Laptops in 2017

[MRoss]

You expect to casually entertain the idea of going from a Mac to a PC and not set off fireworks?

I don't remember what your "thing" is. Mine is 13"+ screen, as light as possible, and strong enough for a casual game of League of Legends. My (old) NP900 Samsung is killing it. Never had a laptop for so long.

So... what's your objective?

P.S. I had the XPS 13...returned it. Though mine was 1 gen ago.

 

[alain]

My 13" MBP is 3 years old and I have been looking at a replacement. Apple latest MBPs do not seem like a big improvement.
Maybe I should entertain the thoughts of getting something else? Maybe something like a Dell XPS 13"?
@MRoss

FWIW, I moved away from my Mac. I gave it to my wife just because I do a lot of Windows at work now and wanted to go back and write on the screen using a stylus (like the really old days).
I'm using a Dell 5285 2-in-1. It's similar to the Microsoft Surface but uses WACOM technology. I'm considering selling it and getting a Dell 7285 just because I don't get used to the stand (not really lapable). The 5285 is very light, pen works really well and I haven't had performance issues.

When I'm not taking notes, I usually boot into Linux on a VM to do regular work.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Most of my work these days are web development, server terminal, PHP and some Illustrator so I need a high resolution screen. My 2015 13" retina Macbook Pro meets the bill nicely. I haven't had a need to work in WinOS for years.
I read that people complain about the latest MBP keyboard and other issues so I guess I can hold onto this laptop and ride it out.

 

[Jose Cespedes]

Hey guys, looking to buy a laptop for programming. I have a budget of $1,000. I have several options and have copied a few ones here.

Characteristics/Brand	Dell	HP	ASUS
Model	Inspiron 7000	Pavilion	K550
Price	US$999.99	US$899.00	US$999.99
Processor	2.7GHz Intel Core i7-7500U Dual-Core	2.7GHz Intel Core 7-7500U Dual-Core	2.6Ghz Quad-Core i7 6700HQ
RAM	16GB DDR4	16GB DDR4	16GB DDR4
Expandable	32GB DDR4	16GB DDR4	16GB DDR4
Hard Drive 1	256GB SSD	256GB SSD	256GB SSD
Hard Drive 2	1TB HDD	1TB HDD	N/A
Weight	4.41lbs	4.21lbs	5.4lbs
Graphics	Intel HD Graphics 620	Intel HD Graphics 620	NVIDIA GeGorce GTX 950M
Video Memory	Shared Memory	Shared Memory	Dedicated Memory
Display	Full HD	Full HD	Full HD
Resolution	1920 x 1080	1920 x 1080	1920 x 1080
Battery	3-cell lithium	3-cell lithium Up to 9 hours	48WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion

If you could help me out I would appreciate it. Also if you know of an even better option than these 3 mentioned above please let me know.

Thanks!

 

[MRoss]

"Which haircut is better, a buzz, a shroom, or a square cut?"

It depends entirely on what you are looking for, but some general comments:

1. I hate HP laptops. Have owned almost 20 (I think) and all of them gave me some sort of issue.

2. Dell and Asus make excellent laptops

3. Provide links please, some of your laptop names are questionable...

4. "U" processors have far superior battery life but no internal graphics so far less powerful

5. In contrast, core laptops (no U) are way more powerful, better at programming, gaming, but have far worse battery life.

...

 

[Jose Cespedes]

"Which haircut is better, a buzz, a shroom, or a square cut?"

It depends entirely on what you are looking for, but some general comments:

1. I hate HP laptops. Have owned almost 20 (I think) and all of them gave me some sort of issue.

2. Dell and Asus make excellent laptops

3. Provide links please, some of your laptop names are questionable...

4. "U" processors have far superior battery life but no internal graphics so far less powerful

5. In contrast, core laptops (no U) are way more powerful, better at programming, gaming, but have far worse battery life.

...

