Laptop recommendations

Acer with Solid State Drives (SSD), ultra fast boot up, data access and powering thru programs. Bought 4 for family 4 years ago, zero issues on any. I've had sony, hp they all die....too soon also....

 

Second. My Acer is going on 7 yrs old. Replaced HDD with a SSD in year 2 ish. Works flawlessly, and quick. Well except for a new network connectivity issue I've been having. When coming out of sleep, have to disable/enable NIC, could be driver issue. BUT 7 years old.

 

My family mostly runs Dell but it's been a while any of us has bought a new computer.

 

My job is in 3D modeling, so I get the luxury of speccing and running hotrod laptops that we swap out every three years (they run ~$4200 new). The ones we get rid of are still running faster and higher spec’d than most of the consumer-grade machines sold new. We’ve been running the HP ZBook 17’s (workstation machines, which are different than anything you but in Costco or Best Buy) since the first generation of them and have 99% reliability with over 80 machines in use. They are big and heavy though.

The two biggest things for price/ performance benefit are to get something that uses NVMe SSD for the primary hard drive and to get that as big as you can (500GB or more). The other is RAM - 16GB is a minimum for maintaining good performance in a couple years, especially with embedded graphics that use your RAM for their needs as well. I’d also recommend a current-gen i7 or i9 processor just because it is overkill for your needs but will have better graphics performance than the i3 and i5... though it still won’t be true gaming level it will give you the option of running multiple screens without issues (we run a 43” 4k and at least one 24” or 27” external screen in addition to the primary 17” on the laptop).

 

Dell XPS - it's a bit overpowered for what you need it for now but it will stand the test of time.

 

I really like the Microsoft surfaces. Tablet mode or you can attach a keyboard. Slim and powerful enough for what you need. I'm typing on a surface pro 6 right now

Heres the new 7

$1,091 Microsoft Surface Pro 7 – 12.3" Touch-Screen - Intel Core i7 - 10th Gen 16GB Memory - 512GB SSD – Matte Black

https://smile.amazon.com/NEW-Micros...846940&sprefix=Surface+pr,aps,270&sr=8-4&th=1

 

This is gonna be as bad as a "what all terrain tire should I get" thread.

Just be sure to buy a black one, way faster than those gray or silver ones.

 

All my prior ones have been black, but the newest and fastest model only comes in silver now.

Remember when silver A/V equipment was the new “thing”?

 

The ONLY answer here is a Lenovo Thinkpad.

$1,010 Lenovo Latest Gen 8 ThinkPad X1 Carbon 14" FHD Ultrabook (400 nits) with 10th Gen Intel i7-10510U Processor up to 4.90 GHz, 1 TB PCIe SSD, 16GB RAM, and Windows 10 Pro

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Think...ywords=lenovo+thinkpad&qid=1605884266&sr=8-15

 

I much prefer Mac

but for the windows guys in my company I get surface pro for them

 

The Microsoft Surface Laptops are excellent.

 

I'm planning to get my hands on an a new acer slap chop myself soon.

 

My Acer could benefit from an external cooler.

 

Shoulda gotten a 2018 then...

 

I switched to Mac 4 years ago and LOVE them.
Cost more but so much quicker and trouble free operating system and programs than MS.
I'd be asking your IT guys if you can run the stuff on a macbook pro

 

Another nod to the Surface family. Great machines, very reliable, and portable. I use mine HARD every day, and have for a few years now. still no issues.

Another good one is the Lenova thinkpad which I saw referenced above. Again, very reliable.

 

honestly, I can't disagree.
my day to day net computer is a MacBook Pro and its great, save one issue: cross-compatibility. I can't use quickbooks to run my business and then at year end submit it to my accountant without issue.

 

I have several clients setup on mac that use Windows Quicken products on them.

Macs can run Windows just fine but the opposite is not the case at all.

It is not as simple maybe as a native Windows machine but then again it is not a Windows machine either!

I support almost everything for business and I doubt I will ever run anything but a Mac for myself again.

 

Thats odd. I use quickbooks on Mac and we have no issues at all with going to our CPA

are you quickbooks on-line?

I have an iMac at work and a 16" MacBook Pro at the home office

 

I am just at the point now where I'll be buying the office program so I actually don't have either lol.
The circumstance I'm referring to was 2 years ago when we were looking to buy an apple for the office and our accountant was unwilling to work with it. things certainly could have changed by now as if I remember correctly quickbooks wasn't available for Mac for a short break back then too.

 

Sorry, that's just plain wrong. If you're comparing a Mac to a cheaper PC, then yea, the Mac will often perform better - because the competition is a cheap laptop. Especially if comparing it to a sub $1000 laptop - those are utter crap.

Spend as much money on a PC laptop as on a Macbook, and you're getting a superior product. Quad Core processor (vs dual core that's always on a Macbook), often discrete graphics (as opposed to iGPU on a Mac), larger solid state storage, 4K IPS display, etc.

Okay, Windows may not be quite as streamlined or user friendly as MacOS, but it also does more, so there's that.

My wife's 7-year old Lenovo Thinkpad is still running strong, running the latest version of Windows, and not lagging at all. That's because it wasn't a cheap machine when new. She still uses it as a daily driver.

I don't want to turn this into a Mac vs PC debate, because each type has its advantages and uses, but honestly, it pisses me off when people use the above argument.

 

the OP asked for laptop recommendations. i would agree that a macbook pro is a great laptop recommendation. we don't need to get pissed off about anything here and its friday. just sayin...but since you brought it up and maybe everyones mileage may vary...i totally disagree that you get a superior product if you spend as much as a macbook pro. the definition of 'superior product' can mean many diff things to diff people. that's all. i won't be replying since this one seems to have touched a nerve. lol.

 

Answers to few a questions should help narrow down the options.
1. Who has to buy it and maintain it, you or your company?
2. What size screen do you prefer smaller (14 inches and under) or larger (15 inch and over).
3. Are you doing a lot of typing on the laptop keyboard itself (not using a plugin keyboard).
4. What is the price limit (laptops can from $600 to $5,000)?
5. Do you need to plugin more than 1 monitor or plugin a 4K monitor?
6. Is an aluminum case important?
7. Other gimicky features, touch screen, fold back display, etc.?
8. Gaming (gaming graphics)?
9. Is very long battery life important?
10. Do you want a number pad?

Personally I would get one of the Business lines from a major vendor, they each have a couple business brands. Stay away from the gaming, super thin, portable workstations, multi function laptops.

Sounds like you're most likely tied to windows (programs downloaded from work). Whatever you choose get one with sufficient RAM (16G or higher for windows 10) and most importantly these day for speed something with NVMe SSD hard drive.

 

Next to what kind of oil you prefer, computer threads will often draw the strongest opinions in a forum.

@Trogdog’s generic recommendation about sums it all up nicely