len_mullen Posted October 1, 2019 Posted October 1, 2019 Before all the ads arrive, I thought I would start a thread to discuss laptop features and specs. Microsoft has been quietly raising the Windows 10 baseline and Intel and AMD have been introducing chips whose names and nomenclatures make my head spin. It is increasingly common to find solid state disks, discrete graphics, and something called 'Optane' in laptops. Let's use this thread to figure out what a solid laptop looks like so that when the bargains appear we all have a better understanding of their value. I would also like to point out that Dell and Lenovo are building tanks these days. I have seen very few warranty repairs with these manufacturers. Square Trade has an excellent study on reliability that covers a lot of brands... https://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf While our study found netbook malfunction rates to be trending 20% higher than more expensive laptops,the variance between manufacturer is far greater and should be a bigger factor in making a buyingdecision. ASUS and Toshiba laptops failed just over half as frequently as HP, which makes them a solidbet in terms of reliability. Laptop Magazine rates HP #1 in 2019 (note that reliability is not part of the scorecard)... It's always an adventure to upgrade a laptop. ifixit.com takes a look at how difficult top laptops are to repair or upgrade... https://www.ifixit.com/laptop-repairability HP EliteBook 1050 2018RAM, SSD, and battery are easily accessible and removable.All screws are standard Phillips and Torx.Manufacturer provides free user-accessible repair documentation.rating: 9HP EliteBook 840 G3 2017RAM, SSD, and battery are easily accessible and removable.All moving parts, including keyboard, trackpad, and pointing stick are modular and can be quickly replaced.The display is immediately replaceable, without any unnecessary disassembly.rating: 10Dell Latitude E5270 2017All commonly failing (battery, trackpad buttons, display, keyboard) and upgradable (RAM, SSD) parts are easy to access and replace.Minimal adhesive is used throughout the unit's construction. All fasteners are standard Phillips screws.Overall construction is slightly complicated, but the manufacturer offers clear repair and disassembly instructions.rating: 10Laptop CPUs Ranked: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/laptop.htmlLaptop GPUs Ranked: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Laptop-Graphics-Cards.130.0.htmlOptane Explained: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/what-is-intel-optane/Intel Optane provides much faster read and write speeds than even the fastest SSD can match without RAM’s constant power requirement.SSD vs HDD: https://www.pcmag.com/article/297758/ssd-vs-hdd-whats-the-differenceUsers who prefer to download their media files locally will still need a hard drive with more capacity. But if you mostly stream your music and videos online, buying a smaller SSD for the same money will give you a better experience.How much RAM?: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-much-ram-do-you-need/2GB: Only really found in budget tablet designs. Fine for them, but you’ll want more in a laptop or desktop.4GB: Entry level memory that comes with even budget notebooks. Fine for basic Windows and Chrome OS usage.8GB: Excellent for Windows and MacOS systems and entry-level gaming.16GB: Ideal for professional work and more demanding games. With RAM prices so low, this is the sweet spot for desktop users.32GB and beyond: Enthusiasts and purpose-built workstations only. Bottom line? If you plan to keep your laptop, make sure the battery and disk can be replaced and make sure you buy too much cpu and memory. Be careful of rigs that include Optane as RAM -- read the fine print. Match the GPU to your applications -- faster is hotter and heat must be mitigated which means less battery life and more noise. I'm not shopping for a laptop this year. Last year I bought a pair of Dell laptops that included discrete graphics chips. At $600 each, the laptops were a bargain. After a nearly year of use, my kids are very happy with their toys... Dell G3 15 Gaming GTX 1050Ti Laptop G3579-5467BLK-PUS• 15.6-inch Full HD display• Intel Core i5-8300H• NVIDIA GTX 1050Ti• 8GB memory/1TB HHD This year a similarly equipped laptop would still attract my attention and, in fact, the Microsoft Store has this one on sale for $600 right now... https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/dell-g3-15-gaming-laptop/8thnj2tttgfc I'm more than two years with a Lenovo Ideapad that cost me $525.99 in February of 2017... Processor: Intel Core i7-6500U Processor(Core i7-6500U)Memory: 12GB DDR4-2133Hard Drive: 1TB 5400Optical Drive: 1xWireless Network: 1xPorts: 1x 4-in-1 Media Card Reader (SD, MMC, SDHC, SDXC)Camera: 1x 0.3 MP CameraGraphics: 1x Intel HD 520Monitor: 15.6 HD Love all three machines. You cannot get the Ideapad anymore, but I recommend the Dell. 2
len_mullen Posted October 2, 2019 Author Posted October 2, 2019 (edited) Worth considering for General Use... $469 after BIZLT469 code: https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/cty/pdp/spd/vostro-15-5581-laptop/cav155w10pc23021 (10/04/2019)ProSupport Plus (Includes Accidental Damage) for the same price as ProSupport $350 after 14408 code: https://www.staples.com/lenovo-ideapad-l340-81lg0004uus-15-6-notebook-intel-core-i5-8265u-8gb-memory/product_24393612 (10/01/2019) Edited October 5, 2019 by len_mullen
jaymacfla Posted October 2, 2019 Posted October 2, 2019 I would think that reliability would be the #1concern then price, features, etc. Whenever you see Lenovo ahead of major manufacturers in an article you have to question the legitimacy of the whole article, lol.
