Work Laptop Deals Thread (Mega?)

[ExtraSlow]

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Unless you have a time machine to go back to pre-2010ish when they were all actually very knowledgeable and helpful.

I wore an onion on my belt.

[suntan]

There's an older guy at NW ME that constantly gives out wrong advice.

[riander5]

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I had suggested that one, and my Wife specifically asked at M.E. about it, but they were out of stock everywhere. (Which lines up with what is shown online) Neither of us are IT saavy, so she went with what was suggested by the salesperson.

Return it

[R-Audi]

I made a small hint and returning it... and was shot down rather quickly. While this laptop may not be the best, it is light years ahead of her old one and thats all that matters to her. I get that the specs etc may not be super strong, but shes a fairly light user in terms of requirements. For $745, she was happy, so probably in my best interest to leave it at that. Guess next time I need to do more research!

[msommers]

What's your guy's opinion on Lenovo's Legion series? I've had a ThinkPad for over a decade now and while there isn't anything wrong with it, the screen resolution is brutal in comparison to what we have these days. Would also like something a little larger like 15.6-16".

Many of the laptops in the Legion series hit the specs I want which includes a dedicated GPU and 100% sRGB screen. But I'm less familiar with their reliability or any design flaws in particular to cooling.

[Xtrema]

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I made a small hint and returning it... and was shot down rather quickly. While this laptop may not be the best, it is light years ahead of her old one and thats all that matters to her. I get that the specs etc may not be super strong, but shes a fairly light user in terms of requirements. For $745, she was happy, so probably in my best interest to leave it at that. Guess next time I need to do more research!

For a light user, it's all about screen and keyboard then the guts. 12GB is decent. That Ryzen chip is fine. It's not long ago you can't even play light games with onbaord graphics.

That said, for a 2024 purchase, I would have insist on a laptop that charges via USB C so I can travel with 1 less power brick.

[ercchry]

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What's your guy's opinion on Lenovo's Legion series? I've had a ThinkPad for over a decade now and while there isn't anything wrong with it, the screen resolution is brutal in comparison to what we have these days. Would also like something a little larger like 15.6-16".

Many of the laptops in the Legion series hit the specs I want which includes a dedicated GPU and 100% sRGB screen. But I'm less familiar with their reliability or any design flaws in particular to cooling.

Think as long as you have 2 fans in there cooling would probably be decent. Dedicated GPU for our new machines runs way cooler than not having it, but is of course a much louder machine while under load. Lenovo never screams “value” but for having high screen standards, I’m not too sure where I’d point you without getting wild with a gaming machine. Asus has panatone calibrated OLEDs but a dedicated GPU then becomes $$$

[ZeroGravity]

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What's your guy's opinion on Lenovo's Legion series? I've had a ThinkPad for over a decade now and while there isn't anything wrong with it, the screen resolution is brutal in comparison to what we have these days. Would also like something a little larger like 15.6-16".

Many of the laptops in the Legion series hit the specs I want which includes a dedicated GPU and 100% sRGB screen. But I'm less familiar with their reliability or any design flaws in particular to cooling.

Looking at the 14" (14.5) Legion Slim 5 gen 8 with 4060 8GB? I'm tempted but do not NEED an upgrade. The only wish I have for that machine is the 32 GB option which is not currently or no longer available. And some reviews say the keyboard is not as good compared to the "Legion Slim 7" or "Slim / yoga 9".

[ExtraSlow]

14 inch? May as well stare at your phone.

[msommers]

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Looking at the 14" (14.5) Legion Slim 5 gen 8 with 4060 8GB? I'm tempted but do not NEED an upgrade. The only wish I have for that machine is the 32 GB option which is not currently or no longer available. And some reviews say the keyboard is not as good compared to the "Legion Slim 7" or "Slim / yoga 9".

