Reddit mentions of ASUS ZenBook 14 Thin and Light Laptop - 14” Full HD WideView, 8th gen Core i7-8550U Processor, 16GB DDR3, 512GB SSD, Backlit KB, Fingerprint Reader, Grey, Windows 10 Home - UX430UA-DH74

I would go for something like this ASUS ZenBook UX430UA-DH74 Ultra-Slim Laptop with the powerful 8th gen i7 processor, 16 GB RAM and a fast 512 GB SSD..This laptop will complete the tasks that all computer science major would have to do in their area of study and with 16 GB RAM and one of the latest processors on the market, you can be sure it will perform well for several years from now. Apart from performance, it has a nice battery life, excellent build quality and a wonderful color accurate display. You will also like it's slim and sleek aluminum design.

If you think you might want to run some mid level graphics games in the future, I would recommend you go for this Acer Swift 3 that has a similar battery life, build quality and design as well as overall performance, but has a dedicated mx 150 graphics card.

Hey,

How about the ASUS Zenbook UX430UA? It is stronger than the UX330UA, a higher model. Sadly, it does have a 14" display, but it still has a very light weight of 2.8lbs. It will be great for the uses you listed. It has 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB SSD storage.

Hi,

My advice for you is to purchase it from the USA, you have more options and maybe better deals.

For photo editing I would recommend you a good Led Ips display with sRGB over 80% (color reproduction) - keeping that in mind I have made this noteb search - with your budget I went only for I7 in this search.


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.

A good option for you is this one: Asus ZenBook UX430UA (2018)(US) - Intel i7-8550U, FHD 14.0 Matte, LED IPS, 262K colors, 100% sRGB, 512 SSD, 16 GB RAM - made of aluminium - it weights 2.76 lbs - but it's not 2 in 1 and you can find it here: amazon from 1080$ up.

If you want a 2in1 the check this noteb 2in1 search

A good option is this one: HP Spectre x360 13t (2018) - I7-8550U, FHD 13.3 LED IPS, 16.7M colors, 90% sRGB, 256 SSD, 16 GB RAM - weights 2.78 lbs - you can find it here: hp from 1100$

I would get the acer swift 3 or the ux331un, it is your choice whether to add those 200$ for the 2 in 1.

Also, I don't know if you must have the dGPU(mx150), it is not too strong, so maybe consider the ux430ua too, versus the acer swift 3 above, it is better by having 16gigs of ram(x2) and i7 8550u(instead of i5 8250u), however, it doesn't have a dGPU\>

I would recommend this [ASUS Zenbook] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0768M9KVY/?tag=bkadamos_alltest-20) because it comes with everything you need, 8th generation, i7 quad core CPU which is one of the best in the market and great for your usage, 16GB of ram for smooth multitasking, good SSD storage of 512GB for faster boot up and loading, 14 inch Full HD screen which is a must have for this price range, UHD 620 GPU that should be able to handle games on low to medium settings with very good FPs, high build quality, and it’s within your budget.

I would go for a Asus Zenbook 14(UX430). You can find those with a 512gb ssd, i7 8550u and 16gb of ram for around 1k USD. Only thing is that Asus doesn't always have the best warranty coverage although their quality control is pretty good. I have owned a Asus Vivobook since March of this year and it hasn't given me any problems so far.

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ZenBook-Thin-Light-Laptop/dp/B0768M9KVY/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1538912246&sr=1-5&keywords=Asus+Zenbook

> need different requirements for neural networks

You mean machine learning? Cuz requirements there (especially if it's deep learning) are very simple - pleeeenty of RAM and multiple high-end GPUs. Aka it's not something you will be doing on notebook, it's generally done on dedicated compute clusters you SSH to.

Whereas if you mean more traditional examples then notebook is just fine, as long as it has a decent CPU and some RAM to spare.

> iOS app development

Requirement for anything Apple related is very simple - you need to have a Mac.

If anything, considering your budget I would look into Dell Vostro or Asus Zenbooks. Only latest gen (so 8250u or 8550u CPUs as they are up to 80% faster than 7th gen cuz 4 cores vs 2), get one with an SSD and either 16GB RAM upfront or at least ability to expand it to this much. Eg. here's everything you can possibly need from a notebook. Very portable (14", like 1.2kg, works on batteries for a whole day), offers a good IPS screen, high build quality, has 512GB SSD + 8550u + 16GB RAM. The only thing it does not have is a good GPU so don't expect it to run video games (although it's sibling, ASUS ZenBook UX430UN, has an MX150 if you want some gaming capability at a cost of battery lifetime).

Do note - this can very well be an overkill for your needs. In fact half these specs (2 cores, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) is more than sufficient even for many professional workloads. But hey, that's what $1000 buys you. Nevertheless - if I recall Acer Swift 3 for roughly $500 had an IPS screen and an aluminium chassis, both very welcome for notebooks.

