Overall happy with it so far and I was especially surprised it came with zero bloatware. The only thing I had to uninstall was a office 365 trial and McAfee.
Does that include Lenovo utilities? Some would call those bloatware if they take over certain settings from Windows.
My old ass Y15 (I got the model number wrong) had stuff like a "driver manager" and such that I really don't need.
Overall happy with it so far and I was especially surprised it came with zero bloatware. The only thing I had to uninstall was a office 365 trial and McAfee.
Does that include Lenovo utilities? Some would call those bloatware if they take over certain settings from Windows.
My old ass Y15 (I got the model number wrong) had stuff like a "driver manager" and such that I really don't need.
There is something called "lenovo vantage" but it seems unobtrusive (not even a system tray icon) and inside there seems to be actually useful config options so I wouldn't toss it in the bloatware category.
My last laptop was an xps 13 and I had to remove a bunch of dell bullshit (i only left the driver update manager) so this was a pleasant surprise.
Hell, it didn't even have the default windows shit you get from a windows install like candy crush and netflix and all that stuff.
I will say going from a 13" screen to a 17" screen is pretty jarring. Feels like this thing is massive.
Plopping down 17" of laptop in a coffee shop always makes me feel a bit weird. They are not small. Even the difference from 15" feels enormous; from 13" it must be just bizarre feeling.
So new laptop question, again. I've got my battery set to balanced so it stops charging between 50% and 60% and have the lid closing set to Sleep even when plugged in.
The last few nights I've closed the lid when it's at 60% (full as far as my battery conservation is concerned) and then turned it on the next day to find out it's at 0%. I ran a battery report and for some reason the battery flicked back on at 0300 and then ran straight until dead around 0430.
I looked around the internet and turned off 'Fast Start' which apparently is a common culprit for rebooting the computer while asleep and then running until dead.
Anything else I could change to prevent this from happening?
Oh, the battery report checked out the same for full capacity as available so I think the battery is still good as is.
Overall happy with it so far and I was especially surprised it came with zero bloatware. The only thing I had to uninstall was a office 365 trial and McAfee.
Does that include Lenovo utilities? Some would call those bloatware if they take over certain settings from Windows.
My old ass Y15 (I got the model number wrong) had stuff like a "driver manager" and such that I really don't need.
There is something called "lenovo vantage" but it seems unobtrusive (not even a system tray icon) and inside there seems to be actually useful config options so I wouldn't toss it in the bloatware category.
My last laptop was an xps 13 and I had to remove a bunch of dell bullshit (i only left the driver update manager) so this was a pleasant surprise.
Hell, it didn't even have the default windows shit you get from a windows install like candy crush and netflix and all that stuff.
I will say going from a 13" screen to a 17" screen is pretty jarring. Feels like this thing is massive.
I agree with you on lenovo vantage. I'm sure some of the options and whatnot are available in standard windows settings, but I've had a tough time finding them in the past.
Been poking around my new MSI and had some random questions.
1. It comes with an active Intel HD Graphics card and then the GTX 2080, do I or should I disable the Intel card to make sure everything is using the better GTX card?
2. It has an Intel and nVidia, and Realtek audio listings in the device manager, should I disable one or all?
3. Why is the processor listed multiple times in the Device Manager?
Been poking around my new MSI and had some random questions.
1. It comes with an active Intel HD Graphics card and then the GTX 2080, do I or should I disable the Intel card to make sure everything is using the better GTX card?
2. It has an Intel and nVidia, and Realtek audio listings in the device manager, should I disable one or all?
3. Why is the processor listed multiple times in the Device Manager?
Do not disable the intel gpu. Nvidia has some dark sorcery that uses the intel gpu instead of the full gpu when you're not doing anything that requires gpu horsepower to extend battery life. It should handle switching automatically and transparently.
The audio listings should stay the way they are. They are listed to enable HDMI audio output.
The processor should have a listing in device manager for each core (or each thread if it's got HT).
Been poking around my new MSI and had some random questions.
1. It comes with an active Intel HD Graphics card and then the GTX 2080, do I or should I disable the Intel card to make sure everything is using the better GTX card?
