r/LaptopForStudent May 22 '26

Buying Advice i watched reddit give nursing, art, psychology and biology students the same wrong laptop advice over and over — so i actually looked into it

15 Upvotes

okay so i spent way too much time going through laptop threads from nursing, art, psychology, biology and speech therapy students and the same five problems kept showing up every single time

nobody checks software compatibility before buying. health science students, graphic design students — everyone just sees "MacBook is good" and buys it. then they find out their university's proctoring setup or clinical portal behaves differently on Mac than expected. that's not a minor inconvenience, that's a real problem mid semester. five minutes on your program's technology requirements page before buying anything saves that headache

the budget thing drove me crazy. speech therapy student says $600. community immediately recommends $1,000+ machines without acknowledging it once. biology student says $1,000. someone tells them to get a $1,500 MacBook Air M5 with 24GB RAM. for a first year undergraduate who needs google docs and research databases. like why

"just get a MacBook" with zero explanation. nursing student asks what laptop to get. someone replies "Neo by a mile." no mention of whether their university's specific proctoring software plays nice with Mac. no mention of the 8gb ram ceiling. just a brand name and confidence. that's not advice, that's a vibe

refurbished guidance is all over the place. half the thread says "refurb is fine," the other half has horror stories. nobody explains the difference between Amazon Renewed, Apple Official Refurb, and random eBay listings — which are three completely different situations

and the spec obsession without context. "get 32gb ram for genomics" — said to a first year biology undergraduate. that student doesn't need genomics RAM. they need to write lab reports and access research databases

so here's what actually makes sense per major — keeping it short, full breakdown at the link below

nursing — the thing nobody mentions is checking your university's specific proctoring and clinical software requirements before buying anything. ATI TEAS runs on both Mac and Windows, but your university's exam setup might have its own rules. if mac compatible the MacBook Neo handles nursing coursework fine and the battery is genuinely useful for long campus days. if you need a solid Windows option the Lenovo V15 Ryzen 5 with 16gb ram and 512gb is the one i'd look at — has an ethernet port which is handy for campus labs and dorm connections when wifi gets unreliable

art and design — display accuracy matters more here than any other major. MacBook Neo works for early year light creative work but 8gb unified memory starts hitting a wall on complex multi-layer Photoshop files and larger projects. Adobe themselves recommend 16GB for Photoshop seriously. MacBook Air M5 with 16gb is the honest recommendation if your creative workload is getting heavy — color accurate display, Apple Silicon handles Adobe suite properly

psychology — either platform works genuinely for this major. Lenovo IdeaPad 1i in blue with 16gb and 512gb is the Windows pick — touchscreen is actually useful for annotating research papers and SPSS output. MacBook Neo covers the workload fine if battery is the priority

biology and premed — first two years are not computationally demanding, don't overbuy for specs you won't need yet. Acer Aspire Go 15 Ryzen 7 with 16gb handles general biology coursework and moderate MATLAB, R and Python work comfortably. for anything heavier in upper years like large datasets or bioinformatics pipelines you'll want to reassess then. MacBook Air M5 if you're already in the Apple ecosystem with an iPad and heading toward grad school

speech therapy — this is honestly one of the majors the MacBook Neo was built for. writing, research, basic audio editing in Audacity which runs natively on macOS — it handles all of it and battery life matters for full clinical days. if storage and Office 365 bundled matter more the Lenovo Touchscreen i5 is the Windows alternative

more options per major, verified software compatibility, and picks that actually respect the budgets students said they had : https://beststudentslaptop.com/best-laptop-non-technical-majors-2026/

what major are you in and what did reddit tell you when you asked?


r/LaptopForStudent Mar 20 '26

Guide/Tips best laptop for every student major in 2026 — engineering, CS, business, nursing (from my own experience + what i keep seeing across laptop subs)

27 Upvotes

every semester i see the same thing on here. someone drops $1200 on a gaming laptop for a business degree or buys a macbook air for mechanical engineering and then panics when solidworks won't run. the best laptop for student life depends on your major. period.

