So I’m in the market for a new laptop. Problem is there are a TON of options and models out there now and I haven’t been paying much attention in the last 8 years since I purchased my last one so I’m a little lost. I do know what I want this time around based on my previous purchases in the past. Order of importance would be:
Display. I want something with a GOOD display. That was the one thing that was lacking on my last purchase and I don’t want to make that mistake again. This is the one area where I’m most lost and need some help with in making a solid choice.
Performance. I want a decent performing machine so no dirt cheap bottom of the barrel stuff. I won’t be gaming on it so I don’t need a maximum effort machine either.
Build quality. My last laptop I had to replace the rear of the shell due to quality issues. I don’t want that to repeat itself so the build quality should be decent.
Storage. I won’t need a lot of storage so this is pretty low on the priority list.
My use case will be getting online when away from home which isn’t that often. Also some media consuming on occasion. The one caveat is it going to fill in as my daily driver for a while as I start a remodeling project and have to put my desktop away for a while. So something with a GOOD display, decent performance and build quality. I don’t have a set budget but I don’t want cheap and I don’t want to break the bank either. I plan on making a purchase soon so please feel free to share your thoughts. If you have specific model recommendations would be very welcome.
I have purchased two laptops in the last 15 months or so. I am not a gamer, and I hook these up to full size monitors when using them at home. Like you I bought them for when we are travelling. I am pretty brand agnostic, and in both cases I wanted a core i5 and 16gb or RAM…more than enough power for what I want to do. I have been generally happy with both of them, with one exception. The lenovo I purchased has a 1920 x 1080 screen resolution, and the Dell I purchased has a 1280 x 720 resolution. I thought the higher screen resolution on the Lenovo would be a plus, but it turns out to be a negative for me. It makes everything too small to see at 100% magnification, and so windows defaults to 150% magnification. The net effect is that you can’t see the entire screen and you end up scrolling around a lot. I much prefer the 1280 x 720 screen resolution. I also much prefer the backlit keyboard on the Dell. If I had it to do over I wouldn’t buy the Lenovo again. Here are the links for your perusal.
I use a Lenovo P73 Thinkpad as a desktop replacment with an I9 processor, 96 GB ram and two m.2 sticks for drives (2TB and 1TB), and a large 16.2" (I think) display and a Nvidia card. It is built good has some replacable parts in it and is sturdy. I calibrate the screen for Adobe Photoshop as that is what I need to have correct color for. You can get the same setup today with a newer I9 and newer Display. It runs both windows and Linux (I use Fedora, or PopOS) Either are good and fast on it, though Fedora tends to have some issues setting up NVIDIA cards where PopOS does not. I have setup Tailscale on it for remote access to my Truenas servers when out of town. These are not cheap, but it it is the best most dependable laptop I have found so far.
I too have been looking for a replacement laptop for several months. If I find one, I will definitely post it.
My list of must haves and wants are:
14" to 15" OLED Touchscreen Display. MUST HAVE
Weight is 3.5 LBS or less (less is better). MUST HAVE
32 GB RAM minimum. MUST HAVE Expandable to 64GB would be a nice touch but not required.
A modern CPU/GPU, no ARM. It should be fast enough to run a VM decently if I desire it. I was looking at some of the energy efficient models.
3 - USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 or better ports. A USB Type A port would be nice to have, but an adapter works too. I MUST HAVE two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports.
Battery life - 8 hours minimum. We all know battery life is very subjective. Get an 8 hour battery and it lasts 3 hours. MUST HAVE
The hard part is the OLED Touchscreen. My current laptop works, I’ve been pushing it through with Windows on it, that TPM issue is a pain. My laptop is old but runs like new. I take care of my stuff. A $1200 laptop back 9 years ago was a very expensive laptop in the consumer market.
@Jailer I hope you find what you are looking for, but you should make a list of “MUST HAVE” items.
@Jailer - You did not mention if you would be using MS-Windows or Linux. When I bought my new laptop, (it’s been a few years), finding one without the Microsoft Windows tax was hard.
Eventually I found the one reviewed below:
It had the option of FreeDOS instead of the Microsoft Windows tax. I was also able to get a AMD Pro CPU which includes memory encryption, so that it is less vulnerable to some of the side channel memory exploits that are all the rage in recent years.
Seems HP still makes at least one model of ProBook with the option of FreeDOS instead of MS-Windows. They are not cheap, but I am happy with mine.
