Reddit mentions of Acer Swift 3, 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8250U, 15.6" Full HD, 8GB DDR4, 256GB SSD, Windows 10 Home, SF315-51-518S

IMO, no. The Macbook Air has a pretty bad screen compared to others within a similar price range.

This is a much better choice.

I would recommend this [Acer Swift 3] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0746NQYFF/?tag=bkadamos_alltest-20) because it comes with everything you need, 8th generation, i5 quad core CPU which is one of the best in the market and great for your usage, 8GB of ram for smooth multitasking, good SSD storage of 256GB for faster boot up and loading, 15.6 inch Full HD IPS screen which is a must have for this price range, high build quality, long battery life, very good heat management, all metal design, backlit keyboard, lightweight, and it’s a within your budget.

If you want an incredible keyboard, I'd suggest a Lenovo Thinkpad T470 or T470s. You can find them for just around $800 with decent specs from the corporate store (use code NJ*PERKSEPP). They're incredibly well built, have a great battery, and work well with linux. You may not find them as visually appealing as other options though.

Two other options is the 14" Acer Swift 3 for $660 and the Asus Zenbook for $750. They're both pretty similar with a new Kaby Lake R processor, but the Asus will be a bit more portable with a smaller 13.3" display and weighing just 2.6 pounds.

For more suggestions, check out my laptop recommendation guide. If you have any questions let me know and I'll try to respond to the best of my ability

This acer swift could work, it has a new 8th gen processor and is lightweight.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0746NQYFF/ref=psdcmw_13896615011_t1_B0746P25QX

You don't need to stretch your budget, you can get the Swift 3 as it has a reliable build quality, long battery life and a quad core cpu. It will multitask well and the keyboard and fans are not loud either.

The info is on the intel website: https://ark.intel.com/products/124967/Intel-Core-i5-8250U-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_40-GHz

And you can buy one right now: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Swift-i5-8250U-Windows-SF315-51-518S/dp/B0746NQYFF

No. I couldn't pull the trigger at that price without SSD. I bought this one instead: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Swift-i5-8250U-Windows-SF315-51-518S/dp/B0746NQYFF/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1506026578&sr=1-2&keywords=Acer+Swift+3%2C+8th+Gen+Intel+Core+i5-8250U

Also, I can get it by Saturday with Prime. That's a plus.

For as low as $649, this Acer Swift 3 15 inches with the 8th gen i5 processor would do the job for you.. You will also love its all metal chassis which apart from giving it it's sleek appearance, also provides the durability you need.

AFAIK, CAD programs are fairly GPU-heavy, and having a better GPU could offer better performance. as for whether or not the MX150 would be sufficient, i'm not sure. what's your budget?


Edit- i found AN acer swift 3, this one, which does not appear to have the MX150 chip in it. maybe i'm not seeing it, or maybe it's the wrong model, but my point is you could probably find something with a better card for around the same price, for example, this. which has a better GPU. as a side note, i have not done any research into 7th gen vs 8th gen processors, so i can't tell you how much of a difference that will make.


Edit2: this is a comparison of the CPUs of the two laptops that were mentioned above. note the performance increases of 0-10%.

this is the comparison of the two GPU's. note the 1050 has 17-50% gains in performance.

I personally love that laptop in the link, the hardware/price ratio is lovely. That being said, Acer Swift 3 could become cheap which would be a better deal (in my opinion). So, wait.

/u/fsko something about spending 49k for a 768p screen doesn't feel right

amazon.com has a similar laptop minus the hdd
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0746NQYFF/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506113546&sr=8-1-fkmr0&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=intel+i5+8th+gen

How about something in between? Has all the bells and whistles to do your basic school computing but also a bit of power to do some light gaming. Don't expect to play AAA titles on high settings but I've seen some benchmarks with modern games running at 1080p and low/med settings with an average of 40FPS, that's pretty nice considering it's predecessor (940MX) could only play games decently on low settings and 720p. It's a 15.6 FullHD display with the latest processor as well, the new low TDP i5 quad core cpu, really curious how much of an improvement this will give over the 7th gen. SSD is still 256 but that should be plenty if you live on campus and buy a cheap external drive in the future, or maybe a larger SSD to replace the one in the laptop.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0746NQYFF/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1505026241&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=acer+swift+3+8th&dpPl=1&dpID=41Cc8RMykRL&ref=plSrch

Here are some benchmarks ive managed to look up for the MX150 for some the most popular on the go titles.

GTA 5: 1080p/MED - 35FPS average
Battlefield 1: 1080p/MED - 35FPS average
Overwatch: 1080p/HIGH - 55FPS average

I guess you could try something like the Acer Swift 3.

Ahh that's definitely what I'm looking for! I think that fits the bill much better than what I linked.

