB RAM like this guy?
Henry Jenkins
>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?
Ryan Anderson
wtf
Ryder Richardson
MACFAG DETECTED
Elijah Gomez
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
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
Cameron Cooper
HP is cancer
Xavier Wood
>$1300 >not $500
William Sanchez
ALSO make sure it has something like a 940MX so you can do CAD
Eli Roberts
>Thread title says "ISN'T ThinkPad" >Posts ThinkPad
Andrew Barnes
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
Gabriel Lopez
Stallman can't dance.
Joseph Martinez
>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
Angel Butler
idiots why are you taking such a obvious bait?
Julian Bell
This and get a modern ThinkPad they are the sexiest and for only $600 an E series is waiting for you
Benjamin Sanchez
What's the downside of IdeaPads?
Wyatt Thomas
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.
Joseph Watson
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
Hudson Ramirez
chromebook
John Hill
The ZenBooks look nice as hell and actually have real quality. Any specific one?
Justin Murphy
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
Christian Reyes
Not gonna be able to run all necessary programs with Chrome OS
Hunter Davis
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.
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?
Lincoln Young
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
Blake Nguyen
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
Oliver Brown
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.