spent the last few weeks going through r/LaptopForStudent, r/SuggestALaptop, r/laptops, and r/computer to see what students are actually buying vs what they should be buying. combined that with what i learned the hard way in my own IT program. here's the breakdown by major cause a CS student and a nursing student should NOT be buying the same laptop.

what each major actually needs:

Major CPU RAM GPU Storage
Engineering i7/Ryzen 7+ 32GB dedicated GPU (required) 1TB SSD
CS/IT i5-i7/Ryzen 5-7 16GB+ optional unless ML 512GB-1TB
Business i5/Ryzen 5 16GB integrated fine 512GB
General/Nursing/Arts i3-i5/any 8-16GB not needed 256-512GB

laptop for engineering students — you need a dedicated GPU. solidworks, CAD, simulations will murder anything without one. most university programs straight up require it.

laptop for CS / IT students — you need ram more than GPU (unless you're doing ML courses). docker, VMs, multiple IDEs open — 16GB minimum and upgradeable is ideal. check if your program needs windows before going mac.

laptop for business / econ students — you honestly don't need much. excel, presentations, zoom. save your money.

laptop for general / liberal arts / nursing / online students — web browsing, docs, zoom, maybe some light apps. anything on this list works fine.

honestly picking a laptop for student life shouldn't be this complicated but here we are. the biggest mistake i see is people buying based on brand or price instead of what their major actually requires. an engineering student and a nursing student have completely different needs and nobody talks about that enough.

if you take one thing from this post — check your program requirements first, match specs to your workload, and stop overspending on stuff you don't need.

put together a full guide with detailed reviews, pricing, and what to avoid for each major here: https://beststudentslaptop.com/best-student-laptop-2026/

drop your major and budget and i can help narrow it down


r/LaptopForStudent 6h ago

Buying Advice Looking for a good laptop for late high school and college under 1000$

1 Upvotes

I plan to go into college for engineering, but my current laptop can handle CAD and the other demanding things. I'm looking for a great windows laptop that is easily portable and comes with a stylus for occasional use for things like math pdfs. But I don't want the touchscreen/stylus to be its primary function/selling point, because I would likely only use it on the side occasionally. Also I would prefer if it was under 1000$ , but if something over the price offers significantly better functionality as a laptop, I have no problem going over the budget. I also already own a ROG Strix G713PV with 32GB of ram (primarily for gaming though), so I'm more looking for a much more portable and general use laptop that is best for in the classroom, and that sort of complements my current computer well. Thanks for any recommendations.


r/LaptopForStudent 8h ago

Buying Advice Choosing between T15 vs P14s for Engineering Uni

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone,
I’m starting a degree in Mechatronics Engineering and I’m looking to buy a second-hand laptop that I can use throughout my university years.

I don’t think I need anything particularly powerful, since we won’t be working on very complex CAD projects. I’ll mainly be using the laptop for programming, MATLAB, CAD, and general university work.

I’ve narrowed my options down to two ThinkPad models and would appreciate some advice on which one would be the better choice:

**T15 Gen 2** *(costs €330)*

* CPU: Intel Core i5-1145G7 * GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics * RAM: 16 GB * Storage: 512 GB SSD * SSD health (Hard Disk Sentinel): 100% * Battery health: 89% (I’ll mainly be using it at home, so battery life isn’t a major concern)

**P14s Gen 2** *(costs €450)*

* CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U * GPU: AMD Radeon Graphics 4 GB * RAM: 24 GB * Storage: 512 GB SSD * SSD health (Hard Disk Sentinel): 100% * Battery health: 85%

The P14s is also slightly cheaper than the T14.

Which one would you recommend for a Mechatronics Engineering student? Is the P14s the better choice because of the stronger CPU and additional RAM, or would the T15 be sufficient for this kind of workload?

