Joined Feb 2009
I dream of island living
Forum Thread
Help with what type of laptop to buy, not really a find me a deal post
August 30, 2023 at
07:07 AM
Hello! My 17 year old daughter just started college and needs a new laptop. I literally have no idea what specs to look at, so I am hoping someone can give me some idea of what to search for.
She currently has an LG gram i7-8565u, 16gb ram, 512gb SSD and it is laggy so she needs something faster. She currently has Sims 4 on it and 1,090 mods that she wants to keep but needs something faster for school.
She will be doing some Zoom course and some in person so she needs to be able to work online and take notes.
Budget is hopefully no more than $1200, but flexible if it will do everything she wants and will last a few years
Size 14 inch is ideal
Do not care about brands just something reliable
Prefers USB-C charge, but not sure that is a deal breaker
Battery life 2 to 4 hours
Windows platfor
TIA for any advice from a non-tech savy mom!
She currently has an LG gram i7-8565u, 16gb ram, 512gb SSD and it is laggy so she needs something faster. She currently has Sims 4 on it and 1,090 mods that she wants to keep but needs something faster for school.
She will be doing some Zoom course and some in person so she needs to be able to work online and take notes.
Budget is hopefully no more than $1200, but flexible if it will do everything she wants and will last a few years
Size 14 inch is ideal
Do not care about brands just something reliable
Prefers USB-C charge, but not sure that is a deal breaker
Battery life 2 to 4 hours
Windows platfor
TIA for any advice from a non-tech savy mom!
About the OP
1 Comment
Your comment cannot be blank.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
https://slickdeals.net/f/16872512-lenovo-yoga-7i-open-box-excellent-14-2-2k-touch-i7-1355u-16gb-lpddr5-512gb-ssd-597-99?v=1
What I like:
The energy-efficient U-series CPU plus a big battery would easily get you over 5 hours of typical usage. The i5 or i7 CPU, like on this model, even have a sufficient integrated graphics card for Sims 4, which isn't a very graphically demanding game. Touchscreen and 2-in-1 form-factor give you some versatility of inputs.
Possible criticisms:
3.4lbs isn't heavy, but something 2.5lbs would be nicer to carry around all day. 300 nits screen is usually bright enough, but 500 nits would be nicer in bright environments. It was an open-box deal rather than new. If she decided to study engineering or something that has higher performance computing requirements, she'd want something more powerful.
Hopefully that helps. Let me know what you find and I'll be happy to take a look.