New notebook - my brain is full of F

[Octopuss]

It seems like AMD is dead in these waters with only Zen+ being available, and only those useless 15W TDP models on top of that, so I have to go with Intel. But... what the hell? I am completely and hopelessly lost in their f**king "lakes" which make absolutely no damn sense whatsoever.
I am looking for a relatively basic i5-based notebook for regular office work for my mum, no games. It shouldn't be a super low power crap either though, because I fully intend to last her several years, and who knows what will happen with performance requirements in near future.

What CPU generation should I be looking for if I want something relatively modern/new?
Damn you Intel, seriously.

 

[Solaris17]

Well if your trying for intel its pretty easy. Just go by generation. With that said, they just announced Gen 10

Intel Launches First 10th Gen Core Processors: Redefining the Next Era of Laptop Experiences

Today, Intel officially launched 11 new, highly integrated 10th Gen Intel Core processors designed for remarkably sleek 2 in 1s and laptops. The processors bring high-performance artificial intelligence (AI) to the PC at scale, feature new Intel Iris Plus graphics for stunning entertainment and...

www.techpowerup.com

However the 9th gen is probably what you will be seeing the most of on shelves for the next few months.

I have a Gen 8 8550u paired with an MX150. It's an ultra book but I plan to keep for for a few more years atleast. Its not difficult to find one with 4c/8t for reasonably affordable.

Like you I use it for work, No gaming. Which im sure my MX150 would be garbage at anyway, but it keeps things snappy with higher resolution screens.

 

[Octopuss]

That's the problem! What the hell is 9th generation? I am staring at Wiki, and everything is either die shrink of xyz or xyz-th refinement of die shrink of successor to refinement of architecture abc, and I'm lost.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Ryzen 3700U is overall faster than a Core i5 8250U:

Lenovo ThinkPad E595 laptop review: AMD laptop better than its Intel counterpart?

We review the Lenovo Thinkpad E595 with the Ryzen 7 3700U, integrated Vega 10 graphics, 16 GB RAM and 512 GB NVMe SSD. How does it perform compared to the E590 models with an Intel CPU and different graphics solutions? We clear this up.

www.notebookcheck.net

HP Envy x360 13 Convertible Review: Display highlight with AMD Ryzen support

Notebookcheck tests the new HP Envy x360 in the 13-inch format. With AMD’s Ryzen 7 3700U, the convertible offers a very good performance, while the SoC also offers a good iGPU with the AMD Radeon RX Vega 10. With 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage, the device is well-equipped for the daily tasks...

www.notebookcheck.net

It can match a Intel Core i7-8565U in multi-threaded benchmarks and is close to the Core i5 8250U in lightly threaded benchmarks. Even power consumption looks competitive as the Ryzen 3000 laptop CPUs fixed the issues with the previous generation AFAIK.

The Ryzen 7 3750H is between a Core i5 8250U and a Core i5 8300H in performance:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/No-Intel-Required-Asus-TUF-FX505DT-Laptop-Review-with-Ryzen-7-and-GeForce-GTX-1650.426695.0.html

AMD is competitive with Intel 4C/8T models,only the 6C/12T and above models AMD has no answer for. I would just get what ever is cheapest for a 4C/8T model for normal usage whether its AMD or Intel. Look at battery capacity too.

 

[Octopuss]

The U CPUs are 15W only. I don't want that. That will likely not boost for longer than a few seconds and then throttle.

 

[repman244]

I have to agree with the OP, their line up/naming is totally idiotic - I tried to keep up for some time but it's like an endless maze of models and generations.

And the thing I also dislike is how manufacturers started using the crappy "U" models even in higher tier models.
Sorry that I wasn't helpful /rant

 

[Octopuss]

Looks like Intel 9300H might be what I'm looking for, more or less.

 

[R-T-B]

I mean, a higher generation tends to be better. That's about it. Honestly since skylake nothing has really changed in the core.

