[Faustie]

Sup chaps,

I'm in the market for a laptop that I'll take to uni with me for my mechanical engineering course. Initially I was considering an ultrabook such as the Zenbook purely because of the outstanding battery, portability, and design, but I may end up having to use CAD/Solidworks software which the Zenbook won't manage. Also, I won't really be able to game or do much meaningful development for Limelight, which is something I want to do in my spare time.

So, I've been looking at more powerful options. My current top picks are:

- ASUS N550JK 15.6-inch i7 2.5GhZ, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 1TB HDD (no SSD), 850M GPU, 4 hour battery (£750). Gets hot under heavy load but otherwise OK. HDD will need an upgrade. Most powerful without overpowered. Gorgeous aluminium design.
- Toshiba Sat Pro i5 2.2GhZ, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 930M GPU (£599)
- Toshiba SP i7 2.4GhZ, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, 930M (£680) - i7 is worth it but HDD is a shame.
- Acer aspire i7/940M £630 (loads of available configurations that vary in price and power)
- Zenbook. Really weak but gorgeous - very expensive for the power you get but 6-9 hour battery life and very light.

The ASUS is the most powerful option there with its 850M GPU, and its battery is reasonable. The design is also sleek as hell. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I'm still not sure if I want ultra-portability or power that I can use for CAD/gaming.

If it helps any, here's my entire notepad list of what I was considering. Warning, it's a bit messy:

Spoiler

LAPTOP CHOICES

01:47 - Underworld: As I said earlier, any notebook with i7 (U) + 740/750/830/840/850 or 930/940/950 is decent enough

### Current top picks
- ASUS N550JK 15.6-inch i7 2.5GhZ, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 1TB HDD (no SSD), 850M GPU, 4 hour battery (£750). Gets hot under heavy load but otherwise OK. HDD will

need an upgrade. Most powerful without overpowered. Gorgeous aluminium design.
- Toshiba Sat Pro i5 2.2GhZ, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 930M GPU (£599)
- TSP i7 2.4GhZ, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, 930M (£680) - i7 is worth it but HDD is a shame.
- Acer aspire i7/940M £630 (loads of available configurations that vary in price and power)
- Zenbook. Really weak but gorgeous - very expensive for the power you get but 6-9 hour battery life and very light.


## Powerful laptops

--Lenovo Y50-70 £950 amazon
i7-4710HQ 3.5GHz CPU, 16GB RAM, 1TB HDD + SSD bootdrive, 4k screen, plastic build?, webcam
4K SCREEN GOD DAMN which is nice but utterly pointless with a mobile GPU

Limelight - Link watcher

You're about to enter the following site: https://www.ebuyer.com/708333-lenovo-y50-laptop-59441571 Please note: You should only visit trusted sites. We are not responsible for any loss of your privacy.

https://www.ebuyer.com/708333-lenovo-y50...p-59441571 £800 and almost as good. Powerhouse

-- Lenovo Z50 £580
i7-4510U, 8GB RAM, 1Tb HDD + BD, 840m 2GB GPU

-- Acer Aspire £630       
i7, 15.6", 8GB RAM, 1Tb HDD, 940M 2G GPU
5 hour battery

Limelight - Link watcher

You're about to enter the following site: https://www.ebuyer.com/708628-acer-aspire-vn7-591g-laptop-nx-muvek-046 Please note: You should only visit trusted sites. We are not responsible for any loss of your privacy.

https://www.ebuyer.com/708628-acer-aspir...-muvek-046
Goddamn powerhouse at £1000 -- probs too much

## Ultrabooks

-- Zenbook
Gorgeous, super light, fast, and quiet
Battery life and screen is beyond amazing
Not much power


## Mixed

-- Zenbook Touch UX301LA £929
i7, 13.3", 8GB RAM, 256Gb SSD, integrated graphics
5-6 hours battery

-- Dell XPS 13
Gorgeous, light, good battery
Expensive, but reasonable performance - no GPU so may not be very good for CAD/Solidworks

-- Toshiba Satellite Pro --- German mate recommends this and he's a computer genius
i7, 15.6", 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, 930M GPU
6-7 hour battery life

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https://gyazo.com/431799d220f372d15200f29dd4f35675 choices
Apparently the i7 is worth it even though no SSD?

I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions. Cheers lads.

[Toxic]

I'm only second year so I won't be of much help. I use a HP ENVY dv6 Notebook myself and it works great outside of using Windows 8 OS.

[Michael]

You can either buy an Apple MacBook Air - 13''- MJVE2 EU.
Processor: Intel Core i5
RAM: 4 GB
128 GB Storage
GPU: Intel HD Graphics 6000
OS: OS X Yosemite
Price: 772£ (1059€)
(Note: The keyboard doesn't have light in it, just to know)
Image of the laptop:

Spoiler

OR buy a:
DELL Inspiron 15 5558 15.6"
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-5500U Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.00 GHz)
RAM: DDR3 8 GB
1 TB Storage
GPU: Nvidia GeForce 920M
OS: Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
Price: 553£ (759€).
Image of the laptop:

Spoiler

(The prices are from Media Markt and other local stores)

[Barkles]

I have a MacBook. They're good but Tbh that first one you suggested Faust is gonna be better powered.