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Laptop Replacement/Suggestions Thread: Bring out yer dead laptops!

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  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    @-Loki- The Sims isn't super demanding, so I think it ultimately comes down to how well she can handle heat, fan noise, and weight.

    Multiple reviews note there's thermal throttling on the CPU and not the GPU, and you're right the Max-Q is a bit underpowered.

    Example: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3526491/msi-prestige-14-review.html

    It's also got only one fan to handle the heat, which is why I note the noise.

    If she's willing to handle a bit beefier option, there's a Dell XPS model mentioned in multiple reviews as similar specs but a full 1650.

    For your intended use case, the laptop is probably fine but I'd recommend you keep looking.

    Looking around more (and because I now know she want's to do a bit of heavier gaming) she's settled on a Dell G5 15. Tossing up between the 1660ti or the 2060 model, which isn't much more expensive.

  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    Depending on the price difference I'd go for the 2060 in that case.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    Get the best CPU and GPU you can afford, since those can't be replaced on their own. They will dictate the life of the laptop with regards to future games.

  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    So what’s the best site for laptop recommendations?

    I’m doing some research for a friend, and they’re looking for a non-gaming, Windows laptop to run Office apps. They aren’t interested in a Chromebook or Mac.

  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    So what’s the best site for laptop recommendations?

    I’m doing some research for a friend, and they’re looking for a non-gaming, Windows laptop to run Office apps. They aren’t interested in a Chromebook or Mac.

    Budget? That matters a lot.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    Good point! Sub-$1k. Looking for a solid business laptop, with 0 gaming / movie watching application.

  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    Good point! Sub-$1k. Looking for a solid business laptop, with 0 gaming / movie watching application.

    at Sub 1k you might not find the thinnest and lightest laptop on the market, but there are tons of decent to good options.

    Basically if all that person is doing is basic productivity work, I'd look for something with at least 8GB of ram, a 256GB SSD, and an 8th gen core i5. Those specs are more than good enough for anything a normal person would do on a laptop.

    Past that, it comes to what the use case is beyond price. If your friend is going to travel a lot with it, obviously something thinner and lighter might make more sense. In that vein, if you can find something like an HP Spectre X360 on sale for around $1000 you'll find a solid machine.

    If the computer is going to be mostly something used in the house, then thin and light doesn't mean quite as much, so if your friend wants something like a 14" screen, you have more options.

    Machines I'd look at, depending on need, are things like the HP Spectre previously mentioned, but that usually starts above 1k, but it goes on sale. a step down from that is the HP Envy line, it's most of the spectre line, just slightly lower end, heavier, etc.

    Dell has the inspiron line, and Inspiron 7000 is actually a really good computer. Bit thicker and heavier than the XPS 13, and it doesn't have amazing battery life, but for a computer being used around the house will be really good.

    Lenovo has Thinkpad T4xx series laptops that are usually around 1100-1200, if you can find those on sale, they're really solid.

    Lastly, Microsoft has the Surface Laptop 3. the Entry level SKU of it is exatly $1000. It only has a 128GB SSD, which is less than I generally recommend but if that's enough for your friend than that'll be an absolutely fantastic computer, and the 3:2 screen is great for productivity. It would honestly be near the top of my recommendations if the budget was just a bit more.


    But again, honestly as long as the a laptop has an i5-8250U or better, 8GB of ram or better, it'll be a good laptop for general productivity. Past that, it's looking for things like size, battery life, looks, etc.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • shadowaneshadowane Registered User regular
    wunderbar wrote: »
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    Good point! Sub-$1k. Looking for a solid business laptop, with 0 gaming / movie watching application.

    at Sub 1k you might not find the thinnest and lightest laptop on the market, but there are tons of decent to good options.

    Basically if all that person is doing is basic productivity work, I'd look for something with at least 8GB of ram, a 256GB SSD, and an 8th gen core i5. Those specs are more than good enough for anything a normal person would do on a laptop.

    Past that, it comes to what the use case is beyond price. If your friend is going to travel a lot with it, obviously something thinner and lighter might make more sense. In that vein, if you can find something like an HP Spectre X360 on sale for around $1000 you'll find a solid machine.

    If the computer is going to be mostly something used in the house, then thin and light doesn't mean quite as much, so if your friend wants something like a 14" screen, you have more options.

    Machines I'd look at, depending on need, are things like the HP Spectre previously mentioned, but that usually starts above 1k, but it goes on sale. a step down from that is the HP Envy line, it's most of the spectre line, just slightly lower end, heavier, etc.

    Dell has the inspiron line, and Inspiron 7000 is actually a really good computer. Bit thicker and heavier than the XPS 13, and it doesn't have amazing battery life, but for a computer being used around the house will be really good.

    Lenovo has Thinkpad T4xx series laptops that are usually around 1100-1200, if you can find those on sale, they're really solid.

    Lastly, Microsoft has the Surface Laptop 3. the Entry level SKU of it is exatly $1000. It only has a 128GB SSD, which is less than I generally recommend but if that's enough for your friend than that'll be an absolutely fantastic computer, and the 3:2 screen is great for productivity. It would honestly be near the top of my recommendations if the budget was just a bit more.


    But again, honestly as long as the a laptop has an i5-8250U or better, 8GB of ram or better, it'll be a good laptop for general productivity. Past that, it's looking for things like size, battery life, looks, etc.

