I need help in choosing a new laptop (NEWBIE)

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waterboy21

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Hello All,
Let me first start out by saying I am computer illiterate and need some advice. I am currently looking for a new laptop and need some help in that regard. I currently use a very old HP (kind of a 10 pound box of a computer) and although it still works great, I spend way to much time on the computer and need to upgrade. I am a chemistry student and will be attending graduate school soon. I spend the majority of my time on the computer either writing reports or running data analysis, which is usually done on Excel (gotta love that Excel). I am looking for a computer that can handle a lot of use, has a powerful hard drive ( I want the i7), long battery life, easily portable and can handle a lot of applications and what-not. Say for instance I need to download chem-draw, a chemists tool for drawing structures. I like what I have been reading about the SSD, and I noticed that I never come close to the amount of storage a computer can hold (typical downfall due to the fact that SSD's dont come with that much storage), so the fact that these arent made in the 500GB storage yet doesn't matter much to me and might be a good fit. My price point is anything below the 15.4' MAC, which I really like but I'm not sure it is the best computer for a student who will constantly be using it for things other than searching the web (any opinions on the MAC for serious computer people?). So anything below 2000$. I like the ASUS and HP's as well but I know nothing about them. I bought a Toshiba a year ago as a solution to my problem and it is a giant piece of S***. Side note- I hate windows 8, hate touch screens, really hate the tablet/laptop thingy. I noticed that some computers, even expensive ones, come with windows 7, is there a disadvantage to this? Will windows phase this old system out? I would love to have that system before windows lost their minds and put forth windows 8.

Thank you guys for your time and any responses
 
hmmm.. im also planing to buy a new netbook.. what is one of the best netbook there is? good in performance and good for programming? any ideas?
 
Choosing a laptop can be very confusing for people new to technology, it is important to find a laptop to suit your lifestyle. For uses other than intense gaming, I recommend the Sony Vaio series. The Sony Vaio series has a very well constructed build with a professional look and feel to it, the Vaio series has many different options with plenty of storage and a lightweight design. It is an excellent laptop for school and has many built-in features which can help your typing experience, such as the backlit keyboard.
 
I'm a bit confused, if you don't know much about computers, why would you want to drop $2000 on a new laptop ? That aside, you can pick pretty much any laptop with your budget, really. Any premium ultrabook from manufacturers will feature i7 and SSD, if that is your only requirement; so pick one that you like the look of and customize away. Notable ones are the new Dell XPS 13 (amazing "no bezel" screen), Asus Zenbook (premium designs) or the Macbook Pro.
For OS, I have to ask: have you tried Windows 10? It alleviates a lot of the problem laptop users have with Windows 8 and is actually really fast and clean. If you don't like it, then stick to Windows 7 for now, but know that support will definitely move to Windows 10 in the future. Otherwise, MacOS is your best bet for now.
 
I would recommend you buy any 13-inch laptop with an Intel core i3 processor in it. The better you go the lower are your price to performance ratios. The best thing about going budget is that you get more quality stuff than you would if you were to buy a high-end Laptop. The best thing is to go low end and add all the add-ons like going with i3 and opting for an SSD better RAM and a good graphics Card. Choose wisely never go for an AMD if you want your Laptop to be healthy under load.
 
First, let me just clarify that a laptop is different from a tablet. The laptop is a portable computer while the tablet is an over-sized smart phone. There are laptops that are not touch screen and I advise you to buy one with a good keyboard that would fit your fingers. Small laptops called notebooks have a cramped keyboard that is not convenient to use when you are a fast typist. With the size of the monitor, it's up to you because some people want a small monitor while others prefer the large ones.

The price dictates it all but I suggest don't buy large memories and big storage media if you don't need it.
 
You say "anything below 2000$." This is a big budget. You can get a Mac Book Pro.It is one of the best laptop that can cater the needs of almost all kind of people.
 
At $2000 budget, you can get a fully loaded MacBook Pro or if you want to buy Windows laptop then you can go with Razer Blade 4. Yup its a gaming laptop but it is best for everyday uses and also it weighs less so it would be better to carry back and forth between your college and home.
 
Well it all comes down to what you are going to be using it for, and if you are looking at around 2000 dollars then you should be able to find whatever you need. I have always had good experiences with Macs as laptops for being able to use them for a variety of things, and they tend to be lighter which is always a plus for me. They are expensive though, so make sure that you get the right one before you make the purchase. Do your research.
 
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