I need to upgrade my mid 2010 MBP, any ideas?

[harveylong26]

Hey LTTF,

I posted this similar question on Reddit but never got a helpful response apart from the fact that people told me I was wrong.

I need to retire my Macbook Pro Mid 2010. It's getting slow, clunky, apps don't work as good as they used to once do and I don't particularly want to blow any more money into this machine. I was given it by my girlfriend 2 years ago when she got her iMac and I've basically replaced my desktop PC with it as I use it 24/7. But now, I feel as if I need an upgrade as I want more speed, performance and a much nicer screen (not like the horrible 720p-ish screen my MBP has, ew)

I don't have a set price point but preferably something under £1000. I want speed, enough to deal with at least Photoshop CC but aside from that I need to be able to do college work, website development etc. I was thinking a 2013-2014 MBP with the i5, 8/16GB of RAM and the 256GB SSD but am not sure. Any by all means, if you have a windows-equivalent laptop suggestion please suggest it below as I love both OSs equally!

[genexis_x]

13 minutes ago, harveylong26 said:

I want speed, enough to deal with at least Photoshop CC but aside from that I need to be able to do college work, website development etc.

You need a laptop with i5/i7 quad core CPU.

Do you have any other requirements?

[harveylong26]

1 minute ago, ZM Fong said:

You need a laptop with i5/i7 quad core CPU.

Do you have any other requirements?

 

I said, at least 8GB of RAM and at least a 256GB SSD and/or 128GB SSD with a 1TB HDD aswell.

[genexis_x]

3 minutes ago, harveylong26 said:

I said, at least 8GB of RAM and at least a 256GB SSD and/or 128GB SSD with a 1TB HDD aswell.

How about display, battery life and portability?

[harveylong26]

Just now, ZM Fong said:

How about display, battery life and portability?

At least a 1080p screen, enough battery life to last me although it doesn't matter I just carry my charger with me and 13" in screen size as that's quite a portable size IMO.

[genexis_x]

7 minutes ago, harveylong26 said:

At least a 1080p screen, enough battery life to last me although it doesn't matter I just carry my charger with me and 13" in screen size as that's quite a portable size IMO.

Hmm 13 inch? I can't find a 13/14 inch laptop with good performance within your budget, is 15 inch okay for you? I'll try to find as thin/light as possible

[harveylong26]

Just now, ZM Fong said:

Hmm 13 inch? I can't find a 13/14 inch laptop with good performance within your budget, is 15 inch okay for you?

Yeah, but 15" maximum as I won't be able to carry it in my bag and that also means I won't be able to use my nice carry case 

[Alesek]

10 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

Hmm 13 inch? I can't find a 13/14 inch laptop with good performance within your budget, is 15 inch okay for you? I'll try to find as thin/light as possible

Dell XPS 13, HP Spectre x360, Lenovo ThinkPads just to name few... there is so many of them 

 

[harveylong26]

Just now, Alesek said:

Dell XPS 13, HP Spectre x360, Lenovo ThinkPads just to name few... there is so many of them 

 

 

Give me your top 5 which you'd recommend, I was debating a Thinkpad but wasn't sure.

[genexis_x]

14 minutes ago, harveylong26 said:

Yeah, but 15" maximum as I won't be able to carry it in my bag and that also means I won't be able to use my nice carry case 

As far as I know, the HP Omen is quite thin and quite light but can overheat under heavy loads. Here are a few suggestions:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-7QF-1670UK-Gaming-Laptop-Black/dp/B01NAP5GO3/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1493713657&sr=8-5&keywords=7700hq
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-15-ax200na-i7-7700HQ-GeForce-Dedicated/dp/B01N1UA5RC/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1493713657&sr=8-15&keywords=7700hq

Note: The MSI laptop I linked doesn't have IPS panel while the HP Omen has.

6 minutes ago, Alesek said:

Dell XPS 13, HP Spectre x360, Lenovo ThinkPads just to name few... there is so many of them 

CPU sucks. Please read my post properly, I said 'good performance'

@harveylong26 if you can spend more, go for Dell XPS 15

[harveylong26]

1 minute ago, ZM Fong said:

As far as I know, the HP Omen is quite thin and quite light but can overheat under heavy loads. Here are a few suggestions:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-7QF-1670UK-Gaming-Laptop-Black/dp/B01NAP5GO3/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1493713657&sr=8-5&keywords=7700hq
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-15-ax200na-i7-7700HQ-GeForce-Dedicated/dp/B01N1UA5RC/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1493713657&sr=8-15&keywords=7700hq

Note: The MSI laptop I linked doesn't have IPS panel while the HP Omen has.

CPU sucks

@harveylong26 if you can spend more, go for Dell XPS 15

 

Those laptops seem good, but is there something less gamer-oriented? Like no stupid red keyboard lighting and ugly logos? and I've had an XPS 15 in mind.

