Resolved Recommendations: PC for College

Discussion in 'Tech Discussion' started by Cosmic_, Jul 15, 2018.

  1. Cosmic_

    Cosmic_ [Novel Addict] [Lazy Writer] [Meh Editor]

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    Any affordable PC that meet these requirements at least for college:

    Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Intel® i5 or i7 Quad-Core or Xeon Ivy Bridge or newer processors
    3.0 GHz or greater processor speed
    16GB Memory or greater
    500GB Hard Drive or greater
    15.6" HD Widescreen LED Display or greater
    Dedicated ATI or NVidia video adapter with at least 2GB RAM
    Wireless Network Adapter
     
  2. Reaper1710

    Reaper1710 Greatest mass murderer (Undead)

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    Whats the budget?
     
  3. Ars Nova

    Ars Nova Well-Known Member

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    I don't really know about pc models, but if you're going for 16 gig ram i5-i7 I'd recommend you to go for an SSD one. HDD is just not worth at that spec.
     
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  4. justmehere

    justmehere Well-Known Member

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    You're considering the wrong things..

    What are you going to be doing with that pc? (work wise)
    And frankly, what games are you going to be playing? And are you going to stream?
     
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  5. Cosmic_

    Cosmic_ [Novel Addict] [Lazy Writer] [Meh Editor]

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    About $1,800 at most. Ideally tho as close to $1,000 as possible even if some of the specs aren't met.
    I don't know sh*t about computers in general. Besides how to use them, all these words and specs are gibberish to me.
    Going to be using it mostly as a personal computer for school work, internet surfing, but also some gaming, tho nothing too crazy just the kind like Fortnite and Overwatch. I'm thinking of going into Applied Engineering, Sustainability and Technology. The specs are the recommendations for that college, but certainly don't need to be that level. Also appreciate it if you'd rec just some windows PCs good for college that don't need to meet the specs. Just any cheap ones even under $1,000 that in general, you'd rec.
     
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  6. phoenom

    phoenom Well-Known Member

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    for personal or for work ?
    for work you need consider something like warranty etc
    for personal you can pick whatever you like , just ask on reddit/r/buildpc if you want for maximum price/perf

    also you need to break down what you do in computer science , machine learning ? general programming ? graphic processing ? because each field need different specs

    edit : some consideration is, you want to build it yourself or go prebuilt . if you make it yourself you can save some serious bucks but if you are completely clueless or dont have any friend to that know building computer then it can be go wrong in several ways . you might as well go for prebuilt to save the hassle. but just remember to ask in reddit/r/buildpc even if you go for prebuilt to avoid bad deal
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2018
  7. Nyanko

    Nyanko Psychotic Cat Princess

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    Get a laptop. You'll thank me later. Great for writing lecture notes in
     
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  8. RizYun

    RizYun #Kaffee4Laifu

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    go buy ROG series...
     
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  9. reagents 11

    reagents 11 disaster personified

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    If you have that much budget just go directly to their shop.
     
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  10. Underload

    Underload <I need someone to scratch my back!>

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    Just sell your soul and don't buy that pc. Work buddy and work your ass off so you can read Novels your whole life after retiring at the age of 24.
    Also with those requirements you are not asking for reccomendations, you can simply buy anything you want.
    Ps: you made the thread for nuffinies right. I know.
     
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  11. Reaper1710

    Reaper1710 Greatest mass murderer (Undead)

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    Try a Acer Nitro series laptop with a gtx 1050ti and you can install additional ram yourself.
    They are cheap compared to a rog.
     
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  12. RizYun

    RizYun #Kaffee4Laifu

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    and doncha ever buy mac cuz the customers' agreement value is a nothing in their eyes.
    even if the unit's broke down by it's self, apple dont want to repair em. and if you repair em in 3rd part service center, you'd get sued.
    just google for some electronic and gadget famous people such as Linus from Linus Tech.
     
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  13. drewjn

    drewjn Well-Known Member

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    Why the heck do people bother asking 'what are you going to be using it for?' When the op already said he wants a gpu and plans to game. No laptop with integrated will properly run games people want, it's a waste time.

    Just find an Asus, Lenovo, maybe Acer, Msi or Samsung. Any decent brand that fits your budget. I'm not fond of Dell/Alienware, for various reasons. If not heavy gaming, could try Surface.