Quick question if you don't mind - this one also came up and it looks very similar, just a touch cheaper and better reviewed. Are they interchangeable or am I missing what's different about them? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0746NQYFF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ub7-AbZ7JNSKR

I've been looking at so many this evening that I'm starting to glaze over 😜

Acre Swift 3 isn’t bad.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0746NQYFF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_oeBaBb6MDE9E7

Edit: you may want to get an external SSD though, that one only has 250GB so BfA is going to take a large chunk.

Edit 2: Also, /r/suggestalaptop can be pretty helpful in this endeavor.

acer swift 3 which came out recently is perfect probably

There are no MacBooks using these CPUs. If you look here, you'll notice that all current MacBooks use CPUs with names that start with a "7" (e.g., i5-7360U). Apple will probably release new MacBooks using the latest CPUs soon though.

Here's the cheapest laptop using an 8th generation Intel CPU that I could find. It has an i5-8250U. If you want something more high-end, I believe Dell just released new XPS 13 models using these CPUs as well.

Check out the Lenovo Thinkpad T480, T480s or an X1 Carbon (you'll only get the 5th gen X1 at that price tho)

So far I've heard those ones are excellent. They can be customized to order and should last years. If you get the T480 it has 2 batteries, one external and one internal. If she doesn't mind you could purchase the 72 watt hour battery and have over 20 hours of battery. Looks like an amazing machine. DO NOT GET ANY NEW THINKPAD WITH THE TN 768 HD DISPLAY. Only get the FHD 1080p screen and above.

That said: Are you positive she would be fine without a Macbook?

Edit: Also check out Acer Swift 3

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Swift-i5-8250U-Windows-SF315-51-518S/dp/B0746NQYFF/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1517512297&sr=8-12&keywords=i5-8250u

This should be the best fit. However, if you don't mind a 14in screen, then this will be a much better choice:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0762S8PYM/ref=psdc_13896615011_t2_B075FLBJV7

It is really thin and light.

I've taken a look at a few options so far:

• Asus Zenbook (FHD): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075N1YHVK/ref=psdc_13896615011_t3_B01MRTG0JF?th=1
  
  
• Acer Swift 3: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0746NQYFF/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1
  
  
• Lenovo Yoga 720: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-yoga-720-2-in-1-13-3-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-256gb-solid-state-drive-platinum-silver/6061600.p?skuId=6061600#tabbed-customerreviews
  
  
• XPS 13 ($950): http://deals.dell.com/productdetail/qnk
  
  These all seem to fit the bill and are relatively highly rated. People seem to enjoy using them all. They seem very similar, so I'm not sure how to decide. Anyone have an opinion on these or recommend others?

How about this one? It has the 15.6" screen instead of 14" and it is $30 cheaper. I am seriously considering pulling the trigger on this one but can't figure out the difference between the one you recommended and this one. Besides being a little bulkier.

Ok, ill start off by saying customer service is bad.... really bad. But personally i dont feel this should be something that deters you from buying a laptop, so its no real issue, but can be convenient. In terms of future proofing, I would feel an 8th gen CPU which are now hitting the market to be more viable, however these are mostly in pretty pricey devices. Thats not to say a 7200u wont be viable for day to day tasks such as web browsing, word processing etc, ts just doing more intensive tasks would be better on a quad core 8th gen CPU.

I know we're here on a Lenovo subreddit, yet perhaps something like this configuration of the acer swift could be a good option for you. For $700 it is a great price, cheaper than the 720 i believe, and provides you with a great CPU which is much more future proof, certainly enough to fulfill your needs as a student (perhaps not gaming, however). Only problem about this laptop I will say is the screen, everything about it seems up to par with other laptops on the market, apart from its brightness, which has a much lower maximum brightness of about 230 nits iirc, whereas ideally 300+ nits is ideal. None the less, this screen will be more than usable indoors, however you just have to decide whether you want to spend 3 years looking at a sub par laptop screen. that was personally something that drove me to the yoga 920.

While ive only had my yoga 920 for a couple weeks now, I a yet to find a flaw with the hardware. Coming previously for a mac book pro i was worried about the trackpad, as apple are renowned for theirs, yet i was pleasantly surprised with what lenovo are rocking with, and i presume this is something unanimous across all devices. So far so good, yet I am yet to see how it stands the test of time. I am happy to answer any questions.

Hi, these are the best models I found based on your requirements: noteb search result.

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 would recommend the: Acer Swift 3 SF315-51 (2018)(US). With the latest quad-core i5 CPU for high performances, an FHD display, good quality build, battery life and light-weight for portability.

You can buy the Acer: HERE or HERE.

thanks a ton for the quick reply! i've been looking at both the Acer Swift 3 that you linked, and in the list you gave me, i also found another Acer Swift 3 that i thought looked nice: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Swift-i5-8250U-Windows-SF315-51-518S/dp/B0746NQYFF i'll have to research them both a little more to see which one i'll go with, but this really did help a lot. i had no clue where to start before this. i appreciate it a ton! thanks again!!

oh and also its ok about the 4k screen thing! i wasnt expecting to get one within that price range, it just wouldve been nice haha.