Help choose best bang for the buck student laptop

Hey all,

New company recently bought us out and they offer 100% tuition so I'm back in school, and boy do professors like online work these days!
So I'm looking for a laptop that can hold me over for a few years without shelling out too much money. I've been out of the laptop scene for quite a while (last one was an ibook G4) and I've a bit overwhelmed with the options these days.
I'm getting a $300 gift card from work that I will use towards this and I'd like to keep out of pocket expense at a minimum. I'd really like to stay under $600 total. This will be a homework/research machine, with the only gaming probably coming from Kerbal Space Program.
I was looking at minimum 4gb RAM, HD space isn't critical as I have an external.
I'm honestly not sure if I'm going to head down the engineering path or not yet but would it be too much to ask of a machine in this price range to run AutoCAD decently?
With processors I really don't know where to start. Are the i3's enough mustard for my needs? Do the AMD's compete or are they pretty much a waste compared to i3/i5 offerings?

Edit: Also 15.6" would be the minimum as I would really prefer a full keyboard.

Maybe it is just me, but I have never had a laptop that I could use for several years at one time.

Anyhow, I would probably go the used route if I were you - especially if your fine reinstalling windows + all the drivers.

On my current laptop, a Toshiba L6xx series, it has an i3 and 4gb Ram and I have ran solidworks just fine, but never any massive projects (not sure of your needs).

Like you said, there are so many laptops, I would not narrow down to one brand or series at first. I think you would be fine with an i5 (3rd/4th gen for longevity), 8gb ram, and an SSD.

Here is my narrowed search on eBay.

But you may have more luck finding a cheaper laptop with say no ram nor hard drive, then you can just buy the parts yourself.

Here is something to consider. It's an Asus from XoticPC.com

At that price point you are looking at an i3, just as you thought. The only upgrade I did was to the 7200 RPM drive.

This computer is within your budget, but may not be viable in 4 years. It really depends on your usage.

http://www.xoticpc.com/shopping_cart_show.php?wconfigure=yes

ASUS K550CA-DH31T Touch ASUS K550CA-DH31T Touch
- 15.6” HD 16:9 LED Backlit Super Clear Glare-Type Touch Screen (1366x768)
- ASUS Zero Bright Dot (ZBD) 30 Day Pixel Guarantee - (Included on ASUS Standard NON-Upgraded Displays)
- 3rd Generation Intel® Ivy Bridge Core™ i3-3217U (1.8GHz, 3MB Intel® Smart Cache, 17W Max TDP) (SKU – X2X323)
- Stock OEM Thermal Compound ( IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU Provided FREE with Processor Upgrade!)
- Intel® HD Graphics
- 4GB DDR3 1600MHz [SKU-412P] (Dual Channel Memory (1x4GB SODIMMS)) - Default
- Standard Laptop Finish
- 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache (SATA II - 3GB/s) (SKU - HDD011)
- Slim - 8x Super Multi DVDRW/CDRW Combo Drive (Dual Layer w/ Software) (SKU - ODD046)
- Built-in 802.11 Wireless B/G/N - Stock Wireless Card (SKU - WIFI17)
- Internal SD Only Card Reader
- Integrated Digital Video Camera
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Smart Li-ion Battery (4-Cell)
- Standard US Power Cord
- WINDOWS 8 - 64-Bit (Pre-Installed)
- Keep factory installed operating system
- No thanks, do not create backup recovery DVD's
- 1 Year ASUS GLOBAL OEM Warranty 24/7 Support / 1 Year North America (N.A.) Accidental Coverage (Accidental Requires Registration) (SKU - WTY015)
- * 24/7 LIFETIME U.S. based technical support
* Extreme QA testing by dedicated technicians
* 24-72 Hour stress testing and benchmarking to ensure top performance and stability
- Standard Production Time

Sub-Total: $558.00


Then again, I bought a Lenovo Thinkpad T420 for my stepson off eBay. It had a fast i5 and I added a 256GB SDD and still was under $500 and it is very speedy.

Here is a fine example for $325 buy it now with free shipping. It's a good deal.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Thin...02004925?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item3a94a5ebbd

Eh, that's a 14" laptop... oh well.

DeadSmiley said:

Eh, that's a 14" laptop... oh well.

Click to expand...

It may not seem like it, but it makes a big difference when you're not just using the laptop for internet but things like CAD.

Obviously Smiley's way is if you went new, but as I shown, you can get a lot better laptop if you are able to go used. Just because you have a giftcard, does not mean you can not sell that and use it toward the laptop..

Yep, go used if you can find one. I use a 17.3" because I use CAD.

Isn't Kerbal pretty CPU-intensive, for how simple the game looks? It has to do quite a bit of physics calculation. I would suggest something with an i5.

Kerbal does seem like it's more taxing on a CPU but I run it fine with my old AMD Heka.

Thanks everyone for the guidance, I definitely looked more towards something basic but upgradable (RAM and HD wise anyway) and got a ThinkPad off the Lenovo outlet.
2.4 Ghz i3/intel 4600 gpu
4gb RAM (can support up to 16gb with two 8gb sticks)
500gb 7200rpm HD (eyeing the Samsung EVO's for an upgrade there)
15.6 inch
just over $300.

This should serve me well for the time being as I'm only doing general ed classes and I don't run any intense programs or plan to. Still trying to figure if I'm going Civil Engineering or Hydrology so I'll cross that bridge when I get there. My work has a program with Microsoft where employees can buy one license of MS Office Pro for $10 so that should be perfect for the time being.

Having said all that, does anyone know where Lenovo lists stock RAM specs? I figure I can score a 4gb stick cheap enough and have it waiting for the laptop to double the memory right away.

That does not sound bad at all. If you still want to make it better, I would recommend to next get an SSD (~250GB as they are about $100) but will make life a lot nicer, especially waiting for CAD to load or Windows in general.

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad as well, and it is one of the best-built pieces of technology I've ever owned. It's a little Netbook type thing with an AMD E-series, 320GB HDD, and 4GB of RAM. Thinking of putting my SSD into it if I get a newer, bigger SSD for my main station. Can't do much in the way of games, but with a lightweight Linux Distro it works great.

I picked up a laptop with an Intel Pentium N3530 (2.16GHz/2.58 turbo), surprisingly effective CPU for a ~$400 laptop (on sale).