• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

I need HELP with finding a new laptop

quirky

quirky

New Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2018
Messages
16 (0.01/day)
Hi guys.
I am looking for a new laptop for work. The requirements I have are:
  1. Portability & Lightweight since I have to carry it around every single day
  2. 13'' with at least 8GB RAM the more the better but that will do
  3. at least 8 hours of Battery life I don't want to stress about that
  4. 500 GB HD will do
  5. I need it to work fast!
Honestly, I want to buy a MacBook, but it's pricey so I am not sure it is worth it. What will you suggest?
 
You told us the intended purpose (work) and that's great but you left out the most important bit of information. What is your budget?
 
Since we dont know what kind of work you plan to use it for it's kind of hard to recommend anything. Does it have to have a integrated or discrete gpu? The other thing you did not specify is a budget. Just of the top of my head, based on what you mentioned I would look at a LG gram for example : https://www.amazon.com/LG-gram-Thin-Light-Laptop/dp/B01N7RQ46Q
 
Msi GS65 or Gigabyte Aero 13x. LG Gram is shit.
 
dgianstefani said:
Msi GS65 or Gigabyte Aero 13x. LG Gram is shit.
Click to expand...
My bet is the dual core in the gram would be fine, however i would take a look at the new xps 13 or the new thinkpad with the 8th gen cpus. They can run to the same price as the macbooks, however for the price i think they offer more for you money. If you really want a mac though, go for it, most people i know with them like them for their ease of use and damn near impeccable build quality, as well as the thought that OSX is more secure than windows. Personally i like being able to monkey with my devices, but if you really want a box that is fire and forget, you'd probably be happy with a mac.
 
I'm sorry, I don't mean to hijack the thread but I'm on the lookout for a lightweight thin laptop as well and I found the Acer Swift 3 SF314-52G-55WQ. It only has 256gb of storage but I've read that it has a second m.2 slot so I might be adding extra storage some time later. I want to do a bit of gaming as well so the mx150 should help. SC2 with medium to low setting, DOTA, RA3: Yuri's Revenge, and maybe Civ VI on medium to low settings as well. Will it work?
 
I can't really say unless I ask what you're doing with it. If this is for work, I might push you towards a Macbook Pro, if not, I probably won't.
 
The 8 hours battery might be a chalange for a laptop
 
Powerful and light / long battery life are mutually exclusive. The more performance, the more it weighs and the shorter the battery lasts. As fir the MacBook, my son took a MacBook and a PC to college... now in his 3rd year after graduating, he's had 2 PCs since he started school...MacBook still running. and useful. Butwithout knowing what "work" involves, it's just about impossible to make a recommendation.
 
adulaamin said:
I'm sorry, I don't mean to hijack the thread but I'm on the lookout for a lightweight thin laptop as well and I found the Acer Swift 3 SF314-52G-55WQ. It only has 256gb of storage but I've read that it has a second m.2 slot so I might be adding extra storage some time later. I want to do a bit of gaming as well so the mx150 should help. SC2 with medium to low setting, DOTA, RA3: Yuri's Revenge, and maybe Civ VI on medium to low settings as well. Will it work?
Click to expand...
The mx150 is pretty terrible, from what i have seen its a little bump over integrated graphics, as well as the fact that you need to look out for the cut down ones, which i thought was in this guy.
 
therealmeep said:
The mx150 is pretty terrible, from what i have seen its a little bump over integrated graphics, as well as the fact that you need to look out for the cut down ones, which i thought was in this guy.
Click to expand...

Is it that much worse compared to a 940mx? I'm currenltly using a laptop which has that and it does ok with SC2 and Civ V on 1080p. 15.6" is just too big for me so I was looking for a 14". It will be used mostly for excel, surfing, and watching videos.
 
Aquinus said:
I can't really say unless I ask what you're doing with it. If this is for work...
Click to expand...
Ummm, he said right off the bat,
Hi guys.
I am looking for a new laptop for work.
Click to expand...
But until he comes back with a budget, throwing out suggestions is just a waste of time.

That said, since the OP said he wants a notebook with a smaller screen, go for the $350 Tulip Ego/Diamond. Oh, sorry, I left out a few zeros. That's should be $350,000. But hey! They're small, so as the review says, get two!
 
On a budget ... look at Lenovo ThinkPad 13
 
Is the op of this thread gone?
adulaamin said:
Is it that much worse compared to a 940mx? I'm currenltly using a laptop which has that and it does ok with SC2 and Civ V on 1080p. 15.6" is just too big for me so I was looking for a 14". It will be used mostly for excel, surfing, and watching videos.
Click to expand...
The 150mx has a sizable leap over the 940mx, however it still is pretty weak, if you could stomach up some extra budget you might be able to make a leap up to a 1050 powered machine which would allow you some pretty decent framerates. As for size, unfortunately you are kinda stuck with the mx150 in the 13" form, in 14" you gain the 1050(ti)/1060 as options, with the tradeoff of price.
 
