Ultrabook for college

Hello!

My Macbook Air is shutting off randomly and Apple Store can't help (motherboard problem but not sure). So I'm in need of a new lightweight compact laptop for college.

I have a small budget and thought the Huawei Matebook D 14" (Ryzen 5 2nd generation or Intel i5 8th generation??) would be best buy.

I do not have much experience though so I'd like some advice. I mainly care about budget, battery life, speed of apps I use for college work, and looks (and longevity please). I don't play games nor run heavy apps.

Find below more details Thanks a lot!!

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General Questions

1) What is your budget? ~ 600 USD

2) What size notebook would you prefer? Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen

3) Which country will you buying this notebook? Either US or Italy (depending on what's most convenient)

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like: /
b. Dislike: /

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed? No

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook? College work so writing and reading academic papers, research, PPT, graphing and other math applications (Mathlab, S Plus/R etc), light coding + normal work like watching movies

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both? Yes, I take it every day to class and travel often

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? No

9) How many hours of battery life do you need? >7

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK? Either is fine

11) What OS do you prefer? I only have experience with Mac OS and Windows. Definitely like Mac OS better but Windows is OK too (tight budget )

Screen Specifics

12) What screen resolution(s) would you prefer? Full HD

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen? Glossy is nicer but OK with matte too (I'd use it inside most of the time so I don't mind)

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you? Yes, clean professional look (love my current Macbook)

Notebook Components

15) How much hard drive space do you need? ~ 250 GB

Timing, Warranty and Longevity

16) When are you buying this laptop? ASAP

17) How long do you expect to use this laptop? At least 4 years hopefully

18) How long could you afford to do without your laptop if it were to fail? Two weeks?

19) Would you be willing to pay significantly extra for on-site warranty, or would it be acceptable to you to have to ship the laptop to the vendor for repair with perhaps a week or more outage? Either is fine

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the asus ux zenbook series is pretty good im currently on a ux330ca with the m3 processor.....I know you can get a 8th gen i5 256gb sdd and 14in display with 100 percent srgb for 600usd at bestbuy.

great battery life at over 10 hours, thin, light, nice looking sturdy...ect many many pros very few cons....if your looking to game eventually then I recommend the lenovo 730s 13.3 in laptop it has 2 thunderbolt 3 ports and is really a nice laptop as per the reviews.

curently its 999.99 but watch out for sales and use honey to apply the best coupon

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-700-series/Yoga-S730/p/88YGS701077

and for last years model take a look at this, very good price and in open box condition

still 8th gen but very nice laptop

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/802003648-USE/lenovo_81bv008fus_13_3_ideapad_720s_laptop.html

 

I like JRE's answers - good reco's. I use an older zenbook ux305FA model and it has been effectively bulletproof for years though the audio speakers are unforgivably weak. [bluetooth great though]. legit battery life and I can't tell that mine has diminished at all.

you should know also that the last few years of dell latitude 12" & 14's models have been pretty solid. on ebay, barely used ones are half price of new, and many still under warranty. i have bought these for customers, some of them had remaining multi-year warranty time left

 

I'd look at a Dell Latitude 7390 from the Dell Outlet. Check the Dell Outlet's twitter account for coupons. You should be able to get one of those for close to your budget. It's a business class machine with high durability and a standard three-year warranty. For college notebooks I usually recommend business notebooks for those reasons.

Charles

 

yes as Charles says, the latitudes are also worth checking out.