New laptop suggestions

Hi everyone, so today my laptop's hdd stopped working and it looks like its time to upgrade my laptop. I was looking at the below, my primary objective is to get a laptop which is lightweight, durable, can handle excel financial modeling, light programming, browsing, 256gb+ SSD and is good for school work (easy to type on). I narrowed my list down to the below but I just can't decide if the xps is worth paying $600+ more for than the zenbook. Please feel free to post any other recommendations.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...083&cm_re=Asus_zenbook-_-34-232-393-_-Product

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232778 (my current choice at the moment)

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.327148700

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.323014900

Thanks,

 

The last two options that you have in your list, do not even consider them. Those are a waste of money.

If your objectives are limited to financial modeling, browsing, and light programming then a 600 dollar laptop is perfectly fine. You should make sure you are getting the highest quality parts built into it. Your other options are quite over 600 dollars though. They are wayyyyyy overpriced for their tech specs.

If you want a work laptop that is lightweight and slim, you might want to look into a razer laptop.

The tech specs on a Razer Stealth is nearly 4x greater than the ones you are listing and they come for around the same price or less. It also weighs less than the zenbooks you are looking at.

http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade-stealth
http://www.razerzone.com/store/razer-blade-stealth

Let me know these things:
Price Range
I need to know what you are truly willing to pay. If you want to spend $600, then I can suggest the best laptops for that price with the type of specs you want.

Flashy
Are you hardcore against flashy designs?

 

What is the most you are willing to spend??

 

The razer seems pretty good but is it worth the price? It works out to about $1600 CAD. My price range is about $1000 cad/ 800 usd and i just need it to be lightweight not flashy.I don't mind paying upto $1700 CAD if it will truly be a benefit in the long run over the asus.

I'd prefer to pay in the price range of around $1000 cad or $800 usd

 

I brought a i5 Hp 250 g4.

Its a beast, it was super cheap and it runs very well and does everything I need.

single core < dual core < i3 < i5 < i7 for the intel cpus is a good thing to bear in mind when buying a new laptop

It was £300 which is about 500USD i believe

http://www.ebuyer.com/724155-hp-250...gplauk?mkwid=s_dc&pcrid=51467863979&pkw=&pmt=

 

I don't really care for the Core M processors so would advise against spending so much $$$ for those first two options. Try going for something with an i5+ in it just to make your life easier and your laptop more enjoyable to use.

For the price range you're looking at, you could pick up a Surface 3 and a keyboard, or something along the lines of a HP Spectre. Can even shell out a bit more and go with a Surface 4 (I like the 4's keyboard a lot compared to the previous models).

 

It is 100% worth its price, especially with the 100% RGB and screen resolution options that they now provide. Those laptops are top quality, but it is an investment. You would need to decide whether you want to spend that much money depending on how often you'll use it. It would last you much longer than an average laptop, so you ought to keep that in consideration too.

To keep around your $800 price point, here are my suggestions:

Option A

http://www.amazon.com/K501UX-15-inch-Gaming-Processor-Windows/dp/B0146DD02G?tag=sysprobs-20

This laptop has great specs compared to any other thin and sleekly designed competitors. Not only does it feature an I7 processor, but it also has a 265GB SSD, 8GB DDR3 Ram, and Nvidia GTX950M graphics card.

You'll often find similar models running an I5 processor, with a higher quality graphics card. Most of the I5 processors are far inferior when compared to the modern I7 processors, giving you the decision to make. Would you rather have a stronger graphics card or a higher quality processor? Based on your work expectations, I believe the top quality processor is more beneficial to you.


Option B

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-LaVie-...qid=1461020494&sr=1-2&keywords=lenovo+lavie+z

This laptop has a feeble graphics card that isn't made for gaming. You didn't mention any gaming use, so I thought that I would include this one. It has an I7 processor, 256GB SSD, 8GB of RAM, and a 2560 x 1440 resolution screen.

The resolution for the screen will make everything appear fantastic. You will have the nice hardware to give you great results in almost any program that you would be using, except games. Gaming is still possible and above average, but your FPS will not be breaking any records.

Conclusion
These two options are your best bet. They're both superior to your Zenbook options. You will get more bang for your buck.

To be honest, if you can invest in the Razer laptop -- I believe you would be EXTREMELY satisfied. Yes, it is a little bit more money, but it is lightweight and very powerful. $800 USD is a lot of money to throw at a computer, and it is close to the amount of money you would need to spend for something impressive.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and info guys, I'm not worried about gaming. I'll likely build a computer if I decide to get back into it. After furher research I'm going to probably avoid all of the ones in my original link. I really like the razer but unfortunately I can't justify the price for what ai need it for, after shipping, duties and taxes I'm looking at almodt $2000 for the qhd 256gb.

Looking into the spectre and lavie atm.

 

Jesus fucking christ who in their right minds would pay that much for that underperforming steaming pile of horse shit they call a Core M? Jesus fucking christ I owned a P3 desktop back in the 1700s that had a higher clock speed than that. What the fuck? Don't buy those.