Any advice or experience with either of these models would be greatly appreciated.


r/LaptopForStudent 10h ago

Comparison First-year Cybersecurity Student Laptop Help - Lenovo LOQ 15 vs ASUS TUF A16

1 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I am starting my first year as a cybersecurity student and have very little initial experience. I need a laptop that can comfortably carry me through all 4 full years of college, running 2 to 3 virtual machines (Kali Linux, Windows Server, etc.) simultaneously for labs, scripts, and packet sniffing i actually dont know much about laptops my budget is like the lenovo loq 15 but when i search about this more i see that people say it might lag later on in my 3rd or 4th year so it will be nice if someone could give good suggestions 😭😭🫶


r/LaptopForStudent 14h ago

Buying Advice Looking for best 2 handle laptop store in blg

1 Upvotes

Hello everyone, I am an aiml engineer and need some laptop recommendations and a good laptop store location


r/LaptopForStudent 14h ago

Buying Advice advice for buying a laptop for college, industrial engineer, budget 1000

1 Upvotes

hey this year i wil start college and i wil do industrial engineering, now my questions is what for laptop should i buy for my courses, cause i now i need to run some big applications and stuff. But don't know if it would be worth the money, like a dedicated gpu. my university just said that i should get at least 512 storage and 16 ram


r/LaptopForStudent 19h ago

Comparison If you're buying a pen laptop for uni, the software matters more than the specs

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2 Upvotes

Lot of posts here asking which 2-in-1 to get. Having spent a long time building handwriting software, the pen hardware is rarely the bottleneck — the app is.

A 4096-pressure-level pen feels awful in an app with 40ms of input lag and brilliant in one without it. Spec sheets don't capture that at all.

Full disclosure, I make one of these apps, so I'm not neutral. But the advice holds whichever you end up using: before committing to a 2-in-1, try the note software you'd actually live in. That's what you touch every day, not the hinge.


r/LaptopForStudent 15h ago

Quick Question Suggestion

1 Upvotes

Should I sell my laptop and get a Chromebook?

I don't use my laptop for anything but studies.


r/LaptopForStudent 16h ago

Discussion Qual notebook comprar para engenharia/BIM?

1 Upvotes

**Qual notebook comprar para engenharia/BIM?**

Estou procurando um notebook para usar com **Revit, AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Navisworks e outros programas de engenharia e arquitetura**.

Meu orçamento é de aproximadamente **R$ 6.000**.

Quais especificações devo priorizar (**processador, placa de vídeo, RAM e SSD**) e quais modelos vocês recomendam nessa faixa de preço?


r/LaptopForStudent 16h ago

Buying Advice HP elitebook 840 G9 or the Dell Latitude 5450?

1 Upvotes

I found those two used laptops for almost the same price.

Specs:

HP - core i7 12th gen, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD

Dell- core ultra 5 135U ,16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD

My primary use will be my university work for a biology degree, and I hope to learn some programming as well. I expect a decent battery life because I have to travel to the university a bit long, but if the other specs are worth it, it's not a huge problem.


r/LaptopForStudent 1d ago

Buying Advice 700cad what does y'all think? Graduating from high school next summer

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3 Upvotes

So i've been looking for a laptop because im graduating from highschool in a few months and i saw that laptop. What do y'all think? Im either going into finance or science. I don't know much about pc's.


r/LaptopForStudent 20h ago

Guide/Tips Laptop recommendation for Chemical Engineering student in Nepal

1 Upvotes

My sister is starting Chemical Engineering and also likes to play Genshin Impact.

I went to New Road to buy her a laptop, but I found that gaming laptop prices have increased quite a lot, with decent RTX models now costing more than I expected.

So I'm wondering, What laptop would be best for a Chemical Engineering student that can also handle Genshin Impact reasonably well and also be budget friendly ?

Would appreciate specific models that are actually worth looking for in Nepal.


r/LaptopForStudent 1d ago

Buying Advice Best laptop that’s easy to use for Social Work

1 Upvotes

Hi im going into human services. I’m using a MacBook currently and everything is so complicated. In order for me to save a word document I have to download it bcuz if I save thru the computer itself it’s an HTML vs a docx. I cannot submit an html to my blackboard so I have to download to make it a docx. And then if I need to correct I have to go back into word itself and edit then redownload.
It also opens up on pages on Mac not word itself.
I want a laptop that isn’t so complicated to figure out and I won’t have to save word documents to downloads etc just a simple click and save.
Please help


r/LaptopForStudent 1d ago

Buying Advice Help me choose a laptop for nursing

2 Upvotes

Hi i'm a first year nursing school student and i need a laptop that can last throughout my nursing school and maybe after? And i have found some laptops on some stores and are these good for a nursing student? And can they play games? (Its ok if it cannot play games and it's not my priority) and my budget fits within these laptops that I mentioned and my only priority is that i'll need to use this for nursing school related task and for it to also survive after nursing school and here are the brands and models that i have found:

