Another laptop recommendation

[RX_EVOLV]

I'm also looking for a work laptop to replace my 7 year old HP Spectre. what do you guys recommend

- I use it every day at the office as my computer, occasionally (once every 2 months) I would take it with me on business trips.
- Prefer at least 13''.. 15.6'' probably okay but not bigger. I think I would appreciate number pads...
- Screen quality is important since I use it everyday along side desk monitor (is it possible to run 2 extended monitors on a laptop???)
- At least 256GB SSD storage, but bigger the better (given my budget). SD card slot a plus.
- Touch screen or ability to convert to a tablet would be nice-to-haves
- Decent graphic power in case I decide to game on it.
- Must be Window OS
- Budget: $2,000

Any recommendations? HP Spectre? Lenovo X1? Huawei MateBook X Pro? Any new and exciting laptops coming on that I should wait for?

[Mitsu3000gt]

Lenovo has 20% off their Thinkpads right now and you can get the X1 Extreme with i7 8750H, 512GB nVME SSD, 16GB RAM, 1080P display, Thunderbolt, and 1050 Ti (4GB) for just over $2K.

The best deal though is the Dell XPS 15 with i7 8750H, 512GB nVME SSD, 16GB RAM, 1080P display, 97Wh battery, Thunderbolt, and 1050 Ti (4GB) for $1750 when DELL runs their sales, which is quite often. To put that value in perspective, a lesser equipped MBP is over $4000, and the Microsoft Surface Book 2's aren't far behind price-wise, but you can at least get a 6GB GTX 1060 in the Surface Books.

Also keep in mind both laptops are going to be replaced/updated probably in the first half of this year (update to 2XXX series Nvidia GPUs at least), if that is of any concern for you. The XPS 15 is also due for a chassis update. The Lenovo X1 Extreme is their first foray into the segment to go head to head with the XPS 15.

If you want to go the other way, take a look at the 2019 ASUS Zenbook S13. 13.9" screen in a 13" body (97% screen/body ratio - so slim the webcam is on a reverse-notch lol), you drop down to a 4C/8T U series processor but they still give you a dedicated MX150 GPU which is phenomenal for how slim that laptop is. You also get USB-C charging, but no thunderbolt. Price will be well under $2K but they aren't shipping until March.

All the above have ~full sRGB coverage on the displays, but none of them are touch screen - you usually have to move up to a 4K screen to get touch which is a huge premium not to mention a waste of money IMHO, and none of the GPUs can handle games anywhere near 4K. You also have to take a glossy display if you want touch, and that is somewhat personal preference but if you're doing any type of critical work on it matte is much nicer to work with.

So yeah - personally I'd wait for the XPS 15 deal to return because nothing can touch it for the price. And you can run at least 3 displays off an XPS 15 but you might need a dock and they can't all be 4K.

Slightly over your budget but if you really want that touch screen, DELL does have the 4K XPS 15's (touch screen) on sale right now for $2299 (i7, 512GB, 16GB), and I bet if you used the code "$100off$2000PC" you could get it $100 less.

[RX_EVOLV]

Wow! Thank you for the detailed recommendations! Dell and Lenovo also have high ebates % once in a while so ordering from them would be good.

I've heard alot about Dell XPS but how's their built quality? My Spectre has been bullet proof almost, whereas my co-worker's Dell XP and Asus have been mah at best. We've already had to take his Zenbook back to memory express twice because the display keeps crapping out. It's on its 3rd screen and 2nd track pad since buying it 14 months ago (thank god for ME extended warranty)..

[Mitsu3000gt]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Wow! Thank you for the detailed recommendations! Dell and Lenovo also have high ebates % once in a while so ordering from them would be good.

I've heard alot about Dell XPS but how's their built quality? My Spectre has been bullet proof almost, whereas my co-worker's Dell XP and Asus have been mah at best. We've already had to take his Zenbook back to memory express twice because the display keeps crapping out. It's on its 3rd screen and 2nd track pad since buying it 14 months ago (thank god for ME extended warranty)..