    This is really helpful advice, thanks. I'm trying to buy something similar for my wife and I was looking at the Dell Inspiron line. The thing that's annoying is that it's kind of an all or nothing deal with each of their lines. I'm trying to decide if the 5000 2-in-1 is enough computer just for general Google apps and some quickbooks stuff. So basically teleconferences 1 on 1 and some basic documentations and such.

    It feels like this is the best balance of price and options? Dell Inspiron 15 5000. Are the AMD mobile options okay? Because there is a 14" with similar specs that is $70 cheaper. This one. Since this is just for her work and nothing else, I don't want to overspend on it. And, at least in the beginning, it's all work from home stuff so it's not even moving much. What do you think and thanks!

  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    shadowane wrote: »
    wunderbar wrote: »
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    Good point! Sub-$1k. Looking for a solid business laptop, with 0 gaming / movie watching application.

    at Sub 1k you might not find the thinnest and lightest laptop on the market, but there are tons of decent to good options.

    Basically if all that person is doing is basic productivity work, I'd look for something with at least 8GB of ram, a 256GB SSD, and an 8th gen core i5. Those specs are more than good enough for anything a normal person would do on a laptop.

    Past that, it comes to what the use case is beyond price. If your friend is going to travel a lot with it, obviously something thinner and lighter might make more sense. In that vein, if you can find something like an HP Spectre X360 on sale for around $1000 you'll find a solid machine.

    If the computer is going to be mostly something used in the house, then thin and light doesn't mean quite as much, so if your friend wants something like a 14" screen, you have more options.

    Machines I'd look at, depending on need, are things like the HP Spectre previously mentioned, but that usually starts above 1k, but it goes on sale. a step down from that is the HP Envy line, it's most of the spectre line, just slightly lower end, heavier, etc.

    Dell has the inspiron line, and Inspiron 7000 is actually a really good computer. Bit thicker and heavier than the XPS 13, and it doesn't have amazing battery life, but for a computer being used around the house will be really good.

    Lenovo has Thinkpad T4xx series laptops that are usually around 1100-1200, if you can find those on sale, they're really solid.

    Lastly, Microsoft has the Surface Laptop 3. the Entry level SKU of it is exatly $1000. It only has a 128GB SSD, which is less than I generally recommend but if that's enough for your friend than that'll be an absolutely fantastic computer, and the 3:2 screen is great for productivity. It would honestly be near the top of my recommendations if the budget was just a bit more.


    But again, honestly as long as the a laptop has an i5-8250U or better, 8GB of ram or better, it'll be a good laptop for general productivity. Past that, it's looking for things like size, battery life, looks, etc.

    This is really helpful advice, thanks. I'm trying to buy something similar for my wife and I was looking at the Dell Inspiron line. The thing that's annoying is that it's kind of an all or nothing deal with each of their lines. I'm trying to decide if the 5000 2-in-1 is enough computer just for general Google apps and some quickbooks stuff. So basically teleconferences 1 on 1 and some basic documentations and such.

    It feels like this is the best balance of price and options? Dell Inspiron 15 5000. Are the AMD mobile options okay? Because there is a 14" with similar specs that is $70 cheaper. This one. Since this is just for her work and nothing else, I don't want to overspend on it. And, at least in the beginning, it's all work from home stuff so it's not even moving much. What do you think and thanks!

    I woudlnt’ go with the older AMD options. Battery life and thermals are not great. If you can find something with a Ryzen 4000 series laptop CPU that’s fine, but avoid the 3000 series.

    for that inspiron specifically, there aren’t too many reviews out on it, but a couple I’ve found do say the battery life is only 4-5 hours on those. Battery is one of the first places you see the middle class of laptops skimp out on. To give you an idea, the battery on that is 42Wh, which is actually almost 20% smaller than the battery in the much smaller/thinner XPS 13 with it’s 52Wh battery. If battery life matters, that could be a deal breaker.

    Other than that those specs all seem fine. It’s going to perform about the same as any other laptop in that size. It probably won’t be the most fantastic screen you’ll ever see, but for office productivity work, it’ll be fine,.

    Battery life, and maybe also weight (that laptop is in the area of 4.5 pounds) are the things I’d point at.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    Yeah, the Ryzen 4000 Mobile is the first AMD mobile CPU worth a damn in...ever, AFAIK.

  • shadowaneshadowane Registered User regular
    wunderbar wrote: »
    shadowane wrote: »
    This is really helpful advice, thanks. I'm trying to buy something similar for my wife and I was looking at the Dell Inspiron line. The thing that's annoying is that it's kind of an all or nothing deal with each of their lines. I'm trying to decide if the 5000 2-in-1 is enough computer just for general Google apps and some quickbooks stuff. So basically teleconferences 1 on 1 and some basic documentations and such.

    It feels like this is the best balance of price and options? Dell Inspiron 15 5000. Are the AMD mobile options okay? Because there is a 14" with similar specs that is $70 cheaper. This one. Since this is just for her work and nothing else, I don't want to overspend on it. And, at least in the beginning, it's all work from home stuff so it's not even moving much. What do you think and thanks!

    I woudlnt’ go with the older AMD options. Battery life and thermals are not great. If you can find something with a Ryzen 4000 series laptop CPU that’s fine, but avoid the 3000 series.

    for that inspiron specifically, there aren’t too many reviews out on it, but a couple I’ve found do say the battery life is only 4-5 hours on those. Battery is one of the first places you see the middle class of laptops skimp out on. To give you an idea, the battery on that is 42Wh, which is actually almost 20% smaller than the battery in the much smaller/thinner XPS 13 with it’s 52Wh battery. If battery life matters, that could be a deal breaker.

