Trying to decide on a laptop

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1

Hello,

Hope you guys can help me...

I'm looking for a new laptop because I'm starting university really soon and i need something to replace my 5 year old laptop.

I'm flying mid-november to NYC and i'll probably buy the laptop there, so prices are based off New York area. 

My budget is between 900$-1400$ 

Looking for a general purpose Laptop, should be slim, with the least moving parts as possible. Not looking for a gaming laptop because i'm gaming only on my main rig. (don't care for a good graphics card, fancy lights...etc)

My preferences are as follows (from most important to least important):

1)Battery life. (6-9 hours? possibly?)

2)Track pad and keyboard, not too mushy and standard layout is preferred. Trackpad should be very responsive.

3)Slimness and portability.. (yeah, i know slimness and battery life contradict each other, but i want a middle ground between both, not too bulky, but still good battery life)

4)Screen. (1080p is just fine, IPS is preferred)

5)Touchscreen.

6)Gaming capabilities.

Thought already about the Macbook Air, but i don't really like OSX (not because it's bad, it's just that i prefer Windows for my day-to-day use), took into account the Dell XPS 13 (heard about overheating, loud noise) and the Surface Pro 3 (Hinge mechanism doesn't work well with sitting on your lap, kind of a dealbreaker), also considered the Asus Zenbook UX303LA, but i'm not really sure on that one. 

Already looked all over the internet for "The Best Laptop of 2014" kind of articles but they don't really help, I trust you guys more with my money :P

 

 Thanks!

2

Consider a MacBook air with boot camp?

3

Really ?

Look into MSI , you can get them for cheap by saving on the os and using your version of windows ( that you have of course already bought ;)  )

4

I've been using Mac OS before and also had a couple of iProducts as well and i'm just tired of having to deal with proprietary software and accessories. MacBook air is a marvelous piece of hardware but only if you like to use Apple software, which i really don't.

Also i work in IT and most programs i use aren't compatible with Mac OS, so...yeah :\

Seems like finding a proper, not over-expensive windows laptop today is a real chore. Thanks though.

5

Yeah , I'm not talking about mac os , just the hardware its self .

You can get pc's with openDOS ( or other ) for 80$ off the windows counterpart  , and you can just put your own windows version ( * wink * ) on there / osx / linux .

6

Lenovo thankpads are nice.

7

The GS60 seems nice, but is really expensive and has too many features i don't really need. Apart from that, they don't really have any slim and portable laptops that are worth buying. They seem more suitable for gamers, not really for my needs.

Thanks for your help :)

8

I just haven't found anything that really matches the battery life and portability of a macbook air.

9

It may be out of your price range, but I had a classmate with a laptop like this:

http://www.asus.com/us/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/ASUS_ZENBOOK_UX301LA/

Really impressive screen and size, but pricy.

10

That's very similar to something i've put my eyes on earlier today, the UX303LA, although a little bit more expensive. I guess that's another vote for the Zenbook anyway :)

11

I just bought, after hating on Apple my entire life, a refurbished 2013 MBP 15" Retina for $1500. True Core i7 quad w/ HT, 8 gigs of RAM, and a 256 gig PCI-E SSD. It has a REALLY nice screen and pretty damn good speakers with a nice stereo effect. The Iris Pro graphics can do some pretty good things, great frames with Diablo 3, LoL or CS:GO. 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Iris-Pro-Graphics-5200.90965.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Pro-Retina-15-Late-2013-Notebook-Review.120330.0.html

Otherwise it is a very fast laptop, very nice build quality and should last me quite a while.

 And compatibility isn't an issue, with Bootcamp and Windows 7

 I use it primarily as a work computer, I am a Technology Coordinator at a k-4 school.