Welcome and good luck in your purchase

Hey guys, I'm a mechanical engineering student, and my first gen Mac Air just won't cut it anymore. Looking for a laptop around 4k just to run engineering related programs (AutoCAD etc). Looking at the rMBP with 8gb ram, because battery life and portability is a pretty big factor for me.

Any other windows based suggestions?

try these :

Illegear RU-14 Pro, i7-4750HQ + Intel Iris Pro 5200 + (1920x1080 IPS)@RM3999[1.9kg], 4GB, 500GB(7200rpm), FreeDOS
MSI GE40-2OC-290MY, i7-4702MQ + Nvidia GTX760M + (1920x1080; anti-glare)@RM4199[1.9kg], 8GB, 1TB(7200rpm), W8

prices in RRP, negotiable.

How is the battery life like on these two laptops?

For sure the rmbp has a better life expectancy but lower spec wise. The illegear has more powerhouse built in it therefore draw more power. If u can use the macbook before and see that portability is a major factor go with it

1. Preferred Brand : Asus/Lenovo/Apple. Not Acer
2. Budget: <3k
3. Usage: animation/design student. needed for 3D works, animations, typical Adobe design-related programmes (Photoshop, Lightroom etc.) NO gaming
4. Preferred laptop/screen size: Probably none.

I think i7 is more preferred for my case right? or an i5 will do just fine?
I also wonder would graphic card matter to my works? And why are Macbooks more favourable than Window laptops for design students, other than its superb display and uniqueness..??

superb display (more laptops have better resolution or colour reproduction, overall macbook screen i think is very above average only... but overall experience is the main difference for a laptop...)

and uniqueness (what is this?)

some of them know what they wants, then they go for macbook and OS X...
some of them dont know how macbook and OS X will benefits them, but seeing others using it, dunno why, then they want to use it also.. after use they will know pros and cons of OS X

either of them should be okay.. i dont see mac user complaining their laptop hangs or spoil or whatsoever so much compare to windows laptop

based on your usage (adobe programs), i think it is fine for you to you mac... people who still need windows is those who like to play games or have legacy or new software which is windows specific only. anyway, more and more software starting to cross platform

just my opinion...

(and i feel 4 gb ram in OS X 10.9.2 is almost if not better than 8 gb ram in windows)

This post has been edited by xproc: Mar 5 2014, 11:02 AM

Well typically macbooks are relatively very light and have very long battery life, but its internal specs are somewhat a turn off to some people.
if you want to go on mac os x


MacBookAir 11", i5-4250U + Intel HD5000 + 128GB SSD@RM2999[1.08kg], 4GB, backlit keyboard, Mac OSX

If windows,
14"
Dell
Inspiron 14R, i7-4500U + Nvidia GT750M (GDDR5) + (1366x768;touch)@RM2999[2.32kg], 8GB, 1TB(5400rpm), W8SL , 6 cell

Lenovo
Y410p, i7-4700MQ + Nvidia GT755M(GDDR5)@RM2899, 4GB, 1TB, DOS, red backlit, 120w psu, swappable ODD, 2 years warranty

15.6"
V5-573PG-74504G50r, i5-4500U + Nvidia GT750M + (1366x768; touch)@RM2899, 4GB, 500GB, W8


Dell
Inspiron 15R, i5-4200U + AMD HD8670M @RM1999[2.32kg], 4GB, 750GB(5400rpm), Linux, 65WHr; W8SL@RM2199
Inspiron 14R, i5-4200U + Nvidia GT740M@RM1849 [2.32kg], 4GB, 500GB(5400rpm), Linux, 6 cell; W8@RM2049

Acer
V5-471PG-53334G50, i5-3337U + Nvidia GT710M@RM1899, 4GB, 500GB, W8

i agree his budget a bit tight for macbooks, even the software he used already cost way more than the laptop already...

using those programs i will advice to invest to at least the mid-spec 13" rmbp 256gb with 8gb ram (RM4899)...

