Laptop for work/personal use

[KentState]

I have a dedicated laptop for the client I work with, but need something that I can use with my business. The main things that it needs to handle are typical web, Outlook, Office as well as development in Visual Studio and database client tools (Teradata, Oracle, SQL Server, etc.). It will also serve as something I travel with so it needs to be portable and maybe replace the need to carry a tablet. So far I've narrowed it down to either a Dell XPS 13, Lenovo Yoga 900/700 series or maybe a Lenovo Thinkpad. Really would like an i7, 8gb ram+ and at least 256gb SSD. Any other contenders that I should consider?

 

[Commodus]

I have a dedicated laptop for the client I work with, but need something that I can use with my business. The main things that it needs to handle are typical web, Outlook, Office as well as development in Visual Studio and database client tools (Teradata, Oracle, SQL Server, etc.). It will also serve as something I travel with so it needs to be portable and maybe replace the need to carry a tablet. So far I've narrowed it down to either a Dell XPS 13, Lenovo Yoga 900/700 series or maybe a Lenovo Thinkpad. Really would like an i7, 8gb ram+ and at least 256gb SSD. Any other contenders that I should consider?

It depends on your budget, but clearly you have a fairly healthy budget if you're looking at those. It doesn't sound like you need a "full" Core i7 (i.e. the ones that use 28W or more) How long can you wait? The Surface Laptop was just announced, and the Core i7 model might hit that sweet spot when it shows up mid-June. Same general CPU as the higher-spec XPS 13, but it promises longer battery life and a slicker design. It has touch, just no tablet functionality.

 

[KentState]

I wanted to keep it under $1600 US if possible. As long as the battery can last 5-6 hours that is good enough for most situation. I have not been away from a power source for longer than that. I saw the new Surface Laptop, but was a little put off that it doesn't support USB-C and the exact CPU models aren't listed, just i5/i7.

 

[Commodus]

I wanted to keep it under $1600 US if possible. As long as the battery can last 5-6 hours that is good enough for most situation. I have not been away from a power source for longer than that. I saw the new Surface Laptop, but was a little put off that it doesn't support USB-C and the exact CPU models aren't listed, just i5/i7.

In which case, I'd say the XPS 13 or Surface Laptop (XPS if you want some futureproofing with USB-C). That kind of budget gives you a lot of leeway with both models.

As for the CPUs in the Surface: they're low-voltage 7th-gen Core chips, so my guess is that you can expect at least a Core i7-7500U (2.7GHz base clock).