 

[repman244]

Just be sure to get a laptop with good cooling - or the CPU will throttle all the time.

 

[Assimilator]

The U CPUs are 15W only. I don't want that. That will likely not boost for longer than a few seconds and then throttle.

You mother will appreciate a CPU that gives her an entire day of battery life, far more than she will appreciate one that boosts to 4.1GHz regularly.

 

[Octopuss]

Just be sure to get a laptop with good cooling - or the CPU will throttle all the time.

Don't remind me about that HP Pavilion dv7 with i7 and standalone GPU I bought for my father several years ago out of sheer idiocy.

You mother will appreciate a CPU that gives her an entire day of battery life, far more than she will appreciate one that boosts to 4.1GHz regularly.

And her impetient pseudoIT son will appreciate speed when he has to fix stuff
There's enough room for balance between the two, fortunately.

 

[repman244]

These days it's even worse on some models - 6 core mobile versions performing worse than 4 core versions due to thermal throttling!

 

[Chomiq]

I have i5 8th gen at work, it gets the job done as desktop replacement for office work.

 

[SL2]

Starting with the 8000 series, the mobile i5 is 4C and 8T for the low power U series (15 W power draw is common in laptops without beefy GPU's). The 8250U or better is really good compared to the i5 7000 series (2C/4T) at the same price point.
Avoid the i7 8000U series as you'll end up paying quite more for just a little higher clock frequency.

Be careful when choosing model, battery life and display brightness/type is important to me at least, since neither can be changed after purchase (most people wouldn't change display even if possible..)
Oh and watch out for CPU throttling, some models have anemic cooling, even models that aren't that slim.

My 5200U laptop is now a 4 year old model and I have no thoughts of upgrading,

The drawback with mobile Ryzen is generally shorter battery time, and worse components (mainly display panel), although that varies, of course.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Starting with the 8000 series, the mobile i5 is 4C and 8T for the low power U series U series (15 W power draw is common in laptops without beefy GPU's). The 8250U or better is really good compared to the i5 7000 series (2C/4T) at the same price point.
Avoid the i7 8000U series as you'll end up paying quite more for just a little higher clock frequency.

Be careful when choosing model, battery life and display brightness/type is important to me at least, since neither can be changed after purchase (most people wouldn't change display even if possible..)
Oh and watch out for CPU throttling, some models have anemic cooling, even models that aren't that slim.

My 5200U laptop is now a 4 year old model and I have no thoughts of upgrading,

The drawback with mobile Ryzen is generally shorter battery time, and worse components (mainly display panel), although that varies, of course.

The idle power bug was a Ryzen 2000 issue,which was fixed with Ryzen 3000,if you look at the reviews I linked to from NBC - the Ryzen 3000 laptops seem generally of a better standard. Ultimately I would get the cheapest 4C/8T laptop with a decent sized battery,and also look at weight too.

Sometimes it might be worth looking at discounted business laptops such as a Dell Latitude - some of the cheaper laptops can skimp on build quality and cooling,ie,the lid and body can have flex or use more soldered parts like RAM,which makes upgrades harder. It might be not a problem if the laptop is stationary,but it can be an issue if it is being moved about.

 

[SL2]

The idle power bug was a Ryzen 2000 issue,which was fixed with Ryzen 3000,if you look at the reviews I linked to from NBC - the Ryzen 3000 laptops seem generally of a better standard.

There are exceptions even for the Ryzen 2000 series, I've seen at least one with a decent battery.

Soldered RAM is also bad, yes, but 8 GB is actually pretty good for most standard tasks. Displays tho, I cannot stress this enough, it will annoy you from DAY ONE if it's low light or have bad viewing angles that makes you adjust it several times a day.

Also, don't go beyond 1080 unless you have to, it will make the battery life much shorter.