Good comparison here:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo....712713.0.html

[Inzane]

Does anyone here have a feel for whether doubling the RAM on an HP Pavillon laptop from 16GB to 32GB would be worth it performance wise? (Its for my son, who is trying to use his laptop for some gaming as well as his school work).

[Xtrema]

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Does anyone here have a feel for whether doubling the RAM on an HP Pavillon laptop from 16GB to 32GB would be worth it performance wise? (Its for my son, who is trying to use his laptop for some gaming as well as his school work).

Depends on the game. But 32GB won't hurt these days. Even some of my City Skyline builds with mods/assets can run 20-24GB. But it's all pointless if your GPU is weak.

Goes double if his school work includes CAD.

It also really depends on the age of laptop if throwing more memory at it is worthwhile. If it's too old, don't waste money on ram.

[Inzane]

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Depends on the game. But 32GB won't hurt these days. Even some of my City Skyline builds with mods/assets can run 20-24GB. But it's all pointless if your GPU is weak.

Goes double if his school work includes CAD.

It also really depends on the age of laptop if throwing more memory at it is worthwhile. If it's too old, don't waste money on ram.

The most intensive thing he's wanted to play is Fortnite.

The laptop was bought last year from Costco. It has an Intel Core i7-1355U and a 1TB SSD, in addition to the 16GB DDR mentioned earlier. I don't really know what it has for a GPU but the HP model # is 15-eg3003ca.

[Xtrema]

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The most intensive thing he's wanted to play is Fortnite.

The laptop was bought last year from Costco. It has an Intel Core i7-1355U and a 1TB SSD, in addition to the 16GB DDR mentioned earlier. I don't really know what it has for a GPU but the HP model # is 15-eg3003ca.

You don't have discrete GPU. You have Intel Iris Xe integrated graphic on the i7 proc.

These thread titles say it all.

https://community.intel.com/t5/Graph...e/td-p/1469739
https://community.intel.com/t5/Graph...e/td-p/1357950

It's not a RAM problem.

You want to play games have a discrete Nvidia GPU on top of your CPU. Although some 2024 laptop CPUs started to have more potent GPU integrated, it's still doesn't beat a discrete one.

[ExtraSlow]

Not an amazing deal, but something like this should be the baseline to compare deals against.
Lenovo E16 with a few cheap upgrades (like the WQXGA 2560x1600 screen and larger battery)



when it turned out that BYOD is a hassle at my company, my work IT people got me an E16 without these nice upgrades, sigh.

[killramos]

Didn’t feel like a new thread is deserved.

What do people think of surface laptops? Like the latest and greatest surface 6 15” laptops?

Are they the same as everything else on the market? Better? Worse? Buggy crap?

They seem nice looking? Apparently extra good when covered in stickers. Any tangible benefits to having straight from the horses mouth Microsoft products?

Less worried about cost as much as getting the right thing.

[taemo]

I had a Surface Laptop 4 at work before and now a Surface Laptop 5 for personal use, never had issue with either.
The only thing I don't like is the proprietary surface connector and only 1 USB-A port, but I rarely use them and always charge via USB-C.
Touchscreen 3:2 screen is handy to have though over a traditional 16:9.

Haven't put stickers except these that my daughter added but maybe I should.

[ExtraSlow]

I can't see where there's any benefit over the mid-level Lenovo. Worse than top of the line Lenovo, but probably cheaper.

[killramos]

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I can't see where there's any benefit over the mid-level Lenovo. Worse than top of the line Lenovo, but probably cheaper.

There is one key reason in my case that I’d rather not get into.

I just want to know what the other negatives might be that I will need to weigh against.

If a laptop is a laptop is a laptop and the specs meet my needs surface laptop might be the way to go but I’m willing to hear arguments against that.

[pheoxs]

I liked my surface at work, if work was paying I'd get another but if I was buying it personally I wouldn't. The value for what you get isn't worth it for me.

They're quite light and very portable. If you're just doing productivity work with spreadsheets and emails they're great but if you're a power user doing CAD or Photoshop it lacks hardware specs.