Laptop Recommendations?

4Q Basket Case · Feb 1, 2018

I'm in the market for a new laptop, PC, not Mac.

Interested in a screen of at least 15 inches, 1TB hard drive, loaded with MS-Office. Will need an external CD / DVD drive, maybe Blu-Ray.

I'm far from a power user, and not a gamer, so I don't need lightning speed. Memory is for a lot of music.

So long as it's a laptop, weight isn't a huge issue. Reliability is an issue, and I don't mind paying a bit extra to get it.

Budget is $2-2.5K.

I have a recommendation from a knowledgeable source for the Dell XPS series.

Any thoughts out there?

Jon · Feb 1, 2018

4Q Basket Case said:
I'm in the market for a new laptop, PC, not Mac.

Interested in a screen of at least 15 inches, 1TB hard drive, loaded with MS-Office. Will need an external CD / DVD drive, maybe Blu-Ray.

I'm far from a power user, and not a gamer, so I don't need lightning speed. Memory is for a lot of music.

So long as it's a laptop, weight isn't a huge issue. Reliability is an issue, and I don't mind paying a bit extra to get it.

Budget is $2-2.5K.

I have a recommendation from a knowledgeable source for the Dell XPS series.

Any thoughts out there?

I love my Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon

BamaSC · Feb 1, 2018

I have an XPS-15 for work. It is really nice and in your price range. It does not have a built-in optical drive and I'm not sure there are many (if any) laptops that come with them anymore.

gman4tide · Feb 1, 2018

I'm looking for a replacement for the wife's laptop also. My budget isn't near that high though. Gonna follow this.

DzynKingRTR · Feb 1, 2018

Dell isn't as good as it used to be.

https://www.asus.com/us/

Jon · Feb 1, 2018

gman4tide said:
I'm looking for a replacement for the wife's laptop also. My budget isn't near that high though. Gonna follow this.

what does she use it for? If predominantly browsing the web there are some great Chromebook options. They aren't all cheap crap anymore. My prime personal machine is a Asus Flip C302 Core M3 model, little over 2 pounds 8.5 hour battery convertible touch screen. A fantastic machine for $470 or so, The thinkpad I mentioned above is my work machine.

rolltide_21 · Feb 1, 2018

Thank you for starting this thread. I've been a Mac user for a long time but was thinking about purchasing a new one in the near future. I think I might go away from Mac as I really like Windows 10. I've been using it on a cheap $279 HP lap top at work and it works really well. Here are two that I was looking at:

https://www.amazon.com/ZenBook-UX30...8136&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=asus+zenbook&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-...F8&qid=1517508200&sr=1-8&keywords=lenovo+yoga

Anyone have any experience with these?

Bamaro · Feb 1, 2018

4Q Basket Case said:
I'm in the market for a new laptop, PC, not Mac.

Interested in a screen of at least 15 inches, 1TB hard drive, loaded with MS-Office. Will need an external CD / DVD drive, maybe Blu-Ray.

I'm far from a power user, and not a gamer, so I don't need lightning speed. Memory is for a lot of music.

So long as it's a laptop, weight isn't a huge issue. Reliability is an issue, and I don't mind paying a bit extra to get it.

Budget is $2-2.5K.

I have a recommendation from a knowledgeable source for the Dell XPS series.

Any thoughts out there?

Just wondering if your budget isn't quite a bit too high for what you seem to want to use it for?:conf3:

4Q Basket Case · Feb 1, 2018

DzynKingRTR said:
Dell isn't as good as it used to be.

https://www.asus.com/us/

Thanks for the heads-up. What leads you you to think Asus is better than Dell? Not arguing....just want to understand.

4Q Basket Case · Feb 1, 2018

Bamaro said:
Just wondering if your budget isn't quite a bit too high for what you seem to want to use it for?:conf3:

Thanks for the suggestion. It might be. May be able to save a little money.

DzynKingRTR · Feb 1, 2018

4Q Basket Case said:
Thanks for the heads-up. What leads you you to think Asus is better than Dell? Not arguing....just want to understand.

I have been happy with my current Asus and not so much with my last Dell.

CharminTide · Feb 1, 2018

My Surface Laptop has been rock solid. Like the X1 Carbon, it's only a 14" screen. However, the Surface has a 3:2 aspect ratio, which makes it better for documents and webpages (versus a wider aspect ratio, better suited for movies). The tradeoff is not as many USB ports, so you may have to carry a small hub if you plan to hook several things up at once.

Jon · Feb 1, 2018

CharminTide said:
My Surface Laptop has been rock solid. Like the X1 Carbon, it's only a 14" screen. However, the Surface has a 3:2 aspect ratio, which makes it better for documents and webpages (versus a wider aspect ratio, better suited for movies). The tradeoff is not as many USB ports, so you may have to carry a small hub if you plan to hook several things up at once.

if that was available to me under the corporate specs it would have been my choice

NationalTitles18 · Feb 1, 2018

4Q Basket Case said:
I'm in the market for a new laptop, PC, not Mac.

