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Any laptop tips? deciding between brining PC to college and getting the new m2 macbook air or getting a windows laptop with decent mix of portability and performance 

any recommendations 

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32 minutes ago, Noble said:

Any laptop tips? deciding between brining PC to college and getting the new m2 macbook air or getting a windows laptop with decent mix of portability and performance 

any recommendations 

Bring ur pc to college, get a nice windows laptop for class. Windows is more likely to have compatibility with programs.

I had a gaming laptop that was aids to bring to class as its heavy, loud, hot, and had no battery life.

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38 minutes ago, NokiaStrong said:

Bring ur pc to college, get a nice windows laptop for class. Windows is more likely to have compatibility with programs.

I had a gaming laptop that was aids to bring to class as its heavy, loud, hot, and had no battery life.

what did you do when you went home for holidays and stuff bring the laptop?

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Depends on what you want to do tbh. Not an apple fanboy at all but apple silicon allows for a great performance to battery life ratio but due to the different cpu architechure there is not a lot of native compatability and you need to use some kind of emulation layer for a lot of popular software. You should be fine as long as you don't need a super specific set of software for your classes it wouldn't be the worst option. Especially if you are already invested into the Apple Ecosystem (iPhone etc.).

Windows laptop wise, the Dell XPS Series 13 and 15 inch laptops have a pretty similar build quality to Apple's Macbooks and can get some pretty alright specs for some reasonable-ish prices. The 15 inch XPS laptops have a dedicated GPU but look like a professional laptop so its not bad for bringing to class with some light occasional gaming. Not the best for temps while playing games for a while from my experience. (I have the 2018 15-inch model that w the i7-8750h, 16gb of ram, 1050ti and 1 tb ssd.) The XPS 13 Plus is a pretty interesting new design as well.

This video would probably be the best to point you in the right direction. Obviously try to figure out what you want then look more into it.

I would recommend not buying a gaming laptop and just bringing your PC provided that theres room on your desk for your setup. No one is gonna care if you have people in your dorm, its pretty normal from my experience but I did go to a stem-focused school so your mileage may vary. Was not a big deal to bring the pc back for holidays. Left it in the dorm for stuff like Thankgiving but would take it with me for like Christmas and shit.

If you are a CS or IT major make sure to get something that doesn't have weird hardware that has shitty Linux support.

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9 minutes ago, Lucien said:

If you are a CS or IT major make sure to get something that doesn't have weird hardware that has shitty Linux support.

business admin major engineering minor, school im at is mac friendly. I hate apple in general but i do still have an Iphone. I have always hated macs but i keep hearing the buzz over the new m2 chip. I plan on studying abroad down the line so i feel like getting something on the bulkier side might be worth it.. just not too bulky that its annoying to bring from class to class 

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36 minutes ago, Noble said:

what did you do when you went home for holidays and stuff bring the laptop?

For short holidays I used my gaming laptop or just didnt game. For winter break, I brought the pc home. Most college breaks are at most a 3 or 4 day weekend, besides spring and winter break.

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1 hour ago, Noble said:

Any laptop tips? deciding between brining PC to college and getting the new m2 macbook air or getting a windows laptop with decent mix of portability and performance 

any recommendations 

Bring PC and get a lighter laptop performance on a laptop will always be massively worse compared to a desktop component.

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6 minutes ago, Noble said:

business admin major engineering minor, school im at is mac friendly. I hate apple in general but i do still have an Iphone. I have always hated macs but i keep hearing the buzz over the new m2 chip. I plan on studying abroad down the line so i feel like getting something on the bulkier side might be worth it.. just not too bulky that its annoying to bring from class to class 

I honestly would probably go with a Windows device. The new Apple chips are pretty nifty but not worth adopting right now. Depending on what the future is like it might become pretty feasible to use an external gpu if you need a mobile gaming device but right now you should bring your PC and a nice laptop to school. Not sure what software you use so not sure the hardware specs you need but if I was in the market right now, I would prioritize a higher end device with a premium build quality such as a Dell XPS or Lenovo X1 Carbon. Either 13 or 15 inch models, go to best buy or something to physically see how big they are and see if you hands fit comfortably on the keyboard. If you do want to say fuck and go with an M2 air, double check how you would need to run the software. Just because it runs on MacOS on Intel cpus doesn't mean it will run well or at on arm cpus through the necessary compatibility layers.

Also depending on the laptop you can upgrade the RAM or SSD for a quick upgrade if you need it down the line unless its a SOC like the M2 Air or other Apple Silicon. Some Windows laptops do have soldered memory as well but that varies.

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MacBook Airs are specifically for browsing. Don’t worry about the MacBook haters, they play Arma 3.

I picked up a Microsoft Surface years ago and that thing just sucks. I sold it due to how laggy it was getting.

 

I’ve had my MacBook Pro 13.3 inch for literally four years and it’s still stellar. Bright screen due to the backlight they use, fast as can be, perfect for work.


They also make apple refurbished which is basically brand new due to Apple’s standards.

 

Don’t fall for the laptop gaming meme though. Just get a compact if you want to game, laptop gaming is just stupid. The time it takes to set it all up you’re going to need a bunch of random stuff to enjoy yourself on a game like Arma.

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Depends on major. i'd get a windows laptop tho. i like my surface 4.

 i had a m1 macbook and returned it bcuz accounting software was weird on mac. I also had two classes where you would have to use a windows virtual desktop if you had a mac.