len_mullen Posted October 2, 2019 Author Posted October 2, 2019 I would think that reliability would be the #1concern then price, features, etc. Whenever you see Lenovo ahead of major manufacturers in an article you have to question the legitimacy of the whole article, lol. Reliability requires data. Price, features, etc. can be harvested from online reviews. Unless, of course, you are in the warranty service business. That's why I like the Square Trade report. Synopsis: SquareTrade analyzed failure rates for over 30,000 new laptop computers covered by SquareTrade Laptop Warranty plans and found that one-third of all laptops will fail within 3 years. Highlights of the study include: Looking at the first 3 years of ownership, 31% of laptop owners reported a failure to SquareTrade. Two-thirds of this failure (20.4%) came from hardware malfunctions, and one-third (10.6%) was reported as accidental damage. Netbooks are projected to have a 20% higher failure rate from hardware malfunctions than more expensive laptop computers. ASUS and Toshiba were the most reliable manufacturers, with fewer than 16% having a hardware malfunction over 3 years.I once inquired about three year leases of computers where I work. At the time, rollovers were becoming a PITA as there was no perceivable performance improvement, but apps, data, and settings had to be migrated. I was told that the mean time between catastrophic failure was 2.65 years. Rolling over at three years statistically eliminated failures for most. Makes sense at the enterprise level, but the we want our home computers to last longer. 1
Elmck Posted October 2, 2019 Posted October 2, 2019 i need a new laptop for either me or DD (mine died and I have been sharing hers) However, I have no clue what all the technical stuff means. I use mine mainly for social media, shopping, email, and research for classes I'm taking and teaching. DD is a senior in high school and needs something good for college. I would love a good warranty but have not wanted a touchscreen (not sure why)
chester5 Posted October 2, 2019 Posted October 2, 2019 I'm all about the speed. I'm the most impatient person on the planet. I'm also not into specs - but is it true there is now an i9 processor? Also, is there a way to compare processors? I'm a big fan of the i7 for speed - but all of the other brands' numbers and letters have me so confused. Help?
tyreejames Posted October 2, 2019 Posted October 2, 2019 I am looking for laptops for both DS12 and DD9. They had chrome books from Walmart or Best Buy a few years ago and they both need a little more power; nothing too fancy though. I’ve been considering refurbished MacBooks but I’m keeping all my options open.
len_mullen Posted October 2, 2019 Author Posted October 2, 2019 i need a new laptop for either me or DD (mine died and I have been sharing hers) However, I have no clue what all the technical stuff means. I use mine mainly for social media, shopping, email, and research for classes I'm taking and teaching. DD is a senior in high school and needs something good for college. I would love a good warranty but have not wanted a touchscreen (not sure why) Touch my screen, I break your finger. That's what I used to tell my kids. I spend a lot of time cleaning my phone. I totally get that. Paying with the right credit card can DOUBLE your warranty. The $600 Dell I linked in the first post would be great to take to school. The Lenovo in the second post is pretty awesome for $350. 1
len_mullen Posted October 2, 2019 Author Posted October 2, 2019 I'm all about the speed. I'm the most impatient person on the planet. I'm also not into specs - but is it true there is now an i9 processor? Also, is there a way to compare processors? I'm a big fan of the i7 for speed - but all of the other brands' numbers and letters have me so confused. Help? https://www.pcworld.com/article/3267699/should-you-buy-a-core-i9-laptop.htmlhttp://www.cpubenchmark.net/laptop.html The cheapest i9 for a laptop costs about $600 (just the CPU). Also, you can pay 2x for the performance of an i5 in an i7, so use the CPU benchmarks to get good value. 1
freesia39 Posted October 2, 2019 Posted October 2, 2019 I would think that reliability would be the #1concern then price, features, etc. Whenever you see Lenovo ahead of major manufacturers in an article you have to question the legitimacy of the whole article, lol.The funny thing is where I work, we would love to have the Lenovo contract back. We're buying Dells and the failure rate is kinda atrocious just in my office alone. *hugs her MacBook Pro harder* 2
len_mullen Posted October 2, 2019 Author Posted October 2, 2019 At work, I have had SSDs fail in my last two laptops. Otherwise, I really like the Latitudes. Right now I have a 5480. https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/dell-latitude-5480 It's a $1k laptop and Square Trade tells us price is a better indicator than brand, right?
