A laptop for college Matlab/Movies only!

So my brother needs a laptop for college, he's not good at computers or anything he even asks for help when installing software but he needs it for college and what he does is work with matlab he's using it like a calculator and etc, not any Serious programming he's not gonna open multiple IDEs etc, and he also watches tons of movies.
and he can pay up to 1000$ which i guess is insane for him, but i want to save as much as i can!
what do you recommend? i prefer asus lenovo tooshiba.

Any reason you made two threads instead of editing the first one? (sorry, figured someone will mention it eventually.)

But anyway, does he have any preferences? Such as it has to have an xx" screen?

Since it doesn't sound like he's doing much I'd recommend a cheap Thinkpad, since there are a few models under a grand and most of the ones I've used have been tanks, it even looks like quiet a few of them can still be upgraded to IPS panels through Lenovo's site, if he wants that for movies. However I've heard some complaints about the new ones, even though 'm OK with the L440 I use for work (would be great if it had more than 4GB ram and a decent SSD).

15" will be good(sorry forgot to mention).
I don't think he needs an SSD! He only browses web and watches movies and does some basic MATLAB! i have no idea what cpu i have to choose for matlab, but other than that i guess an integrated GPU + 4GB of ram and a 1TB hdd is fine for him! Also i rather get an 1080p laptop as he watches movies all the time, but as his current laptop is 1336 i don't think he will have problems with another 1336 laptop!
weird I will delete it!
EDIT: there is no delete button on the other thread :| how can i delete it?

Sorry, thought someone else would've chimed in by now.

I'd still kind of suggest maybe looking at the T5xx line at Lenovos site, as the lower end ones are within his price range with some of the sales going on, and you can choose to upgrade the HDD and get a better screen as needed.

And I just realized you're in Iran...If you say "Get this model, with that HDD and this screen" will he know what to do?

I know you can probably grab a basic Toshiba or something at a local brick and mortar store with those specs for a fair amount cheaper, but my X220 lasted my later college years and is actually still going strong. If he really isn't that great with computers AND he's using it for college, might as well get a more solidly built laptop from the start.

freakdiablo said:

Sorry, thought someone else would've chimed in by now.

I'd still kind of suggest maybe looking at the T5xx line at Lenovos site, as the lower end ones are within his price range with some of the sales going on, and you can choose to upgrade the HDD and get a better screen as needed.

And I just realized you're in Iran...If you say "Get this model, with that HDD and this screen" will he know what to do?

I know you can probably grab a basic Toshiba or something at a local brick and mortar store with those specs for a fair amount cheaper, but my X220 lasted my later college years and is actually still going strong. If he really isn't that great with computers AND he's using it for college, might as well get a more solidly built laptop from the start.

Click to expand...

thanks i will check that out! I'm going to buy it for him and I'm not sure if its available or anything but i will just checkout!

We have no idea what products are available to you where you live or how prices for the same products compare with where we who are giving advice may live. Can you provide some links to vendors available to you that you might be using? That way we could browse their inventory and see their prices. What's the current conversion rate between Iranian currency and the US dollar, by the way? I take it when you speak of a limit of 1000$ you are referring to US dollars?

Are computer vendors allowed to advertise on Iran's internet?

How far are you from Tehran or other large modern city?

I can get a killer college laptop for US$400 in Best Buy (a US retail store)

It is 15", 4core i3 processor, etc. Give us more info of what's available near you.

Audioaficionado said:

Are computer vendors allowed to advertise on Iran's internet?

How far are you from Tehran or other large modern city?

I can get a killer college laptop for US$400 in Best Buy (a US retail store)

It is 15", 4core i3 processor, etc. Give us more info of what's available near you.

Click to expand...

I have no idea about the first question,

Well i can order online, but the city i live in is actually good, theres a big shop only for computers and laptops which i could go and check out!

All i can say is that many of dell hp and lenovo laptops are available here! if you could give me a model i would check out on the internet!

the websites are persian but anyway

here are some links:
www.digikala.com
www.lioncomputer.ir
www.rayansaba.com/
http://kimiaonline.com/

if it can't be found on these 4 websites theres a 95% chance that it can't be found anywhere in Iran

and by 1000$ i mean US dollar. I just compared prices on amazon and the first website I linked and found out it's mostly around Amazon*3300=price in here in our currency!
anyway i would pay that much when i had no other choice but im pretty sure i have, because you can buy a pretty decent gaming laptop at that price!