    1. Ignore hard drive and ram, those can be upgraded easily.
    2. If there is an option for ssd or second hd, take it as when you don't, it will not have the bay required to add it later.
    3. HP will Always have something wrong with it. It will be so common, you can find it on reviews.
    4. Reviews, especially Tom's hardware, is your friend.
    5. Don't use Apple ever, unless what you do requires the software found only in ios. Their quality and value have been dropping ever since the passing of Jobs.
     
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  14. Alchyr

    Alchyr Master of Procrastination

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    https://www.xoticpc.com/
    idk how reliable they are since i only bought from them once, but the laptop i got here is decent.
    Nice thing is you can customize a bit and get what you need. I'd still check around for price comparisons, though. And since you said you don't know too much about computers, I'd recommend getting someone who does know to help you out more directly.
     
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  15. mithikx

    mithikx Active Member

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    I was going to say just build one but if you don't know much about them in the first place that's not really an option, and are you after a laptop or a desktop computer?
    I'm going to presume laptop since you said "15.6"" display.

    Probably the best bang for your buck (for a gaming laptop) would be the Acer Nitro 5, it only has an i5-7300HQ @ 2.5GHz but if you can't tell if that's good or bad chances are it's more than enough for your needs. It also comes with a 256GB SSD standard so less than what you want but several times faster than an old school mechanical hard drive, and if you need more storage just buy an external hard drive. The Dell Inspiron 15 7567 is a similar alternative.

    Now if you really want that mechanical hard drive built-in while keeping a SSD as a boot drive there are a few pre-configured Dell Inspiron 15s on Amazon with both a SSD and HDD with dedicated graphics.

    I don't think laptop CPUs reach 3.0GHz clockspeed and truth be told unless you're gaming or doing something CPU intensive any i5 or i7 that's Skylake or newer would pretty much be enough. You'll most likely peg the graphics card before the CPU in a gaming load so I wouldn't worry about the CPU so long as you're not scrapping the bottom of the barrel. Another thing to note is that these things are heavy, like 5.75 - 6.5 lbs. heavy, and the battery life can be rather low compared to lighter laptops that are less capable.


    Check the /r/laptops sub over on reddit for better recommendations.
     
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  16. Dantalion

    Dantalion Squidgy Drag Princess

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    Acer Helios 300, the one with gtx1060 should be like 1100 dollars. It probably meets all your requirements and with gtx 1060 you can play all the game you want in high/ultra graphics(depending on the game) in 1080p.
     
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  17. Aurega

    Aurega Well-Known Member

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    Honestly, you want a fairly compact laptop for schoolwork, especially if you're doing programming. You can also take notes on it which is very useful. You want to be able to do work on your computer on the fly and even a 15 inch gets cumbersome to drag around all day. I highly recommend getting a desktop for home/dorm though, especially if you're doing some larger scale programming (machine learning, data mining) or modeling, since laptops aren't built for those kind of tasks.


    My recommendation? get something like https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-i7-7700HQ-1060-6GB-G3-571-77QK/dp/B06Y4GZS9C or one of the lenovo Y series laptops and save up for a desktop you build yourself. Make sure you can get an extra SSD.
     
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  18. Nom de Plume

    Nom de Plume [Shio’s Disciple] [True Villain] [Equip: Gunblade] Novel Updates Staff

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    Looks like your school likes intel. It’s pricier than amd but worth it long term.
    but if he’s doing engineering won’t he need to run simulations and stuff? The laptop won’t overheat(?)

    I have a lot of bad experience with bloatwars and cheap hinges on laptops. One good thing is that he wouldn’t need to get peripherals like a screen or keyboard. A proper mouse would be good, or even a drawing board.

    @Lovely what do you think?
     
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  19. Aurega

    Aurega Well-Known Member

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    Most colleges makes you do stuff like that in lab. And lots of times, the common lab computers aren't always better than a mid-tier gaming laptop in terms of performance anyways. Currently, I own a desktop that I upgrade every 3-4 years, a helios 300 laptop and a surface pro. Man I wish i had that surface pro in my college days. Great for note-taking and really light to carry around all day. Back in the day I used a T400 thinkpad and it was a pain to drag around.
     
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  20. EienMugetsuTensho

    EienMugetsuTensho [Avid Reader] [C#, C++, Python Programmer]

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    1TB SSD now $200
    500GB $100
    https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...860+evo+series+2.5&ignorear=0&N=-1&isNodeId=1
     
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