2. It has an Intel and nVidia, and Realtek audio listings in the device manager, should I disable one or all?
3. Why is the processor listed multiple times in the Device Manager?
Do not disable the intel gpu. Nvidia has some dark sorcery that uses the intel gpu instead of the full gpu when you're not doing anything that requires gpu horsepower to extend battery life. It should handle switching automatically and transparently.
The audio listings should stay the way they are. They are listed to enable HDMI audio output.
The processor should have a listing in device manager for each core (or each thread if it's got HT).
Thank you so much @LD50. I opened up the 'nVidia Control Center' which was...entirely empty other than the PhysX and 3d settings, but I was able to turn on the little monitor to see that yes, it was switching over to my discrete graphics card when I opened Steam so that was nice to know.
Seems unnecessary to to have a separate listing for each core, but whatever I guess?
I keep opening my laptop (which should have been in Sleep Mode per my power setting) to a dead battery so I ran another Battery Report and found out that for whatever reason the thing was waking up around 0200 so I went through Device Manager and turned off every thing that could wake it from sleep and disabled automatic Windows Update from the Task Scheduler.
Cursory Googling showed that a lot of people have that issue with Windows 10 Laptops which seems super dumb?
Mine's woken up at like 4:45am a couple of times. Once it did it not a couple of minutes after I put it to sleep again. But it's certainly not a regular occurrence.
An old laptop of mine (that had Vista on it) sometimes liked waking up out of sleep in my laptop bag, when I was otherwise preoccupied at my then work. Whereupon the lack of ventilation would get it to try to cook itself.
This really should not be a goddamn problem any more, but, you know...
Current laptop: HP ENVY dv6, 3rd gen(?) i7, 16GB RAM, 750 GB HDD, Nvidia Geforce GT 630M (2GB)
The A key is dead so I need to replace the keyboard, and the hard drive is beginning its slow death. Not sure if it's worth it to repair the laptop or look at getting a new one. My primary gaming system is a desktop so I don't need anything super beefy gaming wise, I just want something reliable and fast with good hard drive space that can handle 20 year old RTS games and web development. And like, Plex, I guess. I got this thing secondhand from a college professor for $400 so my idea of what laptops cost is heavily skewed, hah.
Having just dropped nearly 2 grand on my desktop, I really don't want to break the bank on this.
If anything comparable is too expensive I'm looking at just buying a SATA SSD, but in that case I need suggestions on how to easily clone my current drive to the new one.
My mum has an old Dell Latitude E4300 with Windows 7. It's a bit slow now, but it's still trucking along - even the battery is still going. I'm going to have to upgrade it to Windows 10 since 7 is going EOL in the next month... hopefully that'll go off without a hitch. It just might take all day to do...
Upgrading from 7 to 10 with a valid key is still free, right?
My mum has an old Dell Latitude E4300 with Windows 7. It's a bit slow now, but it's still trucking along - even the battery is still going. I'm going to have to upgrade it to Windows 10 since 7 is going EOL in the next month... hopefully that'll go off without a hitch. It just might take all day to do...
Upgrading from 7 to 10 with a valid key is still free, right?
So getting ready to go on my first trip with my new gaming laptop with a 17” screen (19” total laptop size), and I realize it doesn’t really fit in my laptop backpack that I use for work (at least not with anything else in it).
And suggestions? The largest I’m seeing looking on amazon only hold a 17”
So getting ready to go on my first trip with my new gaming laptop with a 17” screen (19” total laptop size), and I realize it doesn’t really fit in my laptop backpack that I use for work (at least not with anything else in it).
And suggestions? The largest I’m seeing looking on amazon only hold a 17”
I had a similar problem; my Alienware 17 R4 is bigger than the previously-traditional 17" laptop form factor, which made my previous bag useless. It's closer in size to older 18" laptops when they were a thing. Eventually I found this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01HSZW778/
It's still a tight squeeze, especially closing the zipper around the top corners of the laptop when it's inside, but it does fit. And with room for the massive PSU and every other accessory I could think of with room to spare. It's a big backpack but it's far more subtle than an Alienware branded one, which makes me feel more comfortable lugging it in public, and does the job super well.