Looking to maximize the specs for the budget I looked at open box options.

The Dell

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Series 15.6" FHD IPS Notebook, Intel Core i7-7500U Upto 3.5GHz, 16GB DDR4, 256GB SSD Plus 1TB HDD, Wifi, Bluetooth, Backlit Keyboard, Card Reader, Windows 10 Professional 64Bit - Newegg.com

as per the webpage:

"Craving Savings sells computers with upgraded configurations. If the computer has modifications (listed above), then the manufacturer box is opened for it to be tested and inspected and to install the upgrades to achieve the specifications as advertised."

Do you have reservations regarding this? Do you recommend buying traditional NO open Box or NO refurbished laptops?

The HP Pavilion

HP Pavilion 15.6" FHD IPS Notebook, Intel Core i7-7500U Upto 3.5GHz, 16GB DDR4, 256GB SSD Plus 1TB HDD, Bang and Olufsen Speakers, Backlit Keyboard, Wifi, Bluetooth, HDMI, Windows 10 Professional - Newegg.com

The ASUS

ASUS K Series 15.6" FHD Notebook Computer, Intel Quad-Core i7-6700HQ Upto 3.5GHz, 16GB DDR4, 256GB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M, DVD-RW, Wifi, Bluetooth, VGA, HDMI, Windows 10 Professional 64Bit - Newegg.com

The better haircut? Main purpose is for schoolwork. C++, Python, MATLAB usage on a traditional Financial Engineering M.S.. Gaming is welcomed but not a priority, I mostly play old retro games with little graphics needs. I highly value battery life, albeit I will get a respectable level of performance. Less than 7 pounds is preferable but not imperative. What else would you like for it to be more accurate to pinpoint the best haircut?

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Laptop 2019 time.

I am planning to purchase a laptop soon. What do I do?

. Compilers C++,C#, Python
. Compute-intensive (parallel) numerical programs

Some buzzwords

. Nice big screen
. Yuge amount of memory
. Fast (SSD) disks + lots of space
. 10 processors, at least; 16, 24 even better?? (I7 ?)
. Are GPUs useful to have?
. etc.?

I have no idea which vendor to choose from. My hardware says he can build one for me based on standard components; is this a good choice?

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[Archidamus]

Laptop 2019 time.

As for processors, the best you can get now in a laptop is an 8-core, 16 thread (AMD Ryzen 2700). This one has that processor, but only 16GB of ram and 512GB of SSD storage. You could buy 4x16GB ram sticks for around $500 and get the 64GB max allowable on its motherboard. As for SSD, you could replace with an mSATA 1TB SSD for $250, but that only doubles you space so maybe not worth it. In total you're looking around $2,750 USD to customize this into something beastly.

There are a few shops that will 'custom' build you stuff, but I bet they will be pricier. My suggestion would to find a friend who's built PC's before. Get the laptop first, then have them order the parts so you know they will operate without any tweaking.

As for graphics, I doubt you'd ever use the full power of the card in that laptop. The screen will look very smooth as it should be hitting 144hz most of the time versus your standard 60hz screen.

 

[Onegin]

Im looking at Lenovo Yoga X1 ahead of MFe studies. Just had prev generation and loved it. They have a dock that makes transition to large HD monitor and mechanical keyboard very easy- plug and play. If you don’t need stylus, flip screen, carbon was equivalent. Had Dell Inspiron before that, but had problems w keyboard.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

OS question; I'd like to have both Linux and Windows on the laptop.
Do I need two separate reboot 'partitions' or can I have both OSs running at the same time?

 

[longgamma]

2. Dell and Asus make excellent laptops

Asus trackpads are horrid. The cursor jumps about and you have to disable all multi touch to fix it.

 

[longgamma]

OS question; I'd like to have both Linux and Windows on the laptop.
Do I need two separate reboot 'partitions' or can I have both OSs running at the same time?

