Buzz
Tips for Selecting a Laptop for New College Students
1. Selecting a Laptop Priced Between 12 - 16 Million for Home Learning
How to Choose the Right Laptop for Fresh College Students?
Desirable Brands, Who Wouldn't Want Them?
When it comes to work or sending our children to college, we often opt for ThinkPad or EliteBook. These machines are truly durable as they are designed for the corporate world where durability and stability are top priorities. However, quality comes at a cost, acquiring a brand new ThinkPad requires a considerable investment.
On used laptop marketplaces, you'll find a plethora of popular models like ThinkPad T, X, Dell Latitude, HP EliteBook, catering to our preference for durable devices. While they may seem appealing, doubts about their quality linger. The most common business laptops running on Haswell/Broadwell or Skylake/Kaby Lake chips, which were most popular before 2017, are now several years old.
If lucky, you might still find a good-condition machine, but if unlucky, you might end up with a worn-out device exhibiting symptoms like depleted battery life, overheating due to deteriorated cooling systems (dried thermal paste, dusty fans, weakened copper heat pipes), or a discolored screen. Warranty is provided by the seller, and with reputable sellers, we can somewhat trust the purchase; if any malfunctions occur, repairs or replacements may be offered free of charge, but if unlucky, we'll have to bear the consequences.
Therefore, when buying a laptop for our children's education, opting for a newer model with complete warranty coverage is advisable. Additionally, modern processors are significantly more powerful now, both from Intel and AMD, and support new technologies that older generations lack, such as high-speed PCIe SSDs.
Biased Against Core i3?
Back in the day, Core i3 6/7/8th gen U series, despite having 2 cores and 4 threads, lacked Turbo Boost support. On the other hand, Turbo Boost was available on Core i5 and i7 chips, allowing them to run faster with the same number of cores and threads. It wasn't until the 10th generation, with the Ice Lake series, that Core i3 began to unlock its potential with Turbo Boost, and it continued to improve with the 11th generation. Also, starting from the 10th generation, Intel enhanced the integrated graphics cores, which is often considered when purchasing thin and light laptops without discrete GPUs.
For AMD Ryzen, starting from the 4000 series for laptops onwards, they are the preferred choice as they utilize the newer Zen 2 architecture compared to the 3000 series, which used Zen+. Moreover, they feature a newer manufacturing process as these are the first laptop processors to use TSMC's 7nm process. The Ryzen Mobile 4000 series, especially the U series in thin laptops, are powerful and offer long battery life. Ryzen 3 4300U with 4 cores and 4 threads, or more popularly, Ryzen 5 4600U with 6 cores and 12 threads, accompanied by potent Vega graphics cores. The Ryzen 5000 Mobile series is even more powerful. Hence, if within the same price range, there's no reason to seek out older laptops with previous-generation Core i5 or i7 chips.
The VivoBook series is often chosen for its superior design and build quality compared to the X series. The configurations of the VivoBook 14 and 15 are diverse, including AMD options like VivoBook 14 M413 or VivoBook 15 M513 with Ryzen 3 4300U or Ryzen 5 4500U, but they're not easy to find for purchase. Intel options still consist of 10th/11th gen U series Core i3 or i5. If looking for something new or aiming for versatility in usage, the VivoBook Flip 14 is a decent choice in this price range. Like the VivoBook Flip 14 TP470EA featuring a Core i3-1115G4 dual-core processor, with 4 threads, up to 4.1 GHz (Turbo Boost), Iris Xe GPU with new Gen 12 architecture with 48 EUs, 4 GB RAM upgradable with 1 SO-DIMM slot, 512 GB PCIe 3.0 SSD, 14' FHD touchscreen. With additional RAM, this configuration performs excellently, and the touchscreen adds fun to lazy usage in bed. Additionally, the VivoBook Flip 14 series offers AMD configurations that are very powerful, priced at 16.7 million VND.
HP Pavilion 15
There's a lovely variant of Inspiron, the 5301 in white, with a 13.3' FHD display, sleek and light, perfect for female users, but it seems to be quite popular lately, priced around 17 million VND but worth considering.
