Computers & Tablets

[elizabethsample]

I'm a college student looking for a high performance 2-in-1 laptop, preferably the kind that can detach from the keyboard. I need something that has a powerful processor that can handle programs such as Photoshop and other Adobe Suite applications, as well as moderately sized games. I'm an game art student that is constantly working on projects on the go, so I would like one that has reasonable battery life (although I'm aware that large programs drain pretty quick, but at least a few solid hours is what I'm looking for.) I play games often and need it to be compatable with most games on steam (not necessarily extremely large games like COD.) I'm not able to spend a ton of money on this, but I understand that this is a long term investment and can spend at the most $1500, however I'm aiming for around $800-$1200. A larger screen size (13 or up) is preferable.

I've been looking into it for a while, and I've had my eyes on the Microsoft Surface Book 2, although I've seen a lot of reviews saying the battery life diminishes even while it's charging, among other things. If you have experience with this laptop, I'd like to know what you think about it!

TLDR: I'm looking for a 2-in-1 detachable laptop that runs Windows 10, somewhere around $800-$1200, with high processing power and speed, and is capable of efficiently running high performance applications like Photoshop. Pros are longer battery life, high quality graphics for art, and a larger screen. Let me know if you have any input/advice for my first laptop purchase. Thanks guys!

[bobberuchi]

Sounds like your pretty busy.  Unfortunaly you have a number of requests for a 2 in 1 that may exceed the capbaility of what you want for the price. 

You are correct on power. If your playing games or doing photo editing or animaitons your run time on battery is going to be greatly reduced.  Most laptops will do longer on battery as long as your doing web browsing, email, MS Office, etc...

What you will need for the Adobe operations is more RAM.  Photoshop is dependent on CPU and RAM, but for processing mosly RAM.  

Dell G7

[dexman]

I purchased a Surface Book 2 15" (i7/16/512) earlier this year. Due to, what I think was a driver issue with both the unit I purchased and the brand new replacement that the Microsoft Store swapped it with, I ended-up going with a Surface Laptop i7/16/512. I donated an entry-level i5/8/256 for my Church's use and it works quite well.

The Surface Book 2's battery will, eventually, drain under certain circumstances even with the charger connected. The Book 2 really isn't intended to be a gaming console, though, many users won't likely experience the drain issue under day-to-day usage. 

[mtrew2015]

Surface Book 2 Seems like a decent choice, but they are pricey and lower end models don't have dedicated graphics. The Lenovo 930 is a solid choice as well. Although, these two choices I think you'll be running pretty low FPS. Sounds like you either need a gaming device or portability. There aren't a true gaming 2-1 I can think of.

Please keep in mind I am not an employee of Bestbuy and all opinions are my own. If my information helped you feel free to give me KUDOS =)