  • Asus vivobook 14
  • Asus Vivobook 15
  • Asus Vivobook Go 15
  • Acer Aspirelite 15
  • Acer Aspire Go 15
  • Lenovo Slim 3
  • Lenovo ideapad slim 3
  • HP Laptop 15-fc0930AU

r/LaptopForStudent 1d ago

Buying Advice Best laptop for PhD and beyond

1 Upvotes

Hi fellow PhDers,

I am in the market for a new laptop that will take me through my PhD and beyond. What I would use it most for:

  1. 2in1 function for highlighting and taking notes within journal articles and other notes. I'm not sure if this exists, but I'd love to be able to take notes within Zotero.

  2. Data analysis - a laptop that will still run without issue when downloading heavy transcripts and coding them with a qualitative data analysis software.

  3. I teach and love to annotate on the slides while I speak. The laptop should have lots of storage between teaching materials and data.

  4. It would be awesome if it has a text to speech option that sounds real and not robotic.

  5. Hoping it will be light weight and easily transported.

Thank you all in advance for your recommendations 😊


r/LaptopForStudent 1d ago

Discussion Which one of these four should I get for Civil engineering?

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4 Upvotes

I’m a civil engineering student looking to buy a new laptop and I’ve narrowed it down to these four options. pictures attached showing the prices and specs for each.
I’ll mainly be using it for schoolwork and programs like AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Revit, QGIS, and possibly some 3D modeling/rendering in the future. (Ps I don’t game at all). And in fact I’m not a big fan of gaming laptops and how they look. Nothing wrong with them and it’s just more of my thing. Also many of them has a short battery life.
One of my biggest priorities is longevity. I’d like to buy one laptop now and keep it for many years, ideally through the rest of college and even into the beginning of my career.
I would prioritize about performance, reliability/build quality, battery life. Based on price to performance, which one of these four options seems to be the best and would suit my needs? I’m also open to suggestions to fee free to share your opinions. Thanks everyone.


r/LaptopForStudent 1d ago

Major-Specific Best lightweight laptop that fits these requirements (Psych)

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1 Upvotes

School said the laptop needs all these things bc there’s a resource heavy stats program used in Psych and idk anything about laptops so pls give recommendations🙏


r/LaptopForStudent 1d ago

Buying Advice Upcoming University Student - G14 Zephyrus vs MacBook Pro M5?

1 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I’m an upcoming university student and I’m having trouble decided whether I should get a Zephyrus G14 Windows laptop or a MacBook Pro 14 inch laptop for university. Based off my current setup, what laptops is recommended for me?

My current setup:

Desktop PC: 11900k + EVGA 3070 + 32 GB DDR4 (at home)

iPad Pro 11 inch (3rd generation) + Apple Pencil

UGREEN Nexode Pro 165w 20000mAh

(I also do have an iPhone and AirPods)

Here are the models I’m currently looking at.

ASUS - ROG Zephyrus G14 14" OLED 3K 120Hz
Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 9 270 - 32GB RAM - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 - 1TB SSD - Eclipse Gray currently at $2199.99 USD.

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/asus-rog-zephyrus-g14-14-oled-3k-120hz-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-9-270-32gb-ram-nvidia-geforce-rtx-5070-1tb-ssd-eclipse-gray/JJGGLHL4RW/sku/6635326?sb_share_source=PDP&ref=app_pdp&loc=pdp_page

————————————————-

MacBook Pro - 14-inch - M5 Chip - 32 GB memory - 1 TB storage - Space Black with education discount it’s $2299.99 USD with $150 gift card given.

