What Laptop Now?

[RShea]

A tablet would work for me 95% of the time, but I occasionally have some GoPro footage or photos that I would like to play with. Nothing at all serious.

Pick the software you are going to use, then look at the min. specifications and recommended specifications on the software packages you are going to be using and compare the specifications of the Surface Pro 3's video and other items.

[MontuckyFried]

A tablet would work for me 95% of the time, but I occasionally have some GoPro footage or photos that I would like to play with. Nothing at all serious.

A SP3 would be MORE than capable for your uses, then. I use many of the Adobe products on mine (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premier, etc.) and it doesn't even come close to breaking a sweat. I have the i5 version, and it's had plenty of horsepower for my needs. It should have zero problem with your GoPro footage. It's a very speedy little device. Awesome being able to yank off the keyboard for using it like a tablet. Oh, and for your Photoshop needs? The digitizer pen has become a mandatory item for me. I love this thing.

That being said, it ain't cheap. It's in the realm of Apple pricing, but at least it feels like a premium product for that price. I wouldn't recommend them for everybody based on price, but until Apple comes out with a touch screen MBP (seriously, Apple. What's the holdup?!), it's really my favorite [portable] computer out there.

[crackboy]

photoshop runs really well on my surface pro 2

[ex-powderbroker]

bumping this back to the top. I looked it up, my mbp is from JUNE 2007. W was in office. The Yankees were on top. There was a war in the middle east. It was a long time ago!

Anyway, Apple has been awesome with some repairs along the way, including the $300 make it new special when my gf dumped a glass of red wine in the keyboard. I still use it every day as my work machine. it's been upgraded to 6gb ram, and an ssd. It never quits out, but it is getting rather sluggish while using Photoshop CS4, Webstorm to program and launch a few servers, every browser to check my work, and sometimes a virtualbox to make sure IE9 isn't fucking up my game with windows 7.

So I'm at a crossroads. Apple has been great, but as a developer I kind of want to nerd out and go all linux.

But when i browse the pc options, I don't get where people think pc's save real money. If you trick out a Dell, you're quickly up to 2k and it's the same as the mac, maybe slightly better "specs" except the battery life is shit, the computer is shit, the manufacturer is shit, the operating system is shit, so what the fuck is the point?

even that xps 13" macbook air wanna be, which is the best of the cheaper options still is kind of a turd. Get this: they ship it with a linux distribution, but the wifi doesn't work and you immediately have to replace the card with some external bs.

which is why i'm probably going to plunk down the money for another macbook pro (retina 13", brand new model), and hope it goes for another 7 years unless someone can point me to anything better that isn't total bullshit. And seriously, I had a student with a Surface 2 and I thought it was a joke for actual work so it would be a tough sell to say the new one is somehow really sweet all of a sudden.

[Groomer Gambler]

Bumping this as I'm in the new laptop market. I currently have an 8 year old Macbook Pro that I've been happy with but am open to switching from Apple. Starting a grad program this fall, so I'd likely use it for email, writing/research, and running some stats programs. Otherwise, I don't really care about graphics, games, photoshop, etc. I travel a lot too so slim and portable is a plus (13-14" screen).

Macs seem to have come up in price considerably. However, my parents got a $500 HP laptop a few years ago and have had a lot of issues. Others too...it seems like if you shop cheaply, the shelf life on those are only a few years. But, it would be nice to keep it around $600-800.

[Skidog]

Yeah any $500 laptop isn't going to be great. Just over a grand should get ya a decent biz class machine. I've been happy with my Lenovo. Also travel. It's slim and light. Works well enough.

Sent from my XT1650 using TGR Forums mobile app

[Viva]

I'm on my second Samsung Notebook 9. 13" screen. I really dig it. Very light weight, so easy to travel with. Newest one can be used in tablet mode.

Sent from my XT1650 using TGR Forums mobile app

[RShea]

Groomer Gambler, If you are going to Windows laptops, based on your description of lightweight you may want to look at a tablet with a nice keyboard- Surface or similar from Asus, Lenovo or some others out there if 12 or 13 inch max screen is acceptable. If you do not want to go tablet, then Ultrabook- thin, longer battery and somewhere between a full notebook and a tablet in weight. No optical drive (just like a tablet) unless you go external most of the time. Ultrabooks will be higher priced than the $500 standard laptops out there, but typically it gets you into business class hardware and stronger cases (some have 3 year warranty standard- others you can add the 3 year as an option). That should get you through most of your schooling- unless you are going part time or some extended degree work.

[Skidog]

just to update. Rolling with a Lenovo t460s Ultrabook for the corp laptop. Have an older Surface Pro 2 that I also enjoy using is I dont need a full sized machine when I travel. Also rock a Kindle Fire HD8.