The XPS 15's (at least the newer ones) are commonly regarded as having the best physical build quality of pretty well any laptop out there, but everything up in that range is similar (X1 Extreme, Spectre 15, etc.) Build quality wouldn't be a concern with any of these options IMO but everyone seems to have a laptop horror story which no doubt can weigh on the decision. Regarding component reliability, I think every laptop is a bit of a crapshoot - anytime you pack that much stuff into that small of a space and have it running at such high temps all day long, you are rolling the dice IMO. Many of the components are off the shelf and the same ones everyone else is running.

Purely anecdotal, but I have an Asus Zenbook from 2011/2012 that still looks and runs like new, maybe with slightly less max battery - it also has a full solid aluminium grid between the keyboard keys which to my knowledge you can't find on any laptop anymore, which is a shame. Meanwhile my GF's Macbook from the same vintage is completely inoperable and doesn't work unless you plug it in. Probably going to replace it with the new S13 in a few months.

Most if not all of these manufacturers will sell you an extended warranty if that is important to you.

[mzdspd]

My wife has had a XPS 13 with the 8th gen I5 for almost a year and the build quality is really nice. No issues. Much more reliable than her Surface pro 4 that she had prior.

[RX_EVOLV]

That's great! I'll take a good look at the Dell XPS. I'm not a power user by any mean so probably don't need the latest 2019 models if it means saving a few hundred bucks. It's 70% Microsoft Office, 20% Internet, 2% Skype, 5% Photoshop/Premier, and the dream of playing PC games. I haven't had a gaming computer in over 15 years. I just want one that can last another 5-7 years.

[killramos]

If you want to see an XPS in person there is usually a bunch on disaplay at the Microsoft store.

Great laptop, maybe the best I have ever owned.

[Mitsu3000gt]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

That's great! I'll take a good look at the Dell XPS. I'm not a power user by any mean so probably don't need the latest 2019 models if it means saving a few hundred bucks. It's 70% Microsoft Office, 20% Internet, 2% Skype, 5% Photoshop/Premier, and the dream of playing PC games. I haven't had a gaming computer in over 15 years. I just want one that can last another 5-7 years.

Any of the computers here will be just fine for you then, and you'll be gaming in 1080P regardless of whether you get a 4K touch screen or not due to the GPU limitations. You can even do some light gaming on something like the Asus S13 or anything similar with the MX150 - you basically get console-grade gaming of 30FPS or so @ 1080P. The 1050Ti is around 2-2.5X the performance of a MX150 for comparison and you'll be happy to have that 4GB of VRAM in Photoshop/Premier as well as the 2 extra cores the i7 8750H is going to give you. "H" CPU's are much higher wattage performance variants that offer close to desktop performance, and the "U" CPUs are Intel's low wattage battery-centric CPUs primarily used in thinner laptops with less cooling. The U CPU's have really high turbos now but they can't sustain them for long.

[P_D]

I have bought only XPS laptops, My first one was a XPS M1730 bought in 2008 and is still running strong as my kids computer. I then grabbed myself a XPS 15 and its also been a stellar rig for me.

[RX_EVOLV]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Lenovo has 20% off their Thinkpads right now and you can get the X1 Extreme with i7 8750H, 512GB nVME SSD, 16GB RAM, 1080P display, Thunderbolt, and 1050 Ti (4GB) for just over $2K.

The best deal though is the Dell XPS 15 with i7 8750H, 512GB nVME SSD, 16GB RAM, 1080P display, 97Wh battery, Thunderbolt, and 1050 Ti (4GB) for $1750 when DELL runs their sales, which is quite often. To put that value in perspective, a lesser equipped MBP is over $4000, and the Microsoft Surface Book 2's aren't far behind price-wise, but you can at least get a 6GB GTX 1060 in the Surface Books.

.

The XPS15 is onsale to $1849 (w/ coupon) + 6% ebates.. Do you think it'll get cheaper anytime soon? or I might as well pull the trigger now ?

[Mitsu3000gt]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

The XPS15 is onsale to $1849 (w/ coupon) + 6% ebates.. Do you think it'll get cheaper anytime soon? or I might as well pull the trigger now ?