This one worked for my giant ASUS ROG 17.6", it had a pretty big bevel on it as well. It fit, but only just. I can't recall the model to see what the physical size was though, sorry.
Current laptop: HP ENVY dv6, 3rd gen(?) i7, 16GB RAM, 750 GB HDD, Nvidia Geforce GT 630M (2GB)
The A key is dead so I need to replace the keyboard, and the hard drive is beginning its slow death. Not sure if it's worth it to repair the laptop or look at getting a new one. My primary gaming system is a desktop so I don't need anything super beefy gaming wise, I just want something reliable and fast with good hard drive space that can handle 20 year old RTS games and web development. And like, Plex, I guess. I got this thing secondhand from a college professor for $400 so my idea of what laptops cost is heavily skewed, hah.
Having just dropped nearly 2 grand on my desktop, I really don't want to break the bank on this.
If anything comparable is too expensive I'm looking at just buying a SATA SSD, but in that case I need suggestions on how to easily clone my current drive to the new one.
IIRC many SSDs come with software to clone the old drives, at least from the bigger manufacturers. There are lots of 3rd party apps out there that will do it as well.
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HeatwaveCome, now, and walk the path of explosions with me!Registered Userregular
edited December 2019
My Sister wants a new laptop for work.
She has a remote desktop set up on her current old laptop so she can work from home some days, but it can't extend the screen when using an additional monitor.
Not sure what the issue is stopping her, but her work's IT guy apparently hasn't been much help.
Is there a hardware or software component required for a laptop to extend the screen in a remote desktop?
Anyway, I was thinking of getting her this laptop
Asus FX505DT-AL043T 15.6" FHD R7-3750H Laptop as it's on sale and within my budget. Plus she likes the light up keyboard. Would this get the job done for dual remote access display?
EDIT:
Actually looking at the issue online and maybe its due to the operating system on either her laptop or her work's computers.
Going to try to get her to do follow this video to see if she can get it to work
So my ancient piece of junk budget Dell laptop finally died today, nothing I could do was able to resurrect it, but I wasn't too fussed about it because even when I got it the machine was a terrible disappointment. I had been looking at Chromebooks for a while now so I got a reasonably high end Chromebook (tired of the utter garbage performance of budget laptops) and so far I am really liking it. Assuming no hardware failure, this one should be capable of what I want out of it for quite some time to come, and it also has a touchscreen and can fold over into tablet mode which is handy. Anybody have experience with Chromebooks that has any advice for somebody new to them?
Thinking about getting a deal I saw on SlickDeals today. HP x360 with specs in line to what I've been desiring.
Core i7
16GB
512GB NVMe
Touch and w/ pen
$665
The question is, I can opt for $70 more to get a Radeon 535 w/ 2GB instead of Intel UHD. Worth it?
Minimal gaming. Maybe Minecraft and some older Steam games I've been holding onto for a while. I really don't get to game much anymore.
My XoticPC Valkyrie is doing something odd. Some games (Deep Rock Galactic and Monster Hunter World) will initlaly run very poorly as if the GPU is not working. Upon restarting games, they will run smoothly.
My XoticPC Valkyrie is doing something odd. Some games (Deep Rock Galactic and Monster Hunter World) will initlaly run very poorly as if the GPU is not working. Upon restarting games, they will run smoothly.
That is a laptop, yes? Most laptop setups will switch between dedicated and integrated graphics depending on the application. If you are getting poor performance, it may be choosing the wrong GPU by default. If it is an nvidia gpu, you can open up the nvidia control panel (not geforce experience), choose the program in the 3d settings tab, and set the default device to the dedicated gpu.
I am using a HP ZBook 14u Gen 5 with a mobile connection (build in LTE modem). If I try to enable the Hotspot in Windows 10 I get the error message "To share your connection, you need to add this feature to your cellular data plan first." Hotspot works fine in other devices (mobile phone etc.). I also entered the carrier APN details in the celluar options. Google is failing me, maybe the error message is bullshit and Windows simply fails to start a hosted WLAN.