[Tippster]

I have the (slightly) older version of this: http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/produ...top/dncwg2398h

I upgraded the RAM to 16GB for about $100 from www.Crucial.com and it works exceedingly well.

[mecc69]

Bumping this as I'm in the new laptop market. I currently have an 8 year old Macbook Pro that I've been happy with but am open to switching from Apple. Starting a grad program this fall, so I'd likely use it for email, writing/research, and running some stats programs. Otherwise, I don't really care about graphics, games, photoshop, etc. I travel a lot too so slim and portable is a plus (13-14" screen).

Macs seem to have come up in price considerably. However, my parents got a $500 HP laptop a few years ago and have had a lot of issues. Others too...it seems like if you shop cheaply, the shelf life on those are only a few years. But, it would be nice to keep it around $600-800.

I had luck with a Lenovo when I went back to school 4 years ago. I am still using it and it works fine. Wish I had passed on the DVD drive and had upgraded to an SSD. I bought it directly from Lenovo after watching their website for a sale.

Once you figure out where you will primarily be working from, it is really worth setting up a 26"+ monitor and comfortable keyboard and mouse. I personally find it much easier to work in multiple documents when I can see the side by side on the same screen. You will be looking at it for long periods I am sure.

[evdog]

Is it worth extra cost to get a solid state drive?

[riser4]

Is it worth extra cost to get a solid state drive?

I say yes. All of my work laptop issues have been mechanical disk damage. Walking around with a spinning disk is asking for trouble.

[mecc69]

I say yes. All of my work laptop issues have been mechanical disk damage. Walking around with a spinning disk is asking for trouble.

Agreed.

[summit]

My T570 is a huge improvement over my T540p

[Skidog]

Yes SSD and as big as you can afford.

Sent from my XT1650 using TGR Forums mobile app

[RShea]

Is it worth extra cost to get a solid state drive?

Most of the time on a laptop. Only issue is the total capacity of the drive is going to be less than most of the entry level hard drives (HD start usually at 500 GB and go up, SSD usually would be 128 GB entry level, 256 GB or if the budget allows it 512 GB). Less susceptible to issues if you drop the laptop, faster access, etc.

[Ted Striker]

^^^ plus better battery life, by not wasting power on the spinning.

[Skistack]

SSD on both work and personal laptops, never going back to a hard drive. Cloud storage and external HD's for large data.

[Mazderati]

In the market for a new meme machine and thinking there have to be some deals out there given the time of year.

Want:
Mid-upper CPU
Mid-upper GPU
SSD
Mid-size screen
Reasonably durable

Owned computers from lots of companies. Looking at Dells and Surface Pros which can surprisingly be optioned out well over $2k. What else should I consider?

[54-46]

In the market for a new meme machine and thinking there have to be some deals out there given the time of year.

Want:
Mid-upper CPU
Mid-upper GPU
SSD
Mid-size screen
Reasonably durable

Owned computers from lots of companies. Looking at Dells and Surface Pros which can surprisingly be optioned out well over $2k. What else should I consider?

HP Spectre 360?
https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/la...p-spectre-x360

[riser4]

In the market for a new meme machine and thinking there have to be some deals out there given the time of year.

Want:
Mid-upper CPU
Mid-upper GPU
SSD
Mid-size screen
Reasonably durable

Owned computers from lots of companies. Looking at Dells and Surface Pros which can surprisingly be optioned out well over $2k. What else should I consider?

Sent my daughter off to school this fall with a Dell from Costco, she likey. About $600. ~13" screen. folds in half for tablet. She previously had an 11" Chromebook. However, the University has a Microsoft ecosystem. Better mileage from a Win or Mac in that regard. She likes small, portable, and lite. She didn't like the bigger models. Tanks. I would imagine the same shell can be optioned with bigger specs.

Lenovo is not a bad option. While they are straying from their IBM roots, they still make some damn fine machines. My work laptop is a T460. 15". Ticks the boxes. It;s not lite. And I didn't pay for it so no idea what it costs.

[XXX-er]

Lenovo is not a bad option. While they are straying from their IBM roots, they still make some damn fine machines. My work laptop is a T460. 15". Ticks the boxes. It;s not lite. And I didn't pay for it so no idea what it costs.

I think big blue sold the PC business at least 15 yrs ago, could just be the technology getting better but IME IBM's broke down > Lenovos

[LHutz Esq]

We have Lenovos at the office- don’t really notice them - from my perspective that is high praise. Only really noticed my Acer when it was fucking up.

[XXX-er]

yeah i think LT's are actualy a lot better than they were back in the day

based on how many came back Don at glacier claimed Lenovo/ Asus/ Acer were best to worst