Laptop for Comp Sci student

[blazerix]

What is your budget?
Around 900-1000

What country will you be buying this in?
Canada

What size notebook do you prefer?
Thin and Light (13 - 14-inch screen)
Mainstream (15 - 16-inch screen)

What brands do you like or dislike?
Like: Lenevo, Dell, HP
Would you consider a refurbished laptop?
No

What are the primary tasks you need this notebook for?
Web Surfing, Computer Programming, Movie Streaming and Viewing, Casual Gaming, Graphic Intense 3D Gaming

What games will you be playing?
Call of duty, FIFA, skyrim

Where will you be using this laptop?
Will be used different places and Will stay on desk

How many hours of battery life do you need?
4

Will you be buying online or in store?
online

Which OS do you prefer?
Windows 7

List the screen resolutions that interest you:
Standard Resolution (1366 x 768)
High Resolution (1600 x 900)
Max Resolution (1920 x 1080)

Is the laptops design important to you?
No

How long do you want this laptop to last?
A few years

How much storage capacity do you need?
500 GB

Are you interested in SSD for storage?
Maybe

Do you want a built-in optical drive, what type?
DVD Burner




I'm currently leaning towards the Lenovo y470/480 series. Not entirely sure though.

I don't want anything bulky.

[villagepark]

It really depends on what 'bulky' means to you
Although this is not confirmed information it seems like on the 14" front the Thinkpad edge S430 is 0.8" thick, <4 pounds and should have the GT640m graphics. It will have a 1600x900 matte screen and a thunderbolt port, however it looks like it might not have a msata port for a ssd.
On the other hand the Y480 is 1.3" thick, 5 pounds, and should have the GT650m. It has a crap 786p glossy screen and no thunderbolt but it definitely has a msata port for a ssd.

Lenovo does not have any non bulky 15" laptops that I am aware of. The HP envy 15 does not look bulky but it is astonishingly heavy at 6.3 pounds. The new dell xps line is not unveiled yet so its hard to say if they will have anything compelling.

[blazerix]

Thanks for replying. By bulky I meant heavy and annoying to carry around.

[pepper_john]

y480 or thinkpad E430; the latter is more business oriented.

which university are you going to?

[blazerix]

What are the major differences between the y480 and y470? I heard the y480 has less battery life.

Oh, I'm going to the university of Waterloo.

[villagepark]

Y480 is just the new version of Y470. New processors and video cards and the like. Welcome to waterloo, I hope you like doing problem sets. Year 100 level cs is pretty neat, 200 level cs is for the most part terribly annoying and 300 level you actually start learning.

[pepper_john]

y480 specs
IdeaPad Y480 Specs, Reviews, & Latest News | Lenovo | The Verge

I was in u waterloo a long time ago. CS is very good there. I wonder if Prof. Peter Burr is still there.

[blazerix]

Yup professor Buhr is still there.


I'm confused now lol, I was actually gonna go for the HP dv6t quad edition but that's only available in the U.S. Canadians always get screwed over

@village: do you go there? What kind of laptop do u have?

[villagepark]

I graduated from UW math with a mathematical studies major (i took a bunch of pmath and stats courses along with a handful of cs minor courses) last June. I am in china now learning Chinese language for a year on some scholarship i got. I am returning to UW in the fall to do a masters in statistics.

I had an acer TG3820TG which was really great in its time for being 4 pounds 13.3" and having an absurdly powerful (for that form factor and time) amd 5650. Unfortunately a defective water picture rendered that uselsss and now im using some 11" 786p netbook as a placeholder.

if{ the thinkpad edge S430 has a GT640m video card} I will be purchasing that, and buying 1-2 external monitors, and when one is available a thunderbolt based external gpu solution.

elsf{lenovo Y480 has a GT650m video card} I will buy it and the external monitors

else{wait for a 14" <5pound laptop with GT650m or a 14" <4 pound laptop with GT 640m}

Normally I would get the Y480 as 5 pounds is still 'light enough' (although just barely) but the thunderbolt port + 1600x900 matte screen of the S430 push me over the edge. the GT640m is not terrible either, although the 650m is about 1.3 times better, the GT640m can still get around 30fps on elder scrolls on high.

I would recommend getting dual 1080p monitors for coding. 90% of CS people I know have something similar. They are not even that expensive. I would recommend dell 2312m. They frequently go on sale for about $210 shipped and they are IPS.

[pepper_john]

professor Buhr 's course on concurrent programing was an eye opening for me. highly recommended if it is still available.