bluebear Posted October 2, 2019 Posted October 2, 2019 The funny thing is where I work, we would love to have the Lenovo contract back. We're buying Dells and the failure rate is kinda atrocious just in my office alone. *hugs her MacBook Pro harder*I agree. My school district has had Dell, Lenovo, and now HP. I would for sure pick Lenovo between those 3. (I work in our technology department.)
freesia39 Posted October 4, 2019 Posted October 4, 2019 At work, I have had SSDs fail in my last two laptops. Otherwise, I really like the Latitudes. Right now I have a 5480. https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/dell-latitude-5480 It's a $1k laptop and Square Trade tells us price is a better indicator than brand, right? It's really more the abuse and cycles you put on it - we have backup and encryption requirements that really drain the life on the machines (although as a side note, I purchased my last MacBook pro after the three year term to use as my personal computer, and it's operating just fine, ONCE i took all the backup and encryption software off.)
jaymacfla Posted October 6, 2019 Posted October 6, 2019 Reliability requires data. Price, features, etc. can be harvested from online reviews. Unless, of course, you are in the warranty service business. That's why I like the Square Trade report. Synopsis: SquareTrade analyzed failure rates for over 30,000 new laptop computers covered by SquareTrade Laptop Warranty plans and found that one-third of all laptops will fail within 3 years. Highlights of the study include: Looking at the first 3 years of ownership, 31% of laptop owners reported a failure to SquareTrade. Two-thirds of this failure (20.4%) came from hardware malfunctions, and one-third (10.6%) was reported as accidental damage. Netbooks are projected to have a 20% higher failure rate from hardware malfunctions than more expensive laptop computers. ASUS and Toshiba were the most reliable manufacturers, with fewer than 16% having a hardware malfunction over 3 years.I once inquired about three year leases of computers where I work. At the time, rollovers were becoming a PITA as there was no perceivable performance improvement, but apps, data, and settings had to be migrated. I was told that the mean time between catastrophic failure was 2.65 years. Rolling over at three years statistically eliminated failures for most. Makes sense at the enterprise level, but the we want our home computers to last longer. Thanks for the info. I always liked Toshiba laptops.It's really more the abuse and cycles you put on it - we have backup and encryption requirements that really drain the life on the machines (although as a side note, I purchased my last MacBook pro after the three year term to use as my personal computer, and it's operating just fine, ONCE i took all the backup and encryption software off.)It is nice that you mention that. I am going through the SYO-501 Security + certification process and we are learning about the causes effects of failures and how to safeguard data.
Jeanne515 Posted October 14, 2019 Posted October 14, 2019 My 7 year old has requested a Chromebook for Christmas. They use Lenovo at school. Can anyone recommend a good Chromebook? She will just be mainly watching you tube videos, Stride Academy, and Study Island. Thanks!
freesia39 Posted October 15, 2019 Posted October 15, 2019 It is nice that you mention that. I am going through the SYO-501 Security + certification process and we are learning about the causes effects of failures and how to safeguard data. Quite a few of our faculty tried to get exceptions, because they believed it would affect performance (true) or they didn't like the monitoring, but over on the Medical School side, that's a non-starter - too much patient data that could possibly be stolen from a laptop or phone. We require encryption and backups.
jesusluvu Posted October 16, 2019 Posted October 16, 2019 I agree. The encryption and backup does drain the battery but it is a necc evil. I always look at the need for the laptop to base my decision on. If I am using it for school or home I most likly am going to upgrade it in 3 years anyway, so from a price stand pint I ma not going to send a ton of money. Enough not to be disappointing but not more than I need. I have used all of the top brands and the overall performance is about the same.
Kanyon71 Posted October 16, 2019 Posted October 16, 2019 Good base disk encryption on a good hardware platform should have little to noticeable effect on the speed or battery life. I've lived the past 11+ years in Healthcare IT and have implemented it across the board. Too many baddies out there who don't follow the credo of First Do No Harm.
len_mullen Posted October 16, 2019 Author Posted October 16, 2019 Good base disk encryption on a good hardware platform should have little to noticeable effect on the speed or battery life. I've lived the past 11+ years in Healthcare IT and have implemented it across the board. Too many baddies out there who don't follow the credo of First Do No Harm. Can you recommend something for home users? Free maybe? 1
freesia39 Posted October 17, 2019 Posted October 17, 2019 Good base disk encryption on a good hardware platform should have little to noticeable effect on the speed or battery life. I've lived the past 11+ years in Healthcare IT and have implemented it across the board. Too many baddies out there who don't follow the credo of First Do No Harm. I think my problem is that I just had too much going at one time - multiple browsers and tabs per browser, Outlook, office applications, Slack, etc. (seriously, looking at you, outlook and Chrome. Resource hogs!)