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2 hours ago, Noble said:

Any laptop tips? deciding between brining PC to college and getting the new m2 macbook air or getting a windows laptop with decent mix of portability and performance 

any recommendations 

Coming from a recent graduate who used a desktop pc and had two laptops through college:

First and foremost, you will 110% want a laptop. Today in US college, it’s pretty much a need. Do NOT go with only a desktop. 

Biggest factors are ease of use, budget, and major. Considering you are business admin major, literally anything works for a laptop as long as it can run Google docs or Office. 
Since you’re considering getting a MacBook, I’ll assume you got a little money to play with budget-wise.
 

Leaving this down to ease of use, I can tell you a desktop was so nice once I had it, but fuck did it suck to have to move it back and forth 4 times a school year. I’m picky with performance in games and had a nice computer though, so it was worth it. 
If you don’t want hassle or your computer isn’t all that great, I’d highly recommend going with a windows gaming laptop. They got some good options know days for bang-for-buck. 

If you have a good desktop and don’t mind a little hassle, bring the desktop. 

 

Assuming you bring your desktop: You will be much happier if you get a laptop that isn’t meant for gaming as much. MacBooks are really solid laptops. If you are fine with learning the OS (that’s super simple), it’s seriously going to last you through college. 

That said, I own a framework laptop. Assuming the company doesn’t go under, I will hopefully have that for many years to come considering I can change out hardware. It’s very sleek and lightweight like a MacBook, but it does require a little more tech-know how. 
 
TLDR: Get a more gaming-sided laptop if you don’t bring your desktop. If you bring your desktop, Get a lightweight laptop. It’ll last longer than a gaming one (assuming you don’t game on it) and will be much nicer to carry around. 

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10 minutes ago, PoptartRex said:

Coming from a recent graduate who used a desktop pc and had two laptops through college:

First and foremost, you will 110% want a laptop. Today in US college, it’s pretty much a need. Do NOT go with only a desktop. 

Biggest factors are ease of use, budget, and major. Considering you are business admin major, literally anything works for a laptop as long as it can run Google docs or Office. 
Since you’re considering getting a MacBook, I’ll assume you got a little money to play with budget-wise.
 

Leaving this down to ease of use, I can tell you a desktop was so nice once I had it, but fuck did it suck to have to move it back and forth 4 times a school year. I’m picky with performance in games and had a nice computer though, so it was worth it. 
If you don’t want hassle or your computer isn’t all that great, I’d highly recommend going with a windows gaming laptop. They got some good options know days for bang-for-buck. 

If you have a good desktop and don’t mind a little hassle, bring the desktop. 

 

Assuming you bring your desktop: You will be much happier if you get a laptop that isn’t meant for gaming as much. MacBooks are really solid laptops. If you are fine with learning the OS (that’s super simple), it’s seriously going to last you through college. 

That said, I own a framework laptop. Assuming the company doesn’t go under, I will hopefully have that for many years to come considering I can change out hardware. It’s very sleek and lightweight like a MacBook, but it does require a little more tech-know how. 
 
TLDR: Get a more gaming-sided laptop if you don’t bring your desktop. If you bring your desktop, Get a lightweight laptop. It’ll last longer than a gaming one (assuming you don’t game on it) and will be much nicer to carry around. 

Good to hear from you, my desktop is a 1080 and an i7-7700k 32gb ram 99% sure i will bring it 
im currently looking at the XPS 15 Laptop with the i7 (not sure what gpu to pick if even getting a gpu in in) or the legion 5i pro gen 7 

thoughts on those? if not any windows you would recommend other the the framework? 

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12 minutes ago, Noble said:

Good to hear from you, my desktop is a 1080 and an i7-7700k 32gb ram 99% sure i will bring it 
im currently looking at the XPS 15 Laptop with the i7 (not sure what gpu to pick if even getting a gpu in in) or the legion 5i pro gen 7 

thoughts on those? if not any windows you would recommend other the the framework? 

Jesus yeah an XPS is a good pick. Lenovo is good as well but I’d favor in the XPS unless reviews are really saying the Legion is better.
 

I’d personally say if you are bringing a desktop to go without a GPU. Onboard does some good stuff without a GPU as is, and you could save some money there. I will also add that discrete GPUs helped drain my battery really quick on my first laptop. Can add some bulk too, but I’m not sure if that’s the case for the XPS. 

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51 minutes ago, PoptartRex said:

That said, I own a framework laptop. Assuming the company doesn’t go under, I will hopefully have that for many years to come considering I can change out hardware. It’s very sleek and lightweight like a MacBook, but it does require a little more tech-know how. 

I'll get one when they support AMD CPUs

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24 minutes ago, destruct said:

I'll get one when they support AMD CPUs

I can’t argue with that. Only serves to make it more open and provide options. That said - if they do, man the build quality is pretty amazing for something so new and modular/repairable. 

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@ Noble  biggest thing i would consider is battery life. I recently got a HP Omen second hand with a 1650 and a i7 for around $400. If your on a budget i would browse offerup & fb marketplace as they have some great deals on there. The one thing i noticed after i bought my laptop though was that battery life sucked, i looked into everything but battery life and its the one thing i regret.

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The only advantage Apple products have is slightly better video/audio rendering due to the firmware being directly integrated to the operating system.  

Which isn't worth the ridiculous amount of money they expect for that, and limits your freedom of choice in software.

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