For a change, I can help you

IF you install Ubuntu or any modern distro, it will setup a bootloader screen that can be used to alternate b/w windows and linux. You can set it to open windows by default etc. Also, most new distros can read NTFS partitions so you can get by with storing your media in the windows partition,

Alternatively, you can try a VM in windows haven tried it in a while thugh.

 

[longgamma]

Laptop 2019 time.

I am planning to purchase a laptop soon. What do I do?

. Compilers C++,C#, Python
. Compute-intensive (parallel) numerical programs

Some buzzwords

. Nice big screen
. Yuge amount of memory
. Fast (SSD) disks + lots of space
. 10 processors, at least; 16, 24 even better?? (I7 ?)
. Are GPUs useful to have?
. etc.?

I have no idea which vendor to choose from. My hardware says he can build one for me based on standard components; is this a good choice?

Thanks for any feedback.

Why not build a very powerful desktop pc and remote login using a chromebook or a cheaper laptop? Ryzen 2nd gen was demo'd in CES recently and an 8 core, 16 thread prototype beat Core i9 processor! HEDT is really getting affordable. AFAIK, most implementations of mobile core i9 have throttling issues (macbook pro and xps 15) because of heat dissipation issues

 

[pingu]

For a change, I can help you

IF you install Ubuntu or any modern distro, it will setup a bootloader screen that can be used to alternate b/w windows and linux. You can set it to open windows by default etc. Also, most new distros can read NTFS partitions so you can get by with storing your media in the windows partition,

Alternatively, you can try a VM in windows haven tried it in a while thugh.

Besides the VM solution, you can install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) in Windows. An important caveat, there is no GUI support, it's all command line (I like this much better).

Install WSL

Install Windows Subsystem for Linux with the command, wsl --install. Use a Bash terminal on your Windows machine run by your preferred Linux distribution - Ubuntu, Debian, SUSE, Kali, Fedora, Pengwin, Alpine, and more are available.

docs.microsoft.com

FAQ's about Windows Subsystem for Linux

Find answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Windows Subsystem for Linux, such as 'What can I do with WSL?'.

docs.microsoft.com

Windows Subsystem for Linux - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Archidamus]

Why not build a very powerful desktop pc and remote login using a chromebook or a cheaper laptop?

This is the best idea assuming you have internet access where ever you take the chromebook.

Again I'm showing my AMD bias, but if you really are going to use a bunch of cores with multi-threading then their Threadripper processors are the best value. Someone could easily build you a $2,500 PC that gets you 12 cores, 64GB ram, 8TB SSD.

 

[pingu]

There is one last alternative. Use AWS according to your needs.

VDI Desktops - Amazon WorkSpaces Family - AWS

Fully managed, secure, reliable virtual desktops for every workload.

aws.amazon.com

Launch a Windows Virtual Machine in Amazon Lightsail - Launch a Windows Virtual Machine in Amazon Lightsail

Amazon Lightsail is one of the easiest ways to get started on AWS. It offers virtual servers, storage, databases, and networking, plus a cost-effective, monthly plan.

aws.amazon.com

I'm sure there are more tutorials online.

 

[wcr]

Hi,

My old macbook has just died. I'm a senior in college interested in quant finance space. I'm looking at new macbook models - should I go for a quad-core over a dual-core for an extra $355 or is this unnecessary?

 

[longgamma]

I don’t really like the new MacBook pricing, it’s just even worse value proposition than last year. Quad core gets you some future proofing. The dual core in the new MB AIR is pretty weak btw unless ppt and excel is all you do. Idk, i’d Get an i7 windows laptop for that kind of money.

 

[wcr]

@longgamma - could you recommend your i7 windows model of choice?

 

[wcr]

I'll also have a lot of Python project work to move over - I haven't programmed Python with windows before - is this likely to take significantly more 'activation energy' with windows vs mac purchase? My capacity is limited as I'm mid-semester