Kanyon71 Posted October 18, 2019 Posted October 18, 2019 Can you recommend something for home users? Free maybe?To be honest BitLocker built into Win10 is pretty darn good nowadays. So is FileVault if you're using a Mac. I used an enterprise product but that was more for the ability for us to control aspects of the encryption and recover if something went wrong. I don't really recommend just file encryption I would go for whole disk if you're doing it.I think my problem is that I just had too much going at one time - multiple browsers and tabs per browser, Outlook, office applications, Slack, etc. (seriously, looking at you, outlook and Chrome. Resource hogs!)Ya Chrome got REALLY bad for a while, I've heard it's been cleaned up some now but not sure how good it is. I made a switch to FF because oddly enough I was running into sites where Chrome wasn't displaying right. I have Chrome, Edge, FF, Safari running though so I can test stuff as I'm doing dev work.
jaymacfla Posted October 20, 2019 Posted October 20, 2019 The funny thing is where I work, we would love to have the Lenovo contract back. We're buying Dells and the failure rate is kinda atrocious just in my office alone. *hugs her MacBook Pro harder*I remember the super cheap shortcuts the company put into the BF specials. I hope that the mainline offerings are much better.It looks like I will be picking up at least two laptops (I5 minimum) and perhaps a chrome-book. Anyone with any chrome-book experience or absolute horror stories?
starbeck96 Posted October 28, 2019 Posted October 28, 2019 (edited) I am looking for a laptop for my 13 year old daughter. It will mainly be used for Minecraft, Roblox, and YouTube. She will also use it for Microsoft Word. Is this a decent laptop? Also will be glad to take suggestions. I would really like to stay around the $300 or less mark, but willing to go as high as $400. https://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-15-Laptop-15-6-Intel-Core-i3-4GB-SDRAM-1TB-HDD-Natural-Silver-15-bs031wm/613105204 Also looking at this one (which is on the high end)https://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-15-Ghost-Silver-Laptop-15-6-HD-Intel-Core-i3-8145U-Intel-UHD-Graphics-620-8GB-SDRAM-HDD-15-dw0037wm/275990306 Edited October 28, 2019 by starbeck96
len_mullen Posted October 28, 2019 Author Posted October 28, 2019 ^^^^ I would set the floor at 8GB of RAM and current or last gen i5. You won't spend much more now and you will be happy with the machine for a lot longer. 4
wittenlover Posted October 29, 2019 Posted October 29, 2019 ^^^^ I would set the floor at 8GB of RAM and current or last gen i5. You won't spend much more now and you will be happy with the machine for a lot longer. Agreed on both counts. Don't get less than 8GB of RAM. 2
magickallight Posted October 30, 2019 Posted October 30, 2019 My daughter is looking for a laptop for her 10 year old that he can play Fortnite on. Since I am unfamiliar with the game and what specs it would need - any hep is appreciated.
jesusluvu Posted October 30, 2019 Posted October 30, 2019 I do not play it but ALL of my nephews does ALL THE TIME. This game will require a decent graphics card as they jump and run alot. You would not want a drag or blurred image. 1
Pnambic Posted October 30, 2019 Posted October 30, 2019 I am looking for a laptop for my 13 year old daughter. It will mainly be used for Minecraft, Roblox, and YouTube. She will also use it for Microsoft Word. Is this a decent laptop? Also will be glad to take suggestions. I would really like to stay around the $300 or less mark, but willing to go as high as $400. https://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-15-Laptop-15-6-Intel-Core-i3-4GB-SDRAM-1TB-HDD-Natural-Silver-15-bs031wm/613105204 Also looking at this one (which is on the high end) https://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-15-Ghost-Silver-Laptop-15-6-HD-Intel-Core-i3-8145U-Intel-UHD-Graphics-620-8GB-SDRAM-HDD-15-dw0037wm/275990306 ^^^^ I would set the floor at 8GB of RAM and current or last gen i5. You won't spend much more now and you will be happy with the machine for a lot longer. And drop Roblox. Since making that game outlawed in my house, our instances of viruses/malware have dropped from seemingly all the time to (knock on wood) haven't seen one in well over a year. 1
cinnamon16201 Posted October 30, 2019 Posted October 30, 2019 I would think that reliability would be the #1concern then price, features, etc. Whenever you see Lenovo ahead of major manufacturers in an article you have to question the legitimacy of the whole article, lol.I agree. I had a Lenovo 2 in 1 and less than a year the SSD failed and had to be replaced. In another year the motherboard failed. I threw in the towel and went back to Dell.
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