Schoology 196

* **Total budget and country of purchase:**
United States, $700-1300 price range, I’m pretty flexible about my budget but don’t want anything too low or luxurious.
* **Do you prefer a 2 in 1 form factor, good battery life or best specifications for the money? Pick or include any that apply.**
I definitely prefer a good battery life (at least 10 hours), as I am a pre-service educator and I will need my laptop to last me at least throughout the school day, and one of my major issues with my MacBook Pro was how much the battery life decreased over the course of 3-4 years. Getting the best specifications for the money seems like common sense as well, although I don’t know exactly what this means, I want the most bang for my buck.
* **How important is weight and thinness to you?**
If it interferes with my budget, then not very important. I want a portable laptop that I can carry in a regular laptop bag or backpack, but I don’t need a super small laptop. My previous laptop, a 13-inch MacBook Pro, seemed to be a pretty good size but I could go slightly larger. I don’t mind if my laptop is a little thick, but it seems like laptops have generally become slimmer over time so that’s good.
* **Which OS do you require? Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, Linux.**
My desktop PC is using Windows 10, so it might be convenient for my laptop to also run Windows, even though Windows 10 has had some problems updating for me over the years. I don’t plan on getting a MacBook again due to higher prices compared to other laptops with comparable specs, so won’t be using Mac OS. I don’t know much about Chrome OS, and I’m not adventurous enough to go into Linux.
* **Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A.**
I would say that my previous laptop, a 13-inch MacBook Pro, was a good size and I wouldn’t complain about a similarly sized laptop or slightly larger.
* **Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run.**
I might create some educational videos for mathematics students, but it’s unlikely to require intensive rendering software or a high-end GPU, as it would be for high school subjects. Some of the programs that I will probably use pertain to working as a teacher such as G Suite (Google Forms, Docs, Sheets, Slides), Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) the school’s LMS (Schoology, Blackboard, Canvas), e-mail, internet/search engine, Desmos, GeoGebra, presentation software like SMARTBoard, formal assessment like Poll Everywhere or Kahoot!, YouTube, multiple tabs open.
* **If you're gaming, do you have certain games you want to play? At what settings and FPS do you want?**
No, I am not going to use this laptop for gaming. This laptop will be used mainly for work as a teacher.
* **Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad)?**
As my previous laptop, a MacBook Pro (13-inch, mid-2012) had both a HDD connection issue, a damaged HDD, and its battery quickly depleting for unknown reasons, my preferences include: SSD, pre-built, at least 11 inch screen, mid-to-high quality resolution display, but not as high as 4K.
* **Leave any finishing thoughts here that you may feel are necessary and beneficial to the discussion.**
As I said earlier, I will be using this laptop for high school mathematics education in a school-setting for work, office and general browsing such as internet research, navigating and using several tabs while using a browser, so I need a laptop that can access information quickly.
**Laptop history:** I got a 13-in mid-2012 macbook pro for college and it lasted me a few years before having an hdd connection issue, but i was under warranty so i got a free replacement, but now it has happened again and it wasn't just the connection this time, the HDD was damaged so now I have this MacBook Pro I really don't want to repair at this point, and the newer MacBooks seem very expensive. One thing I realized is that SSD is the way to go to minimize the chance of damage due to travel and regular use. I want a laptop that has a reliable build quality and will be long-lasting, has a decent CPU, is semi-portable, good memory and storage. From the Discord server, I was recommended laptops such as the X1C, T490s, and Thinkpad, although I don’t know much about these laptops or why they recommended these ones specifically.
One last question I have is what I should do with my MacBook Pro that is damaged and can’t be traded in with Apple until I repair its HDD, which they said would be $196. Otherwise, I can recycle it for free with Apple in its current state, or possibly resell it if you have any recommendations.