Power-hungry display — Dell XPS 13 4K UHD configurations have shorter battery life by several hours

If you're in the market for a new XPS 13 Ultrabook, you may want to consider the less expensive 1080p options for their significantly longer runtimes. We are able to measure a difference of 4 to 5 hours when running the same WiFi test on both the FHD and 4K UHD SKUs.

www.notebookcheck.net

Also this about i5 versus i7 (throttling).

Unpleasant surprise: Core i5 Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet 25% faster than i7-SKU!

Even we at Notebookcheck are sometimes surprised by test samples. The entry-level CPU of the ThinkPad X1 Tablet is about 25% faster than the more expensive Core i7 under sustained workloads. How is that possible?

www.notebookcheck.net

 

[Octopuss]

I am looking at under $1k price tag anyway, so...

 

[SL2]

I am looking at under $1k price tag anyway, so...

Not sure who you're replying to.

Honestly since skylake nothing has really changed in the core.

Agreed, but core count at the same price point has.

Edit:

 

[micropage7]

For your mom, what's the point? Low power, powerful, better graphic, more storage, big screen or something

Why you need pushing to i5 if she just use it for browsing and watching streaming?

 

[SL2]

Why you need pushing to i5 if she just use it for browsing and watching streaming?

Well they're only from $500 where I live, but yeah, 2C is enough of course.

IPS, 1080, SSD, 8 GB RAM is what I'd look for.

 

[Octopuss]

2C? Hell no. That's slow as hell. She might not notice, but I do, and I don't want to have crap devices in our family. 2C is her current notebook, and it's painfully slow even on Win7.

I wish there was a notebook with decent i5 and no standalone GPU though. But I guess you can't have everything.

 

[SL2]

2C? Hell no. That's slow as hell. She might not notice, but I do, and I don't want to have crap devices in our family. 2C is her current notebook, and it's painfully slow even on Win7.

You can't call all 2C equal, it doesn't work like that IMO. For instance, Core i3 8130 and Athlon X2 are both 2C, but the former is really fast, while the latter craps out when playing Youtube.
For the average laptop user, a move from a slow HDD to an SSD makes more difference than going from an i3 8130 to an i5 8250. These days she can have both for a reasonable price tho (>€400).

I wish there was a notebook with decent i5 and no standalone GPU though. But I guess you can't have everything.

They're quite common. I can only help you with this filter, and while I know it's not for your country, it will help you figure out what to look for. I've entered some specs.

Notebooks mit Display-Größe ab 13.9", Display-Größe bis 15.9", Display-Auflösung: 1920x1080 (Full HD), CPU-Familie Intel: Pentium Gold, CPU-Serie Intel: Core i-8000/Core i-9000, CPU-Kerne: 4 (Quad-Core), RAM ab 8GB, SSD-Kapazität: ab 240GB, Grafik-He

Preisvergleich und Bewertungen für Notebooks mit Display-Größe ab 13.9", Display-Größe bis 15.9", Display-Auflösung: 1920x1080 (Full HD), CPU-Familie Intel: Pentium Gold, CPU-Serie Intel: Core i-8000/Core i-9000, CPU-Kerne: 4 (Quad-Core), RAM ab 8GB, SSD-Kapazität: ab 240GB, Grafik-Hersteller: Intel

geizhals.eu

 

[Assimilator]

2C? Hell no. That's slow as hell. She might not notice, but I do, and I don't want to have crap devices in our family. 2C is her current notebook, and it's painfully slow even on Win7.

How old is her current laptop? 2c from half a decade ago is not comparable to 2c from a year ago.

 

[SL2]

And if you have any doubts about a 15 W -U CPU, just compare it with your 77 W desktop CPU.

Mobile Processors - Benchmark List

This is a benchmark list of mobile processors like Turion, Pentium M, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, sorted by performance.

www.notebookcheck.net

 

[Octopuss]

The only concern I have with low power CPUs is the boosting or realistic lack of. If such notebook can realistically only sustain the base clock, it's useless.

I also feel like the notebook should be the usual 15,6", because old people don't really see things too well on miniature displays.