Is that including the "$100off$2000PC" or whatever that code is? That is the format for the code I believe. Previously that is how you got it down to $1749 as I believe it was $1849 before the code. I've never seen it lower than $1749, so that is still a good price for those specs if it's the i7 8750H, 512GB PCIx4 SSD, 1050Ti 4GB and 16GB RAM. Again to put it in perspective, worse specs in a Macbook Pro or similar specs in a Microsoft Surfacebook are pushing $4K.

The New XPS 15 will be coming out this year though, so it's hard to say if there will be an even better deal but that is still a good price for what you're getting.

[msommers]

Macs will always be a rip-off relative to their PC counterparts on a per-spec basis.

[Mitsu3000gt]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Macs will always be a rip-off relative to their PC counterparts on a per-spec basis.

You are correct but the Microsoft Surfacebook is just as bad. That model of XPS 15 for $1749 is an incredible deal, not even Lenovo can touch it with their X1 Extreme after discount. The Asus Zenbook Pro would be close but the only way you can get them in Canada is with the 4K screen which adds like $400 to the price. That would actually be my favorite laptop if you could get the FHD matte screen in Canada - the second screen on the trackpad is the first game changing feature I have seen on a laptop in probably a decade.

[msommers]

True and surprises me -- Microsoft just isn't as cool as Apple and yet they're now costing approx. the same? Bizarre.

[Mitsu3000gt]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

True and surprises me -- Microsoft just isn't as cool as Apple and yet they're now costing approx. the same? Bizarre.

Yeah they are definitely trying to be the Apple for people who don't want a Mac. They make a fine product, just grossly overpriced - just like Macs. The kicker is that with Macbooks and MS Surfacebooks you are getting literally nothing for all that extra money, so I don't understand the appeal. $1000-2000 premium for zero gain is ridiculous in my mind. The Microsoft stores even look the same as Apple stores now, though I am not sure how else you really display a bunch of laptops.

[RX_EVOLV]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Is that including the "$100off$2000PC" or whatever that code is? That is the format for the code I believe. Previously that is how you got it down to $1749 as I believe it was $1849 before the code. I've never seen it lower than $1749, so that is still a good price for those specs if it's the i7 8750H, 512GB PCIx4 SSD, 1050Ti 4GB and 16GB RAM. Again to put it in perspective, worse specs in a Macbook Pro or similar specs in a Microsoft Surfacebook are pushing $4K.

The New XPS 15 will be coming out this year though, so it's hard to say if there will be an even better deal but that is still a good price for what you're getting.

the code wouldn't work cause the laptop is on sale to just below $2000 at $1949... but the $50 off code works, which brings it down to $1899. Tried adding a mouse to bring the order total up to $2000 but no luck. I could add Office subscription to it to bump the price up to $2000 but i really don't need it; already get it from work. If I could get it for $1749 that's quite a bit.. another $150.. maybe it's worth the wait.

[Mitsu3000gt]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

the code wouldn't work cause the laptop is on sale to just below $2000 at $1949... but the $50 off code works, which brings it down to $1899. Tried adding a mouse to bring the order total up to $2000 but no luck. I could add Office subscription to it to bump the price up to $2000 but i really don't need it; already get it from work. If I could get it for $1749 that's quite a bit.. another $150.. maybe it's worth the wait.

Up to you. Personally it would bother me knowing it was $1749 many months ago, but if you ignore that it's still a very good price for that level of spec. Try the $1900 and $1800 codes, see if those work - there is one for every $100 increment I believe.

You can buy full legit MS office for ~$30 on eBay so I wouldn't pay Dell for it.

[RX_EVOLV]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Up to you. Personally it would bother me knowing it was $1749 many months ago, but if you ignore that it's still a very good price for that level of spec. Try the $1900 and $1800 codes, see if those work - there is one for every $100 increment I believe.

You can buy full legit MS office for ~$30 on eBay so I wouldn't pay Dell for it.

Yeah that bothers me too lol, that's why I haven't pulled the trigger yet.

I'll wait...

[killramos]

Surfaces are crack money for what they are.

Apparently the CoC only uses surface devices now. And they give them out like tic tacs.

Sounds about right.

[RX_EVOLV]

@Mitsu3000gt The Lenovo X1 Extreme is onsale at lenovo.ca for 30% from $2739 to $1917.

If they are the same price, would you recommend the X1 Extreme or the XPS 15?