Gaming Computer vs More Portable Notebook

[JamesHenry]

Hi,

I currently own a surface pro 4, with and i5 and 8GB of RAM. Sadly I often find myself irritated. Edge crashes constantly, and auxiliary browsers such a firefox consume a lot of the computer's ressources, even when close to idle, and tend to cause the fans to activate when watching a youtube video.

I've also recently taking up light programming in R, and I use LateX regularly for projects. I'm looking for something that runs smoothly, is still reasonably portable (i.e. not a 17" 3kg gaming laptop), but I am willing to sacrifice some portability to not end up having a computer that constantly overheats, crashes or cannot keep up with what I consider rather simple tasks. 8 GB pf RAM seems to have become marginally low, even for non-gaming task, since while idle almost half of the RAM is already consumed.

My Price point would sit around 1000$, give or take and the screen doesn't need to be more than 1080p, and ideally wouldn't be below.

 

I'm interested in the Lenovo ThinkPad L380, with an 8th gen i7, 16GB of Ram and 512GB SSD, at around 1099$. However, I saw an Asus gaming computer for around the same price a month ago on sale. My question therefore would be, which would be the best option. The Lenovo would obviously be much more compact, at 13" and lighter. But I'm also very concerned about cooling and the potential loss of component quality of performance because of the way they pack everything very tightly in ultrabooks.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice

[clean]

just a suggestion, If you end up getting a gaming laptop they can often be found used at great . discount (i have seen a two month old gaming laptop 35% off MSRP).

 Of course test the system before buying. 

[Mira Yurizaki]

It sounds like the Surface needs a clean start. Or at the very least, a very deep clean.

 

Also what's the specs on the gaming computer? And if you're open to other options, I've found Dell's G series to have pretty good value (at least if it's anything like the Inspiron Gaming line that it succeeded)

[genexis_x]

Where are you from? Max weight and min battery life you prefer?

[JamesHenry]

On 4/10/2019 at 6:10 PM, clean said:

just a suggestion, If you end up getting a gaming laptop they can often be found used at great . discount (i have seen a two month old gaming laptop 35% off MSRP).

 Of course test the system before buying. 

Thanks for the Suggestion. Unfortunately, I'm very skeptical about buying a used computer, as prior usage and treatment is very important. This is the reason I don't buy display units.

[JamesHenry]

On 4/10/2019 at 6:11 PM, Mira Yurizaki said:

It sounds like the Surface needs a clean start. Or at the very least, a very deep clean.

 

Also what's the specs on the gaming computer? And if you're open to other options, I've found Dell's G series to have pretty good value (at least if it's anything like the Inspiron Gaming line that it succeeded)

Yea I guess I could backup my ssd and do that, it will probably help. But some of the issues have been there almost from day 1. I initially bought it to take notes on it, and have found pretty much everything about it underwhelming.

It was an 8th gen i7, with 16gb of ram and a 256gb ssd. It pretty much matched the Lenovo's specs (the extra hard drive space isn't paramount), the only difference was the size and bulk of the unit.

[JamesHenry]

6 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Where are you from? Max weight and min battery life you prefer?

Switzerland. I'd like it to sit under 2kg, but I'm willing to push it to 2.5kg. My best friend had a 4kg Alienware for instance, and that's beyond what I'm willing to carry around.

Ideally battery life should be as long as possible, the 8 hour mark being what I'd perceive as ideal.

 

[genexis_x]

On 4/12/2019 at 1:03 AM, JamesHenry said:

8 hour mark

Then gaming laptop will not be suitable

On 4/12/2019 at 1:03 AM, JamesHenry said:

Switzerland

Any links of online stores?

 

Additional questions: Budget in your country currency? Mind low sRGB display and non-upgradable RAM?

[JamesHenry]

On 4/15/2019 at 12:35 PM, GeneXiS_X said:

Then gaming laptop will not be suitable

Any links of online stores?

 

Additional questions: Budget in your country currency? Mind low sRGB display and non-upgradable RAM?

I recently had my eyes on the Lenovo Legion series, since the only compromise I would be making is battery life. I've kinda gotten use to just pack my charger if I'm going to be dependent on my laptop that day.

 

Around 1000 Swiss Francs, but I can go above or below by about 20%. I mind not having a Full HD display, the rest is not that important, media consumption is a secondary use. I would like to be able to upgrade the RAM, given how RAM consumption is evolving and that I would rather not have to change my computer in 2 years again.

 

https://en.toppreise.ch/index.php

 

This is the link to an indexing site, which will show you the best price for each product in Switzerland.

 

Thanks for looking into it

[genexis_x]

On 4/21/2019 at 9:20 PM, JamesHenry said:

https://en.toppreise.ch/index.php

Link doesn't work (blocked)

[Guest]

On 4/10/2019 at 6:06 PM, JamesHenry said:

I'm interested in the Lenovo ThinkPad L380, with an 8th gen i7, 16GB of Ram and 512GB SSD, at around 1099$.

I own a L380 and it is a great Laptop for producitvity though it is not the quietest out there. If you are absolutely annoyed by fans being audible from time to time you won't be happy with the L380.