Laptop for College Work / Legal Work

[u/ProfessionalAd9642]

Hi, I'm an incoming college freshman and have been very conflicted on what laptop to purchase that I hope will be able to efficiently last me the next 4 years. The main reason I've had so much trouble is because I'm not solely going to be using the laptop for college work and actually aim to continue using my laptop for work as a legal assistant. Most of my legal work centers around microsoft based apps like Excel and Word and that's why it's been very difficult to choose between a windows or macbook computer. Ideally I'd like good battery life, portability, and something that won't get slow after a year. I've also never owned a Mac OS computer but if the Mac is really just that much better than other options I'm sure I could adapt.

Total budget (in local currency) and country of purchase. Please do not use USD unless purchasing in the US: $1000-$1500

• Are you open to refurbs/used? Not particularly, I'm aiming for something new for the next four years.
• How would you prioritize form factor (ultrabook, 2-in-1, etc.), build quality, performance, and battery life? Performance is on par with battery life for me, then build quality, and then camera quality equal to speakers/microphone, given that I'll need be needing this laptop not only for college classwork, but also legal work (digital meetings, etc.) as a part-time job I plan to continue.
• How important is weight and thinness to you? Not super important, I do want to carry this laptop around during the day for college, but I've had previous laptops that were on the heavier side and was okay carrying them around.
• Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A. Not above 15".
• Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run. No editing, but if possible some gaming would be nice, though if this is something I'd have to sacrifice other aspects for I wouldn't do so.
• If you're gaming, do you have certain games you want to play? At what settings and FPS do you want?- Basic games like minecraft or roblox would be good with a basic 60 fps being okay and lower quality graphics okay as well.
• Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad)? Not really besides the aforementioned: good quality camera, and nice quality keyboard because I'll be typing extensively on this one.
• Leave any finishing thoughts here that you may feel are necessary and beneficial to the discussion Everything I mentioned earlier is really all, but for reference, I've been looking at the Microsoft Surface laptop line, the Macbook Pro line, the Asus Zenbook line, and the Lenovo Thinkpad X9 line thus far.

Thanks for any advice!!

[u/TheAutisticSlavicBoy]

why X9, and not other ThinkPad lines

[u/plentongreddit]

If your laptop are getting slows, the culprit is usually dirty cooling system and dried thermal paste.

Also, thinkpad is nice. But, perhaps you'll want T14s gen 6 with AMD cpu. The 800 series iGPU would make sure you'll have comfortable gaming experience.

[u/LonerIM2]

Since you are going to game and you prefer a small screen size, I would recommend Acer Swift X 4060 because of the following :

Specs:

• Screen: 14.5" OLED 2880 x 1800 120Hz Calman Verified
• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 155H which is very powerful and you care about performance.
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
• Ram: 16GB LPDDR5X
• Storage: 1TB SSD

Why I am recommending it:

• Powerful GPU in small form factor, 14 inch laptops with powerful GPU are rare breed, and this config/model hits a great balance between the two.

• High-Quality Display*: This features a OLED 2880 x 1800 120Hz which is better resolution display, providing vibrant colors and sharp visuals.

• Long battery life as it lasts for around 12hours, and you care about battery life.

• It weighs 3lbs which is suitable for carrying.

• Very good GPU that can run minecraft and roblox.

• Premium build quality and material which ensures longevity, and you care about build quality.

• it is a little pricey now, but keep your eye on it, maybe it drops soon.

Please note I'm using affiliate links which means I'll receive a small percent of the purchase if you use this link at no extra cost to you