Looking to Buy a Laptop

[Magnolia]

Here is a list of components you should be aware of CPU RAM Hard Drive Video Card Screen Operating System

Does anyone have suggestions for a decent laptop?
If you have horror stories or positive reviews about specific brands/models, I'd appreciate knowing about them.
I'm leaning towards a Mac, based on customer reviews.
Thank you!

Background Info:
I have ~9 year old Dell desktop, Win 10, no camera, no mic, core 17. Cost $750. Nice big screen. Built in ethernet port and DVD drive. Lots of usb ports. No frills, it's terrific, works great. I'm told it can't be upgraded to 11.

I need something portable, with newer OS, + camera and mic, mostly for zoom and remote use, and to be my Dell replacement if/when it gets obsolete.

Costco has Black Friday laptop deals.
The less expensive ones are HP (I had a bad experience with HP), Chromebook (seems too dependent on the web), Dell (the reviews are awful).
I've liked Lenovo Thinkpad (but today they run ~$1000+ and the reviews are not very good).

This one seems good: MacBook Air Laptop (15-inch) - Apple M4 chip, Built for Apple Intelligence, 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16GB Memory, 512GB SSD Storage. It's ~$1100 (high, but my computers last about 10+ years). Wired Mag recommends it.

The Mac Pro (only 14-inch) is even higher (+$300) - Apple M5 chip, Built for Apple Intelligence, 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16GB Memory, 512GB SSD Storage.

There's not much difference between the pro and air, but the pro has better reviews.
Wired says the pro will be obsoleted in about a year by a new M5 chip in the Mac Air.
With a laptop, it seems you also have to buy an Ethernet adapter, USB C to A adapters and a DVD player. Plus the macs only have 2 usb ports.........What a mess. It used to be so easy.

Wired has articles, one reviewing Win and one for Mac. I could spend weeks researching laptops, but the deals only last 1 or 2 more days. If I have to wait, so be it, but any suggestions may tilt the scale so I can take advantage of the sales.

 

[3DStudent]

I'd stay away from anything Copilot+ if you go with Windows. I made a thread recently about it here. I'm not sure if the same applies to Macs and their AI chips.

With a laptop, it seems you also have to buy an Ethernet adapter, USB C to A adapters and a DVD player. Plus the macs only have 2 usb ports.........What a mess. It used to be so easy.

Yeah it seems you need some sort of hub or adapter these days because they are cutting out those features and ports.

Wired has articles, one reviewing Win and one for Mac. I could spend weeks researching laptops, but the deals only last 1 or 2 more days.

Yeah, I tend to go into over-research mode and then sometimes have buyers remorse later, heh. I had just overlooked the AI stuff, which they are really pushing. Maybe just state your must have features, and compromise if you have to on one or a few features. And just make sure you understand all of the specs it has. There's always going to be an adjustment period, and there are solutions to problems as they come along.

 

[rs]

USB-C devices for Apple products often act like hubs. Meaning you can chain multiple displays together or put a disk drive off the monitor port.

Whatever you buy, make a backup plan! And stick to it. Apple Has a very nice implementation with Time Machine. (Unfortunately, it’s only your files that can go back in time… )

Once you go Mac you don’t go Bac…

 

[Mari]

I was recently in the same pickle; Mac would be nice but they are too expensive for me.
I generally don´t like HPs, and I´ve already had Lenovo, which, imo, were better when they first came to the market than today.

My business computers were - and are - all Dell, and I was quite happy with them.
So in the end, I found a nice used and refurbed Dell Latitude 3390 2-in-1 to which I´ve only added another 8GB RAM, installed Win 11 Pro, and I´m happy with it. The hard drive is on the lower end, only 250 GB, but I´m not worried as I don´t do anything with graphics or downloading movies and that kind of stuff on my computer. I think that the price in the end was something around 300€.

So in the end, I suppose, it comes down on how much money you are willing to put aside for a laptop and what will you be using it for. If it´s just for surfing the net, then perhaps buy a basic Mac rather than to give extra money for Mac Pro.
OSIT

 

[axj]

I think Windows 10 is the last one I will be using. On any new computer I will probably install Windows 7 and/or Linux.

As far as brands, I also used to like Lenovo (the "bricks") but their current quality has gone down a lot. Using an Acer right now and it seems to be pretty good, though its touchpad had to be replaced due to me using it instead of a mouse.

 

[Avala]

For low to medium price range, and for everyday's work and entertaining Asus Vivobook 5 or Lenovo IdeaPad 5. Both with AMD Ryzen 5 or 7 processor, 15.6 inch display. Version with 16Gb RAM and 512Gb SSD drive. For normal everyday user more than enough. I personally prefer Lenovo a bit more because of aluminium casing (not just plastic).