[theklax]

Ultra-portable, that budget, mid/high spec - pick two.

[Alesek]

2 minutes ago, harveylong26 said:

Give me your top 5 which you'd recommend, I was debating a Thinkpad but wasn't sure.

it depends on what extras you want from it... portability, touchscreen, 2in1 maybe, build quality...

1 minute ago, ZM Fong said:

As far as I know, the HP Omen is quite thin and quite light but can overheat under heavy loads. Here are a few suggestions:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-7QF-1670UK-Gaming-Laptop-Black/dp/B01NAP5GO3/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1493713657&sr=8-5&keywords=7700hq
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-15-ax200na-i7-7700HQ-GeForce-Dedicated/dp/B01N1UA5RC/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1493713657&sr=8-15&keywords=7700hq

Note: The MSI laptop I linked doesn't have IPS panel while the HP Omen has.

CPU sucks

 

yes, HQ will be faster but for the stuff he wants to do with it, 7500U is more than enough. You are just giving gaming laptops which are not the most portable things in the world

[harveylong26]

1 minute ago, theklax said:

Ultra-portable, that budget, mid/high spec - pick two.

Don't make me do this 

I'd say, mid/high spec & my budget.

[genexis_x]

8 minutes ago, Alesek said:

it depends on what extras you want from it... portability, touchscreen, 2in1 maybe, build quality...

yes, HQ will be faster but for the stuff he wants to do with it, 7500U is more than enough. You are just giving gaming laptops which are not the most portable things in the world

HQ CPUs are found mostly in gaming laptops so...
Gaming laptops can be portable, but those are not in his budget.

For increased productivitiy, please don't recommend ULV CPUs. Take a look at this:
http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-7500U-vs-Intel-Core-i5-7300HQ/m171274vsm223877

[harveylong26]

1 minute ago, Alesek said:

it depends on what extras you want from it... portability, touchscreen, 2in1 maybe, build quality...

yes, HQ will be faster but for the stuff he wants to do with it, 7500U is more than enough. You are just giving gaming laptops which are not the most portable things in the world

 

I don't particularly like the fact of a 2-in-1, I see them as sort of a gimmick. I could justify with a touchscreen but in theory, I'd rather just have something with decent specs and portability.

[harveylong26]

Just now, ZM Fong said:

HQ CPUs are be found mostly in gaming laptops so...
Gaming laptops can be portable, but those are not in his budget.

 

What would've you suggested if my budget was a bit higher?

[Alesek]

1 minute ago, harveylong26 said:

Don't make me do this 

I'd say, mid/high spec & my budget.

well then a bigger gaming laptop with led keyboard and ugly logo it is the ones ZM Fong linked will do great

 

[genexis_x]

4 minutes ago, harveylong26 said:

What would've you suggested if my budget was a bit higher?

New Dell XPS 15 to balance performance and portability

[harveylong26]

Just now, Alesek said:

well then a bigger gaming laptop with led keyboard and ugly logo it is the ones ZM Fong linked will do great

 

 

Yeah, but I don't need all that power. I don't need a 1050/960M dedicated GPU in a laptop which I won't play games on. It's just overkill and I'm fairly sure there's something out there which isn't so gamer-oriented.

[Teddy07]

2 minutes ago, harveylong26 said:

Yeah, but I don't need all that power. I don't need a 1050/960M dedicated GPU in a laptop which I won't play games on. It's just overkill and I'm fairly sure there's something out there which isn't so gamer-oriented.

 

but you said photoshop in your first comment

[harveylong26]

Just now, Teddy07 said:

but you said photoshop in your first comment

Yeah, but you can use photoshop on most GPUs. Like is a 1050 really that necessary?

[Alesek]

2 minutes ago, harveylong26 said:

Yeah, but I don't need all that power. I don't need a 1050/960M dedicated GPU in a laptop which I won't play games on. It's just overkill and I'm fairly sure there's something out there which isn't so gamer-oriented.

you can either get 13-14 inch laptops with the "U" CPUs or 15 inch with HQ. so it all depends if you think you will actually need something that fast. I personally have 6200U for productivity and I am happy with it because it is tiny. It sounds like you want tiny and super fast which is not really gonna happen until like GBP 2000

[harveylong26]

5 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

New Dell XPS 15 to balance performance and portability

Which model # of the XPS 15?

[genexis_x]

5 minutes ago, harveylong26 said:

Yeah, but I don't need all that power. I don't need a 1050/960M dedicated GPU in a laptop which I won't play games on. It's just overkill and I'm fairly sure there's something out there which isn't so gamer-oriented.

Well most laptops with HQ CPU comes with dGPU...even the XPS 15 comes with 1050
Here are some laptops without gaming look:
http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=1DN36EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB
http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=1DN37EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB