1.5k Work Laptop

[Cpt.Fox]

Sup guys,
My old man is in the US and he wants to get a new Word Laptop, he will use it for excel files, lot of tabs browsing, multitasking, watching HD tv online, movies. I think an i 7 , 16 gb Ram plus SSD is more than enough , but he wants to have the best that will last him for many years, its hard for me to convince him that he doesnt need that much power, but he insists on the best, so what would you recommend to him? The Lenovo P50 is my top choice right now, the con is they come with Nvidia Quadro which i dont think he needs and also the weight, though they have the longest battery life ive seen on a WorkStation, there are some Dell Latitudes that are nice to, but i dont know if they are as sturdy as Lenovo.
Looking forward to hearing from you
http://outlet.lenovo.com/outlet_us/itemdetails/PC0D3DY6-20ENCTR1WW/445
http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...Ee8qbZL8CI2z1yXsE7HVd9pwyZZYKUE&puid=31409e0a
Edit: He wants 15.6 monitor size

 

[slozomby]

1st question you have to ask him is, how big do you want it? laptop size will limit all other options and greatly affect price.

personally I've had really good luck with the Lenovo T series you can spec out a t560 with 16g win 10 pro, office 2016 and then buy and aftermarket ssd ( Samsung 850) to replace the spinning disk. for well under ~1.5k new ( all vendors overcharge for the preinstalled ssd) my t520 is still more than sufficient for business use.

in the ultra portables. the dell xps13 is my favorite.

for what you're planning on doing theres no need for an i7. the significantly less expensive i5 will work just fine.

also ram and disks are easy to upgrade on the thinkpads. so if you lowball the builder. and buy the ram/ssd yourself you'll save a buncha money there too

 

[Cpt.Fox]

I cant convince him to go i5, my dad is a bit stubborn and insists on i7 so nothing i can change there, if i were to go for one with no SSD and Ram as you mentioned is good idea, but he worries that he wont be able to install these parts, he lives 1300km away from me so i cant help him, i would have to guarantee him that any technician could install an SSD or Ram on a laptop , and that it will work as well.
the thinkpads you mentioned are out of stock :S
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/t-series/t520/

 

[Shou Miko]

First I can't get ur Dell link to work and second the Lenovo Laptop u r linking is made for ppl doing heavy graphics so why even buy laptop with a Quadro K2000M if he won't be using it at all?

U can get a E560 with a i7-6600U, 192GB M.2. SSD, 16gigs of ram and more for under $850: http://outlet.lenovo.com/outlet_us/...?__followRobots=true&Code=R90KTQ30-20FHCTO1WW

and u can get on-site warranty for the Edge model if u r worried about that just look at http://lenovoquickpick.com/ just drop in the MTM number and u can config ur guarantee.

Or U he really wants a P50 there is one with a Quadro M1000M for under $1050: http://outlet.lenovo.com/outlet_us/itemdetails/PC0D5QNL-20ENCTO1WW/445

 

[Cpt.Fox]

First I can't get ur Dell link to work and second the Lenovo Laptop u r linking is made for ppl doing heavy graphics so why even buy laptop with a Quadro K2000M if he won't be using it at all?

U can get a E560 with a i7-6600U, 192GB M.2. SSD, 16gigs of ram and more for under $850: http://outlet.lenovo.com/outlet_us/...?__followRobots=true&Code=R90KTQ30-20FHCTO1WW

and u can get on-site warranty for the Edge model if u r worried about that just look at http://lenovoquickpick.com/ just drop in the MTM number and u can config ur guarantee.

Or U he really wants a P50 there is one with a Quadro M1000M for under $1050: http://outlet.lenovo.com/outlet_us/itemdetails/PC0D5QNL-20ENCTO1WW/445

Excelente recommendation there, i have a noob question about that thinkpad, is that Intel® HD Graphics 520 enought to watch HD TV online or High res Movies? Another thing is he wants to have the most easy screen on his eyes, is FullHD better in this case than 4k monitor? the latter are expensive as hell so would be good to know if they are worth it. What about the warranty? is it still valid when the laptop when he comes back to our homeland?
That p50 looks good but lacks SSD, id have to buy it appart, which one would you recommend?
gracias

 

[slozomby]

I cant convince him to go i5, my dad is a bit stubborn and insists on i7 so nothing i can change there, if i were to go for one with no SSD and Ram as you mentioned is good idea, but he worries that he wont be able to install these parts, he lives 1300km away from me so i cant help him, i would have to guarantee him that any technician could install an SSD or Ram on a laptop , and that it will work as well.
the thinkpads you mentioned are out of stock :S
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/t-series/t520/

yeah the t520 I have is 5 years old. I bumped the ram replaced the drive with an ssd. and its still great for office and most coding projects I do. the t560 is the current model http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/t-series/t560/

the HD520 gpu is plenty for watching Netflix/amazon/hulu. you don't want to game with it.

fullhd is 1080p. so not as good as 4k. however 4k on a 15inch screen is reaaaaaaaly tiny text. and I know my eyes can deal with it without zooming everything in thankfully the font scaling in 10 is much better than it was in 7.

the p50's use m2 ssds if I remember correctly. I always buy the Samsungs.

