Decent 15" laptop

[InertiaSelling]

Hi. If I don't screw up with the paperwork, I'll be spending the next academic year in Vancouver as an exchange student. My current laptop is an e403sa with a pentium n3700, which is great for taking notes for 10 hours a day, but I can't picture myself using it exclusively for a year. Given the state of the graphics card and memory markets, building a budget desktop in Canada, even with used parts, doesn't sound like such a great option anymore. I might shrink my desktop to make it fit into a node 202 and take it in my hand luggage, but I'm indeed considering the more practical option of just replacing my laptop with something more powerful that I could keep using at the end of my year abroad.

I'd like something with a 15" screen, since my 14" laptop fits in my bag with lots of room to spare, and I'm tired of tiny screens. Indeed, I'd also like a sturdy metal build, good battery life, a full HD IPS panel, and a backlit keyboard. The issue, as you might have guessed, is cost. The LG gram 15, Asus zenbook ux550, Dell XPS 15 and Microsoft Surface Book 2 all check the boxes, but they cost 1200 to 3000 ($ or €, it's pretty much the same numbers). Even if I was willing to spend as much on a laptop as I would on a desktop, I wouldn't be comfortable with carrying something that expensive with me everyday. Are there any decent, less expensive options, or do I really need to stick to 13" or 14" devices?

[Jaxzzzzz]

what is your use case and for this device?

[InertiaSelling]

@Jaxzzzzz Everything, basically. First and foremost, I need it to last a full day of class. But I'd also like my 4k video encoding times not to be several days long, and it would be nice (though it's not a necessity) if I could still ocasionally play some of my games (mostly TW: Warhammer, Fallout 3 / NV / 4, TESV) even on low settings. I guess I could get by with an 8th gen U chip, since they're quad-cores, but maybe not a core m or a 7th gen U processor. If light gaming is not completely out of the question, then I guess an mx150 would suffice, or maybe a Zen APU, if there are any decent options coming out in the near future. I guess that's a bit too much to ask, since flagship performance rarely comes without a flagship cost, but if it's going to replace both my desktop and laptop for a year, it needs to do what they both do, even if it doesn't do it as well.

[genexis_x]

What's your budget? There are many excellent yet portable 15 inch laptops out there without burning your pocket

[InertiaSelling]

Just now, ZM Fong said:

What's your budget? There are many excellent yet portable 15 inch laptops out there without burning your pocket

It's not fixed yet, but I guess if I could avoid spending more than I did on my desktop, which is roughly 1100€, it would be nice. I'm just trying to avoid paying flagship prices. With that said, the cheaper the better, since I'll also have to pay for housing, insurance, food, textbooks and all that kind of good stuff.

[genexis_x]

12 minutes ago, InertiaSelling said:

roughly 1100€

the cheaper the better

Would you mind providing some links of online stores in your country?

[InertiaSelling]

3 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

Would you mind providing some links of online stores in your country?

Here's a list of what came to my mind. They should be the main ones, but please don't limit the search to what they are currently listing. I won't be buying anything next week, and some recent products like the Zen APU laptops aren't available in France yet.

 

https://www.amazon.fr/

https://www.ldlc.com/

https://www.rueducommerce.fr/

https://www.cdiscount.com/

https://www.topachat.com

http://www.priceminister.com/

https://www.materiel.net/

[genexis_x]

https://www.amazon.fr/Lenovo-720-15IKB-Ultrabook-GTX1050-Windows/dp/B06Y626L4Q/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1519050542&sr=8-10&keywords=yoga+720

https://www.ldlc.com/fiche/PB00232138.html

https://www.rueducommerce.fr/produit/acer-nitro-5-spin-np515-51-504f-noir-rouge-30201000/offre-73478672

https://www.rueducommerce.fr/produit/acer-spin-5-sp515-51gn-54gu-gris-30197002/offre-73464298

https://www.cdiscount.com/informatique/ordinateurs-pc-portables/acer-swift-3-sf315-51-5037-core-i5-8250u-1-6-ghz/f-1070992-ace4713883336031.html#mpos=3|mp

https://www.cdiscount.com/informatique/ordinateurs-pc-portables/hp-envy-x360-15-bp101nb-conception-inclinable-core/f-1070992-hp0192018194434.html?idOffre=237715465#mpos=13|mp

