Laptop search help

[tinpanalley]

I don't know how to look for this laptop my dad needs because he's interested in thinness which isn't a spec I know how to narrow down. I thought people here more familiar with what's out there across the board might have a good idea of what to recommend. To me looking based on physical appearance is like saying, "I need a blue shirt". Ok, but you could come back with some awful fabric that fits the colour bill but is a terrible garment.

Here's some more useful info than just thinness. I think we need the following as a base of importance...

- Must be Windows based

- 16 GB RAM

- Strong battery life, (more than 8 hours possible unplugged?)

- any processor that won't lag when running Excel, Word, possibly Power Point and MS Project, all at once.

- must be able to handle my dad's incorrigible need to keep his email open all day, syncing live, with maybe a handful of emails open.

- must also be able to handle my dad's inability to have about 10 Firefox tabs open and forget they're there for hours

- Budget doesn't matter if the device is right for the task, but I think it'd be best to stick to 1000-1500 US$. He didn't care much that the Surface Pro setup I looked up was about 1600 but I didn't like that he can't add RAM later if he needs it.

 

He's retired and now doing lots of freelance projects/project management so the real important thing is the thinness because he tends to travel heavy already. When he owns heavy things, he breaks them. To be honest, when he owns anything electronic, the chance of being damaged is high. This is not something we can address or try to improve upon. That "way" is set. But it ain't my money so I'm just needing to recommend something that fits the bill. I just know that when he gets the right thing (phone, TV, etc,) it tends to last him because he cares for it well.

 

Can anyone help, please? I'm finding specs that fit but not in the right suit, if you will.

Thanks!

[nmnoz]

LG Gram is the first thing that comes to my mind.

 

You can also look at HP Spectre 13", the new XPS 13 (this is the king of this segment I think), Yoga 920, Acer Swift 7.

 

All of these laptops probably have a specification that has 16gb ram. Also, none of the 8th gen i7 cpus would lag with those open, but I can't vouch for i5s. I've heard that LG Gram has good battery life.

 

I would also suggest ThinkPad x1 Carbon but I don't think they've been updated to 8th gen cpus.

 

If you were thinking about 13" MBP, I would say don't since a refresh will happen in a few months time.

[tinpanalley]

1 hour ago, nmnoz said:

LG Gram is the first thing that comes to my mind.

 

You can also look at HP Spectre 13", the new XPS 13 (this is the king of this segment I think), Yoga 920, Acer Swift 7.

 

All of these laptops probably have a specification that has 16gb ram. Also, none of the 8th gen i7 cpus would lag with those open, but I can't vouch for i5s. I've heard that LG Gram has good battery life.

 

I would also suggest ThinkPad x1 Carbon but I don't think they've been updated to 8th gen cpus.

 

If you were thinking about 13" MBP, I would say don't since a refresh will happen in a few months time.

You wouldn't look at Surface at all? I've not kept up with it and it's development but is it just not that great for the price?

[nmnoz]

I don't know about surfaces much as they are not sold in this country and there is no service for them so buying them abroad makes no sense. If they are as good, they should be considered as well since the build quality looks pretty good from videos. 

[genexis_x]

9 hours ago, nmnoz said:

none of the 8th gen i7 cpus would lag with those open, but I can't vouch for i5s

 

I would also suggest ThinkPad x1 Carbon but I don't think they've been updated to 8th gen cpus.

Agree with your suggestions except for Swift 7. 8250U and 8550U actually don't have much performance difference due to cooling, firmware and TDP limitations. Only 2MB more cache. X1 C6 has KBL-R CPU.

[tinpanalley]

Thanks guys I'll have a look at these tomorrow for features, ports, etc.

[tinpanalley]

13 hours ago, ZM Fong said:

8250U and 8550U actually don't have much performance difference due to cooling, firmware and TDP limitations. Only 2MB more cache. X1 C6 has KBL-R CPU

Sorry, I don't know much about CPUs, is KBL-R something that is preferable?

[genexis_x]

9 hours ago, tinpanalley said:

Sorry, I don't know much about CPUs, is KBL-R something that is preferable?

Yes