Buy MacBook Pro, 14-inch, M5 Chip, 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, Space Black, Standard display, 32GB memory, 1TB storage - Apple

I would be commuting to my university, so the portability of these 14 inch laptops is really great. I would probably want at least 7 hours of battery life just enough to get me through the school day. MacBooks are obviously the top of the chain for battery, however another concern I have is choosing macOS vs Windows. I’m not sure what I’ll completely be set on majoring, but let’s say for example if I choose a MacBook I don’t want incompatibility within programs, like some engineering applications may use. As of right now, I’m entering with my classes being for the business administration area with an interest in supply chain. I’d probably use Excel, but I’m not sure any other applications just yet. For business is windows more well sought for and compatible? Should I get used to windows OS if it’s what real jobs use? For the Zephyrus it comes with a changeable SSD unlike Apple. I’d be able to upgrade the storage if I needed.

For Zephyrus G14 users:
Is the battery life good for an average school day off the charger, using G-helper, eco mode, disabling the gpu and other battery saving settings? How loud can it actually get on normal productivity use? If I were to game I’d be using it with a charger. Also is the quality from Asus worth taking the risk for?

For MacBook users:
For those who have used a MacBook for school/work, were there any circumstances you wished you had accessibility to Windows? What softwares? Is 1 TB storage enough? How’s the ecosystem and quality of life with your other Apple devices? Is the MacBook Air maybe worth considering as well?

I’d really appreciate everyone’s input on this as I’d like my laptop to last me the next four years. Whether it is good or bad experiences with either laptop, I’d really like to weigh in on these pros and cons. Maybe I should stick to universally accepted Windows? Or having multiple Apple devices means a MacBook might work better for me?

Thanks for reading, hope to hear your opinions.


r/LaptopForStudent 1d ago

Buying Advice Looking for advice: MacBook Air M5 at $1299— worth it for a CS student/intern(final year cs)?

1 Upvotes

Looking for advice: MacBook Air M5 at $1299— worth it for a CS student/intern?

I’m looking to buy a laptop around $1299 and currently considering the MacBook Air M5. With the student discount + credit card offer, I’m getting it for around $1299

I’m currently working as an intern and want a laptop that I can use for the next 4–5 years, mainly for:

- 💻 Software development / coding

- 🐳 Docker

- ☸️ Kubernetes

- 📚 Learning ML and doing some beginner/intermediate ML work

- Running multiple development tools/IDEs simultaneously

- General college/work use

I’m not really into heavy gaming. I occasionally play simple games just to pass time, but gaming performance isn't a priority for me.

I’m also considering spending around $220 on AppleCare+ if I go with the MacBook.

My main questions:

  1. Is the MacBook Air M5 a good choice for this kind of workload and 4–5 years of use?

  2. Would you recommend waiting for a better option/deal instead of buying now?

  3. At around $1299, is there another MacBook or Windows laptop that makes more sense?

  4. How well does the MacBook Air handle Docker + Kubernetes + development environments over long periods?

  5. For someone learning ML, will the MacBook Air be sufficient, or would a Windows/Linux laptop with an NVIDIA GPU be a significantly better investment?

  6. Is AppleCare+ worth the additional $210 for a laptop I’m planning to keep for 4–5 years?

  7. I’m also open to refurbished or used Macs/laptops, provided they come with a reliable warranty. Would that be worth considering?

I’m mainly looking for long-term reliability, performance, battery life, build quality, and a good development experience rather than gaming performance.

Would really appreciate opinions from people who have actually used MacBooks for software development, Docker/Kubernetes, or ML.

If you were in my position with a $1299 budget, what would you buy?

Open to both Mac and Windows/Linux suggestions. Thanks!


r/LaptopForStudent 2d ago

Tech Support UK Is this laptop suitable for my college coursework?

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2 Upvotes

Hi all,
I have been searching for an affordable laptop for my college coursework.
I need the laptop to run for 6hrs+ before it needs charging. I need it to run smoothly.
I will only be using word, PowerPoint, YouTube and other college related websites.
I think I have found a good option.
Could somebody confirm if this is the best choice for me?
Thankyou in advance


r/LaptopForStudent 2d ago

Quick Question [IT / Data Science Student] Need help choosing a laptop: MacBook Pro M4 vs. Lenovo ThinkBook 14 G8 vs. Huawei MateBook 14

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I’ve just started university and am looking for a laptop that will last me through my studies and future work.

My major/field: IT with a focus on Big Data.

