That is a lot of money for a laptop which as Crom stated are very fragile.

I will never buy a new laptop again. Kind of like buying a Sig, I always buy CPO.

I bought mine from a guy in Richmond who refurbishes them, and builds them. The one I am typing on now I bought for about $250 and have taken it to AFG, all over the US for work, and also use it for school. I am getting a new one because this one is too heavy.

It has been going strong for almost five years now. I could use an upgrade.

Westend Geeks
2405 Westwood Ave #100, Richmond, VA 23230

Specs look good. It'll still be plenty fast 4 years from now. If it's a well built machine, I'd say the price is fine as well. The the GPU (graphics) built into the CPU uses system memory, so 16GB is not too much memory.

The i7-4910MQ in my four year old laptop is just as fast as Intel's 5th, 6th, and 7th gen CPUs with the exception of the really high end overclockable ones. It was only surpassed by the 8th gen because they have 6 cores. Core for core, it still holds it's own. My point is: laptops have stagnated from a performance perspective.

I bought that same laptop 3 weeks ago and so far I love it. The only negatives, and they are relatively minior:
1. The outside shows fingerprints end smudges really easily
2. The laptop is so light, when it's actually on my lap and I'm working, it moves around a lot as I type.

Does her living situation in the college setting provide a greater risk of loss, theft or damage making a more basic (less expensive) unit a smarter choice?

quote:

Originally posted by mdblanton:
I've been using ThinkPads for years with my current system being a T470s. Haven't tried the X1 but have a colleague that likes his.

Regardless if you go that model or another, check with the institution that your daughter attends. The university I work for provides MS Office 365 to faculty, staff, and students at no cost through a site license.

Michael

This!

When I was on faculty loan to Hampton U. IBM had a student PC program that sold them PCs equal to the one I had (top model) cheaper than I could buy them, with my employee discount.

quote:

Originally posted by Phelen_Kell:
I like everything about it except the graphics card. For that price I'd expect a dedicated graphics card. I only buy gaming setups so I might be biased.

The X1 is thin and light. You aren't going to get a thin and light laptop with a discrete video card in the $1200 price range.

I'm going to suggest that laptop is way overkill for what your daughter will need. My son, a senior International Business major (minor in computer science) is still rocking a Refurb'd Dell Lattitude with a second (or third ?) GEN Intel i5 processor, 8gb of RAM and a 256GB SSD I bought him four years ago. Although its a bit large and heavy, its still doing everything he needs it to do.

I'd suggest you find a nice Refurb'd Dell or Lenovo laptop in the $500-$700 price range that will serve your daughter well for many years to come (assuming it doesn't get stolen or broken).

Let me suggest you try Lenovo directly, I just bought a Lenovo Legion for $300 less from them than anywhere else I could find. It is worth looking in to

If her college courses are on a Google universe, with Google drives and such to share files, the need for a real laptop may be minimal. A Chromebook like the Google Pixel or some of the other very high end metal-cased Chromebooks are very good for basic work. I am on a Chromebook now, and cannot find any compelling reason to have a real machine. I would recommend inquiring of the U of MW how their information is shared. If Google is the platform, a real laptop would work fine. But, a Chromebook is amazing.

quote:

Originally posted by Yellow Jacket:
Wouldn't hurt to check with the IT department at U of MW.

Most Universities have special deals on computers for the students. Could save a bunch.

I second this. Same for programs like Microsoft programs. They can get those for like $16 for the whole professional suite.

Thanks guys. This is all great food for thought. Think I'll hold off for the time being and see what the college recommends. I appreciate you guys keeping me on the straight and narrow.

I don't think laptops become obsolete quickly like they used to like another poster supposed. I bought my daughter a Macbook Air in the summer of 2012 when she was starting college for about $1200, IIRC. Six and a half years later, and she's still using it as her primary computer. I would think PC's have grown similar legs and should last her whole college career.