Asus is a good brand but those Zenbooks are grandma-level fucked up shit. You'd regret it immediately. Check out some Acer models. I've been pleasantly surprised with them as a company recently.

 

I HIGHLY recomend Lenovo, they've come a long way, especially in gaming laptops. Here's one of the latest versions of their Y-series (medium tier)

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y700-series/y700-15-inch/

It can also come with touch display, here are the specs:

Processor - Up to 6th Generation Intel® Quad-Core i7 Processor
Operating System - Windows 10 Home
Discrete Graphics - NVIDIA® GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5
Memory - Up to 16 GB DDR4
Webcam - HD 720p, 2 x Internal Digital Array Microphone, or Intel 3D RealSense Camera (Optional)
Storage - Up to 1 TB HDD / Up to 512 GB SSD / Up to 1 TB + 8 GB SSHD
Audio - 2 x 2W JBL Speakers with Chamber + 3.0 W Subwoofer and Dolby® Home Theater&#8482;
Battery - Up to 4 Cell 60 WHr
Keyboard - Red LED Backlit with 2 Level Brightness Control
Display - Frameless Full HD (1920 x 1080) or Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) 16:9 IPS Anti-Glare
Weight - Starting at 5.7 lbs (2.6 kg)
ODD - Optional External USB 2.0 DVD/BD Tray-In
Security - Kensington® Lock
WLAN - LAN 1000 M, Up to WiFi 2 x 2 a/c + Bluetooth® 4.0
Ports - 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0 + Always-on, DC-in, 2-in-1 Audio Combo Jack, 1 x HDMI, 1 x 4-in-1 Media Card Reader (SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC)

Keep in mind, this is their medium tier and it only comes out to $947

Full tier list:
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y700-series/?cid=us:sem|se|google|51443397104|Lenovo+Gaming+Laptops|IIP_NE_Lenovo+Generic|65103464&s_kwcid=AL!4030!3!48713003984!e!!g!!lenovo%20gaming%20laptop&ef_id=VxbuVQAAAW0Lshiv:20160420074626:s

 

Thanks blupig, blowing my mind as always. I've decided to not pick any from the original post. Do you have any recommendationa? I need something that's light but cam handle rtasks in op, I think the most time it would use power is during an assignment where I have 30ish tabs open. Seems like in Canada we're getting ripped off on every ultrabook. I was looking at these atm:

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...-Edition-2-in-1-PC-Silver/productID.325677200

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.334797600

Thanks for the advice, looks like a great laptop but I actually need something a little smaller and lighter for comutting.

 

I suggest looking at their 14 inch model, nearly the same hardware and is extremely close to your other suggestions as far as dimensions go.

They really are a small sleek laptop by design, not bulky at all.

14 inch - http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y700-series/y700-14-inch/

 

Thanks everyone for the advice and sugesstions I went with the HP spectre. I liked the build and keyboard and it seems good so far. If I don't like it in 30 days I'll return it and buy something else but so far it seems like it meets all of my criteria.

Thanks again everyone, I would have definitely regretted the choices in my op.

 

You forked out a lot for what it offers, but I'm glad you found something that works for you

 

In my opinion, you could have bought a much better laptop for 1200 USD. My opinions were based on a $800 price range. The laptop you purchased has the specs of a $800 laptop, but you paid the extra $400. You won't notice the disadvantage because it will be reliable for everything you are planning to do with it.

At the end of the day, that laptop will give you everything you desire, and I'm sure you'll be satisfied with it for the task you're planning to accomplish with it. Congrats on your new purchase!

 

For some reason all ultrabooks seem pretty expensive, with the student discount and employee discount from a friend I got it all in with tax for about $1500 CAD + 2 year microsoft warranty. If price drops in 30 days I can get reimbursed more, hoping it does May 1st like he suggested

I honestly couldn't find any other ultrabooks at that price offering as decent specs. If I decided to game again I definitely would have picked up something more powerful like my old laptop but a lot of my priorities shifted recently.

Yea, I paid similar to what I would have for the xps but got 2 year warranty thrown in, I liked a lot of laptops with better specs but they were either too heavy for comutting a 20-30 min walk or would have come out to much more than I though after currency conversions, duty and taxes. Also ordering from USA voided warranty in most cases.

Thanks again for the suggestions everyone, what sold me for the laptop was microsoft store saying they'll extract the info off my old hdd to the new laptop for free since I bought it from them, hopefully they follow through or I might end up returning it.


On a side note, anybody have any methods they know of to extract information from an old hdd which is likely corrupt and not being read by the laptop?

 

I would pick Asus over dell any day, and the zenbook looks good, although I would recommend assembling a custom desktop, more durable compared to laptop and you can have your own set of specs added to it, not to forget, it will be more economical.

 

I would go with a Sony Viao they are fast and smooth and never had any problems in my day to day trading with it.