Posting for a friend who didn't want to register
He wants a 13" laptop. For programming purposes, some very slight modeling and also light gaming. He's looking around the 1k mark and would like to know if there are better options than the macbook pro retina.
(preferably with the option for a swedish keyboard layout)
For under the 1k mark, it's difficult. Look for a Haswell notebook with graphics that have the HD 4600. I believe that most notebooks of that size won't have a dGPU.
If he doesnt mind something a bit bigger, try the Y410p
Asus makes a few nice machines around that price.
I have an Asus Q550LF. It was $900. i7- 4500u, 8GB RAM, nVidia 745M, 1920X1080 display. Really nice aluminum chassis. It is a 15" though.
I believe they have a similar 13" model but it only has a 730M
Hello!
I am the friend in question, decided to register to chime in.
The main reason I'm looking at a Macbook is the student discount I'd get, 10%, and the long battery life. I did look at the Air to begin with, because of portability, but the price difference between that and Pro (8GB, 256GB SSD) was quite neglible.
Sweden is quite expensive. Even with student discount the Macbook would be ~$1900 compared to an Asus UX301LA with similar specs that would be ~$2200.
Dang, swedish prices.
The Macbook Pro's HD 5200 is pretty good for integrated. The GT730M should perform around the same though, so you'll want to find something higher than a GT730M.
The Lenovo Y-series is a good bang for the buck, but the battery life isn't great. This might not be a good choice for you if you want to have almost all day battery life. Keep in mind that most dedicated graphics cards, even in a laptop, need to have constant power by being plugged in to run at their full potential.
If you looking for the vary best you can do for 1k, HANDS DOWN I recommend this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1J21B03399
That price is unbelievably good considering it has duel (SLI) NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M's and it features a SSHD on a 15.6inch screen. Honestly I've never been an apple guy, and I think everything they make is overpriced. So I will admit Im a little Biased. But there's no doubt the screen on the Lenovo is not as good as the retina display. Those retina Displays are gorgeous same with OLED screens (I'm not sure if they make laptops with OLED yet).
So if anyone can beat that laptop with the power:price than I would love to see it, because Im in the market to and this is the best deal I can find!
(sweden)
But yes, the Lenovo Y series is a good budget gaming and multimedia laptop. I'm planning to get a Y410p before I head off to college.
Also yes, the reviews say battery life sucks. So you could carry a power bank (not that realistic) or just plug it in. I mean if your sitting at a desk or table plunging in shouldn't be that hard. Also the second GT750 is is in the ultrabay so you can just remove it to save power when your not doing something like rendering or playing games. Ive also heard you can get Ultrabay Battery's but I have yet to see one and kinda doubt they exist.
You could use nVidia optimus to switch between the dGPU and the iGPU. This will help immensely with battery life.
Also i found this browsing the forums https://teksyndicate.com/forum/buysaletrade/selling-msi-ge-40-gaming-laptophaf-x-chassis/172108#comment-1612315