Bottom line on laptops...

[tinpanalley]

Are laptops at the point now where basically it doesn't matter at all what you pick as long as it meets your budget and feature needs? Or are some simply still better than others? Trying to find one that can last me as long as my last Lenovo did. It turns 10 this autumn (But the SSD and extra RAM cant fix the slow as poured molasses boot up times.)

 

[Muadib]

I must say no. Your way will take care of now, but 10 years? Yeah, good luck with that...

 

[In2Photos]

It depends on what you use the laptop for. If just internet browsing it could last a while. As a "workstation type" I think it would need replacement every few years, especially if not upgradable.

 

[tinpanalley]

I must say no. Your way will take care of now, but 10 years? Yeah, good luck with that...

It depends on what you use the laptop for.

I think you guys are getting fixated on the last part of my post. The crux of the question is more whether it matters what brand you choose or if it matters more that the specs suit you. Are brands really that relevant anymore.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Yes, you better care about brands. Try to get a premium level laptop on sale rather than picking up a budget laptop coz the latter ones have all sorts of price cutting measures applied. Also, it might make more sense to get a used laptop from someone who hasn't used it much and get a great value in the process rather than spend a lot on a new laptop and then face some issue right after warranty expires. I got my Lenovo Thinkpad W530 for $272 and it's a joy for me to use. The uptime on it right now is 154 days and counting (Windows 8.1 with automatic restart for updates disabled in group policy).

Here are some great laptops that I have my eye on (I seriously would buy them all if money was no object but I like to "window shop" laptops in case I need one on urgent basis. When that happens, I would prefer to buy one on my wishlist):

ASUS Vivobook S14 M413UA-EB386T (Indie Black) Slim Laptop, R7-5700U 8GB 512GB SSD, AMD UMA, WIN10 HOME, 14.0 inch FHD 1920X1080 16:9, HD Webcam, Finger Print, Eng-Arb-KB

Zenbook S 13 OLED 13.3” 2.8K OLED Touch Display, AMD Ryzen 7 6800U CPU, Radeon Graphics, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Windows 11 Pro, NumberPad, Fingerprint, Ponder Blue, UM5302TA-XB76T

Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U, 14" WUXGA (1920x1200) IPS 300nits Anti-Glare, Touch, 16 GB RAM DDR5 6400MHz, 512 GB SSD, Backlit KYB Fingerprint Reader, Windows Pro

SAMSUNG 13.3” Galaxy Book2 Pro Laptop Computer, i5 / 16GB / 256GB, 12th Gen Intel Core Processor, Evo Certified, Lightweight, 2022 Model, Silver (NP930XED-KB1US)

ASUS VivoBook Pro 16X OLED Slim Laptop, 16” 4K 16:10 Display, AMD Ryzen 9 6900H CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Windows 11 Home, 0°Black, M7600RE-XB99

LENOVO THINKPAD P/P16S GEN 1 (AMD)/R7PRO-6850U/16"/FHD/T/32GB/1TB SSD/AMD INT/W11P DOWN/BLACK/3R

HP OMEN 17.3" Gaming Laptop - 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H - GeForce RTX 3070 Ti(TGP: 150W) – 2K (2560 x 1440) 165Hz – (16GB DDR5 | 1TB PCIe SSD)

Generally, the first thing that I care about in a laptop is a good display with minimum 72% NTSC color gamut or sRGB 100% coverage. There are so many crappy overpriced laptops out there that fail to meet this criterion that you would be surprised, even when you might be paying upwards of $1000 (gaming laptops are very guilty of this problem). In gaming laptops, a screen with 144Hz is usually 45% NTSC. 165Hz and above is at least sRGB 99% from what I've gathered.

Also, if you prefer OLED, you may be able to find really affordable OLED laptops from ASUS. There's one MSI Modern 15 laptop reviewed by Notebookcheck with a contrast ratio of 2000+, with an IPS display!

HP has gotten very good at specifying the color coverage of their laptop displays in their spec sheets. Lenovo also does a good job of that if you search for their "psref" spec sheets. ASUS is meh in that department. Their same model can have up to three or four different types of displays and it's a lottery on what you may get if you order a model like that. MSI mostly chooses not to specify the color coverage of their office laptop displays.

 

[tinpanalley]

a good display with minimum 72% NTSC color gamut or sRGB 100% coverage

What site would I go to that would definitively give me those specs for any display or laptop?

 

[igor_kavinski]

What site would I go to that would definitively give me those specs for any display or laptop?

