Just a few years ago the student laptop was for writing papers and ...gaming... even if most won't admit it. Heavy computing still was done on the school computers.
The i5 is a nice choice but let's get something out of the way. Not all students get 4 years out of a laptop. So don't overspend and budget for a new laptop in 2 or so years.
I am going to be a college freshman this coming fall and am going to be an engineering student. I am currently looking at a laptop to purchase. I am stuck between the Dell XPS 13" with an i5 processor and the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1. I am unsure whether spending the extra money for the quality of the XPS is worth the sacrifice of not having the i7 processor.

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