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Look for the Acer E15 series (also the E5 ones, for something a little bit older). There are a lot of combinations starting with an i3 cpu, but what I like is that these machines have 1080p screens. I would look first for this if you really want to get the job done.
At amazon these start at ~$360 and IIRC, you can get a M.2 ssd and mantain the HDD that comes with them.
Edit: sorry for editing my post a lot
I would get this one https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-i3-8130U-Memory-E5-576-392H/dp/B079TGL2BZ
Thinkpad x220 (for 7 row keyboard) or x230 ( island keyboard). x240 comes with external battery hotswap capabilty(courtesy 24Whr internal battery), but with a switch to Intel ULV cpu.
stuck in new 250gb ssd (remove two screws literally)
Jesus Christ. Get her the stone tablet and chisel already!!
@raindog308 Being a student myself I can only say weight is definitely something to consider! My acer windows tablet weighs 1,1kg (ms surface weighs about 800gish?!). I would definitely recommend one of the laptops/windows tablets which weigh around 600g ish! A friend has one and Id so gladly have a lightweight one like that. When I bought mine I went for windows tablet + specs but yeah weight is really a thing! Consider it
Although way above your budget this is the one i currently have: https://www.notebooksbilliger.de/acer+switch+alpha+12+fit+sa5+271+fit+acer+active+stift?nbbRef=forcew2evf6
I recommend it for specs/performance and usability as a tablet but imho acter 2 semestres definitly too heavy (1,1kg that is). Also due to Acer Liqui cooling it is super silent.
for 400, asus vivobook max with U version of intel i3?
no ssd, but youll get 4gb ddr4 ram, just turn off the swap (what is it in windows? paging file?), or get a cheap ssd.
I know it's a bit over the budget but why not get one of those surface Pros for business(means it has LTE out of the box) The lowest option comes with a core M and it's around 600$ and i've seen they have that parent/student discount on the website as well. Or maybe one of the older models(refurbished). I got a surface pro 3 and still works great with a 3-4 hours battery life.
Look into the Lenovo Ideapad range, not sure about the US market but usually they come within that price, including a SSD drive.
Agreed all those models should easily fit your price range (X220 can be had at like 100€ if you are bit lucky and can take some minor visual flaws - not with IPS panel though). They also exist as tablet variants with a turnable screen. Never seen those live though. They are said to be a bit heavier but if touchy is a requirement that might be worth looking into.
Hint: If you want WWAN look if you can buy the card separately. Afaik know all models that have a WWAN option will have the antennas mounted even if they didn't come with this originally and the cards are usually extremely cheap (like <10€). Installing them is pretty easy (plenty howtos at your favorite search engine). Just be sure to get the right model as without modifying the BIOS the laptop will complain if you install some random card.
I am surprised no one has suggested it yet, but don't forget to check out dell outlet, you can normally find something there. I would stick with latitude or XPS... some of the "home" stuff is garbage!
does IBM still refurb Lenovo? As far as I know they are moving away from Lenovo as fast as possible.
No idea really but it wouldn't surprise me. With lenovo having departed from IBM's design Thinkpads are becoming less and less of what they were originally known for. Still not bad but each generation pushes them further towards the fragile consumer grade stuff they used to be the opposite of.
I'm not a Windows expert, but I think you will need to buy Word, Excel, and PowerPoint separately, though I think PowerPoint comes with Win10 Pro which is more expensive.
Many colleges offer the Microsoft suite for free
Strong recommendation against HP; my experience (and that's been corroborated by some repair techs) is that they consistently suffer from either failed fans or failed power bricks, often within two years. There are a few exceptions but they are nowhere near OP's budget.
Acer is hit-or-miss. Some models are good and reliable, some models are crap.
Clevo/Sager type laptops are fine hardware-wise but the casing tends to fall apart when you look at it funny, and they're typically relatively heavy. That includes all the brands that rebrand Clevo/Sager laptops, which is basically every less-known non-Chinese brand.
The consumer line of literally any brand is almost always crap; avoid if you can. Business laptops is what you want to go for.
@raindog308
We are talking about a girl, student. Performance does not really matter in her opinion, but mobility, battery capacity, and fancy.
Combining girlish + student + perfomance, I recommend: https://www.amazon.com/Transformer-T102HA-D4-GR-Touchscreen-Quad-Core-Keyboard/dp/B01K1JW7RS
It comes in white + orange too, girlish style, because on a girl night out after classes, she can leave the keyboard in the school locker room.
Edit: forgot the gif, it comes with a pen too.
@default I know performance is not the op biggest requirement but the CPU performance of Intel atom is a joke, he would be better getting a used ThinkPad x220 which comes with a better CPU than that atom junk.
When we are talking about performance, it depends what you need it for. 15 years ago you could type documents and create a dissertation or presentation using a single core processor and just 128mb RAM, rocking on a good old Windows XP.
Now we are talking about 4 cores on an Intel Atom with 4gb RAM, all with mobility colors, and you tell me it's not enough for a student...
Often there are good deals on laptop on Reddit /r/hardwareswap
Huge fan of ThinkPads (Pre W540 & T440 before Lenovo turned them to expensive consumer grade paperweights) and Dell Latitude and Precision laptops. If you can find refurbished or ex-leased ones, you can often get them pretty cheap.
They are rugged, reliable workhorses but they won't look pretty.
Have you tried using photoshop on a 800p screen?
I used Photoshop a lot on a 1024x768 VGA CRT 15 years ago.
Anything recent, including 800p should be gold.
Yes, that is probably the case. Just have a look at the well known "intel - Microsoft loop" that meanwhile also has infested much other software incl. open source. And that's even more likely to be true with a young woman who isn't particularly computer affine.
A propos "young woman". I might be wrong, but I assume @raindog308's daughter is not a "girly" but an intelligent young woman who needs a proper and reliable tool for the phase of life she is entering into soon. If "stylish" really is a concern for her she can add styling to almost any notebook - and that would at least be HER style.
Yes, weight seems to be a problem with Thinkpad, and for that matter with any other sturdy device. If she were my daughter I'd simply buy her a good notebook + some books + some stuff a young woman in college typically needs to carry around ... bag with a good and well padded shoulder strap and the option to be carried as rucksack too.
In North America, IBM still handles support and logistics for Lenovo's stuff for the meantime. The techs they also send out are also contracted by IBM, not Lenovo for most of Lenovo's support work.
They just don't admit that publicly.
also don't forget some places off student discounts I assume ? I know in Australia some folks do i.e. dell
I got a refurbished T420s in 2013 when i needed a replacement laptop for uni, it still serves me well. I would pick any refurbished T-Series above anything else new/or used in that price category. (T430s/T440(p/s))
Whatever you do, get a 8th gen processor. About 30-40% performance increase. Next you should look for is a good screen and upgradeable internals.
I just remembered, Dell has $100 GC for their webstore (on purchases over $500) for students. Maybe able to snag a refurb XPS 13 from their outlet?
Read this post yesterday and mine ssd fucked today morning.