I have three laptop options for college, which one to go with?

I'm going to University of Iowa this fall and plan on majoring in Mechanical Engineering. I need a new laptop to replace my current 17" and 13" laptops sometime between now and my second year at Uni of Iowa for college work and light, occasional gaming (Wargame Airland Battle, medium settings at most).

1. Buy a 14" laptop this summer.

2. Stick with my current N61Jq 17" (i7 720qm) laptop and a little 13" i3 Sandy Bridge Samsung laptop until Christmas shopping season.

3. Stick with my current N61Jq 17" (i7 720qm) laptop and a little 13" i3 Sandy Bridge Samsung laptop until Kaveri/Broadwell laptops arrive.


My main grip with my Samsung laptop is that it has 2 hours of battery life. I do believe that may be an issue in college. However, it does weight around 3 lb, and I plan on keeping the 17" laptop in my dorm if I go with Option 2 or 3.


EDIT: The ENVY 15z-j000 looks interesting. 4.68lb, 1080p screen, backlit keyboard, Radeon 8750M and A10-5750m for $720.

 

You might want to post in the What Notebook Should I Buy? thread. Guaranteed you'll get a whole buncha recommendations there.

 

To be clear;

You want to replace your current two notebooks with a single system?

You also need this before this time next year or is it really before Christmas?



Seems to me like your 'needs' are to get a second/third battery for your Samsung (if your studies really need it) and do a real upgrade as much 'later' as possible.


In 'school mode' for the next few years? With a budget that may or may not have the possibility of a new notebook at least once during that time?

This is the basic decision you need to make:
If your system(s) are providing > 80% of what you need; do NOT buy a new system. If your systems are providing much less than 60% of the compute power your workflows require, then you're in the market for a new platform.

The 'trick' of course, is being truthful about where you are exactly in that below 60% or over 80% range...


The best option? Have the cash in the bank until you really need it (i.e. one machine or the other literally dies).


If you're just asking if you should save/spend money you don't really need for other necessities; that's your call.

But if I were you; I'd get through school first (with possibly money in the bank for emergencies) rather than spend any extra you have now (or in the immediate future) and find yourself in a similar situation again in a couple of years (and before your schooling is actually completed).


Sorry for the shotgun approach above. Pick and choose what is most applicable. Your post is very ambiguous - hope I've covered some of the 'correct' possibilities for you and have included some options you many have not considered.

Good luck (with college and your notebook decision).

 

Personally id keep the 13" samsung and maybe consider a new battery for it, has it always only lasted 2 hours or has it gradually got worse over the years? Id also maybe consider getting an SSD for it, that would imporve the battery life and make it much more responsive.

The only other problem to consider is will your 17" system keep up with games over the next few years, if it wont a new smaller system may be the answer

 

The 13" Samsung had 2 hours of battery life at purchase from Amazon, so the only want to extend the battery life is to buy a larger one (not offered by Samsung though). Replacing the HDD is not an option, too many flimsy plastic tabs holding it down.

 

Those laptops aren't that old. No reason to replace them now. Aside from the mediocre battery life. 2 hours new is quite poor, especially for a 13" laptop. But nevertheless, I'd go with option 4, and buy an extra battery for the laptop. It can't weight that much if the whole laptop weighs 3 pounds, and it'll surely cost less than a new laptop. Also look at third-party battery options; there's usually some middle ground between the manufacturer premium and the sometimes-questionable cheap eBay batteries. I'd look up what Samsung charges, and then look at some local battery options like Batteries+ or Rayovac - they're usually in between in price, and more reliable than buying from eBay. They might have a larger battery available, too.

(I do pretty much agree with tilleroftheearth - since you're just going into college, and have two relatively recent, working laptops, now isn't the time to be spending money on new ones)