    Other than that those specs all seem fine. It’s going to perform about the same as any other laptop in that size. It probably won’t be the most fantastic screen you’ll ever see, but for office productivity work, it’ll be fine,.

    Battery life, and maybe also weight (that laptop is in the area of 4.5 pounds) are the things I’d point at.
    Great advice thank you! The battery comment was especially really helpful.

    Based on your suggestions, I think I'm going to lean towards this laptop instead. Dell Inspiron 15 7000. It's still a little heavy, but my wife isn't planning on dragging it around too much. But the battery is 51 Whr so quite a bit bigger. It's only 256 gigs, but at the same point the only thing that should be on this laptop is work stuff and most of that will be in the GSuite anyway. Seems okay for what I want for a decent price.

  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    shadowane wrote: »
    wunderbar wrote: »
    shadowane wrote: »
    This is really helpful advice, thanks. I'm trying to buy something similar for my wife and I was looking at the Dell Inspiron line. The thing that's annoying is that it's kind of an all or nothing deal with each of their lines. I'm trying to decide if the 5000 2-in-1 is enough computer just for general Google apps and some quickbooks stuff. So basically teleconferences 1 on 1 and some basic documentations and such.

    It feels like this is the best balance of price and options? Dell Inspiron 15 5000. Are the AMD mobile options okay? Because there is a 14" with similar specs that is $70 cheaper. This one. Since this is just for her work and nothing else, I don't want to overspend on it. And, at least in the beginning, it's all work from home stuff so it's not even moving much. What do you think and thanks!

    I woudlnt’ go with the older AMD options. Battery life and thermals are not great. If you can find something with a Ryzen 4000 series laptop CPU that’s fine, but avoid the 3000 series.

    for that inspiron specifically, there aren’t too many reviews out on it, but a couple I’ve found do say the battery life is only 4-5 hours on those. Battery is one of the first places you see the middle class of laptops skimp out on. To give you an idea, the battery on that is 42Wh, which is actually almost 20% smaller than the battery in the much smaller/thinner XPS 13 with it’s 52Wh battery. If battery life matters, that could be a deal breaker.

    Other than that those specs all seem fine. It’s going to perform about the same as any other laptop in that size. It probably won’t be the most fantastic screen you’ll ever see, but for office productivity work, it’ll be fine,.

    Battery life, and maybe also weight (that laptop is in the area of 4.5 pounds) are the things I’d point at.
    Great advice thank you! The battery comment was especially really helpful.

    Based on your suggestions, I think I'm going to lean towards this laptop instead. Dell Inspiron 15 7000. It's still a little heavy, but my wife isn't planning on dragging it around too much. But the battery is 51 Whr so quite a bit bigger. It's only 256 gigs, but at the same point the only thing that should be on this laptop is work stuff and most of that will be in the GSuite anyway. Seems okay for what I want for a decent price.

    Yeah, that looks like a pretty decent laptop for the price. 256GB of storage should be more than enough.

    With the battery capacity and a 1080p screen of that sizeyou can probably expect around 7 hours of basic productivity work. Your mileage obviously will vary lower depending on what you're doing.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • CaedwyrCaedwyr Registered User regular
    My work has finally admitted that my current 8 year old laptop is dying. I do a lot of AutoCAD and Global Mapper GIS work with large data sets (2-10 GB+ spatial data sets are not unusual) and this work frequently involves converting or processing the data in some fashion.

    The company's suggested replacement is as follows:

    Dell Precision 5540
    16GB, 1x16GB, DDR4 2666MHz Non -ECC Memory
    Nvidia Quadro T1000 w/4GB GDDR 5
    M.2 512GB PCIe NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive
    Intel Core i7-9750H

    My immediate thoughts are that the graphic card is underpowered and that I should have at least 32 GB of RAM. I've done a bit of research and it looks like most of the demanding programs tend to hit the CPUs harder than the GPUs, although 3D views are GPU demanding for programs like AutoCAD and Global Mapper. I'd like more HDD space, but I suppose I'll just continue to copy and delete files as I have been doing before if they don't feel like springing for a larger drive. I think our network drive is only about 4 TB of storage at the moment, and we have constant storage issues because they like cheaping out on storage.

    Any thoughts as to where I should push for something that isn't in the base "CAD model laptop" configuration they get pre-built from Dell? I have to stay with a laptop solution, but it may be possible to get a few pieces swapped out for different pieces.

  • a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    If you have room to actually get them to change anything, more RAM is your #1 priority.

  • shadowaneshadowane Registered User regular
    wunderbar wrote: »
    shadowane wrote: »
    wunderbar wrote: »
    shadowane wrote: »
    This is really helpful advice, thanks. I'm trying to buy something similar for my wife and I was looking at the Dell Inspiron line. The thing that's annoying is that it's kind of an all or nothing deal with each of their lines. I'm trying to decide if the 5000 2-in-1 is enough computer just for general Google apps and some quickbooks stuff. So basically teleconferences 1 on 1 and some basic documentations and such.

    It feels like this is the best balance of price and options? Dell Inspiron 15 5000. Are the AMD mobile options okay? Because there is a 14" with similar specs that is $70 cheaper. This one. Since this is just for her work and nothing else, I don't want to overspend on it. And, at least in the beginning, it's all work from home stuff so it's not even moving much. What do you think and thanks!