I am using a HP ZBook 14u Gen 5 with a mobile connection (build in LTE modem). If I try to enable the Hotspot in Windows 10 I get the error message "To share your connection, you need to add this feature to your cellular data plan first." Hotspot works fine in other devices (mobile phone etc.). I also entered the carrier APN details in the celluar options. Google is failing me, maybe the error message is bullshit and Windows simply fails to start a hosted WLAN.
Do you have the same problem if you try a third party program like Connectify?
Just made a post in Help/Advice before it occurred to me to check here. Here's the basics:
Current laptop is a Gen1 Surface Pro. When I bought it I had money to throw around, and just sort of selected all the best options and assumed that would get me a pretty decent rig. It turned out to be a really good device, but eight years later it's looking pretty beat up, and that was a profoundly stupid way to go about purchasing it. I still use it all the time as an art tablet, but I'm in the market for a new primary laptop.
Here's the haphazard list of desires I've cobbled together from my position of profound ignorance:
- Budget around $800, but that's not set in stone.
- Windows device. Not interested in a Mac right now.
- Not a tablet/laptop hybrid or touchscreen device. For the few things where I use that functionality, my Surface still works.
- Weight: light is obviously nice, but if it's a little heavier that won't kill me. This will probably be used mostly at home, and doesn't need to be super portable.
- I strongly prefer not to have to assemble anything. That's never worked out well for me.
- Device primary purpose: Writing. A wider keyboard would be nice, but not mandatory. I've honestly been doing all right with the little Surface magnetic keyboard attachment for years.
- Secondary purpose: Audio transmission/recording. I do a crapload of online RPGs, and have been talking for ages about recording/uploading a game as a podcast. My surface just doesn't like a lot of headsets, and I've been running all audio for games off of my phone.
- Tertiary purpose: Some gaming, but not much. I mostly play on consoles. It would be nice to be able to take my FF14 account places without my PS4 though.
- Two or more USB ports would sure be good.
- Ethernet jack would also be nice. I don't trust wifi-only devices any more, especially after my Surface went through a three year span where every fucking windows update would break the wireless drivers.
- A CD drive would be cool, because I've got a shitload of old music that I'd like to transfer to my ipod? But I can get an external if needed.
Realizing lately that I don't really trust or respect basically any of the moderators here. So, good luck with life, friends! Hit me up on Twitter @DesertLeviathan
Try various models of these:
MSI GS or GE series
Lenovo LEGION series (the X1 Carbon could be a contender, but it's a smaller form factor and could be outside your price point)
Dell Inspiron 15 3000-series
Dell XPS series (could be beyond your price point)
Most laptops don't have CD drives anymore, but thanks to USB 3, external drives are very capable
Try to get a SSD in it if possible
Example: I have about a 7 year old Lenovo Y50 that would check most of these boxes for you (in fact, I used it to play WoW on the road for work for years)
If you're really concerned with audio issues, you can buy an external DAC/sound card that plugs in via USB which would solve most of your problems.
I'm looking to get a new laptop for mostly light work, but also for remoting in and some local development work. My only hard requirements are a 15ish inch screen and an SSD. Good build quality and reliability would be my two main concerns along with a decent keyboard. Gaming would be a bonus. Also, I'm in Canada so would prefer to buy here to avoid surprise border fees, but it's not a requirement.
Google tells me that Dell and HP are two of the top brands for laptops. Is this true or should I be open to any brand I've heard of before?
I think that the internet has been for years on the path to creating what is essentially an electronic Necronomicon: A collection of blasphemous unrealities so perverse that to even glimpse at its contents, if but for a moment, is to irrevocably forfeit a portion of your sanity.
Xbox - PearlBlueS0ul, Steam
If you ever need to talk to someone, feel free to message me. Yes, that includes you.
I have a personal stance against HP even though the laptop I use at work is an HP. I don't feel the reliability is very high, but the last personal HP I owned was probably a decade ago.
I'm not sure the price point in Canada, but I know the Lenovo X1 Carbon is sold at Costco and it would fit in nicely to your needs (depending on what light gaming you intend; I don't remember if the Carbons have non-integrated GPUs). I've also had amazing experiences with Thinkpads.
last few laptops I've bought have been lenovos and I've been happy. If you're not sure what you want, I suggest you buy at costco. I believe they're one of the few places with free returns on laptops.
The Lenovo X1 Carbons are going for like $2000 Canadabux right now, though they were cheaper earlier this year. For pricing, I'd like to keep it under $1000 CAD.
Guess I'll try to talk myself out of the only laptop in that price range with a decent video card and focus on build quality.
I think that the internet has been for years on the path to creating what is essentially an electronic Necronomicon: A collection of blasphemous unrealities so perverse that to even glimpse at its contents, if but for a moment, is to irrevocably forfeit a portion of your sanity.
Xbox - PearlBlueS0ul, Steam
If you ever need to talk to someone, feel free to message me. Yes, that includes you.
I discovered I gained a shit ton of performance when setting my laptop on a 3 ring binder (this was originally for posture surfaces.) Despite having the laptop on an ordinary Ikea table, Monster Hunter World ran like shit.
Note that I do have a cooling stand, but I can't use it at this time. My precious third USB slot was physically damaged during a vacation in Spain.
-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Hey guys, some advice. My fiancee is looking at getting a laptop so she can do some light gaming as well as web browsing/youtube/etc. Light gaming is pretty limited to The Sims 4. She's looking specifically at one laptop -an MSI Prestige 14. Despite owning a gaming laptop, my knowledge on this is pretty limited, since my gaming laptop is built very differently to a thin notebook with thermals designed around, well, gaming, so thermals and such are going to be very different. Is this thing going to be sufficient? It's got an I7-10710U and 16gb of RAM, so it's no slouch, but the 4GB 1650GTX MAX-Q combined with its smaller form factor is making me think it might have issues with gaming, specifically thermal throttling.
I currently have a Dell laptop with an i5-7300HQ and a 1050 Ti max-q, and 8 gigs of RAM.
I'm looking to upgrade at some point relatively soon.
I am not tied to Dell, but outside of an ASUS ROG laptop that I had years ago I have not dealt with other laptop brands. What are some recommendations for brands mostly?
1080p on this laptop would be fine, I use it mostly for travel and let the kids play on it sometimes. Nothing seriously demanding, but CP 2077 is coming up, I'd like to be able to run it well on this machine.
Posts
Does that include Lenovo utilities? Some would call those bloatware if they take over certain settings from Windows.
My old ass Y15 (I got the model number wrong) had stuff like a "driver manager" and such that I really don't need.
There is something called "lenovo vantage" but it seems unobtrusive (not even a system tray icon) and inside there seems to be actually useful config options so I wouldn't toss it in the bloatware category.
My last laptop was an xps 13 and I had to remove a bunch of dell bullshit (i only left the driver update manager) so this was a pleasant surprise.
Hell, it didn't even have the default windows shit you get from a windows install like candy crush and netflix and all that stuff.
I will say going from a 13" screen to a 17" screen is pretty jarring. Feels like this thing is massive.
Steam | XBL
The last few nights I've closed the lid when it's at 60% (full as far as my battery conservation is concerned) and then turned it on the next day to find out it's at 0%. I ran a battery report and for some reason the battery flicked back on at 0300 and then ran straight until dead around 0430.
I looked around the internet and turned off 'Fast Start' which apparently is a common culprit for rebooting the computer while asleep and then running until dead.
Anything else I could change to prevent this from happening?
Oh, the battery report checked out the same for full capacity as available so I think the battery is still good as is.
I agree with you on lenovo vantage. I'm sure some of the options and whatnot are available in standard windows settings, but I've had a tough time finding them in the past.
1. It comes with an active Intel HD Graphics card and then the GTX 2080, do I or should I disable the Intel card to make sure everything is using the better GTX card?
2. It has an Intel and nVidia, and Realtek audio listings in the device manager, should I disable one or all?
3. Why is the processor listed multiple times in the Device Manager?
Do not disable the intel gpu. Nvidia has some dark sorcery that uses the intel gpu instead of the full gpu when you're not doing anything that requires gpu horsepower to extend battery life. It should handle switching automatically and transparently.
The audio listings should stay the way they are. They are listed to enable HDMI audio output.
The processor should have a listing in device manager for each core (or each thread if it's got HT).
Thank you so much @LD50. I opened up the 'nVidia Control Center' which was...entirely empty other than the PhysX and 3d settings, but I was able to turn on the little monitor to see that yes, it was switching over to my discrete graphics card when I opened Steam so that was nice to know.
Seems unnecessary to to have a separate listing for each core, but whatever I guess?
I keep opening my laptop (which should have been in Sleep Mode per my power setting) to a dead battery so I ran another Battery Report and found out that for whatever reason the thing was waking up around 0200 so I went through Device Manager and turned off every thing that could wake it from sleep and disabled automatic Windows Update from the Task Scheduler.
Cursory Googling showed that a lot of people have that issue with Windows 10 Laptops which seems super dumb?
An old laptop of mine (that had Vista on it) sometimes liked waking up out of sleep in my laptop bag, when I was otherwise preoccupied at my then work. Whereupon the lack of ventilation would get it to try to cook itself.
This really should not be a goddamn problem any more, but, you know...
Steam | XBL
The A key is dead so I need to replace the keyboard, and the hard drive is beginning its slow death. Not sure if it's worth it to repair the laptop or look at getting a new one. My primary gaming system is a desktop so I don't need anything super beefy gaming wise, I just want something reliable and fast with good hard drive space that can handle 20 year old RTS games and web development. And like, Plex, I guess. I got this thing secondhand from a college professor for $400 so my idea of what laptops cost is heavily skewed, hah.
Having just dropped nearly 2 grand on my desktop, I really don't want to break the bank on this.
If anything comparable is too expensive I'm looking at just buying a SATA SSD, but in that case I need suggestions on how to easily clone my current drive to the new one.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
Upgrading from 7 to 10 with a valid key is still free, right?
Steam | XBL
yep.
And suggestions? The largest I’m seeing looking on amazon only hold a 17”
I had a similar problem; my Alienware 17 R4 is bigger than the previously-traditional 17" laptop form factor, which made my previous bag useless. It's closer in size to older 18" laptops when they were a thing. Eventually I found this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01HSZW778/
It's still a tight squeeze, especially closing the zipper around the top corners of the laptop when it's inside, but it does fit. And with room for the massive PSU and every other accessory I could think of with room to spare. It's a big backpack but it's far more subtle than an Alienware branded one, which makes me feel more comfortable lugging it in public, and does the job super well.
Steam | XBL
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001BHQSCK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
IIRC many SSDs come with software to clone the old drives, at least from the bigger manufacturers. There are lots of 3rd party apps out there that will do it as well.
She has a remote desktop set up on her current old laptop so she can work from home some days, but it can't extend the screen when using an additional monitor.
Not sure what the issue is stopping her, but her work's IT guy apparently hasn't been much help.
Is there a hardware or software component required for a laptop to extend the screen in a remote desktop?
Anyway, I was thinking of getting her this laptop
Asus FX505DT-AL043T 15.6" FHD R7-3750H Laptop as it's on sale and within my budget. Plus she likes the light up keyboard. Would this get the job done for dual remote access display?
EDIT:
Actually looking at the issue online and maybe its due to the operating system on either her laptop or her work's computers.
Going to try to get her to do follow this video to see if she can get it to work
Still want to get her the laptop but it'd be great to know she'll be able to use multiple monitors with it for her work
EDIT:
Sister advised she uses forticlient and isn't able to connect using mstsc/span or have the option to enter settings to enable multi monitor use.
Could this be an access issue she needs from work?
Steam / Origin & Wii U: Heatwave111 / FC: 4227-1965-3206 / Battle.net: Heatwave#11356
Core i7
16GB
512GB NVMe
Touch and w/ pen
$665
The question is, I can opt for $70 more to get a Radeon 535 w/ 2GB instead of Intel UHD. Worth it?
Minimal gaming. Maybe Minecraft and some older Steam games I've been holding onto for a while. I really don't get to game much anymore.
That bad, huh? I figured the 2GB GDDR5 would do something at least.