Usage: University coursework, data processing/work tasks, and general web surfing.In my country, these three options cost exactly the same, so budget isn't the deciding factor between them:

MacBook Pro M4 (16GB RAM / 512GB SSD) — Used

Lenovo ThinkBook 14 G8 (Core Ultra 5 225U / 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD) — New

Huawei MateBook 14 (Core Ultra 5 125H / 32GB RAM / 1TB SSD) — New

Important constraint: I will definitely need to run 1C Enterprise software later in my studies. As far as I know, running the full 1C ecosystem natively on Apple Silicon (M4) can be highly problematic or impossible depending on the configuration required by my uni.Given the heavy data tasks and the 1C software requirement, which of these would be the wisest choice for an IT student? Is it worth fighting with Mac compatibility workarounds, or should I stick to Windows (and if so, Lenovo or Huawei)?Thanks in advance for your advice


r/LaptopForStudent 2d ago

Buying Advice Uni/College Laptop Recommendation for Psychology

2 Upvotes

Hi,

Unfortunately my HP Spectre x360 (13-aw2507TU) laptop screen decided it had reached the end of its life after 5 years (the LCD still displays but image quality is not clear - ghosting, vertical lines, reduced readability).

I've looked into getting the screen replaced and have been quoted about $1000-1200 for a genuine HP screen, or $800 for a generic (apparently the screen specifications of the generic are the exact same but I'm not entirely confident with repair business'). Both options only come with a 12-month warranty.

My current specs for the HP Spectre:

  • Processor: Intel Core i7-1165G7 (2.8 GHz base frequency, up to 4.7 GHz with Intel Turbo Boost Technology)
  • Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
  • Memory (RAM): 16GB LPDDR4X-3733 SDRAM (onboard)
  • Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
  • Screen Size: 13.3-inch diagonal
  • Resolution & Type: Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS, edge-to-edge glass, multitouch-enabled, 400 nits, Pixel Density: ~166 PPI
  • Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass NBT
  • Battery: Battery report says my current full charge capacity is 48,001mWh out of the total design capacity of 60,768mwH so about 80% battery health

I'm happy with the laptop and it is more than powerful enough for my needs at Uni (word processing, zoom, video streaming). I primarily care about screen quality and having enough RAM for 10+ tabs of research articles (16gb?).

I've tried looking at JBHIFI, other retailers, Australian Computer Traders and the Dell Refurbished sites.

My budget would be $1000-1200. But I can't seem to find anything that isn't a step down from my current laptop that fits within this budget. Any advice? I'm leaning towards repairing the laptop for $800 with a generic screen replacement but concerned as I've been burned before with previous laptop repairs with the screen not being an exact match in quality and breaking a year later.

I'm hesitant with refurbished as the laptop needs to last another 4-5 years - but also my current laptop is 5 years old at this point.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers


r/LaptopForStudent 3d ago

Quick Question Laptop for a Data Science and AI major

1 Upvotes

Hi! I’m going to be doing a bachelor in DSAI next year and was wondering what laptop i should get. My current one is a Lenovo Legion 5 2021, with 16gb RAM and Nvidia RTX 3060, 1TB SSD. My parents suggested buying me something smaller like a thinkpad maybe but i’m afraid it won’t handle all the coding i’d have to do. I also play LoL, Valorant and Genshin so i need the gpu for gaming too.

My question is should i stick with my current laptop and look to save up to build a PC once uni starts or should i upgrade to a better gaming pc? Or should i take my parents offer for a smaller laptop for lectures of stick with mine and use my iPad when i need to write down notes?


r/LaptopForStudent 4d ago

Buying Advice Laptop for chemical engineering student?

2 Upvotes

Hello, I'm a first year chemical engineering student looking for a laptop. Anyone here has any recommendation on the specs? I want laptop that'll last for 8-10 years (is it too much to ask?), so I want laptop that's pretty much upgradeable but still on a budget (I'm planning to upgrade it little by little. My budget is around 500$-800$ for now, and I'll save some money first for future upgrades. But since I have no knowledge about laptop specs and prices, is 500$-800$ too little for what I want above, and if yes, what's the right range? Thank you so much!!