51-70k A good metal-build laptop for college

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OneTapHero

OneTapHero

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Hello fellow members,
I am looking for a laptop with the following requirements for my sister. Her older laptop (Asus VivoBook) requires an upgrade.

Build Quality: Highly prefer a metal-built laptop. The lower right bezel [meh plastic] on her laptop broke twice due to a little improper handling.
Storage: SSD is a must. She hates the slow 5400RPM HDD on her VivoBook. I scoured through some laptops on Amazon and all of them has only 512 SSD/1 TB HDD+ 256 SSD
Processor: Doesn't need to be very powerful as she'll mostly be doing basic office stuff [browsing, excel, OneNote, coding], a little of photo/video/audio editing and AutoCAD
Display: Need to have great colours. She is fine with 1080p 60Hz, but an upgrade would certainly be better
Battery: More than 6 hours of battery backup is fine, as I'll be recommending her to do heavy tasks only while connected to charger
Graphics Card: She doesn't game or use Blender, but she uses AutoCAD, so GPU is important. I would like others' view on this. Would integrated graphics be enough, or should I go for a dGPU?

She's fine with normal laptop keeb and trackpad. She always uses her laptop with lights on, so backlit keeb is not a big factor.

Looked into the new MacBooks. Looks great, but it is on the expensive side, and I don't know how much Apple repairs cost. She will also be new to macOS.

I know there are a lot of requirements :sweatsmile:

Any and all recommendations are welcomed
 
I suggest the 2021 Zephyrus G14. The build quality is great, is pretty powerful, lightweight and has great battery life.

This variant should be in your budget - Link.
Add another 8GB or 16GB 3200MHz RAM and you're set.

There are other variants with more RAM, QHD displays, RTX GPUs, more internal storage etc. You can take a look on Amazon.

A few things to keep in mind.
- The 8GB RAM in this is soldered but there is one empty slot for adding more memory. I believe the 16GB variants come with 16GB RAM soldered and one empty slot.
- There is only one SSD slot available. You need to replace the SSD if you want to upgrade the internal storage.
- There is no built in webcam
 
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Not a good idea to move a long term windows user to macos unless you have been planning the switch for a long time and have found replacement apps for the windows exclusive ones that she might be using.

Ive had so many jumps to linux and mac and then found myself having to return to windows because a critical app to my workflow wasnt available on macos
 
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OneTapHero said:
Hello fellow members,
I am looking for a laptop with the following requirements for my sister. Her older laptop (Asus VivoBook) requires an upgrade.

Build Quality: Highly prefer a metal-built laptop. The lower right bezel [meh plastic] on her laptop broke twice due to a little improper handling.
Storage: SSD is a must. She hates the slow 5400RPM HDD on her VivoBook. I scoured through some laptops on Amazon and all of them has only 512 SSD/1 TB HDD+ 256 SSD
Processor: Doesn't need to be very powerful as she'll mostly be doing basic office stuff [browsing, excel, OneNote, coding], a little of photo/video/audio editing and AutoCAD
Display: Need to have great colours. She is fine with 1080p 60Hz, but an upgrade would certainly be better
Battery: More than 6 hours of battery backup is fine, as I'll be recommending her to do heavy tasks only while connected to charger
Graphics Card: She doesn't game or use Blender, but she uses AutoCAD, so GPU is important. I would like others' view on this. Would integrated graphics be enough, or should I go for a dGPU?

She's fine with normal laptop keeb and trackpad. She always uses her laptop with lights on, so backlit keeb is not a big factor.

Looked into the new MacBooks. Looks great, but it is on the expensive side, and I don't know how much Apple repairs cost. She will also be new to macOS.

I know there are a lot of requirements :sweatsmile:

Any and all recommendations are welcomed
Click to expand...
Budget is 70k btw
 
FerroSilicius said:
I suggest the 2021 Zephyrus G14. The build quality is great, is pretty powerful, lightweight and has great battery life.
Click to expand...
Some Discord users and YouTube reviews suggest the Zephyrus has mediocre-bad thermals on medium-high load.
Is there any other laptops you would recommend?

Currently, eyeing the Legion Ryzen 5 4600H
I can upgrade the RAM and thermals look good
I would be compromising on battery (This variant apparently lasts for ~5.5 hours on light load)
 
gaming laptop would be an overkill for your stated requirements.

at your budget MacBook with M1 silicon is great for weight, battery & display ( I don't use Apple products - but read tons of reviews). AutoCAD etc - I am not sure, with Apple you may be forced to cough up lots of dough. apart from software, you need dongles (expensive dongles).

With Windows in terms of software, other options including free student versions, etc., open up.

checkout: Asus - ZenBook series. Acer Swift X, Lenovo Yoga Slim 7.
 
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Depends on your priorities. If portability and battery life are priorities then something like a realme book or mi notebook pro would be ideal as they come with features like 300nits+ 100% sRGB displays, usb C charging, light weight with aluminium build, etc which you are not going to find on cheap laptops with a GPU.
Whether an iGPU be enough depends on workload. Newer igpus can handle light autocad use but if your job depends on it and you work with massive files then obviously you need something with a GPU.
 
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OneTapHero said:
Tell me where I can get a M1 Macbook under 70k :p
Click to expand...
the issue with M1 silicon would be not all apps she may use will support it, having used a mix of ubuntu and mac mostly ubuntu exclusively for a long time i have had to use windows in between for photo/video and autocad work. Its best to stick someone to the system they know than to have them spend way more time in getting used to a new ecosystem to become productive. Lot of developers i know have m1 macs someone i know spent 1.5lp+ and now is thinking of selling it due to buggy software and other compatibility issues with coding ecosystems.
 
