Laptop brand/spec recommendations?

hawkeye122

hawkeye122

3,915
United States
California
gdwest1
Morning all,

It has come time for me to purchase a new computer. My old Windows 7 machine soldiers on, but an i3 and 4GB of RAM with "integrated graphics" doesn't exaclty sound like it will last me through college, what with all the CAD stuff I'm gonna be doing.

Ideally I'm looking for a laptop with 8-16GB of RAM, a hefty processor, and that's about it. Max price $800.

Along with that, I've got a question or two..

How hard is it to install and use a SSD rather than the 500-750gb drive it'll come with? The theory is pop that one out, slide the 300gb-ish SSD in, and then buy a case for the now unused regular drive. Is that a thing? I feel like it should be.

What about brands? Everyone tells me that ASUS is what I should look for (and their ROG line looks pretty sick) but my family has always purchased HP. After years of using garbage computers at school and my friend constantly complaining about his Alienware, I feel as though I should stay away from Dell? Am I all outta whack?

I would love to build my own desktop, but given the nature of school I feel as though that's not a very good plan.

Thanks guys!
 
hawkeye122
How hard is it to install and use a SSD rather than the 500-750gb drive it'll come with? The theory is pop that one out, slide the 300gb-ish SSD in, and then buy a case for the now unused regular drive. Is that a thing? I feel like it should be.
Click to expand...

It should be fairly easy to install an SSD, most modern laptops will support it. As for removing the regular drive and casing it I have a few friends who have done that so it does seem to be a thing, there should be easy to use guides for both of these things on the internet if you end up taking this route.

As TB has said 8GB won't be large enough for the OS, I'd go for 40GB just to be safe, if there's some space left over you may be able to fit some applications on as well.
 

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