Unfortunately, your best bet for that information is reviews on sites like Notebookcheck and few others (the names of which escape my mind for the time being). There's this too: https://www.rtings.com/laptop/reviews

Generally, if you want to go for a dependable laptop, go with a Thinkpad or HP Zbook or Dell Precision. Those, even if you get a slightly older used model, they will serve you really well. ASUS TUF gaming laptops are advertised to offer MILSPEC durability. Annoyingly, most of them have 45% NTSC displays. You would have to find a slightly more expensive model with a 165Hz display.

 

[IGBT]

Are Dell laptops performance / price / quality competitive??

 

[Manabu]

(But the SSD and extra RAM cant fix the slow as poured molasses boot up times.)

But if wasn't for those upgrades it it wouldn't have lasted 10 years, right? One thing to be observant off is what comes soldered in those new laptops, and thus not upgradable/repairable. Some, fortunately rare, come with storage soldered. Most are coming with RAM soldered, even Thinkpads. LPDDR is always soldered. Usually, the bigger laptops are more modular. For the ultrabook space, I know only Framework who has upgradable ram.

 

[matthias87]

Are laptops at the point now where basically it doesn't matter at all what you pick as long as it meets your budget and feature needs? Or are some simply still better than others?

I am not crazy about brands. However, I check the build quality of a laptop.

But I do not use my laptop for heavy work. Maybe that is why my laptop (irrespective of brands) is still fine.

I still wonder why people choose laptops for heavy work. Desk top PCs are available with better computing power than a
high-end laptops at a lower price.

 

[tinpanalley]

One thing to be observant off is what comes soldered in those new laptops, and thus not upgradable/repairable.

Very good point. I'm just gonna double check that before I open it up.

 

[ElFenix]

Are Dell laptops performance / price / quality competitive??

i don't think you can make a general statement like that for a brand with so many different model lines, and even variability within lines. generally the large enterprise-focused latitude line is going to be the best from a quality/longevity standpoint. but there will be exceptions with either a model that doesn't have enough thermal capacity or maybe a bad battery run, etc. generally the inspiron line is going to be less expensive and more plastic. if you leave it on a desk all the time it might just last as long as a more robust road-warrior type laptop.

and all brands with lots of models and lines are like that. maybe razer isn't but they only make like 2 things. maybe apple doesn't have duds anymore but their cheapest laptops with a generation old processor and limited storage are $800.

 

[Starjack]

I'm still using a Lenovo laptop powered by AMD FX-7500 APU that i've been using for the past five years. It already showing age as part of the screen support, well the hinge is damaged making one part of the screen slightly tilted. And some of keys on the keyboard can handle my normal finger pressure but i could still get an input.
But other than that, the system is still functioning normal, but not to soon i gonna upgrade to another Lenovo laptop. This one coming with the 12th gen Core i3-1215U 6 core processor that i'm sure that will blow away FX-7500 in most application and some games, even with a near massive single-core performance. The device would also come with 8GB RAM and a 256 SSD but i'm hoping to upgrade RAM to 16GB to get much performance out of it.

 

[Commodus]

Are laptops at the point now where basically it doesn't matter at all what you pick as long as it meets your budget and feature needs? Or are some simply still better than others? Trying to find one that can last me as long as my last Lenovo did. It turns 10 this autumn (But the SSD and extra RAM cant fix the slow as poured molasses boot up times.)

You don't have to be as choosy as you used to, but I'd say it still matters to a degree.

My go-to is Apple. For most people, a MacBook Air M2 with enough RAM and storage could easily last that decade; the only thing you'd really miss out on is some of the later OS updates (but you may still get security fixes). And some of its advantages will never go away, like the fanless design or MagSafe charging.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

We had a Dell laptop for about 8 years. My main complaint with ANY laptop these days is the keyboard. I just hate keys that don't feel like they go way down and up, with a nice clicking sound. I think this is partly because I got started typing with my Dad's mechanical briefcase typewriter. Later, I used a nice, hefty IBM brand PS/2 keyboard with the heavy duty clicky keys. Currently, I use a mechanical keyboard with Linux Mint 20 on my desktop.

I've been annoyed with just about every laptop's keyboard recently, to the point where I am tempted to build my own 'briefcase computer", with a thin client PC, mechanical keyboard, and a monitor of my choosing inside of the briefcase.

Since we pretty much only use a laptop on the road in a hotel, I think this would probably actually be a sort of step up from most commercial laptops for us.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I've been annoyed with just about every laptop's keyboard recently, to the point where I am tempted to build my own 'briefcase computer", with a thin client PC, mechanical keyboard, and a monitor of my choosing inside of the briefcase.

HP gaming laptops, Thinkpads, Dell Precision laptops and some gaming laptops with Steelseries mechanical keys provide a pretty good typing experience.