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If you are ok with buying renewed, look at older ultrabooks. You'll need to look harder to find one with an fhd display but they're there ( (Renewed) HP 840 G3 Business (Intel i5- 6300U/8GB/256GB SSD/14 inches/Windows 10 Pro/ HD Graphics 520/0.93 kg) Elitebook https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07DQVLVVS/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_0RG65MB8VVE83YJWCYFN) but double check with the seller just to be sure. Swapping Ram and SSD on these is a piece of cake. They have magnesium chassis and are very rigid. Same goes for a legit ThinkPad or whatever is the top Dell. Discrete GPU versions exist, but are hard to find. The price will leave more than enough budget for you to upgrade ram and SSD. This particular model has a seperate M2 SSD slot apart from the regular HDD. Also check your local olx/fb marketplace if you're in a city with decent it industry presence and you may find a local seller. Googling seems to say that the need for a GPU depends on what you're doing in AutoCAD. Basic stuff should do fine on an Intel onboard, but I'm not an expert on this stuff
 
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Late reply, but are you still looking for the perfect laptop? There's a few just outside your budget that would perfectly meet the needs.

I will suggest these metal build ones in order of build quality:
MacBook M1
HP Pavilion Aero 13 (Zen 3 + Vega 8 iGPU), HP Pavilion Laptop 14 (cheap), HP Envy 14 (Tiger Lake + Xe + dGPU)
Acer Swift X (Zen 3 + Vega 8 iGPU + RTX), Acer Swift 3

Do not buy a laptop with 8GB RAM or anything lower than a 512GB SSD with at least 2000MB/s reads. Tiger Lake's Xe iGPU and Vega 8 iGPU are very close in performance, and for your use case, a R5 5600U or i5-1135G7 will be enough.

These are new launches that are better than G14 for the normal user IMO (webcam + slim + less gamer-y). I wouldn't expect a price cut anytime soon.

Gaming laptops under 1L should be avoided unless you are only going to use them for gaming.
I updated my suggestion list above with links and more options, if anyone is searching. I can't edit my previous comment.

List:
Apple MacBook w/ M1 (used or a good deal)
HP Pavilion Aero 13, HP Pavilion Laptop 14 (Intel), HP Pavilion Laptop (AMD), HP Envy 14
Acer Swift X, Acer Swift 3
Dell Inspiron 14
ASUS VivoBook Pro 14 OLED, ASUS VivoBook Pro 14X OLED
MSI Prestige 14 EVO
Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen3 (AMD w/ 5600U)
Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro 14" AMD

Do not buy a laptop with
* plastic build
* non-upgradeable 8GB RAM
* Anything lower than a TLC 512GB NVMe SSD with at least 2000MB/s reads
* Anything worse than 95-100% sRGB and 300 nits brightness screen
* Avoid i7-1165G7, 5500U and 5700U if you can. Not worth it.
* Buy from manufacturer with extended warranty/ADP (for extra 2-3k on offer - most of the listed ones have it)
 
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OneTapHero said:
Hello fellow members,
I am looking for a laptop with the following requirements for my sister. Her older laptop (Asus VivoBook) requires an upgrade.

Build Quality: Highly prefer a metal-built laptop. The lower right bezel [meh plastic] on her laptop broke twice due to a little improper handling.
Storage: SSD is a must. She hates the slow 5400RPM HDD on her VivoBook. I scoured through some laptops on Amazon and all of them has only 512 SSD/1 TB HDD+ 256 SSD
Processor: Doesn't need to be very powerful as she'll mostly be doing basic office stuff [browsing, excel, OneNote, coding], a little of photo/video/audio editing and AutoCAD
Display: Need to have great colours. She is fine with 1080p 60Hz, but an upgrade would certainly be better
Battery: More than 6 hours of battery backup is fine, as I'll be recommending her to do heavy tasks only while connected to charger
Graphics Card: She doesn't game or use Blender, but she uses AutoCAD, so GPU is important. I would like others' view on this. Would integrated graphics be enough, or should I go for a dGPU?

She's fine with normal laptop keeb and trackpad. She always uses her laptop with lights on, so backlit keeb is not a big factor.

Looked into the new MacBooks. Looks great, but it is on the expensive side, and I don't know how much Apple repairs cost. She will also be new to macOS.

I know there are a lot of requirements :sweatsmile:

Any and all recommendations are welcomed
Click to expand...
I recommend to pay attention to Asus Zenbook 14 UX425. There are 3 types of processors to choose from (i3, i5 and i7). I think i5 is perfect. There are also several options for screen diagonals, video card settings, hard drive size and RAM. The price is in the region of $1,000 ($1,182 for the most complete i7 and 16 GB RAM). You said that your sister doesn't need maximum performance, so I think for about $950 you can buy it. The body is metal, of course.
www.asus.com

Zenbook 14 UX425 (11th Gen Intel)｜Laptops For Home｜ASUS Global

ASUS Zenbook is a premium thin and light laptop packed with cutting-edge technologies. Rooted in quiet luxury, it embodies subtle elegance and earthy refinement, seamlessly integrating advanced innovations within its sleek hardware design.
www.asus.com www.asus.com
 
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OneTapHero said:
Does HP Aero 13 fit the above requirements?
Click to expand...
Yes. Just barely on the SSD side though. The factory installed SSD differs in reviews (either Intel or Micron) and so does the speed from around 1700 to 2000. Hard to get anything better in that budget.

Display however is excellent, 16:10 and 400nits+ brightness (it's closer to 500 actually depending on the panel you get).

There might be better laptops coming out soon, haven't checked if the 2022 budget laptops are any good.
 
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