It is a weekend. Some slack should be allowed.
 
Bill_Bright said:
Ummm, he said right off the bat,
Click to expand...
Yeah, that he's going to use it for work which basically says, "not games," but, nothing more. Fine, the op said what but, was as vague as could be. Depending on your job, requirements may vary. Someone doing managerial tasks is going to need a different machine than say, a graphic artist or a software engineer. Heck, even the type of software engineer could determine what kind of machine you might get depending on if you're doing web, mobile, or server side dev. What you're doing also helps determine what kind of OS will fly.
 
I agree. We need more information - otherwise, I am sticking to the one I suggested in my reply #13 above. ;)
 
Bill_Bright said:
You told us the intended purpose (work) and that's great but you left out the most important bit of information. What is your budget?
Click to expand...
$1000-$1500 will be fine
Also, about the work- editing content, creating tables & presentations, online working.
 
That's a very generous budget for the tasks it needs to perform.

You have already stated your priorities (8GB RAM, long battery runtimes, fast, lightweight, 500GB of disk space) and that's good. I suggest you consider the following.
  • With that generous budget, I would definitely get one that is SSD based instead of a hard drive. SSDs are much faster, lighter, thinner, faster, use less energy and generate less heat, are faster and they are more rugged too. Did I mention they are faster?
  • Tables and presentations, Word documents and spreadsheets don't require super sharp, hi-rez screens. But if doing any graphics editing, or watching HD videos, your eyes will appreciate a higher end screen.
  • If your presentations are at client locations where you don't know what projector/monitor you will be connecting to until you get there, having as many video output options as possible (DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort) may be desirable.
  • I would consider a 15" monitor. They are easier on the eyes without adding much bulk or weight. But also, a larger monitor allows for a larger keyboard, always nice, IMO. And perhaps better cooling and internal speakers too.
 
Bill_Bright said:
Ummm, he said right off the bat!
Click to expand...

Yes, he said it's for work but what work ?

-Social Media Manager where job is to increase brand awareness via social media ? (yes, I showed this ad to my son... job involved mattress company where applicant would visit a different store each day, lie down on one of the beds ... and tweet :) )
-Accountant ?
-CAD Operator ?
-Rendering ?
-Desktop Publishing ?
-Video / Photo Editing ?

For basic tasks (wen, office suites, etc) ... I'd start with this at $900 and customize as needed w/ more RAM, Storage choices whatever
https://lpc-digital.com/product/sager-np6853-clevo-n850ek1/

With upgrades, looking at $1,260 before any negotiated discounts *. I always pay by check which counts as "cash"...no card fees.

2 x 8GB - 2400Mhz
Samsung 860 250 GB SSD
2 TB SSHD

* Note: Clevo distributors are not allowed to advertise pricing below certain minimum proces, when you gat the guy on the phone howeber , you can negotiate whatever ya want. Possible discounts depend on cost of unit ... more ya spend the bigger the discount.

If "ya never heard of Clevo", rest assured that you never heard of any manufacturer of the brand names you know ... that's because every vendor other than MSI doesn't actually make a single laptop. They purchase them from companies you never heard of and arguments as to which brand names are often silly as many of them are made on the very same production lines.

The vast majority of laptops on the market are manufactured by a small handful of Taiwan-based Original Design manufacturers (ODM), although their production bases are located mostly in mainland China. Major relationships include:

Quanta sells to (among others) HP, Lenovo, Apple, Acer, Toshiba, Dell, Sony, Fujitsu and NEC
Compal sells to (among others) Acer, Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo and HP/Compaq
Wistron (former manufacturing & design division of Acer) sells to Dell, Acer, Lenovo and HP
Inventec sells to Toshiba, HP, Dell and Lenovo
Pegatron sells to Asus, Toshiba, Apple, Dell and Acer
Foxconn sells to Asus, Dell, HP and Apple
Flextronics (former Arima Computer Corporation notebook division) sells to HP

For more about Clevo ....

Clevo Guide v3.0 - FAQ and Reseller Info
 
I cant recommend Lenovo laptops enough. Ive worked with them for 4 years and they are just great.
 
CrAsHnBuRnXp said:
I cant recommend Lenovo laptops enough. Ive worked with them for 4 years and they are just great.
Click to expand...

Good for business, like from they were spun off from, International Business Machines
 
On this budget, cram a full fat quad core Intel Skylake or newer in there, 8 GB Dual Channel, and the SSD and you've got a wonderful machine.

I paid 1200 EUR for such a setup with 940 MX for graphics @ BTO.eu. It won't be the flashiest looking laptop but it will be extremely functional.

Would recommend you pick your parts like this instead of getting a misleading OEM P.O.S.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top