Avoid anything "gaming" related as build quality is generally trash. They do look nice on paper (omg, a mobile GTX 1060 and a 6-core CPU!!!) but I have yet to see this kind of notebooks survive more than 2 years of moving them back and forth, they are desktop replacements. Other options to look into are Dell XPS (expensive however), HP Elitebooks and Lenovo Thinkpads. To be fair - Macbooks Pro would also be valid options (especially since you also mention iOS) but they exceed your budget (and standard Macbook Air is quite underwhelming for it's price and I am not really sure if it's justified).

Thank you. I am leaning towards the Zenbook as it has been suggested by 3 people so far, has more SSD (512 vs 128). But it does have less total storage than the Dell. I am also not a big fan of colored backlit keyboards or badging like what's on this Dell. Are there any other differences of note?

I asked for that one here in this sub but a guy said not to buy because it has various problems with the fan (too much noise) and other problems like here too: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review/B0768M9KVY/R26J24EI47PG6D/ref=cm_cr_dp_mb_rvw_2?ie=UTF8&cursor=2

This ASUS ZenBook UX430UA-DH74 laptop certainly ticks all your boxes and will easily manage all the tasks she intends to run.

it comes with the :

• Ultra-Slim Laptop 14” FHD wideview display
  
• Latest 8th generation Intel i7-8550U 1.8 GHz Processor (Turbo to 4.0 GHz)
  
• Fast storage and memory featuring 512GB SSD
  
• 16GB DDR3 RAM
  
• Windows 10
  
• Backlit keyboard
  
• weight 2.75 lbs

Another question for you (or anyone else that can answer), but I found two versions of the same laptop I'd like. One sold by amazonand the other sold by newegg.

The newegg one says it has an 8th gen i7 but DD3 ram and the amazong one has a 7th gen i7 but DD4 ram. Which do you think is better? The cost is the same in either case.

What's the difference between this one:
https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ZenBook-Thin-Light-Laptop/dp/B0768M9KVY/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=psdcmw_13896615011_t1_B077BXRBK1

And the one you suggested?
Also the reviews say the fan is noisy. Is that a huge problem?

Thanks again!

I think this one is too heavy Lenovo Legion

Same with the one above too heavy Acer Predator Helios

2 in 1 Dell Inspiron

Asus Vivobook

Asus Zenbook

So my main questions:

1. 8gb ram vs 16gb ram (DDR3 vs DDR4 as well)
   
   
2. i5 vs i7
   
   
3. What gen processor to buy (7th or 8th) and what type (U or HQ basically dual core or quad core)?
   
   
4. SSD vs HDD
   
   
5. If SSD then how much (256gb vs 512gb)?
   
   
6. Integrated or dedicated GPU? (Light to no gaming btw)
   
   Tech engineering requires 16gb ram, 7th gen i5 or i7, and 256gb SSD...
   
   Thanks a lot btw
   

There are a lot of Amazon reviews regarding reliability concerns with the UX430UA. Unfortunately, there isn't as much information on the Q325UA because it's a Best Buy-only model. The Q325 is on sale this week. I was considering an HP Spectre x360 with similar specs, but this will be $300 less, so I'm probably going for the Asus. I'm using it for travel, so the 2-in-1 design is a plus along with the USB-C charging that means I can get something like this to charge multiple phones, batteries, and the laptop.

Edit: If all-day-power is a concern, there are portable batteries for USB-C power delivery. The 430 uses a traditional power brick, so no portables.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Aspire-5-14-Full-HD-8th-Gen-Intel-Core-i7-8565U-8GB-DDR4-512GB-PCIe-NVMe-SSD-Windows-10-Home-A514-52-78MD/471842473?irgwc=1&sourceid=imp_TcSTRLSX7xyJU-DwUx0Mo38wUknzj405o0x42s0&veh=aff&wmlspartner=imp_1807032&clickid=TcSTRLSX7xyJU-DwUx0Mo38wUknzj405o0x42s0

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0768M9KVY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_-9URDbQ7VHQT7

Been looking at these two right now. The zenbook can also be upgraded to 16 gb ram and dedicated graphics for about $50 more but not sure if those are even necessary for me

I generally agree with the Thinkpad route, but want to throw in this option if maximum portability is desired: ASUS ZenBook 14

if you really need it you can go with this version of Asus Zenbook with 7th i7 processor, 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM under CDN $1,349.99, but it's without discrete MX150.

https://smile.amazon.com/UX430UA-DH74-Ultra-Slim-wideview-Processor-keyboard/dp/B0768M9KVY/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1523675366&sr=1-5&keywords=lg+gram&refinements=p_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A13580790011

So you are looking for a laptop with quad core i7.

Maybe Asus Zenbook UX430. This without a graphics card and this with one.

I am confused regarding the RAM of UX430UA, on the ASUS site it says that they use a 2133MHz DDR4, but other sites like Amazon or Wal-Mart says they're using DDR3 or LPDDR3 with no description on the speed. Which of the following are correct?

https://www.amazon.com/UX430UA-DH74-Ultra-Slim-wideview-Processor-keyboard/dp/B0768M9KVY

https://www.asus.com/us/Laptops/ASUS-ZenBook-UX430UA/Tech-Specs/

Thanks for the help.

It’s $50 cheaper on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0768M9KVY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_MdSWDb5AZYKJK