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I'm looking for a laptop for school. Here is the kind of functionality that I am looking for:

  • Play a few games: such as Minecraft. Somewhat graphics intensive.
  • Video Editing to post to YouTube.
  • Surfing the web: Play YouTube videos in the background and leave tabs open with minimal performance impact
  • Decently fast, hopefully shouldn't lag
  • Should look decent. Nothing like burnt plastic
  • Around 13-14 inches. It will will be taken it to school and a 13/14 inch will probably work best. This is flexible: 15 inches will probably work fine, but 13 or 14 is the preferred choice
  • Probably Windows. The version doesn't matter.
  • It should be under 400 Canadian Dollars. If it works well, we may be able to go upward of about 100 dollars.

Could you recommend a laptop that meets this criteria?

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  • Do you have any preference on screen size? I'm assuming you won't want it to be small because it will be used for some gaming and video stuff, but do you have a specific size in mind?
    – michaelpri
    Commented Sep 29, 2015 at 0:33
  • @michaelpri Good point. Let me go ask him.
    – Zizouz212
    Commented Sep 29, 2015 at 0:33
  • Also, what is his OS preference? I would guess Windows because Macs cost more than twice as much as you are willing to pay, but a specific version of Windows would be helpful to know.
    – michaelpri
    Commented Sep 29, 2015 at 0:37
  • @michaelpri Darn questions... I'm going to assume Windows because that's what he likes (although I'm more a Mac person). But wouldn't new computers come with the latest OS? Oh well... Any more questions before I go to him and get into a laptop argument? :)
    – Zizouz212
    Commented Sep 29, 2015 at 0:40
  • 11
    $300 USD is a really tight squeeze for a video editing and gaming laptop.
    – Adam
    Commented Sep 29, 2015 at 2:19

1 Answer 1

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I'll recommend my laptop: an Acer Aspire E1-572. There are multiple sub-models of this model, with slightly different specs (other processors, etc), but I'll list what mine has:

  • Intel Core i3-4010U @ 1.7GHz
  • Intel HD Graphics 4400, ~2GB DVM
  • 15.6" HD LED LCD
  • 8GB DDR3 L RAM
  • 1TB HDD

There's another model that will allow you to upgrade the processor to an i7. Now, your requirements:

  • Gaming - I use mine to play similar games. It won't stand massively graphics-intensive stuff, but vanilla Minecraft runs at a steady 60fps (Java on max 4GB RAM)
  • Video Editing - can't say I've done a lot of it. Should hold up to get what you need to do done, though - but I probably wouldn't try to do heavy stuff.
  • Surfing - haven't yet found a limit to the number of tabs I can have open and not lag.
  • Speed - 1.7 GHz CPU is OK - if you're compiling stuff like big Java programs it's a little slow, but holds up and does at least do the job. 8 GB RAM is plenty for almost all tasks, too.
  • Looks - follow the link, look at the shiny picture. Also comes in other colours - mine's red.
  • Screen - 15.6" is a little over your requirement, but I carry mine around to school comfortably in a backpack. 1366 x 768.
  • OS - Windows 8.1 by default. I had no problems at all upgrading that to Win X.
  • Price - here's where it falls a little. 400 CAN$ is a tight budget. Mine came new for £300 (CAN $600), though you can get a used version online for more like £200 (CAN $400), which is a little better for you.
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  • I think a good majority of the laptops in this range will end up being around 15.6". I'm having a hard time finding anything smaller.
    – Adam
    Commented Sep 29, 2015 at 23:37
  • @Adam That's actually quite surprising. I would've expected smaller laptops to be cheaper: smaller = less materials = cheaper.
    – Zizouz212
    Commented Dec 8, 2015 at 3:59

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