 

[tinpanalley]

In case anyone's interested, I got this.

 

[WelshBloke]

You don't have to be as choosy as you used to, but I'd say it still matters to a degree.

My go-to is Apple. For most people, a MacBook Air M2 with enough RAM and storage could easily last that decade; the only thing you'd really miss out on is some of the later OS updates (but you may still get security fixes). And some of its advantages will never go away, like the fanless design or MagSafe charging.

That's fine if you just want to run MacOS. Obviously the OS choice comes into it for some people. I'll not buy another laptop that doesn't come with at least the ability to be fully supported in Linux.

 

[mindless1]

I've been annoyed with just about every laptop's keyboard recently, to the point where I am tempted to build my own 'briefcase computer", with a thin client PC, mechanical keyboard, and a monitor of my choosing inside of the briefcase.

Since we pretty much only use a laptop on the road in a hotel, I think this would probably actually be a sort of step up from most commercial laptops for us.

I could see doing that if you want a bigger screen, as a large screen is one of my primary requirements on a laptop (and with that, on a windows laptop it typically comes more than enough CPU and SSD... and enough mainboard real-estate for a memory slot to upgrade that).

On the other hand, some hotels have a TV you can use as a monitor, if they haven't locked down/omitted HDMI on their sets, or there's a way to circumvent their break out box (like unplugging it and power cycle the TV) to get an existing HDMI port to work.

Keyboard, you can simply get the same keyboard you'd pack in your DIY briefcase, and put it in a large laptop case along with the laptop.

I'm not that picky about keyboards (as long as it's a standard layout and not too tiny) but I don't care for using a touchpad more than a minute, so I pack a cordless mouse in the laptop case.

 

[Commodus]

We had a Dell laptop for about 8 years. My main complaint with ANY laptop these days is the keyboard. I just hate keys that don't feel like they go way down and up, with a nice clicking sound. I think this is partly because I got started typing with my Dad's mechanical briefcase typewriter. Later, I used a nice, hefty IBM brand PS/2 keyboard with the heavy duty clicky keys. Currently, I use a mechanical keyboard with Linux Mint 20 on my desktop.

I've been annoyed with just about every laptop's keyboard recently, to the point where I am tempted to build my own 'briefcase computer", with a thin client PC, mechanical keyboard, and a monitor of my choosing inside of the briefcase.

Since we pretty much only use a laptop on the road in a hotel, I think this would probably actually be a sort of step up from most commercial laptops for us.

The funny thing is that I rather like scissor switch keys with relatively little (though not non-existent) travel. They're quieter and let me fly through typing... while I can see the appeal of louder keyboards, I find it difficult to concentrate when I hear constant clacking.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

I could see doing that if you want a bigger screen, as a large screen is one of my primary requirements on a laptop (and with that, on a windows laptop it typically comes more than enough CPU and SSD... and enough mainboard real-estate for a memory slot to upgrade that).

On the other hand, some hotels have a TV you can use as a monitor, if they haven't locked down/omitted HDMI on their sets, or there's a way to circumvent their break out box (like unplugging it and power cycle the TV) to get an existing HDMI port to work.

Keyboard, you can simply get the same keyboard you'd pack in your DIY briefcase, and put it in a large laptop case along with the laptop.

I'm not that picky about keyboards (as long as it's a standard layout and not too tiny) but I don't care for using a touchpad more than a minute, so I pack a cordless mouse in the laptop case.

Does anybody even make a laptop with mechanical keyboard? Or one where you can get customized switches of a type/color that you choose?

 

[mindless1]

^ Dunno, seems expensive and I don't use laptops for purposes where I could justify paying a lot. I doubt that many do because a mechanically switched keyboard is thick and all the whiners like really thin laptops.

I suppose it also depends on how you define mechanical. On a desktop it's one thing but I have/had laptops with scissor key springs that some would call mechanical, but nowhere near the travel or feel of a good desktop keyboard. Heh... not even the travel and no better feel than a low end Logitech bubble membrane switched desktop keyboard.

 

[igor_kavinski]

MSI GT80s sli TITAN 18.4" Gaming Laptop i7 2.7GHz 16GB 512gb SSD GTX 980m WIN 10 | eBay

MSI GT80s TITAN 18.4in Gaming Laptop. GTX 980m video sli. i7 2.7GHz 6820hk. Runs on batteries - duration not tested. Blu ray drive.

www.ebay.com

That's the only one maybe?

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Cool, so I guess I'll feel like I have a $1,500 laptop if I build a 'briefcase PC' with a mechanical keyboard, then!