High end notebook suggestions

[jbaggins]

Almost 5 years since I've been on here. Used to be an IT guy got into a different industry but still appreciate good performance.

I have been using a Lenovo Y550 and ABSOLUTELY HATE IT. POS, cheap quality construction (broken hinges, speaker grill fell off). This is what I get for ordering online without seeing a PC.

Here are my requirements, please make a suggestion:

-NOT LENOVO (don't care to have to superglue my notebook together every few months)
-Good, above average build quality
-About 14" screen
-LONG battery life
-SUPER FAST PROCESSOR(s)
-SSD of a reliable brand preferred (for OS at least)
-awesome screen colors, text, etc.
-prefer aluminum or other heavy duty casing
-prefer discrete video ram

Basically, I'd like a PC version of an Apple notebook. I use it for business. Time is money and I don't like waiting for stuff to load.

I want it screaming fast.

Thanks

 

[rsutoratosu]

you'll need a haswell cpu laptop, its got the long battery and super fast processor.. they should start showing up in the next few weeks

 

[Essence_of_War]

what is your intended time of purchase and your budget?

 

[BigBenny]

I would go for Samsung or Toshiba. They are really building great stuff!

 

[tosaytheleast]

Probably Samsung, MSI, ASUS or Toshiba. THese are the one that I could recommend. On a specific unit, I could not recommend any since you didn't state how much are you willing to spend. Haswell laptops are coming on the 3rd quarter (hopefully) so you might just wait for them to be out.

 

[jbaggins]

Thanks for responses. 1, 000 or less budget. If I'm paying substantially more for small gain not interested in the higher cost model.

 

[fralexandr]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6998/razer-announces-haswellbased-blade-blade-pro-gaming-notebooks
razer 14"
nvm didn't see budget, razer is basically the apple of the PC market

your budget might be on the low side if you want all the things in your original post.
for build quality, performance, and excellent screens, you should look at the business class notebooks, i.e. lenovo thinkpad w, dell precision, or hp elitebook.

what do you need the dedicated gpu for? integrated gpus have been making some big improvements lately
if you don't need a dedicated gpu, you can get many of the business grade notebooks for <$1k

lenovo's consumer line is pretty middle of the pack for consumer notebooks.

 

[Germanic]

My eyes are on the Samsung Series 9 right now.

The design, specs, and reviews get all the boxes ticked for me.

 

[Fox5]

Wait for the Haswell (Intel 4th gen) refresh of whatever laptop you want.

Do you play games? Do you want something more like a Macbook Pro or a Macbook Air? You can always install Windows on a Mac.

I'd say the following options are among the more durable consumer laptops at around $1k: (but not all are equally durable)

Sony Vaio Pro
http://store.sony.com/c/Pro-Series-Notebooks/en/c/S_PRO_SERIES_PAGE

Apple Macbook Air
http://www.apple.com/macbook-air/

Dell XPS (no haswell model yet)
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/...=ST&cid=80681&lid=2047799&acd=123098073120560

HP Envy (cheapest but least durable)
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/hom...21=17986217372

Samsung Series 7
http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/series-7-notebooks
and Samsung Series 9 too, also the ATIV Book

And probably the Asus Zenbook and Vivobook series.
http://www.asus.com/us/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/

Basically, part of Intel's ultrabook initiative is that laptops use better quality build components. If it qualifies as an Ultrabook (or is part of a manufacturer's line that includes ultrabooks) it's probably better built than the average laptop, but not all are equally well built.

Business brands (Latitude, Thinkpad, Elitebook, etc) are also better built and use high quality materials, but command a substantial price premium for similar hardware.

 

[Throckmorton]

What you're looking for literally does not exist. Windows laptops are garbage right now. I've been shopping for half a year and never found anything. I gave up and got a SFF desktop instead. When I buy a laptop it will be a Macbook.

Asus announced a 15.6" laptop with an IPS screen and good specs. I sure as hell don't see it for sale so to me it's vaporware.

 

[jbaggins]

Thanks to all, esp. Fox5. I'm going to further check those options to see what, if not equals, comes close to Apple quality/performance.

I do not need something as thin a profile as macbook air. Macbook profile is fine.

The macbook with dualboot might be a good option. This however means I would need to purchase Windows 8 on my own i presume... anyone have any experience with this setup as ones primary computer? I would think there might be driver issues and other obstacles? I really want a dummy proof setup and am not inclined to spend the time having to "make something work."