Some of us have used Windows since version 2.0, many more since 3.0 and 3.11. It is familiar. I too would be using Windows Pro. Geez, I have just purchased a purpetual licence for Office Pro 2024. They could see I was not buying into the subscription crowd.
@Arwen how is the screen and keyboard with that laptop. I like my curent Dell laptop quite a lot but it is also aged. Keybord feel is important to me and may be important to @Jailer if he plans to use it for long periods of time. It is a likely sacrifice if buying a thin laptop.
The screen and keyboard of my HP ProBook are okay.
I don’t really use it much, not even to update or back it up. Since it was originally ordered at the beginning of the travel issues of mid-2020, my miniature desk top was and still is my primary computer. This newer laptop was to be used for travel, which I have not done. Or as a backup to my miniature desktop, using the external monitor & keyboard.
To be clear, when I update or backup the laptop, I wire it to Ethernet, (and power). Then I log in from my miniature desktop and it’s 24" monitor with full sized keyboard. Both updates, (Gentoo), and backups, (custom scripts), are command line, so running them in a SHELL window, (under screen for remote ones), is the norm.
This thread will help weed out the undesirable units as @Jailer makes his final choice.
This morning I have been looking at an Asus Zenbook 14" OLED Touchscreen, 32GB RAM, Ryzen AI 350, 3 USB-C fast ports, just under 3 Lbs. Cost is just under $1000 USD. Not sure if this is out of your price range or feature set. I plan to go view it at a local store the next time I’m in there to see if the keyboard is comfortable, good spacing, and if I just like it in general. Not saying I will buy it but it could speak to me.
Not out of my range at all. I start getting uncomfortable about price once they start going over about $1500 depending on features. But if one has everything I want and is well built I’m flexible on price.
Arrg! I forgot about AMD’s Newly Improved, Insane & Stupid mobile Ryzen naming convention. While it was not great before, it was GOOD before.
Now they have 3 categories, 200, AI 300 and AI Max. Stupidly enough, all but the least powerful 2 of the 200 category have a NPU for AI. Just not as powerful as the others.
But wait, their is more idiocy!
The processors may have both Zen 5 & Zen 5c cores. For example, the AMD Ryzen Al 7 350 has 4 of each, giving the appearance of 8 cores, 16 threads. Not sure if this will require OS kernel changes to properly schedule tasks, but Intel had at least a year of problems when they introduced asymmetric core layout. You do get 2 threads on the Zen 5c cores, unlike Intel’s lightweight cores.
This is exactly what I was talking about when I said I was a bit overwhelmed with choices. I miss the days when things were more straight forward and simple.
I’m leaning a bit towards this one to purchase but I’m on the fence with the screen. Reviews seem pretty good but if it had a premium screen I would have pulled the trigger already.
In the bad old days, (and yes, this elf is that old!), whence you got your requirements down, their was usually 1 to 3 options. And those were generally separated by price, so the choices were simpler based on how much money you had and wanted to spend.
You need to read the description again, it has “English Keyboard”, not the goo’ ole 'merican keyboard. Unless you happen to be one them their redcoats!
In case anyone has doubts, that last part was a joke.
The photos look to be of a standard QWERTY keyboard. The reviews in the USA made no mention of it not conforming, trust me, people will bitch if they get something they didn’t expect and I have seen the keyboard thing spike some complaints.
But worth investigating if serious about purchasing. I never rely on the photo on Amazon.
The CPU constraints that @Arwen brought up might be a limiting factor for @Jailer, I’d have to check out some benchmarks if it were me. A quick look at the link and I started to get excited.
So I ended up compromising on my display requirements and purchased the HP that I linked to earlier in this thread. I ended up finding that you can’t get a laptop with a good display unless you buy a premium laptop that also comes with a premium price. For as little use as this would see I couldn’t justify the price of an expensive laptop. I’m actually posting from the new laptop right now and it’s not too bad. The display is acceptable but not much more than that. I would have preferred something with a higher refresh rate than 60Hz as they are easier on the eyes but again it’s the whole price thing. But overall it’s not a bad machine. I do like the aluminum shell, it just feels sturdy. And it’s pretty light too. I can’t comment much more than that as it hasn’t even finished the first full charge of the battery yet. But overall I think I’m as pleased as I can be for the price.