Interested in a screen of at least 15 inches, 1TB hard drive, loaded with MS-Office. Will need an external CD / DVD drive, maybe Blu-Ray.

I'm far from a power user, and not a gamer, so I don't need lightning speed. Memory is for a lot of music.

So long as it's a laptop, weight isn't a huge issue. Reliability is an issue, and I don't mind paying a bit extra to get it.

Budget is $2-2.5K.

I have a recommendation from a knowledgeable source for the Dell XPS series.

Any thoughts out there?

For $2-2.5k you can get the top of the line gaming laptop with 120hz refresh rate screen all tricked out with spinners.

Doesn't sound like you need that much horsepower.

I'd recommend Intel i7 or AMD Ryzen Mobile processors. Either one will do anything you want and there isn't a hill of beans difference between them.

What matters more is finding a complete platform that meets your needs.

HD monitor? Long battery life? Removable keyboard? What is it you are looking for? What could you live without? What can you not?

Dell quality and service have gone down a lot, but it depends on whom you ask how much that means. I use a Dell i7 laptop for work and have for 2 years now. Good machine.

HP gets criticized - rightfully so at times (wife bought a 2n1 that crapped out on day 2 about 2 years ago). Then again, we have 4 HP laptops ranging from 2-5 years old with AMD CPU's at the house and 2 of those were used for gaming - one heavily and the other some light Civilization. Just replaced the heavy gaming with a desktop (my son and I built it - Fun!). I've had to replace a CPU fan on mine and needed to on the oldest before replacing it. They all still function well.

Asus makes very good quality of anything and has good customer service usually. I am quite hesitant to buy any other motherboard, for instance. My daughter has an Asus laptop from a couple of years ago as well. Going strong so far as I know (she is out on her own now).

Samsung also has some strong products geared toward power users, but don't know about their service of late.

The MS Surface is a flexible and powerful machine. Just be sure to get the latest or close to it with an Intel CPU (not ARM).

For $1-1.5k you can get a high quality reliable full featured 15" laptop without (and sometimes with) a discrete graphics card (with the latest AMD and Intel chips you don't need one anyway for almost anything but the most demanding games).

With the money left update the wife's or put it in the bank.

4Q Basket Case · Feb 2, 2018

NationalTitles17 said:
For $2-2.5k you can get the top of the line gaming laptop with 120hz refresh rate screen all tricked out with spinners.

Doesn't sound like you need that much horsepower.

I'd recommend Intel i7 or AMD Ryzen Mobile processors. Either one will do anything you want and there isn't a hill of beans difference between them.

What matters more is finding a complete platform that meets your needs.

HD monitor? Long battery life? Removable keyboard? What is it you are looking for? What could you live without? What can you not?

Dell quality and service have gone down a lot, but it depends on whom you ask how much that means. I use a Dell i7 laptop for work and have for 2 years now. Good machine.

HP gets criticized - rightfully so at times (wife bought a 2n1 that crapped out on day 2 about 2 years ago). Then again, we have 4 HP laptops ranging from 2-5 years old with AMD CPU's at the house and 2 of those were used for gaming - one heavily and the other some light Civilization. Just replaced the heavy gaming with a desktop (my son and I built it - Fun!). I've had to replace a CPU fan on mine and needed to on the oldest before replacing it. They all still function well.

Asus makes very good quality of anything and has good customer service usually. I am quite hesitant to buy any other motherboard, for instance. My daughter has an Asus laptop from a couple of years ago as well. Going strong so far as I know (she is out on her own now).

Samsung also has some strong products geared toward power users, but don't know about their service of late.

The MS Surface is a flexible and powerful machine. Just be sure to get the latest or close to it with an Intel CPU (not ARM).

For $1-1.5k you can get a high quality reliable full featured 15" laptop without (and sometimes with) a discrete graphics card (with the latest AMD and Intel chips you don't need one anyway for almost anything but the most demanding games).

With the money left update the wife's or put it in the bank.

Excellent suggestions.

After considering Bamaro's point and yours, I still think I might get more machine than I need today. That's because what is top-line today is tomorrow's minimum standard, and I l Ike to keep machines for a while. Current desktop is 5-6 years old, and just now beginning to be inadequate.

