Is Storage a Deal-breaker Here?

[bellabichon]

Hey forum,

 

So my dad's laptop that was given to him by his work, a 2 year old Dell behemoth, finally bit the dust, and he's looking for a new laptop. If he just went back into work and asked for one, they'd just give him the same one he had last time, and nobody wants to deal with that at this point, so he's looking for a good laptop. It will mainly be used for basic word processing and internet searches, while the most intensive task it will be doing is audio editing (he works in radio.) His budget is around 1000-1200 dollars CAD, but if we can find a good one for cheaper, that would be nice. I've looked at two options so far, and the community's opinions on them would be helpful. 

 

Dell Inspiron 15.6"

-1080p screen

-8th Gen Core i7-8550U

-128gb SSD
-1tb HDD (5400 RPM)

-8gb of RAM

-Geforce MX130 (4gb)

-42WH battery

-4.41lbs

$1,099.99 (before tax)

This one looks fine to me, but the small SSD, slow HDD, small battery and 5lb weight are red flags.

 

HP ENVY 13

-1080p screen

-8th Gen Core i5-8250U

-256GB PCI-e Nvme SSD

-8gb of RAM

-Intel HD graphics 620

-53WH battery

-2.11lbs

$974.00 (before tax - after $125 discount)

This one looks much better to me, and the 13" over 15" doesn't seem like a huge deal. It's also much lighter, and I feel a lot better about battery life. No dedicated GPU, though.

 

So what do you guys think? Any suggestions?

 

 

[Slottr]

Out of your options I'd totally go with the Envy- though I did hear a problem with those types of systems coming from HP where the lid of the laptop curves after use.

 

If you want another option, Asus' new Vivobooks arent bad:

 

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16834234967

[genexis_x]

42 minutes ago, bellabichon said:

His budget is around 1000-1200 dollars CAD, but if we can find a good one for cheaper

Any preference on weight, battery life, display size and display quality?

[bellabichon]

21 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Any preference on weight, battery life, display size and display quality?

Weight would preferably be low-medium because it'll get carried around in a backpack for a while. Display size isn't a big issue. Anything bigger than 13in is fine. For display resolution, 1080p is fine, but higher would obviously be a good feature to have. 

[bellabichon]

57 minutes ago, Slottr said:

Out of your options I'd totally go with the Envy- though I did hear a problem with those types of systems coming from HP where the lid of the laptop curves after use.

 

If you want another option, Asus' new Vivobooks arent bad:

 

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E168342349the only issue is all of Asus as promotional material

That looks pretty good. The only issue is all of Asus's promotional material on their website featured women putting laptops into handbags, leading to my father labeling it a "girl laptop." Thanks for the suggestion anyways. 

[genexis_x]

18 minutes ago, bellabichon said:

Weight would preferably be low-medium

Give a range in kg/lbs

 

Any preference on battery life?

[ahuckphin]

Aspire 5 

[bellabichon]

10 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Give a range in kg/lbs

 

Any preference on battery life?

Less than 4lbs? It's kinda hard to picture an ideal weight. As for battery life, 6-8 hours in battery saver mode is a good goal.

[bellabichon]

1 hour ago, bindydad123 said:

Aspire 5 

What makes you say that? Any specific model in mind?

 

[Mooshi]

13 hours ago, bellabichon said:

That looks pretty good. The only issue is all of Asus's promotional material on their website featured women putting laptops into handbags, leading to my father labeling it a "girl laptop." Thanks for the suggestion anyways. 

With that attitude, maybe he deserves another 2 year old clunker from work. Never heard of a laptop being a "girl laptop" because an advert had a woman holding one.

[ahuckphin]

7 hours ago, bellabichon said:

What makes you say that? Any specific model in mind?

 

Just looking at it at stores and reading upon it on the internet, I feel like the Aspire 5 is a decent all rounder 

[bellabichon]

6 hours ago, Mooshi said:

With that attitude, maybe he deserves another 2 year old clunker from work. Never heard of a laptop being a "girl laptop" because an advert had a woman holding one.

I'm sure he was joking, just saying it's probably a no on the Vivobook. Also, I've heard mixed feelings about them from friends. 

[dizmo]

Check out Lenovo. You can get some pretty good laptops from them.

The L480 is worth looking at. $950 gets you:

• 15.6" 1080p screen
• i5 8250u
• 16GB of RAM
• Backlit keyboard
• 500GB HDD
• Fingerprint reader

If you spend a little money on an SSD (it's not worth spending Lenovo's upgrade pricing) then you can get a pretty good laptop for a pretty good price.

To get that price you have to sign up for their newsletter; it'll save you $100.

[genexis_x]

11 hours ago, bellabichon said:

Less than 4lbs

6-8 hours in battery saver

I assume that you need good GPU performance

 

Acer Swift 3 15 SF315-52G-56M7

Lenovo Ideapad 530s 14 81EU000GUS

Lenovo Thinkpad A485 - R5-2500U, FHD IPS, 4GB, 500GB HDD, 24+72Wh battery (manual RAM+SSD upgrades)

Huawei Matebook D with MX150

 

All with low sRGB IPS

[bellabichon]

24 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Check out Lenovo. You can get some pretty good laptops from them.

The L480 is worth looking at. $950 gets you:

• 15.6" 1080p screen
• i5 8250u
• 16GB of RAM
• Backlit keyboard
• 500GB HDD
• Fingerprint reader

If you spend a little money on an SSD (it's not worth spending Lenovo's upgrade pricing) then you can get a pretty good laptop for a pretty good price.

To get that price you have to sign up for their newsletter; it'll save you $100.

Thanks for the advice, but the reviews say the screen is pretty crappy. I can do an SSD swap, but the only thing that sticks out for me as extra good for that price is the 16 GB of RAM. The supposedly crappy display, plus extra money for an SSD makes me skeptical of it's true price-to-performance. 

[genexis_x]

1 hour ago, bellabichon said:

screen is pretty crappy

Do you need good sRGB display? Do you need dGPU?