# I need to buy a laptop for University. Help! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-buy-a-laptop-for-university-help/591637 "2011-08-05T20:49:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-buy-a-laptop-for-university-help/591637/1 "2011-08-05T20:49:06Z")
I start University on September 5 and need a PC laptop. My budget is $700 to $1000 and I am not averse to a refurbished laptop. I would like to get the most bang for my buck, obviously. Must haves are wireless capabilities, a camera for Skyping while I’m doing my residencies, and hopefully speed. Can I get a quad core for this price? I’ll be purchasing the Office suite as well. Is it cheapest to buy with a student discount from Microsoft? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-buy-a-laptop-for-university-help/591637/2 "2011-08-05T21:37:02Z")
Where are you going to university? There might be a university bookstore/computer store with academic pricing or deals. Being universities, they should be good for Windows and Linux machines and knowledge. I’ve heard that a few universities even have actual Apple stores, as opposed to just Apple dealers. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-buy-a-laptop-for-university-help/591637/3 "2011-08-05T21:50:38Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > I start University on September 5 and need a PC laptop. My budget is $700 to $1000 and I am not averse to a refurbished laptop. I would like to get the most bang for my buck, obviously. Must haves are wireless capabilities, a camera for Skyping while I’m doing my residencies, and hopefully speed. Can I get a quad core for this price? > > I’ll be purchasing the Office suite as well. Is it cheapest to buy with a student discount from Microsoft? Second the university bookstore option. Are you in the U.S.? You can buy a fully functional Windows 7 laptop that works fast and does all the things you mention above for under $1000, easy. My Sony Vaio S series was $999, but I originally looked at a smaller 11.6" model that was $479. The only difference was that this laptop I bought had a U.S. English keyboard. If you don’t live in Canada, you should be ok. I surmise a 11-13" notebook can do everything you need for school for under $600. Basic macs are a more expensive option, but you said PC so never mind that. I think you’d have to go OUT OF YOUR WAY to find a current gen laptop that isn’t wi-fi ready, and doesn’t have a webcam at the top of the monitor. You should be good to go! ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-buy-a-laptop-for-university-help/591637/4 "2011-08-05T22:30:06Z")
At that price, you should have no trouble finding a perfectly good laptop. What size did you have in mind? Here’s a good 15" from Asus, via Newegg > **[ASUS Laptop A53 Series A53SV-XN1 Windows 7 Home Premium - Newegg.com](https://www.newegg.com/black-asus-a53-series-a53sv-xn1/p/N82E16834230089)** > > Buy ASUS Laptop A53 Series Intel Core i5 2nd Gen 2410M (2.30GHz) 6GB Memory 750GB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M 15.6" Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit A53SV-XN1 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg! Newegg and Asus are both reputable computer hardware brands. (Neweggs a retailer, but you know what I mean.) This laptop’s got an i5, 6gb Ram, nVidia 540m video card, Win 7 64bit = $750. Do contact your bookstore about student discounts. Dell and Newegg will both be having back to school sales in the next few weeks but at this point in time you’re probably safer buying from Newegg since Dell will be swamped. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-buy-a-laptop-for-university-help/591637/5 "2011-08-05T22:31:13Z")
Thanks! I do live in Canada, actually. Calgary, to be precise. I will be going to University in BC, and will check out the campus book store/computer store too, thanks! I can get Office for $99 here, as a student, which I think is a good price. I am specifically looking for a PC. We already have a MacBook Pro, but I prefer a PC for school just because of price and compatibility. I can get a refurbished MacBook for just under $1000, so it is under consideration, but it would also be nice to have a PC laptop in the house. I’ll check out prices on Vaio’s around here. Thanks again! If you have any other suggestions, let me know! ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-buy-a-laptop-for-university-help/591637/6 "2011-08-05T22:32:53Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > At that price, you should have no trouble finding a perfectly good laptop. What size did you have in mind? > > Here’s a good 15" from Asus, via Newegg > [Are you a human?](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230089) > > Newegg and Asus are both reputable computer hardware brands. (Neweggs a retailer, but you know what I mean.) This laptop’s got an i5, 6gb Ram, nVidia 540m video card, Win 7 64bit = $750. > > Do contact your bookstore about student discounts. Dell and Newegg will both be having back to school sales in the next few weeks but at this point in time you’re probably safer buying from Newegg since Dell will be swamped. You are the second person to suggest Asus, actually. I’ll check out that laptop here and see if it fits in my budget. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-buy-a-laptop-for-university-help/591637/7 "2011-08-05T22:56:21Z")
In Canada, eh? You may want to be aware of the [Canadian Multilingual Keyboard](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=618265), which is now being shipped with some Canadian PCs. Opinions about it differ sharply. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-buy-a-laptop-for-university-help/591637/8 "2011-08-05T23:30:30Z")
Oh, Canada. I couldn’t remember if Newegg has a Canadian branch and so I looked it up. Looks like you can get that model laptop up there for about the same price. Of course, there’s many other laptops for sale on that site as well, if you wanted to shop around. Here’s the link for newegg.ca - > **[ASUS Laptop A53 Series A53SV-XN1 Windows 7 Home Premium - Newegg.com](https://www.newegg.ca/black-asus-a53-series-a53sv-xn1/p/N82E16834230089)** > > Buy ASUS Laptop A53 Series Intel Core i5 2nd Gen 2410M (2.30GHz) 6GB Memory 750GB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M 15.6" Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit A53SV-XN1 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg! And yes, $99 is a decent price for Office. I think I paid $90 for it, here in the States. OneNote is completely brilliant for note taking.