Laptop recommendations

[mazdavirgin]

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Anyone find any good deals for a lower end gaming laptop? Was considering this one.

Attachment 102998

Not enough ram and the graphics card is sorta crap but price isn't terrible with the GPU shortages.

[dirtsniffer]

Wife needs a new laptop. Hoping to keep it under $800. Anything you'd recommend? Currently considering this:

https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX00123976

Intel® EVO NUC M15 BRC510EAUXBC1 Laptop

Windows® 11 Home, 64 bit
Intel® Core™ i5-1240P 3.3GHz 12 Core Processor w/ 4 Performance and 8 Efficiency Cores, 16 Threads, 4.4GHz Turbo, 12MB Smart Cache, Intel 7
16GB LPDDR5-5200 RAM + 512GB NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD
15.6 inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS Display
CPU Integrated Intel® Iris® Xe Integrated 3D Graphics
80 Key LED Backlit Membrane Keyboard
2x Combo Thunderbolt™ 4 / USB Type-C ports
2x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A Ports
WIFI: Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 802.11ax + Bluetooth® V5.2
Powerful 73Whr 4-Cell Lithium Polymer Battery
65W External AC Power Adapter

[msommers]

Just buy that one

[The_Penguin]

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Wife needs a new laptop. Hoping to keep it under $800. Anything you'd recommend? Currently considering this:

https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX00123976

That actually looks pretty good, especially at that price.

[dirtsniffer]

Yep. Bought it. Looks pretty good so far

[birdman86]

I'm looking for a laptop that can do reasonably advanced excel work as well as CAD (Fusion 360) and slice 3D models (Bambu). So I think CPU and RAM is all I need, not so much GPU? I'm looking at a Dell Inspiron 16...any thoughts?

And does anyone have any experience with Thunderbolt docks? I have two 27 monitors that I'd like to use with this laptop when I'm at home. Not sure if the laptop+dock+dual monitors would introduce other performance issues, or drag on the CPU/RAM? Video card in the laptop is Intel Iris Xe which AFAIK is pretty basic.

Main reason for switching to laptop is to be able to take my home workstation with me on the road.

[msommers]

Not very familiar with those programs but worth checking if any are able to utilize the GPU as well, particularly CAD.

True thunderbolt ports (not just a USB C) with a dock will do exactly what you need.

[suntan]

Are the monitors 4k? Make sure you can drive the laptop monitor and the two monitors @ 4k @ 60 hz

[birdman86]

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Are the monitors 4k? Make sure you can drive the laptop monitor and the two monitors @ 4k @ 60 hz

Yep they’re both 4K. I was about to get an Inspiron 16 Plus (has discrete gpu) but then I read the fans are going basically 100% of the time when docked, lid closed and running two displays. Back to zero…that’d drive me nuts.

[rage2]

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Yep they’re both 4K. I was about to get an Inspiron 16 Plus (has discrete gpu) but then I read the fans are going basically 100% of the time when docked, lid closed and running two displays. Back to zero…that’d drive me nuts.

You get used to the fan noise, just becomes white noise. I don't think I've ever had an intel laptop not have fans at full blast driving 2 monitors. It's only bad when the fans get dirty and noisy. Then it's new laptop time.

AMD's quiet at all driving 2 monitors? Apple M1/M2 are, fans have yet to kick in once. Not power user enough.

[suntan]

Intel just plain sucks these days.

[birdman86]

Can you still sideload Windows on a Macbook? They sound exactly like what I want but Excel for Mac is absolute trash

[suntan]

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Can you still sideload Windows on a Macbook? They sound exactly like what I want but Excel for Mac is absolute trash

No but you can run it in a VM using Parallels.

[riander5]

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Intel just plain sucks these days.

I got one of this little Intel NUC computers for work.

10x the laptop of my old piece of shit dell for the same price (~1k)

Maybe you're just referring to their processers but im impressed with this thing for a G

[rage2]

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I got one of this little Intel NUC computers for work.

10x the laptop of my old piece of shit dell for the same price (~1k)

Maybe you're just referring to their processers but im impressed with this thing for a G

Well you’re comparing what’s essentially a desktop which has none of the issues a laptop would have to deal with. Heat generation, heat dissipation, power consumption, throttling to name a few.

[The_Penguin]

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I'm looking for a laptop that can do reasonably advanced excel work as well as CAD (Fusion 360) and slice 3D models (Bambu). So I think CPU and RAM is all I need, not so much GPU? I'm looking at a Dell Inspiron 16...any thoughts?

Hard no on Inspiron. I'm a Dell fanboy. Have been buying Dell for 3 different companies for over 20 years. For Laptops, the Latitude line is solid. The Inspiron line is hot garbage.
There's a reason Telus used to give away Inspirons with internet contracts.

[killramos]

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No but you can run it in a VM using Parallels.

It’s just bad advice to suggest you can run any kind of windows on a mac in 2023.

[suntan]

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It’s just bad advice to suggest you can run any kind of windows on a mac in 2023.

Can or should? Because you most certainly can.

[killramos]

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Can or should? Because you most certainly can.

You can run arm windows through parallels which while technically is running windows is next to useless.

[suntan]

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You can run arm windows through parallels which while technically is running windows is next to useless.

ARM Windows sucks less these days. Emulates most things now.