 

[axj]

For normal everyday user more than enough. I personally prefer Lenovo a bit more because of aluminium casing (not just plastic).

On the last Lenovo I had about 4-5 years ago some of the keyboard keys stopped working after about a year. Which indicates severe quality issues at Lenovo.

 

[Magnolia]

I made a thread recently about it here.

I missed that thread completely. Thanks. I'll read it.

 

[Kmicic]

Hi Magnolia,

I've often had to choose between a laptop and a PC, and I've noticed that there's no rule of thumb. Every brand has its pros and cons these days. The most important thing is to set your budget, which you can increase by 10% if you find a “bargain.” Then determine your needs:

-how many USB ports, HDMI ports, etc. you need

- What kind of screen do you need - its brightness, resolution, size

- What kind of keyboard do you need on your laptop, should it have an additional numeric keypad or not

- How long should the laptop run on battery power, is this crucial or negligible for you



Visit popular online laptop stores in your country and try to sort by the screen, price, and battery parameters that suit you. Then, from these laptops, select 4 laptops that will have the most RAM and a decent processor. Check out reviews online to see which laptop would be best for you and select 2 of them. Read about their disadvantages and choose the one with the fewest potential disadvantages from these 2.

Personally, I prefer used electronics because the increase in computing power in newer laptops has slowed down significantly, and for my gaming and business applications, a high-end laptop from a few years ago is often much cheaper and better than the current ones available in stores.


My perspective may also be different because I think I can be classified as an intermediate hardware user. I used to be a programmer and an electronics engineer, and I am trained as a microprocessor technologist, so I was able to tweak or repair a lot of things myself, but that's not always the case

 

[aimarok]

USB-C devices for Apple products often act like hubs. Meaning you can chain multiple displays together or put a disk drive off the monitor port.

There are cheaper hubs that offer enough ports to connect everything you need. For example I use this one:

 

[Magnolia]

USB-C devices for Apple products often act like hubs. Meaning you can chain multiple displays together or put a disk drive off the monitor port.

There are cheaper hubs that offer enough ports to connect everything you need. For example I use this one:

This is very interesting. Keeps things compact and tidy, as well as offering new possibilities.
Turning lemons into lemonade, and such.

 

[KJS]

I've used a MacBook Air M2 for the past two years daily, and it's one of the consumer electronic products that hasn't disappointed me. I use it as my main machine for work, and as a software developer, I'm a kind of power user. I do quite a lot of short‑duration, high‑demand computing tasks like compiling and even small LLM local inference lately, and the M2 works great, without overheating. After 2 years of daily using, the battery's capacity is rated at 88%. And you just can’t beat battery time; it just goes and goes.

I had a MacBook Pro M3 and didn’t like the device, as it was so bulky compared to the M2, and the keyboard was worse. The display was the only thing that was better, and I couldn’t notice a difference in speed. So it’s not worth paying more, IMO. I'm using a Kensington SD5200T docking station with an external 4K display (via DisplayPort), and haven't had any issues with that configuration. The Air M2 is limited to one external monitor, but I haven't found much use for additional displays.

I have to admit that I'm not a big Apple fan; I much prefer GNU/Linux and GNOME to the macOS interface (GNU/Linux on Apple Silicon is still a bad experience), but everything is so smooth and works mostly out of the box. Granted, macOS quality is getting worse and worse, but I cannot even imagine using Windows for anything now. My wife has a beefy Windows 11 desktop, and it's crazy how bad it is. Even things like font rendering can be hit or miss there if an app uses an old API. It's such a bad experience that I cannot believe people use it

 

[broken.english]

I recently decided for a low cost alternative to a laptop: a mini pc with external monitor. So far I'm quite happy with it.

The components:

- Soyo M4 pro mini pc: € 135 (Ali)
- Asus 24" monitor: € 90 (amazon)
- external webcam: € 11.69 (Ali)

Of course this is for home use only due to the monitor. The pc is equipped with 16gb ram and a 512gb ssd and a lowly Intel N150 cpu. This is absolutely sufficient for all kinds of office work. I am currently on a shopping trip with >100 browser tabs open and can switch between them without any delays.

 

[Avala]

On the last Lenovo I had about 4-5 years ago some of the keyboard keys stopped working after about a year. Which indicates severe quality issues at Lenovo.

Never had problem like that, actually I am typing this on one 10 years old. I'm using it for watching movies on TV. Also using one which I bought in 2023. with windows 11. Could be some problem with some class or product lines though. IdeaPads seems to be working fine.