https://www.cdiscount.com/informatique/ordinateurs-pc-portables/pc-portable-swift-3-sf315-51-84t0-gris-15-6/f-1070992-ace4713883431026.html?idOffre=235813300#mpos=12|mp

https://www.topachat.com/pages/detail2_cat_est_ordinateurs_puis_rubrique_est_wport_puis_ref_est_in10108610.html

https://www.topachat.com/pages/detail2_cat_est_ordinateurs_puis_rubrique_est_wport_puis_ref_est_in10108583.html

http://www.priceminister.com/offer/buy/2624600385/xiaomi-mi-notebook-pro-15-6-pouces-windows-10-version-chinoise-intel-core-i5-8250u-quad-core-1-6ghz-8-go-ram-256-go-ssd-reconnaissance-d-39-empreintes-digitales-double-wifi.html

http://www.priceminister.com/offer/buy/2508947568/portable-acer-spin-sp513-52n-51v2.html

 

Acer Aspire 5/7 15/17 and HP Probook also not bad but it doesn't belong to 'premium ultrabook' category, also not that lightweight

 

-Some models above are repeated

-Note that the above options has some weaknesses (not 'excellent'), I will explain after you made your choice.

-Unfortunately, many good 15 inch models are not available, 13/14 inch display has more options.

-Interestingly, consumer laptops are overpriced but gaming laptops are very cheap.

[InertiaSelling]

@ZM Fong The yoga 720 looks like a pretty good option. It's one of the few laptops that I had already taken a look at. A thousand euros is a lot of money, but of it's not expensive at all for what it is. According to userbenchmark, I'd retain 90% of my single-threaded performance, 60% of my multi-threaded performance, and 60% of my graphics performance when compared to my desktop PC, while still being able to go through a day of class thanks to the 72Wh battery. The bezels are significantly smaller than on the Acer spin, which gives it a smaller footprint, and it has no HDD, which is actually pretty good if I'm going to carry it in a bag everyday. I could throw my 525Gb m.2 mx300 in there as well, instead of leaving it in my desktop while I'm in Canada. Apparently, it's even lighter than my 14" e403sa. Really, it makes it hard to justify purchasing anything else at this pricepoint. It feels like nothing comes close to this laptop among what you proposed. Do the other options have specific advantages that I might have missed?

 

The Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro seems excellent as well, especially the mx150 version. I've been watching a lot of TechTablets videos lately, with lots of budget, ultrabook-like apollo lake laptops, but some higher-end stuff as well, and it's received some very positive comments. I won't purchase it though, since it has two major downsides. First is the qwerty keyboard, which I wouldn't mind if I didn't also want to use it in France, where we use lots of accents all the time. Second is Xiaomi's customer support, which is apparently comparable to Razer's.

 

I guess it will come down to whether or not I'm willing to spend a thousand euros, but I won't know for sure until I've planned the whole year financially. If I decide to spend less, I might go with a swift 3, since its mx150 variant can sometimes be found for less than 800€. If I only have 600 to 700€, I'll just have to hope the 15" HP envy x360 or Acer swift 3 with ryzen 5 APU get released in France at a reasonable price. And if I have even less money to spend, I'll get a node 202, a mini ITX AM4 board, a noctua nh-l9a and an STX PSU for ~300€ and just take my desktop with me. I'll have to buy some monitors there, but I'll get some upvotes on pcpartpicker, which is nice.

[genexis_x]

So what's your decision?

 

Acer Spin series suffers from QC issues a few years ago but now its build quality has improved. Yoga 720 15 with 7300HQ CPU is slightly slower than 8250U/8550U and consumes more power (more heat output, as a result fan noise also higher). You can read their reviews for comparison. Notebookcheck, Ultrabookreview and Laptopmedia provide in depth reviews.

 

Take note that Swift 3 and Envy x360 has entry level IPS panel (low brightness and sRGB coverage)

[genexis_x]

5 hours ago, InertiaSelling said:

Do the other options have specific advantages that I might have missed?