Yeah i agree that too.. The cost of the upkeep is something to take note on a tight budget too

Brand. Don't want acer or hp
BuDget. Up to rm3500
Usage: 3d modelling (soldiers, autocad), movies, documents
Screen: 13 to 14"
The lighter the better.

Acer
V5-473PG-54204G50, i5-4200U + Nvidia GT740M +(1366x768;touch)@RM2299, 4GB, 500GB,W8 *no OD

Asus
A450LC-WX083H/084H, i7-4500U + Nvidia GT720M@RM2699[2.1kg], 4GB, 1TB, W8; 4-cell; colors: red/white

Dell
Inspiron 14R, i7-4500U + Nvidia GT750M (GDDR5) + (1366x768;touch)@RM2999[2.32kg], 8GB, 1TB(5400rpm), W8SL , 6 cell

Lenovo
Y410p, i7-4700MQ + Nvidia GT755M(GDDR5)@RM2899, 4GB, 1TB, DOS, red backlit, 120w psu, swappable ODD, 2 years warranty

*Prices in RRP and negotiable
*Personal comments : Dell 14R and Lenovo's y410p has the edge here (higher graphics and bang for buck)

Interested. But seems like the Illegear model doesn't come with a GPU? Is that correct?

yes but the Intel Iris graphics is capable for your workhorse. the performance similar to a GT650M.

Hey bro, for 17" should also check out these laptops

MSI GS70 - RM4,899
4th generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processor
8GB DDR3 RAM
17" HD (1920X1080) , Anti-glare
Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M
1TB HDD 7200rpm

or if you have money to burn then get the Razer Blade Pro.. Woot!
Almost the same specs as above but their hard disk is SSD.

Hi Sifus, pls help me in this... thanks alot!!

1. Preferred Brand: None.
2. Budget: 4500MYR.
3. Usage: Working in Ms Office, Web Browsing, Stocks Trading, Occasionally watch movies.
4. Preferred laptop/screen size: 15"+/-
5. Special request: W8.1, Need high memory to avoid laggy, HDD capacity 1TB if possible, long hour usage (try to avoid easy get 'fever' and bigger battery capacity)
6. Plan to add-on: Ms Office 2014, Antivirus (w/ extra budget)

p/s: On top of that, I think touch screen is cool as Im quite get used to Surface Pro at the moment, wanna check if touch screen feature how much I need to spare in extra if necessary.

This post has been edited by teraone-sam: Mar 5 2014, 06:34 PM

Illegear
Illegear RU-14 Pro, i7-4750HQ + Intel Iris Pro 5200 + (1920x1080 IPS)@RM3999[1.9kg], 4GB, 500GB(7200rpm), FreeDOS
-Hard disk upgradeable

Lenovo
ThinkPad T440p, i5-4200H + Intel HD4600 + 16GB mSATA + 1TB HDD@RM4139, 4GB, W7P+W8P, 3 years
Y410p, i7-4700MQ + Nvidia GT755M(GDDR5)@RM3199, 8GB, 1TB, W8.1, red backlit, 120w psu, swappable ODD, 2 years warranty

Dell
XPS13, i7-3517U + Intel HD4000 + 256GB SSD+ (1920x1080)@RM4399[1.36kg], 8GB, W8, backlit

Hi bro, sorry I have some amendments after my post and your reply was way too efficient until you didnt captured my modified post. LOL

Pls advice with the long batt life (for long hour usage) and reference for me if were to get a touch screen feature. Many thanks.

Well the first thing that comes to my mind for long batt life is the macbook pro or macbook air,
but since u wanted w8.1 i guess ur best bet would be the

ThinkPad T440p, i5-4200H + Intel HD4600 + 16GB mSATA + 1TB HDD@RM4139, 4GB, W7P+W8P, 3 years

Do note probably u can haggle on the OS preferences,

OR if you want to, u could get a macbook pro and bootcamp windows OS in it,
that way u can get ur battery life longer, but u wont have touchscreen on the mbp

Acer do any good, heard from friends easy to rosak?