My old laptop is not cutting it anymore, suggestions?

[HarrisonCassidy]

So, my Dell Latitude E6430 I bought back Sept 2013 for undergrad is getting old, slowing down (replaced HDD with SSD a while back) and I will be looking for an upgrade soon. Any laptop lists I find are either "best budget laptops" or "best laptops ever, only costs your kidney." What I am wondering is what are some of the 'best bang for your buck' laptop.

 

I am a MSc Chemistry student so it is not unusual to spend a day reading papers, but also occasionally need to use some processing programs for things such as NMR, which is usually not too bad currently on my Latitude. Occasionally though, I do need to work up images (Zen suite if anyone knows what that is) which makes my current laptop cry taking 30-60 seconds to process a single line I draw over an image, basically reading a bunch of intensities along the line, my desktop can do this real time, not sure if it is a cpu, gpu (or lack of in the case of my Latitude) or ram.

 

I like to play games (Runescape(3), Overwatch, Skyrim, Witcher3, League, ect), but have my desktop at home where 90% of my gaming is done, parts listed below if anyone is interested:

GPU: Radeon Vega 56, CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2 GHz, Memory - 2 x 8 GB DDR4 - 2666, Motherboard: Asus - STRIX B350-F, Storage - 500 gb SSD and 1 TB HDD

 

Basically, I would like a laptop experience that does not make me immediately wish I was working on home from my desktop and can do some light gaming.

Specs I would like:

CPU: quad core (Possibly with integrated graphics, AMD or intel is fine)

Ram: 16 gb

GPU: not required to have a dedicated, but not against it

OS: Windows preferred

Screen: ~15 inches? could go either way, not looking for huge or small

             1080p or higher resolution

             Matte finish screen preferred, but flexible

             60 hz (any serious gaming will be done on desktop anyway)

Weight: Doesn't really matter, work is a 10 min walk so transporting is a non issue

 

If anyone knows of what the best price/performance buy will be that would be good for me, or if there are any deals currently (or suspected to be coming) I would really appreciate it!

 

Edit: Canadian btw

[NeuesTestament]

How would you define light gaming? Because with Intel integrated graphics you won't be able to play anything recent and with an AMD APU 1080p is also a stretch for newer titles.

[HarrisonCassidy]

16 minutes ago, NeuesTestament said:

How would you define light gaming?

Runescape on med settings would be my aim, maybe some minecraft, ibb & obb, castle crashers, portal, overcooked, league.

Like I said, more often than not I will be using my desktop for gaming, I am not looking to play the witcher 3 on a laptop.

[SenioRR]

I would recommend taking a look at the Ryzen APUs which do cope pretty well with light gaming e.g. Ryzen 5 2500u laptops.

[BruceHugo]

Dell G3 15 (3579), solid budget performer with an Intel H Series CPU and a 1050ti for $700.

 

[genexis_x]

Any preference on battery life? Mind low sRGB display? Absolute max budget?

[HarrisonCassidy]

3 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Any preference on battery life? Mind low sRGB display? Absolute max budget?

I will likely never not be by an outlet so battery life is not overly important. My current laptop lasts about 30 min on battery haha

I would probably like to keep it under $1000 after tax, mostly looking for efficient money spent rather than a hard price cap 

[genexis_x]

Mind low sRGB display? (less vibrant colours)

[HarrisonCassidy]

47 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Mind low sRGB display? (less vibrant colours)

I do not think I would mind low sRGB. I have never had a chance to compare something that is good vs bad so I am currently ignorant, which is bliss

 

Edit: My two monitors for my desktop are:

LG 29UM69G-B

75hz, ips, 8 bit

 

 Dell SP2309W

60hz, tn(I think), 10 bit

 

The dell is from like 2010 so it is a little older, but I do see a slight colour difference between them, with whites being better on the ips (and viewing angles) but I think the dell has a wider range of colours, ie. if there are multiple greens on the screen you can tell the difference (or maybe that I just think that because I know that is what should happen  )

[HarrisonCassidy]

19 hours ago, BruceHugo said:

Dell G3 15 (3579), solid budget performer with an Intel H Series CPU and a 1050ti for $700.

 

While this looks good and I would rarely use the webcam, the placement makes me want to vomit haha

[genexis_x]

The games you play should run fine without dGPU. However, since weight and battery life aren't that important to you, would you prefer dGPU laptops? (from iGPU Vega to GTX)

 

Also, $1000 in Canadian dollars?

[HarrisonCassidy]

On 4/28/2019 at 7:09 AM, GeneXiS_X said:

Since weight and battery life aren't that important to you, would you prefer dGPU laptops? (from iGPU Vega to GTX)

 

Also, $1000 in Canadian dollars?

I think I'd like a gpu as I am not 100% sure if the imaging software I have used / might use again benefits from gpu usage or not.

 

yes, $1000 CND

[genexis_x]

Acer Swift 3 SF315-52G-56M7

HP Probook 445/455 G6 - add RAM later, unknown battery life

Lenovo Thinkpad E485: 2700U, FHD IPS, 8GB RAM (add later), 500GB HDD (add SSD later) - poor battery life

Lenovo Flex 14 81SS0000US - max 12GB RAM