Need a replacement laptop...

[hiyayhi]

Long story short, I ran over my laptop and need something new... I have been using for the past couple of years an ASUS Zenbook UX310U which I would describe as wholly O.K. Screen is garbage and keyboard isn't backlit...

Anyway, I ran it over accidentally and need to replace it with something, and if I'm doing that I want to do it right.

I still want something lightweight and don't need discrete graphics, but something with a beefier processor is probably a good idea since I'm getting to the pointy end of uni and seem to be doing more things that require a bit of juice. I have been thinking that I want to get a Surface laptop because of the screen and keyboard are super nice, and I am doing a fair bit of coding so I like the idea of a bit of extra screen real estate. I'd like something with good build quality since it will cop a bit of abuse riding too and from uni, and something with decent enough linux support as I like to run linux as my main OS.

What do people recommend aside from the surface laptop?

 

Cheers in advance.

[desertcomputer]

Budget? Around what range you gonna/want to spend?

[hiyayhi]

4 minutes ago, desertcomputer said:

Budget? Around what range you gonna/want to spend?

I don't want to break the bank but at the same time I don't want to skimp out and end up with something that I'm unhappy with, so I would say between $1500AUD-$2500AUD max.

[NelizMastr]

Take a look at the Dell XPS 13, Dell even sells it with Ubuntu pre installed I think, which is known as the XPS 13 Developer Edition.

[hiyayhi]

1 minute ago, NelizMastr said:

Take a look at the Dell XPS 13, Dell even sells it with Ubuntu pre installed I think, which is known as the XPS 13 Developer Edition.

I just had a quick squizz at their website earlier and it is not very intuitive... Which XPS 13 would you suggest? there seem to be a bunch of models available (9360,9370,9380). Do you know what the differences are?

Cheers

[hiyayhi]

8 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

Take a look at the Dell XPS 13, Dell even sells it with Ubuntu pre installed I think, which is known as the XPS 13 Developer Edition.

Also looks like no developer edition is available in Aus... Screwed by living on the other side of the world again.

[NelizMastr]

23 minutes ago, hiyayhi said:

I just had a quick squizz at their website earlier and it is not very intuitive... Which XPS 13 would you suggest? there seem to be a bunch of models available (9360,9370,9380). Do you know what the differences are?

Cheers

The 9360 uses 8th gen Kaby-R CPUs and is basically the 2018 model, the 9380 is the current model with slightly updates processors. Other differences are somewhat small.

[hiyayhi]

48 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

The 9360 uses 8th gen Kaby-R CPUs and is basically the 2018 model, the 9380 is the current model with slightly updates processors. Other differences are somewhat small.

Dang. I wish I could get the dell with basically the screen from the surface laptop. Is there anything similar to that? i/o similar to the dell, still the 4 core 8 thread processor, but a screen more in line with the surface, I do really like the idea of 3:2 aspect ratio rather than standard 1080 for productivity.

[NelizMastr]

24 minutes ago, hiyayhi said:

Dang. I wish I could get the dell with basically the screen from the surface laptop. Is there anything similar to that? i/o similar to the dell, still the 4 core 8 thread processor, but a screen more in line with the surface, I do really like the idea of 3:2 aspect ratio rather than standard 1080 for productivity.

The only other 3:2 laptops that I know of are the Huawei Matebook 13 and Matebook X Pro.

[hiyayhi]

2 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

The only other 3:2 laptops that I know of are the Huawei Matebook 13 and Matebook X Pro.

Hmm, I'll check them out but I am not necessarily sold on 3:2 exactly, I just like the idea of using some more vertical screen pixels rather than just standard 16:9

[NelizMastr]

7 minutes ago, hiyayhi said:

Hmm, I'll check them out but I am not necessarily sold on 3:2 exactly, I just like the idea of using some more vertical screen pixels rather than just standard 16:9

There is no alternative anymore these days. 16:10 is pretty much dead, so it's either 16:9 or 3:2.

[hiyayhi]

1 minute ago, NelizMastr said:

There is no alternative anymore these days. 16:10 is pretty much dead, so it's either 16:9 or 3:2.

Yeah right, guess I shouldn't be too picky about these things, kinda limits my options a bit.

[genexis_x]

9 hours ago, hiyayhi said:

wholly O.K. Screen is garbage

Do you really need high quality display? Personally I think the one in UX310 is decent enough

9 hours ago, hiyayhi said:

$1500AUD-$2500AUD max.

Usage? Any preference on display size and battery life?

9 hours ago, hiyayhi said:

I'd like something with good build quality since it will cop a bit of abuse riding too and from uni, and something with decent enough linux support as I like to run linux as my main OS.

Might want to consider business laptops

[hiyayhi]

5 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Do you really need high quality display? Personally I think the one in UX310 is decent enough

Usage? Any preference on display size and battery life?

Might want to consider business laptops

I'm not sure which UX310 you have used, but mine is a TN panel with horrible viewing angles... So really anything with an IPS I would be happy with.

I use my laptop for uni, which involves a fair bit of coding and running galaxy evolution simulations (Not terribly demanding, but a quad core is a must). Would like it to last a full day if possible, but seeing as I run linux on my laptop, I don't expect it to. Would rather something small and light since I ride everywhere with it on my back.

So far I am thinking the XPS 13 is the best option since it's linux support is stellar. The only downside I can see is it doesn't have the 3:2 screen like the surface laptop.

[genexis_x]

10 hours ago, hiyayhi said:

mine is a TN panel

Interesting, from what I know UX310 has good sRGB IPS

10 hours ago, hiyayhi said:

Would like it to last a full day if possible, but seeing as I run linux on my laptop, I don't expect it to

Min how many hours of battery life? So you don't mind lower battery life?

10 hours ago, hiyayhi said:

it doesn't have the 3:2 screen

Is this a must?

[hiyayhi]

3 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Interesting, from what I know UX310 has good sRGB IPS

Min how many hours of battery life? So you don't mind lower battery life?

Is this a must?

Minimum around 6 hours.

3:2 is not a must. Just would be nice to have

[genexis_x]

Will recommend business laptops due to Linux support and excellent build quality. All under 1.6kg:

 

Thinkpad:

#T480s customize

*X1 Carbon G6 20KH001CAU

*X1 Yoga G3 customize

*X380 Yoga customize

*#X280 customize

L390 Yoga / L380 Yoga customize

#L390 / L380 customize

 

Latitude 7390, 7490

 

Elitebook / Zbook u:

#Elitebook 830 G5

#ZBook 14u G5 / #Elitebook 840 G5

*Elitebook x360 1030 G3

Elitebook 745 G5 sure view - might struggle to get 6 hrs battery life

 

*non-upgradable RAM

#low sRGB FHD IPS display

 

XPS 13 also a good option. Fine with consumer grade laptops?