Yes. One thing to criticize about the Yoga 720 15 is the lack of ports. Also the OKish key travel of the keyboard (1.3mm) and fan noise under load (due to the thin chassis)

[InertiaSelling]

@ZM Fong Thanks. As I said, my choice will depend on how much money is left once I've taken care of more vital necessities. I probably won't move before August, so that leaves me some time to wait for Ryzen APU laptops (expected in April), or maybe an 8th gen U version of the yoga 720 that would have even better thermals and battery life, but that hasn't been announced apparently. I know the panels on these cheap ultrabook aren't the best, and I'm especially not a fan of the mirror finish on HP products, but I'm not really considering outdoor use in Raincouver. Also, I'm used to using a TN panel on my current laptop, so it would still be an upgrade as far as I'm concerned.

[genexis_x]

22 minutes ago, InertiaSelling said:

Ryzen APU laptops

They are out, only thing is they are not available in your country. Take note that battery life and heat management of Ryzen mobile APUs are slightly worse than Intel ULV CPUs due to poor optimizations (higher idle power consumption for instance)

[InertiaSelling]

3 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

They are out, only thing is they are not available in your country. Take note that battery life and heat management of Ryzen mobile APUs are slightly worse than Intel ULV CPUs due to poor optimizations (higher idle power consumption for instance)

12 hours ago, InertiaSelling said:

I'll just have to hope the 15" HP envy x360 or Acer swift 3 with ryzen 5 APU get released in France at a reasonable price.

I know they're out, I'm just waiting for them to be sold in France, which is expected to happen in April. In the meantime, I can hope for software fixes to iron out some of the battery life issues. If it's just not good enough, I'll just go with one of the other options.

[InertiaSelling]

@ZM Fong Tiny update, I took a look at prices in Canada, and noticed that the Yoga 720, for example, is $1584 even when it's not on sale, which is about 1000€, and sometimes even drops to around 800€. Since some laptops have a qwerty variant that allows for accents to be typed without too much finger gymnastics, especially in Canada, I'm considering purchasing a laptop once I'm in Vancouver. Would that give me more options in my price range compared to what is available in France?

[genexis_x]

Honestly, if you're looking for a portable laptop with at least 1050 GPU performance, good battery life and good build quality under €1100, Yoga 720 15 is the only option. If GPU performance isn't that important, there are many choices left.

[InertiaSelling]

On 22/02/2018 at 11:13 AM, ZM Fong said:

Honestly, if you're looking for a portable laptop with at least 1050 GPU performance, good battery life and good build quality under €1100, Yoga 720 15 is the only option. If GPU performance isn't that important, there are many choices left.

Do you think I should pull the trigger now, while it costs less than 1000€ (i.e. before it goes back to 1100 to 1500€)? It seems like a fair price for what it is, but I'm afraid some better options might come out in the next 5 months or so.

[genexis_x]

2 hours ago, InertiaSelling said:

next 5 months

You can wait? Even laptops with CL 6 core chip are out, you probably need to wait for reviews too

[InertiaSelling]

1 minute ago, ZM Fong said:

You can wait?

Yes, as I said, I'm going to Vancouver next (academic) year, which means around august - september iirc. Right now, I have a good note-taking laptop and a good desktop at home, so I will only need something powerful and portable in a few months.

[genexis_x]

Then ask again in future if you are buying. Hope I can still remember you

[InertiaSelling]

Just now, ZM Fong said:

Then ask again in future if you are buying. Hope I can still remember you

You're right, I'll ask again in a few months. But before you leave this thread, I'd like to ask two more questions, since you must have followed previous mobile hardware releases a lot more closely than I have. First, do you think it is reasonable to expect software fixes to alleviate battery life issues on Ryzen APU laptops in the near future? Second, do you think there will be (somewhat) affordable Vega M laptops coming out in the next few months? I'm a little bit more worried about the latter, because as much as I'd like to buy a Vega M GL thin-and-light for 1000€, the only laptops I've seen with this chipset are flagships (Dell XPS, HP Spectre) that will only get released around March or April in the US.

[genexis_x]

4 minutes ago, InertiaSelling said:

First, do you think it is reasonable to expect software fixes to alleviate battery life issues on Ryzen APU laptops in the near future? Second, do you think there will be (somewhat) affordable Vega M laptops coming out in the next few months?

There will be surely some optimizations for the Ryzen APU but I can't tell when will AMD fix it. Vega M laptops also not a bad choice but there's not much info on them right now. So far AMD only reveals the XPS 15 2 in 1 and Spectre x360.