    I woudlnt’ go with the older AMD options. Battery life and thermals are not great. If you can find something with a Ryzen 4000 series laptop CPU that’s fine, but avoid the 3000 series.

    for that inspiron specifically, there aren’t too many reviews out on it, but a couple I’ve found do say the battery life is only 4-5 hours on those. Battery is one of the first places you see the middle class of laptops skimp out on. To give you an idea, the battery on that is 42Wh, which is actually almost 20% smaller than the battery in the much smaller/thinner XPS 13 with it’s 52Wh battery. If battery life matters, that could be a deal breaker.

    Other than that those specs all seem fine. It’s going to perform about the same as any other laptop in that size. It probably won’t be the most fantastic screen you’ll ever see, but for office productivity work, it’ll be fine,.

    Battery life, and maybe also weight (that laptop is in the area of 4.5 pounds) are the things I’d point at.
    Great advice thank you! The battery comment was especially really helpful.

    Based on your suggestions, I think I'm going to lean towards this laptop instead. Dell Inspiron 15 7000. It's still a little heavy, but my wife isn't planning on dragging it around too much. But the battery is 51 Whr so quite a bit bigger. It's only 256 gigs, but at the same point the only thing that should be on this laptop is work stuff and most of that will be in the GSuite anyway. Seems okay for what I want for a decent price.

    Yeah, that looks like a pretty decent laptop for the price. 256GB of storage should be more than enough.

    With the battery capacity and a 1080p screen of that sizeyou can probably expect around 7 hours of basic productivity work. Your mileage obviously will vary lower depending on what you're doing.

    Pulled the trigger, thanks for all the advice!

  • CaedwyrCaedwyr Registered User regular
    a5ehren wrote: »
    If you have room to actually get them to change anything, more RAM is your #1 priority.

    I commented that I am frequently working with 10 GB or larger data sets. A senior engineer at my company jumped into the conversation and now I'm getting 64 GB of RAM. I'd love to be getting a fully tricked out XMG APEX 15 for my desktop replacement, or maybe an Zephyrus G14 (I wish this would include a webcam), but I guess this will do for now. I know that my company pays substantially inflated rates for all their laptop stuff because of the enterprise agreement with Dell. A co-worker's top end Dell laptop ended up costing over $10,000, but I'm thinking a big part of that is they went with high end Quadro cards and paid the Dell system integrator premium for the RAM and SSD.

  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    Ten grand.

    *low whistle*

  • CaedwyrCaedwyr Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    There's a lot of penny-pinching in many areas in our IT procurement, and then I see them just going with the inflated system integrator costs for basic hardware.

    Things like the following really raise the costs:

    64GB, 4x16GB, DDR4 2666MHz Non-ECC Memory + $1,600.00 (they could have gone for 2x32 GB for less than half the price)
    Nvidia Quadro RTX 4000 w/8GB GDDR6 + $2,260.00 (For the work we do, the 2070 or similar card would give us appropriate performance, since the work tends to be more CPU bound)
    2x M.2 2TB NVMe PCIe Class 40 SSD + $2,550.00 each ($5,100 total) (I think they are getting ripped off here, since Class 40 seems to refer to NVME in Dell's language, and a 2 TB internal M.2 NVME Samsung 970 EVO Pro is about $500-$600)
    Intel® Core™ Processor i9-9980HK (8 Core, 16MB Cache, 2.40GHz up to 5.00GHz Turbo, 45W) + $840.00

    Some of those are slightly reasonable, others are just paying a serious convenience tax.

    Caedwyr on
  • CaedwyrCaedwyr Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    For reference, as best as I can tell, the Quadro T1000 gets less performance than the GTX 970, which is a card that came out in 2014.

    Caedwyr on
  • a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    Yeah, the T1000 is trash - it's an even further cut-down version of the base 1650.

    The T2000 is at least equivalent to a 1650Ti.

  • SeptusSeptus Registered User regular
    I too am in the market for a laptop, to primarily serve as a general purpose home computer to be docked for longer sessions, and to sit on laps on couches and in bed for casual browsing etc. I think we could go as high as $1,500 or so, and I do want a touchscreen since I often find it more comfortable to use my thumbs to scroll than the more fine motor control of the touchpad.

    I've been thinking mostly about the Dell XPS 13 and HP Spectre for 13 inch, or Lenovo Yoga C930 for 14 inch, but, the XP3 13 unfortunately is supposed to have an extremely(overstating this?) underwhelming wi-fi card(Killer, 802.11ac, Phase 1) that is soldered on, for the HP I keep hearing about reliability issues they have, specifically with the power supply and the Lenovo isn't generally as highly recommended and maybe has a really crappy warranty?
    I thought for a minute about a Matebook Pro, but I don't know that I can rely on any manufacturer support, and they're supposedly jet engines with their fans. I haven't yet looked into any Asus Zenbooks.

    Also, I'm just not sure whether 13 inches will be large enough. Has anyone been particularly bothered by the weight and possible discomfort of a 14 or 15 inch laptop on a lap?

    Choosing the Dell XPS might be the easiest choice, but I'm not sure how worried to be about the longevity of the wireless card.

    PSN: Kurahoshi1
  • CaedwyrCaedwyr Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    The Zephyrus G14 has pretty good reviews and is right around the top end of your price range, although you may be able to find deals on it. It doesn't have a webcam, so that may be a dealbreaker for you.

    https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-rog-zephyrus-g14-14-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-9-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-2060-1tb-ssd-moonlight-white/6403816.p?skuId=6403816&intl=nosplash

    Edit: This doesn't have touchscreen, so maybe this isn't the right one for you.

    Caedwyr on
  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    Surface Laptop 3 might also be a good choice for you.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • CaedwyrCaedwyr Registered User regular
    Of course, if you have an extra 5 grand lying around, you can always buy a fully loaded out XMG APEX 15. It's a desktop replacement though, so only expect an hour of battery life.

  • Mortal SkyMortal Sky queer punk hedge witchRegistered User regular
    edited May 2020
    OK so my 7 year old Lenovo Y510P is finally sinking and now that I have a gaming desktop PC for the first time ever, I am ready to move to a lighter, handier laptop

    The thing I loved about the Y510P was the fact that it has very good cooling for a laptop, meaning for casual use it rarely ever throttled speeds and the chipset was stable for a very long time (and still is usable, just much more rickety than even a year or two ago)

    So, I'd love to get something with similarly reliable longevity, that weighs a tad less and fits more cleanly in the average backpack. So maybe 13-14", and less than 5 lbs. Doesn't need a huge amount of horsepower, that's what the desktop is for eh

    edit: it looks like the Lenovo ThinkPad 14" laptops are pretty much exactly in this bracket, definitely curious if there are any other names in the game for this particular "jack-of-all-trades but not quite a Desktop Replacement-grade chonky boi" niche

    Mortal Sky on
  • CaedwyrCaedwyr Registered User regular
    I think the XPS 15 from Dell is in a similar bracket. I'd check out reviews of that and your favoured lenovo Thinkpad brands and see what the reviewers compare them against.

    I went lighter and got a 2-in-1 Lenovo Flex 14 with the Ryzen 5 processor and my wife and I have been quite happy with it. It's light, has a good battery life, good keyboard, and has a decent size screen. The GPU is an onboard Vega 8, so it can't play graphically demanding games, but I've been able to run Civilization IV and similar type games without issue.

  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    Mortal Sky wrote: »
    OK so my 7 year old Lenovo Y510P is finally sinking and now that I have a gaming desktop PC for the first time ever, I am ready to move to a lighter, handier laptop

    The thing I loved about the Y510P was the fact that it has very good cooling for a laptop, meaning for casual use it rarely ever throttled speeds and the chipset was stable for a very long time (and still is usable, just much more rickety than even a year or two ago)

    So, I'd love to get something with similarly reliable longevity, that weighs a tad less and fits more cleanly in the average backpack. So maybe 13-14", and less than 5 lbs. Doesn't need a huge amount of horsepower, that's what the desktop is for eh

    edit: it looks like the Lenovo ThinkPad 14" laptops are pretty much exactly in this bracket, definitely curious if there are any other names in the game for this particular "jack-of-all-trades but not quite a Desktop Replacement-grade chonky boi" niche

    Define what you think of as “throttling.”. There isn’t an ultrabook on the market that can hold it’s boost clocks at the maximum for more than a few seconds before the CPU starts throddling down to something close to the base clock speeds. So, yes, everything throttles.

    Now, unless you’re doing video editing, or some other task that’s running the CPU at 100% for longer periods of time, it really doesn’t matter. Under web browsling/watching video, etc, any modern ultrabook has acceptable cooling, and you’re not going to notice a huge difference between them.

    There a a couple outliers here and there, the XPS 13 has a better cooling solution than something like say, the HP Spectre X360 where it can hold it’s boost clocks for a few more seconds, and then drops down to a sustained clock that’s a couple hundred megahertz faster than the Spectre, but in average “web browsing” use case, you can’t tell the difference.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    It's a bit more expensive but I've seen a lot of favorable reviews of the Lenovo X1 Carbon. I agree with the Dells as another option. Asus may have something in this bracket but I haven't looked lately

  • SeptusSeptus Registered User regular
    wunderbar wrote: »
    Surface Laptop 3 might also be a good choice for you.

    So it looks like it has a good display, and a really good keyboard (I'd probably do my heavy typing on a wireless keyboard), but a surprising lack of thunderbolt, and even then only 1 USB c port. It doesn't seem like as solid of an all around Ultrabook as the xps, and less futureproof despite my concerns about the WiFi card.

    PSN: Kurahoshi1
  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    Septus wrote: »
    wunderbar wrote: »
    Surface Laptop 3 might also be a good choice for you.

    So it looks like it has a good display, and a really good keyboard (I'd probably do my heavy typing on a wireless keyboard), but a surprising lack of thunderbolt, and even then only 1 USB c port. It doesn't seem like as solid of an all around Ultrabook as the xps, and less futureproof despite my concerns about the WiFi card.

    Personally, I don't care too much about thunderbolt vs USB-C. the vast majority of devices/uses for the port are USB-C, not thunderbolt. Unless you're planning on adding an eGPU to the laptop for gaming or have a *very* specialized need, whether a USB-C port has Thunderbolt support is largely irrelevant. USB-C by itself already handles the power, display, data, etc. All thunderbolt really gets you is faster data, and maybe a higher resolution external display at a higher refresh rate.

    As for only a single USB-C port, yeah I agree that kind of sucks. But ask yourself how many times you plug in more than one thing. The OEM power adapter uses the surface connect port, so the USB-C port will be free most of the time. If you're using an external display and want to plug in another device, yeah, for sure, but ask yourself how often you actually plug things other than power into the laptop. It might be a lot, if it is, it might not be the laptop for you, but for me personally, I rarely actually plug anything in. Your mileage may vary.

    I have an older XPS13, the 9370 from a couple years ago. It's a solid machine. 2 thunderbolt ports and 1 USB-C port. So I will say this from experience that I do not own a single device that actually requires thunderbolt proper, and I almost never have more than just the power cord plugged in. And, if i'm being totally honestly, I really, really, really wish it had 1 USB-A port. I'd gladly give up one of the 3 USB-C size ports on the device for 1 USB-A port. 50% of the time I actually do need to plug something into this laptop, it's USB-A and I need some kind of adapter to make it work.

    Again, YMMV but I bought this laptop specifically because it was all USB-C and had thunderbolt support and I thought that was "future proofing" it, but in reality in 2 years of owning it there are times when I wish it was a little less "future proof" in a way. That doesn't detract from my general use, it really is a pretty solid ultrabook, but if I could go back 2 years I may have made a difference choice.


    Also, I would kill for the 3:2 screen on the Surface laptop. 16:9 is super cramped, the 16:10 display on the new XPS13 is an improvement, but 3:2 is way better for anything that isn't watching video. That alone would be worth it to me.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • CauldCauld Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    I want to upgrade the ram on my laptop. I'm relatively certain I have 1 ram slot total with an 8GB chip and that the ram isn't soldered in. What i'm less sure on is which ram would be best for me. I have a Lenovo Ideapad 720s-14IKB. The very helpful Crucial website lists 3 different compatible 16GB ram modules (all out of stock) that are all roughly the same price.

    Somewhat related, but how difficult would it be to swap out the harddrive? I assume I'd need to clone the drive or something? I do have another laptop, but it's through work so I don't have admin rights on it.

    Cauld on
  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    Cauld wrote: »
    I want to upgrade the ram on my laptop. I'm relatively certain I have 1 ram slot total with an 8GB chip and that the ram isn't soldered in. What i'm less sure on is which ram would be best for me. I have a Lenovo Ideapad 720s-14IKB. The very helpful Crucial website lists 3 different compatible 16GB ram modules (all out of stock) that are all roughly the same price.

    Somewhat related, but how difficult would it be to swap out the harddrive? I assume I'd need to clone the drive or something? I do have another laptop, but it's through work so I don't have admin rights on it.
    Cauld wrote: »
    I want to upgrade the ram on my laptop. I'm relatively certain I have 1 ram slot total with an 8GB chip and that the ram isn't soldered in. What i'm less sure on is which ram would be best for me. I have a Lenovo Ideapad 720s-14IKB. The very helpful Crucial website lists 3 different compatible 16GB ram modules (all out of stock) that are all roughly the same price.

    Somewhat related, but how difficult would it be to swap out the harddrive? I assume I'd need to clone the drive or something? I do have another laptop, but it's through work so I don't have admin rights on it.

    The internet tells me your ram is DDR4 SODIMM 2400Mhz. Realistically any DDR4 laptop ram will work. You should try to find 2400mhz ram just to make it as fast as possible, but honestly for most use you wont' notice a difference between 2400 and something like 2133. regardless, a quick look on newegg gives lots of 16GB DDR4 modules. Here's just one example that looks ok

    https://www.newegg.com/crucial-16gb-260-pin-ddr4-so-dimm/p/0RN-0005-000Z4

    The laptop also has a m.2 NVMe SSD, so basically any NVMe SSD will work in it. As for cloning it, most SSD's you buy will come with software that will let you clone it fairly easily, you just need to be able to interface the new SSD with the laptop.

    Here's a random SSD, a WD Blue. https://www.newegg.com/western-digital-blue-sn550-nvme-1tb/p/N82E16820250135?Description=nvme ssd 1tb&cm_re=nvme_ssd_1tb-_-20-250-135-_-Product

    Here's an external enclosure that works with a m.2 NVMe SSD.

    https://www.newegg.com/p/0ZK-08UH-03SY1?Description=usb nvme ssd&cm_re=usb_nvme_ssd-_-9SIAMYSBBY9221-_-Product

    Basically the concept is you take the new drive, stick it into that enclosure, plug it into your laptop, and use the cloning software that came with the drive to make a copy. you then turn the laptop off, take out old SSD, install new SSD, and turn the computer on, and you're done.

    And then with that enclosure, you get the added bonus of being able to use the old SSD as an external SSD storage device.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • CauldCauld Registered User regular
    is there any benefit to getting something
    wunderbar wrote: »
    Cauld wrote: »
    I want to upgrade the ram on my laptop. I'm relatively certain I have 1 ram slot total with an 8GB chip and that the ram isn't soldered in. What i'm less sure on is which ram would be best for me. I have a Lenovo Ideapad 720s-14IKB. The very helpful Crucial website lists 3 different compatible 16GB ram modules (all out of stock) that are all roughly the same price.

    Somewhat related, but how difficult would it be to swap out the harddrive? I assume I'd need to clone the drive or something? I do have another laptop, but it's through work so I don't have admin rights on it.
    Cauld wrote: »
    I want to upgrade the ram on my laptop. I'm relatively certain I have 1 ram slot total with an 8GB chip and that the ram isn't soldered in. What i'm less sure on is which ram would be best for me. I have a Lenovo Ideapad 720s-14IKB. The very helpful Crucial website lists 3 different compatible 16GB ram modules (all out of stock) that are all roughly the same price.

    Somewhat related, but how difficult would it be to swap out the harddrive? I assume I'd need to clone the drive or something? I do have another laptop, but it's through work so I don't have admin rights on it.

    The internet tells me your ram is DDR4 SODIMM 2400Mhz. Realistically any DDR4 laptop ram will work. You should try to find 2400mhz ram just to make it as fast as possible, but honestly for most use you wont' notice a difference between 2400 and something like 2133. regardless, a quick look on newegg gives lots of 16GB DDR4 modules. Here's just one example that looks ok

    https://www.newegg.com/crucial-16gb-260-pin-ddr4-so-dimm/p/0RN-0005-000Z4

    The laptop also has a m.2 NVMe SSD, so basically any NVMe SSD will work in it. As for cloning it, most SSD's you buy will come with software that will let you clone it fairly easily, you just need to be able to interface the new SSD with the laptop.

    Here's a random SSD, a WD Blue. https://www.newegg.com/western-digital-blue-sn550-nvme-1tb/p/N82E16820250135?Description=nvme ssd 1tb&cm_re=nvme_ssd_1tb-_-20-250-135-_-Product

    Here's an external enclosure that works with a m.2 NVMe SSD.

    https://www.newegg.com/p/0ZK-08UH-03SY1?Description=usb nvme ssd&cm_re=usb_nvme_ssd-_-9SIAMYSBBY9221-_-Product

    Basically the concept is you take the new drive, stick it into that enclosure, plug it into your laptop, and use the cloning software that came with the drive to make a copy. you then turn the laptop off, take out old SSD, install new SSD, and turn the computer on, and you're done.

    And then with that enclosure, you get the added bonus of being able to use the old SSD as an external SSD storage device.

    Thank you, that's very helpful! Is there any benefit to getting DDR4-2666 or 3200 vs the 2400 it currently has?

  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    edited May 2020
    Cauld wrote: »
    is there any benefit to getting something
    wunderbar wrote: »
    Cauld wrote: »
    I want to upgrade the ram on my laptop. I'm relatively certain I have 1 ram slot total with an 8GB chip and that the ram isn't soldered in. What i'm less sure on is which ram would be best for me. I have a Lenovo Ideapad 720s-14IKB. The very helpful Crucial website lists 3 different compatible 16GB ram modules (all out of stock) that are all roughly the same price.

    Somewhat related, but how difficult would it be to swap out the harddrive? I assume I'd need to clone the drive or something? I do have another laptop, but it's through work so I don't have admin rights on it.
    Cauld wrote: »
    I want to upgrade the ram on my laptop. I'm relatively certain I have 1 ram slot total with an 8GB chip and that the ram isn't soldered in. What i'm less sure on is which ram would be best for me. I have a Lenovo Ideapad 720s-14IKB. The very helpful Crucial website lists 3 different compatible 16GB ram modules (all out of stock) that are all roughly the same price.

    Somewhat related, but how difficult would it be to swap out the harddrive? I assume I'd need to clone the drive or something? I do have another laptop, but it's through work so I don't have admin rights on it.

    The internet tells me your ram is DDR4 SODIMM 2400Mhz. Realistically any DDR4 laptop ram will work. You should try to find 2400mhz ram just to make it as fast as possible, but honestly for most use you wont' notice a difference between 2400 and something like 2133. regardless, a quick look on newegg gives lots of 16GB DDR4 modules. Here's just one example that looks ok

    https://www.newegg.com/crucial-16gb-260-pin-ddr4-so-dimm/p/0RN-0005-000Z4

    The laptop also has a m.2 NVMe SSD, so basically any NVMe SSD will work in it. As for cloning it, most SSD's you buy will come with software that will let you clone it fairly easily, you just need to be able to interface the new SSD with the laptop.

    Here's a random SSD, a WD Blue. https://www.newegg.com/western-digital-blue-sn550-nvme-1tb/p/N82E16820250135?Description=nvme ssd 1tb&cm_re=nvme_ssd_1tb-_-20-250-135-_-Product

    Here's an external enclosure that works with a m.2 NVMe SSD.

    https://www.newegg.com/p/0ZK-08UH-03SY1?Description=usb nvme ssd&cm_re=usb_nvme_ssd-_-9SIAMYSBBY9221-_-Product

    Basically the concept is you take the new drive, stick it into that enclosure, plug it into your laptop, and use the cloning software that came with the drive to make a copy. you then turn the laptop off, take out old SSD, install new SSD, and turn the computer on, and you're done.

    And then with that enclosure, you get the added bonus of being able to use the old SSD as an external SSD storage device.

    Thank you, that's very helpful! Is there any benefit to getting DDR4-2666 or 3200 vs the 2400 it currently has?

    The maximum ram speed your laptop appears to support is 2400. You could buy a 2633 stick and put it in but it'll cap at 2400 speed.

    wunderbar on
    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • SeptusSeptus Registered User regular
    I should have done a bit more price research early on, some of the spec combos are infuriating. It's ridiculously expensive to get a Dell XPS with a touchscreen and 16gb of ram, so I think the only Dell option for me would be the 2019 model(16:9 ratio unfortunately) with 8gb Ram for $929.

