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r/SuggestALaptop•
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Laptop for graduate biostatistics program below $600.

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Total budget and country of purchase: I am looking to purchase a laptop for under $600 USD, I am in the USA.

  • Do you prefer a 2 in 1 form factor, good battery life or best specifications for the money? Pick or include any that apply.

The priority is the best specification for the money, and good battery life is another plus. I don't want a 2-in-1.

  • How important is weight and thinness to you? Don't care about thinness. Weight is not the most important thing, but a lighter laptop would be preferred.

  • Which OS do you require? Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, Linux. Windows

  • Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A. I would like a large screen. around 16 inches.

  • Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run. I am not doing any editing or gaming. I need to be able to run R, SAS, MATLAB, and Python coding.

  • If you're gaming, do you have certain games you want to play? At what settings and FPS do you want?

N/A

  • Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad)?

I just want the quality of the laptop to last as long as possible. I want this laptop to last me throughout grad school at the least.

  • Leave any finishing thoughts here that you may feel are necessary and beneficial to the discussion.

I would also like a RM at or above 8GB, and an SSD.

Posted Jan 26, 2020, 5:28 PM UTC

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LonerIM2Affiliate Links | LaptopLegend.com•

I would recommend this Acer Aspire 5 because of the following:

  • It offers great value for money since it comes with 8 GB RAM and 256GB SSD and both are somewhat standards in 600 range so finding them on 500~ range is somewhat a catch.

  • Slim, sleek high-quality case and the aluminum lid gives the Aspire a premium look.

  • You can actually rotate the lid back a little beyond 180 degrees, meaning you can lay the laptop completely flat with the lid open.

  • It is lightweight for its size at 3.97 lbs

  • Comes with backlit keyboard, you also get a dedicated numeric keypad with a somewhat narrow design.

  • Battery life advertised Up to 7.5-hours Battery Life.

  • Comes with a range of ports, including HDMI, USB 3.1 & USB 2.0.

  • You can upgrade SSD and RAM up to 20GB according to this https://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Acer/aspire-a515-54-51dj

here is a more detailed review of the Acer Aspire 5

Make sure to check out This Laptop Buying Guide post for best laptops

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starchaserroAffiliate Links | noteb.com•

Hey,

For a durable machine, I would recommend taking a look at business-grade laptops. These are built to last, have good support and less quality control issues than consumer-grade laptops.

Here you can see what options are near your budget: search engine

You can see and change the search parameters using the "Refine results" button in the upper-left part of the search results page. You can also click on the laptops for more information.

I agree with the Lenovo Thinkpad E595 from NewEgg - for 527$ it's a bang for your buck and it offers excellent specs for the money: quad-core Ryzen processor, Vega 8 integrated graphics, Full HD LED IPS display, SSD and room for an HDD, 2 memory slots and a very good peripheral port selection: 1 X USB-C 3.1, 2 X USB 3.1, 1 X USB 2.0, MicroSD card reader, 1 X LAN.

Hope I helped!

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