Question Laptop for wife

[KentState]

--- This was posted on another forum so sorry if you already endured this 🙂 ---

My wife's Asus laptop is getting old and I want to replace it. We have upgraded everything possible, but the keyboard is complete garbage for typing and the chrome finish makes the keys difficult to see at times.

Wanting something in the 13-15" range that will last for 3-4 years. Considering the Apple MacBook Air, 13" MacBook Pro, Dell XPS 13 and Surface Laptop 2. I haven't used OSX in years so not sure how well it will integrate into our lives, but her classroom is adopting Apple. She also has an iPhone and Watch so the integration with messaging would be nice.

Overall, I would want 16GB Ram, at least 512 SSD and if possible a high end i5 or an i7. Touchscreen would be nice, but 4k may not have a benefit at 13". Even on my XPS 15, the 4k resolution still needs to run at 125-150% scaling, but the text is super sharp. Budget would be somewhere around $2k USD.

So, is the plunge into a MacBook a safe bet or are there other laptops to consider?

 

[UsandThem]

I'm a fan of the XPS series (I passed one from 2011 down to one of my kids, and he still uses it everyday), and you should be able to get one that checks all your stated boxes for under $1500 (probably lower, but I haven't kept track of their pricing for a few years). It "only" has a 1080p screen at this price, but like you I scale my laptop's 1080p screen to 125% to be able to read it comfortably, so a 4k screen isn't really a necessity for me.

The one they show on their main page is $1550, but I'm sure there is some type of coupon code that brings that price down. I also looks like the 13" varieties are about the same price as the larger ones (from a quick glance anyways).

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/xps-15/spd/xps-15-9570-laptop/dycwb1647h

If she's used to using a Windows computer, she might not like going over to Apple.

 

[fire400]

What exactly is considered a high-end CPU for a consumer laptop?
i7-8550u vs i7-8750h (15w vs 45w TDP)
i9 or Xeon?

Stick with the U processor if the laptop isn't gaming or crunching serious data, and skip the 4K screen, to save on battery life, performance will barely take a hit unless a lot of Microsoft Office and web tabs will be open, like 50-100, which NVME SSD's can normally take care of very well on i7u-gen6+

Macbook Air: i5-gen8u 16gb RAM/512gb SSD + 3yr AppleCare
~$2200 w/US tax MSRP

Macbook Pro 13 (entry model): i5-gen7u 16gb RAM/512gb SSD + 3yr AppleCare
~2350 w/US tax MSRP

If Windows is required on the Apple laptop, dual-boot with bootcamp.

As far as Windows computers;
Dell & Lenovo offer their business class units for less than $2K w/tax, and that can be bundled with 5yr Pro level support + NBD + ADH and still be well under budget.
Buy stock and upgrade it yourself unless RAM is soldered.
If you're spending over $1,500, might as well get a business unit, the chassis' and internal construction/cooling are built far better than most consumer laptops in its price categories.

Avoid HP, consumer or business, they mostly suck, longterm.

 

[KentState]

Found the new Dell XPS 13 with 4k, 16GB, 512SSD at Costco on sale. After trying out all the keyboards today at both Best Buy and the Apple Store, the Dell had the best feel and was pretty well loaded for less than Apple and Microsoft. I've had my XPS 15 for 18 months and it's a great machine so I was already happy with the brand/model.

 

[ajaymehra01]

Hey KentState, You can also check out "ASUS ZenBook S UX391UA-XB74T".

Here's the configuration of ASUS ZenBook S UX391UA-XB74T:

• Intel 8th Gen Core i7-8550U Processor
• 16GB LPDDR3 2133MHz RAM
• 512GB SSD
• 13.3” UHD 4K touch display
• Windows 10 Professional

It comes near about $1400 and also weighs only 2.2 lbs. Do let me know what you think about it.

 

[kt]

If you don't mind getting a refurbished unit from Dell, they have the XPS 15 with i7-8750H, 32GB, 1TB SSD, 15.6" UHD 4K touch display, and GTX 1050Ti for well under $2k.

I have bought 3 refurbished units (1 XPS13 and 2 XPS15) from Dell outlet in the past 3 years and no issues with any of them. All units look brand new.