    The surface 3 with 16gb, and a Thinkpad Carbon X1 with 16b both hover right around $1600. However, I'm a little concerned about the many reports of sudden screen cracks on the Surface, likely due to removing a thin, absorptive outside layer on the screen.

    Questions:
    How much RAM do I need? I assume for today, 8gb is fine for streaming, web browsing, really basic home computing, and the occasional working from home running Excel with large data sets(which is slow even on my work computer). But, I really *hate* seeing significant slowdown on devices over time with OS power creep, and I assume one of the better ways to futureproof there is to buy up on RAM, but maybe that slowdown overtime is largely inevitable?

    What am I missing here with this seemingly crazy low price for an Asus Zenbook Flip? I'm seeing at least reasonably good reviews for them, and for the Asus brand in general, and this thing is a 15.6 inch 4k 2-in-1 with 16gb RAM and a 1tb drive. It seems awfully good even for the non-sale price.

    PSN: Kurahoshi1
  • CaedwyrCaedwyr Registered User regular
    As best I can tell, it's an in-between laptop. It is on the pricey side for 2-in-1 flipbooks, but has an underpowered GPU for full on gaming or more serious ultrabook laptops.

    https://www.techradar.com/reviews/asus-zenbook-flip-15

    There were some complaints about the keyboard being cramped.

    If you are going for a full on desktop replacement, you may find this a bit on the underpowered side depending on what you are planning on doing with it. If you are looking for a portable 2-in-1, this might be the perfect computer.

    For reference regarding pricing, I got this computer for $600 CAD including tax during the 2019 Black Friday sales. It's great for wordprocessing/basic office tasks. It has a decent webcam and speakers. The screen is all I really need. However, gamingwise, I am pretty much restricted to older games since it is lacking a dedicated GPU. Civilization IV and similar turn-based games are fine. The latest Tomb Raider game, probably not as much.

    The other thing, is unless you hold your screen really close to your face, you likely won't notice a huge difference between a 4k screen and a 1440p screen.

  • SeptusSeptus Registered User regular
    Hmm, most of the decent 2-in-1s I've seen with 16gb of RAM have been at least 1,100, and this has an i7 chip and a good display. My wife does think she'd be fairly likely to watch movies in bed with this, and surely this is way better than a standard 1920x1080 FHD display which is what I'd get if I end up with the X1 Yoga. It does occupy a weird in-between space, but I also don't know that I need the laptop to excel at one particular thing. I feel like I'm most concerned by the lack of information about it. I see all sorts of reviews about the Surface, and Thinkpads in general, and not a lot about Asus Zenbooks, and for this model/line in particular, so I don't know what I don't know.

    I don't think I've seen any comments(recently) in the recommendations here to avoid Intel at all cost and go with AMD due to fears of the spectre vulnerability, and I generally haven't either with laptop reviews. Are people feeling mostly ok with continuing with Intel as long as you stay on top of software patches? It's certainly hard to find enticing laptops if I only look for AMD.

    PSN: Kurahoshi1
  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    Septus wrote: »
    Hmm, most of the decent 2-in-1s I've seen with 16gb of RAM have been at least 1,100, and this has an i7 chip and a good display. My wife does think she'd be fairly likely to watch movies in bed with this, and surely this is way better than a standard 1920x1080 FHD display which is what I'd get if I end up with the X1 Yoga. It does occupy a weird in-between space, but I also don't know that I need the laptop to excel at one particular thing. I feel like I'm most concerned by the lack of information about it. I see all sorts of reviews about the Surface, and Thinkpads in general, and not a lot about Asus Zenbooks, and for this model/line in particular, so I don't know what I don't know.

    I don't think I've seen any comments(recently) in the recommendations here to avoid Intel at all cost and go with AMD due to fears of the spectre vulnerability, and I generally haven't either with laptop reviews. Are people feeling mostly ok with continuing with Intel as long as you stay on top of software patches? It's certainly hard to find enticing laptops if I only look for AMD.

    New intel processors have all the mitigations built in. And regardless, there are probably easier things to exploit than spectre/meltdown anyway.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • SeptusSeptus Registered User regular
    I went with the Lenovo Thinkpad yoga, and I can post impressions later. Does anyone have thoughts on what I need for security? I've had some recommendations that Windows Defender is enough, although years ago Avast was also recommended as a good free option, but I'm not sure if it's necessary.

    Also, any thoughts on 1Pass vs LastPass vs Dashlane, and the general concept of choosing a service where the data isn't stored on servers and you have to do the syncing yourself?

    Also also, how should I interpret certain game system requirements, like Processor: "2 GHz dual core", with more recent intel i5 chips with the turbo boost(1.7 ghz, up to 3.6ghz) for intel chips, and Graphics: "Hardware Accelerated Graphics with dedicated memory 1GB memory recommended", with integrated intel graphics, and I'm not sure what the applicable memory would be?

    PSN: Kurahoshi1
  • MercadeMercade Registered User regular
    Any thoughts on the newest Dell Inspiron 15 7000? Looking for a desktop replacement-ish machine around the $800-1k price point that can do some light to medium gaming (WoW Classic, rando Steam stuff) but doesn’t look like a gaming laptop. It’s got a 1050 (meh) but I’m reading it can be bumped up to a 1650 but I can’t confirm it. Design, performance and reliability are more important than portability or battery life for me.

    Switch: SW-1909-0466-9585
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