Doesn't mean I can't save a few bucks listening to you guys, and there's always the next Chambertin or CDP calling my name. Just have to be careful not so spill on the new machine!

bama_wayne1 · Feb 2, 2018

My home laptop is an Asus. You can pretty much order one any way you would like for that amount of money.

rolltide_21 · Feb 2, 2018

Jon said:
if that was available to me under the corporate specs it would have been my choice

I use a Toshiba Chromebook 2 on a regular basis. I’ve seen where you’re a user. I’ve noticed the Chromebook pro and the pixel Chromebook. Each looks like a big upgrade to the one I have. Are these much improved? If so, how? Interested in your thoughts if you have time to post them.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jon · Feb 2, 2018

rolltide_21 said:
I use a Toshiba Chromebook 2 on a regular basis. I’ve seen where you’re a user. I’ve noticed the Chromebook pro and the pixel Chromebook. Each looks like a big upgrade to the one I have. Are these much improved? If so, how? Interested in your thoughts if you have time to post them.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I looked at the Chromebook pro but not the Pixel when I chose the Asus Flip c302 to upgrade my original Asus Flip C100 (which I gave to my daughter as a replacement for her Toshiba Chromebook 2 ironically)

The Pixel is amazing but overkill and overpriced

the Chromebook pro looked great but I went with the flip for 3 reasons

Backlit keyboard which is nice when using the device at night the Samsung Chromebook pro doesn't offer this

I couldn't get used to the 3:2 screen on the Pro, like 16:9 better and since I never really use the tablet format it doesn't really matter

I loved my flip t100, cheap yet exceptionally well built and absolutely feels far more premium than it costs. The C302 is the same.

To answer your question they are improved from the CB2 but that is still a great device. My daughter changed to the flip because she wanted the touch screen, my wife is still using her CB2 daily and will not upgrade as she sees no need. For me I like the extra horsepower of an intel chip and extra RAM, she doesn't need it. The only other difference is the ability to run Android apps natively which is a really nice feature. I use the Netflix app on mine rather than the browser for instance as it allows me to download Netflix to watch offline. Honestly there is a more powerful version of my C302 and I don't see a need, this thing has handled everything I've thrown at it without missing a beat.

rolltide_21 · Feb 2, 2018

Jon said:
I looked at the Chromebook pro but not the Pixel when I chose the Asus Flip c302 to upgrade my original Asus Flip C100 (which I gave to my daughter as a replacement for her Toshiba Chromebook 2 ironically)

The Pixel is amazing but overkill and overpriced

the Chromebook pro looked great but I went with the flip for 3 reasons

Backlit keyboard which is nice when using the device at night the Samsung Chromebook pro doesn't offer this

I couldn't get used to the 3:2 screen on the Pro, like 16:9 better and since I never really use the tablet format it doesn't really matter

I loved my flip t100, cheap yet exceptionally well built and absolutely feels far more premium than it costs. The C302 is the same.

To answer your question they are improved from the CB2 but that is still a great device. My daughter changed to the flip because she wanted the touch screen, my wife is still using her CB2 daily and will not upgrade as she sees no need. For me I like the extra horsepower of an intel chip and extra RAM, she doesn't need it. The only other difference is the ability to run Android apps natively which is a really nice feature. I use the Netflix app on mine rather than the browser for instance as it allows me to download Netflix to watch offline. Honestly there is a more powerful version of my C302 and I don't see a need, this thing has handled everything I've thrown at it without missing a beat.

Great info. Thanks.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bamaro · Feb 2, 2018

NationalTitles17 said:
For $2-2.5k you can get the top of the line gaming laptop with 120hz refresh rate screen all tricked out with spinners.

Doesn't sound like you need that much horsepower.

I'd recommend Intel i7 or AMD Ryzen Mobile processors. Either one will do anything you want and there isn't a hill of beans difference between them.

What matters more is finding a complete platform that meets your needs.

HD monitor? Long battery life? Removable keyboard? What is it you are looking for? What could you live without? What can you not?

Dell quality and service have gone down a lot, but it depends on whom you ask how much that means. I use a Dell i7 laptop for work and have for 2 years now. Good machine.

HP gets criticized - rightfully so at times (wife bought a 2n1 that crapped out on day 2 about 2 years ago). Then again, we have 4 HP laptops ranging from 2-5 years old with AMD CPU's at the house and 2 of those were used for gaming - one heavily and the other some light Civilization. Just replaced the heavy gaming with a desktop (my son and I built it - Fun!). I've had to replace a CPU fan on mine and needed to on the oldest before replacing it. They all still function well.

Asus makes very good quality of anything and has good customer service usually. I am quite hesitant to buy any other motherboard, for instance. My daughter has an Asus laptop from a couple of years ago as well. Going strong so far as I know (she is out on her own now).

Samsung also has some strong products geared toward power users, but don't know about their service of late.

The MS Surface is a flexible and powerful machine. Just be sure to get the latest or close to it with an Intel CPU (not ARM).

For $1-1.5k you can get a high quality reliable full featured 15" laptop without (and sometimes with) a discrete graphics card (with the latest AMD and Intel chips you don't need one anyway for almost anything but the most demanding games).

With the money left update the wife's or put it in the bank.

Sounds reasonable. Surfing the net, playing music or videos, word, excel, etc dont require as much power as people think. Most times the trouble with older units slowing down is not so much the lack of processing power as it is disk space. The fuller the DASD(disk) is the slower the PC becomes. I'm on an older Toshiba laptop Intel Core i3 and as long as I keep the crap off the DASD my performance remains OK.

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