Best 2 in 1 for College

[lilnickiwonder]

I'm going to college soon and I need a new laptop. I really want a 2 in 1 that is more of a laptop than a tracker, like the Lenovo yoga pro 3, not only do I need about an i7 processor, but the yoga is way too expensive for me. I need a 2 in 1 that can handle everything im going to throw at it as a music major with my music editing and finale software plus papers and Netflix and a little gaming (tomb raider, batman arkham series, etc) I need one that starts at $750 or under without the warranty. Any ideas?

 

[rhapdog]

If you want to run Tomb Raider and Batman Arkham at a respectable frame rate, you aren't going to do it at $750 or under. It just isn't possible. Especially with a 2-in-1 that has a touch screen.

From everything you listed that you will be doing, those 2 games will require more processing power than all the rest combined.

If this is for school and classes, you really need something lightweight and with a long battery life as well as good processing power, but you won't find it anywhere near that price, I'm afraid.

I'll see if I can find some ideas later and post back with some suggestions, but for right now, I'm at a loss.

I have seen the Lenovo Flex 3 14" 2-in-1 for $799 with a 2.4GHz i7-5500U dual core, 8GB RAM, and a 1TB + 8GB SHHD (Hybrid SSD and HDD). You might start looking in that direction. Perhaps someone else has seen a laptop that will come closer.

Honestly, that laptop has the integrated Intel HD 5500 graphics, which will be fine for almost everything you'd need to do except gaming.

You would more than likely spend double your budget on a laptop that can handle those games, and they won't be lightweight nor would they have long lasting batteries.

 

[lilnickiwonder]

Well ill have to save tomb raider and batman for my future Xbox one then

 

[lilnickiwonder]

I'm just trying not to spend more than 1000 and that includes warranty, tax, and shipping.

 

[lilnickiwonder]

The Flex 3 looks great, I just wish some major tech channels on Youtube would review it because i really cant find any professional video reviews.

 

[rhapdog]

I don't have a Flex 3, so I can't say. I've got a Flex 2, which has been alright for my needs. I must say I love the touch screen. I caught mine on a clearance sale with a DVD Burner for $499, and I got the 15.6".

 

[lilnickiwonder]

I will probably do the flex 3, the only thing I'm Leary about is battery life, I found one review that said 3 hours, then another about 5 hours but that's a drastic difference when away from a charger for a while, I only have an hours break then its back to class.

 

[rhapdog]

I'm averaging about 2.5 to 3 hours on my Flex 2. Not great. I could have gotten 6 hours by going with an i3 instead of the higher end processor. That's pretty much the difference.

My wife has an atom processor in her laptop, which is the same size as mine, same HDD, same RAM, same display, but she gets 8 hours out of her battery.

If you're going to need a separate machine for gaming, you might want to consider a lower CPU in this one to both have greater battery life AND save a bit of cash for the console of your choice later.

 

[lilnickiwonder]

What laptop does your wife have? And in terms of laptop, taking batman and tomb raider out of the equation, what are some good 2 in 1's that will not cost me an arm and a leg? I still want a respectable processor, I have a Toshiba C55 right now, I don't know what processor that has but it has 2 GB of ram and it is SUPER LAGGY AND SLOW, I want an experience with great battery and a speedy experience, I open 4 tabs in Chrome on my Toshiba and here comes the lag, really even 2 or 3 the lag starts.

 

[xandros9]

Came here to plug the ThinkPad Yoga models.

Because business-class durability/repairability and the older Yoga 14 might be up your alley. Although for these grade computers you're probably going to have to dig through eBay, which is what i did for my personal first-gen Yoga 12 since the current model with the same loadout cost twice as much.

 

[lilnickiwonder]

What specs should I be looking for whether I get the yoga line or anything? What are good processor, ram combos that yield good speed and good battery life?

 

[lilnickiwonder]

Decided to stick with the Flex 3. Found another review and it made a distinction between battery life under stressful load vs normal use, normal use panned out a little over 7 hrs for him, which I'm very ok with. If it doesn't pan out for me il invest in a power bank for my computer.