It seems a bit sad that the PC market has still not caught up with Apple in terms of product quality. In the cellphone market, for example, my opinion is that Samsung now has options superior to Apple in terms of performance (apples are still better built, but with a good case and other protectors, even samsungs are good enough).

I guess I don't really NEED discrete graphics, however I do use photoshop from time to time and as it will be my primary computer I wanted an allrounder. This is one area in which I can compromise.

 

[Torn Mind]

Increase your budget, wait for Haswell, look at business lines. The Lenovo Y series does not hold a candle to their Thinkpads.

 

[jbaggins]

Increase your budget, wait for Haswell, look at business lines. The Lenovo Y series does not hold a candle to their Thinkpads.

Is their customer service department different from consumer to business line models? What about forums?

Their CS guys do not know anything about troubleshooting. Queries on their forum are not properly addressed either. When I upgraded to WIN7 (upgrade disc provided by Lenovo), the battery meter software never worked, and they never knew how to handle the situation. This was a large scale problem that they never addressed prior to most customer's warranties expiring. They did not provide after warranty period support either. Lets face it, Lenovo is no longer owned by IBM, it is owned by communist China. They aren't exactly the Japanese when it comes to QC.

 

[IntelUser2000]

They did not provide after warranty period support either. Lets face it, Lenovo is no longer owned by IBM, it is owned by communist China. They aren't exactly the Japanese when it comes to QC.

The overseas imported tech support do suck, I agree. :\

But actually, Lenovo is one of the better ones. A 2012 report had Lenovo on only the 2nd for Samsung in quality. That's commendable because larger-scale is harder to maintain quality.

Japanese-quality isn't the same anymore either. Brands like Sony have really bad reputation amongst lot of people. Probably no coincidence that multiple of their corporations are posting biggest losses in decades.

 

[vbuggy]

Thanks to all, esp. Fox5. I'm going to further check those options to see what, if not equals, comes close to Apple quality/performance.

I do not need something as thin a profile as macbook air. Macbook profile is fine.

The macbook with dualboot might be a good option. This however means I would need to purchase Windows 8 on my own i presume... anyone have any experience with this setup as ones primary computer? I would think there might be driver issues and other obstacles? I really want a dummy proof setup and am not inclined to spend the time having to "make something work."

It seems a bit sad that the PC market has still not caught up with Apple in terms of product quality. In the cellphone market, for example, my opinion is that Samsung now has options superior to Apple in terms of performance (apples are still better built, but with a good case and other protectors, even samsungs are good enough).

I guess I don't really NEED discrete graphics, however I do use photoshop from time to time and as it will be my primary computer I wanted an allrounder. This is one area in which I can compromise.

Apple has a nice niche: They're the Beats of computers - quality for people who don't know what quality is, but think more with their eyes. Sadly there are a lot more of those idiots out there.

Like Bose or other makes which rely on marketing, they have excellent customer service, so that among other things when inevitably something breaks when you try to use it for the purpose it's supposed to be suitable for, the repair process is relatively painless - though there's significant downtime nevertheless if you're racking up those Store or collect and return visits. But if all you've had is crap before, this might be an amazing experience. For me personally it's a major annoyance, even with site support.

You can find genuine quality along the lines of the HP Elitebooks for example, or you can go with Apple with something that looks (boringly IMO) cool and gives you the impression of quality as long as you don't stray outside low-grade computing. A lot of Apple 'pros' overestimate the intensity of their computing, and a lot of budget-orientated pros underestimate the same.

If you want genuine quality, you'll need to spend at least as much as (e.g. as in the case of the Series 9 vs the Air for example), or often more than Apple - but since you can negotiate prices on the PC side with direct sellers, your money can end up going into the machine, not a profit margin.

If you want something like Apple on the other hand, you can spend a bit less but not a whole lot less - that's the mistake a lot of people make I think, in that they say "I'm not buying a $1100 Air, I'm going to spend $500" and end up with a piece of junk.

Bear in mind that Windows is also a substandard experience on a Mac. While you can Boot Camp, it's the worst of both worlds - not only do you have to maintain two OS's, but the environment you might be working in most is subtly crippled so as to make it actually more of a compromise than even a crappier machine which works truly natively in Windows. I often wonder why people are that credulously unaware about the real disadvantages of this - unless you're a dev who doesn't really care about the production quality of the environment, in which case it's not too bad.

And aluminium is not heavy-duty casing: magnesium or carbon is.

 

[holden j caufield]

Toshiba tecra, or Lenovo Thinkpad? I know the consumer ones aren't built to last. There is a world of difference between the consumer line and business line laptop.