 

[Shou Miko]

Excelente recommendation there, i have a noob question about that thinkpad, is that Intel® HD Graphics 520 enought to watch HD TV online or High res Movies? Another thing is he wants to have the most easy screen on his eyes, is FullHD better in this case than 4k monitor? the latter are expensive as hell so would be good to know if they are worth it. What about the warranty? is it still valid when the laptop when he comes back to our homeland?
That p50 looks good but lacks SSD, id have to buy it appart, which one would you recommend?
gracias

The 520 can run 4K at 60hz on desktop and can even decode hevc/x265 if it's setup correctly with DXVA.

I sell Lenovo laptops at work anything from B50 (entry Business laptops) to T-series and X-series.

 

[Frick]

Thing about mobile i7s is most of them is dual core. The quad cores are named HQ or HK. I wouldn't consider any other i7 to be worth it over an i5.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Thing about mobile i7s is most of them is dual core.

Ummm, sorry but no they aren't. There are several dual core, but clearly, most are quads as easily verified with Google or the horse's mouth.

4th Gen i7 Mobile Processors - 23 out of 33 are quads

6th Gen i7 Mobile Processors - 7 out of 13 are quads

7th Gen i7 Mobile Processors - 7 out of 12 are quads

 

[Frick]

Ummm, sorry but no they aren't. There are several dual core, but clearly, most are quads as easily verified with Google or the horse's mouth.

4th Gen i7 Mobile Processors - 23 out of 33 are quads

6th Gen i7 Mobile Processors - 7 out of 13 are quads

7th Gen i7 Mobile Processors - 7 out of 12 are quads

Fine, the vast majority of the i7's sold are dual cores.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Fine, the vast majority of the i7's sold are dual cores.

Yeah right! Intel makes more mobile quads because they sell more duals. That makes total sense.

Some folks just can't admit they might be wrong, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.

Unless you can show a current market share report showing what you say is true, there really is no shame in saying you made a mistake, Frick. We all do on occasion.

As far as i7s not being worth it over i5, that surely depends on the tasks. Most (but not all) games would not benefit from an i7, but there are many tasks where an i7 shines and is more than worth it for many users.

 

[Frick]

Yeah right! Intel makes more mobile quads because they sell more duals. That makes total sense.

Some folks just can't admit they might be wrong, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.

Unless you can show a current market share report showing what you say is true, there really is no shame in saying you made a mistake, Frick. We all do on occasion.

As far as i7s not being worth it over i5, that surely depends on the tasks. Most (but not all) games would not benefit from an i7, but there are many tasks where an i7 shines and is more than worth it for many users.

Just looking at what I see in stores. And considering the majority of the quad i7's is >€1000 I'm going to say that damn straight they sell more dual core i7 than quads. There's no evidence for either of us. And in any case it's something you've gotta be aware of. And the last bit I totally do not agree on, compare the 6200u to the 6500u. 300Mhz extra, 1MB Smarthcache and a slightly faster IGP is not worth more than $100 increase in cost, and I will say it does not matter what you load it with.

 

[Bill_Bright]

There's no evidence for either of us.

The mere fact Intel offers more quads is evidence enough. They are not a stupid company who makes an extensive line of expensive products that don't sell.

Just looking at what I see in stores.

And considering the majority of the quad i7's is >€1000

Come on! Get real, okay? How about doing just a little homework instead of obviously just making stuff up? I am not making these claims because it is what I think or because it is what I see in my own little universe. I look it up to learn what the big picture is.

Newegg UK i7 processors - only 1 is >€1000 - most are way under, including the i7 you linked to which Intel says has a recommended price of $393 (€352).

As for i7 vs i5, again, do your homework to verify for yourself instead of "cherry picking" two processors and pretending they set the rule for all i7s and i5s for all tasks. That is simply not true. If you do video editing, 3D rendering, CAD/CAE, video conversions (HandBrake), lots of compression/decompression tasks, then a good i7 is the obvious choice for better performance. How do I know? I looked it up!

Contrary to what you may think, not everyone uses their computers as toys.

Now to avoid the justified wrath of the mods, I end this OT tangent now.