That is a laptop, yes? Most laptop setups will switch between dedicated and integrated graphics depending on the application. If you are getting poor performance, it may be choosing the wrong GPU by default. If it is an nvidia gpu, you can open up the nvidia control panel (not geforce experience), choose the program in the 3d settings tab, and set the default device to the dedicated gpu.
Do you have the same problem if you try a third party program like Connectify?
Current laptop is a Gen1 Surface Pro. When I bought it I had money to throw around, and just sort of selected all the best options and assumed that would get me a pretty decent rig. It turned out to be a really good device, but eight years later it's looking pretty beat up, and that was a profoundly stupid way to go about purchasing it. I still use it all the time as an art tablet, but I'm in the market for a new primary laptop.
Here's the haphazard list of desires I've cobbled together from my position of profound ignorance:
- Budget around $800, but that's not set in stone.
- Windows device. Not interested in a Mac right now.
- Not a tablet/laptop hybrid or touchscreen device. For the few things where I use that functionality, my Surface still works.
- Weight: light is obviously nice, but if it's a little heavier that won't kill me. This will probably be used mostly at home, and doesn't need to be super portable.
- I strongly prefer not to have to assemble anything. That's never worked out well for me.
- Device primary purpose: Writing. A wider keyboard would be nice, but not mandatory. I've honestly been doing all right with the little Surface magnetic keyboard attachment for years.
- Secondary purpose: Audio transmission/recording. I do a crapload of online RPGs, and have been talking for ages about recording/uploading a game as a podcast. My surface just doesn't like a lot of headsets, and I've been running all audio for games off of my phone.
- Tertiary purpose: Some gaming, but not much. I mostly play on consoles. It would be nice to be able to take my FF14 account places without my PS4 though.
- Two or more USB ports would sure be good.
- Ethernet jack would also be nice. I don't trust wifi-only devices any more, especially after my Surface went through a three year span where every fucking windows update would break the wireless drivers.
- A CD drive would be cool, because I've got a shitload of old music that I'd like to transfer to my ipod? But I can get an external if needed.
Try various models of these:
MSI GS or GE series
Lenovo LEGION series (the X1 Carbon could be a contender, but it's a smaller form factor and could be outside your price point)
Dell Inspiron 15 3000-series
Dell XPS series (could be beyond your price point)
Most laptops don't have CD drives anymore, but thanks to USB 3, external drives are very capable
Try to get a SSD in it if possible
Example: I have about a 7 year old Lenovo Y50 that would check most of these boxes for you (in fact, I used it to play WoW on the road for work for years)
If you're really concerned with audio issues, you can buy an external DAC/sound card that plugs in via USB which would solve most of your problems.
Google tells me that Dell and HP are two of the top brands for laptops. Is this true or should I be open to any brand I've heard of before?
Costco has this one for $850 CAD. Thoughts?
Ryzen 3750H
512 GB SSD
8 GB RAM
GTX 1650 vid card
If you ever need to talk to someone, feel free to message me. Yes, that includes you.
I'm not sure the price point in Canada, but I know the Lenovo X1 Carbon is sold at Costco and it would fit in nicely to your needs (depending on what light gaming you intend; I don't remember if the Carbons have non-integrated GPUs). I've also had amazing experiences with Thinkpads.
Guess I'll try to talk myself out of the only laptop in that price range with a decent video card and focus on build quality.
If you ever need to talk to someone, feel free to message me. Yes, that includes you.
Note that I do have a cooling stand, but I can't use it at this time. My precious third USB slot was physically damaged during a vacation in Spain.
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.
I'm looking to upgrade at some point relatively soon.
I am not tied to Dell, but outside of an ASUS ROG laptop that I had years ago I have not dealt with other laptop brands. What are some recommendations for brands mostly?
1080p on this laptop would be fine, I use it mostly for travel and let the kids play on it sometimes. Nothing seriously demanding, but CP 2077 is coming up, I'd like to be able to run it well on this machine.
Dell/Alienware
Lenovo
MSI
Asus
Samsung makes decent Chromebooks but I don't know how well their laptops hold up.