Looking to buy a Ryzen 7 3700U based laptop

[step1041]

Buying in Canada!

The specs that I really want are a good 1080p screen (14" or 15.6"), SD card reader, USB-C charging would be great, backlight keyboard, Ryzen 7 3700U processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB NVMe SSD.

 

So far the only two laptops I have seen that come close are the Lenovo Thinkpad E595 and Dell Inspiron 15 5585.

 

The Dell has features I want for a lower price, but the build quality and Dell's shortcuts kinda scare me. The 5585 has conflicting information as to whether it has an IPS or WVA screen. It also only has a 10/100 ethernet jack for some reason. I also don't know how fast the SD card slot is. If its connected on a USB 2.0 bus then its going to be painfully slow to use with a 64GB or higher card. That just brings me to the build quality. I can't find any independent videos or reviews on it to see what the build quality is like. Is it some kind of full metal body or is it like my current Inspiron 5000 and its got a metal palm rest and lid but has plastic core?

The Thinkpad E595 also looks great, but would cost a lot more for me to spec out to 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. I could go with a lower option and add an SSD aftermarket. Only other thing its missing is a backlight keyboard and a finger print reader would be a nice feature but not a dealbreaker.

 

Inspiron 5585: $924 CAD
Thinkpad E595: $1200 CAD

 

I don't mind the extra cost of the Thinkpad if the build quality and feature set (minus keyboard) are worth it. Are there any other options out there from HP, Asus, Acer etc? My other thought was to wait for Computex to see if anything was announced there. I need to have something in hand about two weeks before LTX in July. Budget is probably $1300 CAD but I am willing to go higher if something is worth it.

[GoldenLag]

i would grab a thinkpad. yes its more, but its also a Thinkpad. 

 

 

i believe there are HP Envy x360 laptops with the 3000 series CPUs, which could be worth a look. 

[step1041]

19 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

i would grab a thinkpad. yes its more, but its also a Thinkpad. 

 

 

i believe there are HP Envy x360 laptops with the 3000 series CPUs, which could be worth a look. 

The only thing stopping me from buying the ThinkPad right now is the lack of a backlit keyboard. For that reason I might wait and see if something is announced at Computex.

 

I'll checkout the HP Envy x360 though 

[GoldenLag]

1 minute ago, step1041 said:

For that reason I might wait and see if something is announced at Computex.

sounds like a good plan either way. 

[step1041]

5 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

sounds like a good plan either way. 

Just took a look at HPs website. They only seem to have a 13" Ryzen 5 3500U listed. No 3700U. So that's a bummer. 

 

I think I will just wait for Computex. 

[ahuckphin]

I wouldn't get a Ryzen laptop due to higher power consumption when compared to equivalent Intel chips. 

[Cyracus]

13 minutes ago, bindydad123 said:

I wouldn't get a Ryzen laptop due to higher power consumption when compared to equivalent Intel chips. 

Don't spread 7 year old information that doesn't apply, Ryzens power draw is pretty good, like competitive with intel good

[GoldenLag]

27 minutes ago, bindydad123 said:

I wouldn't get a Ryzen laptop due to higher power consumption when compared to equivalent Intel chips. 

that was a vendor issue on early models. 

 

afaik its good now.

[genexis_x]

2 hours ago, bindydad123 said:

I wouldn't get a Ryzen laptop due to higher power consumption when compared to equivalent Intel chips. 

3000 series models don't have high power consumption issue when idling from what I observe in early reviews. I will test this soon so stay tuned

1 hour ago, Cyracus said:

Don't spread 7 year old information that doesn't apply, Ryzens power draw is pretty good, like competitive with intel good

To be clear: High idle power consumption is one of the main issue with Ryzen laptops, which results in poorer battery life compared to Intel counterparts

3 hours ago, step1041 said:

snip

Define good display - need good sRGB?

Do you really need 3700U. 3500U is already decent.

Upgrade RAM and storage by yourself for cheaper cost.

 

Max budget? Any preference on display size?

[step1041]

2 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Define good display - need good sRGB?

Do you really need 3700U. 3500U is already decent.

Upgrade RAM and storage by yourself for cheaper cost.

 

Max budget? Any preference on display size?

Good display to me would be a basic 1080p IPS display. As long as it doesn't look like crap and isn't 1366x768 I'm probably going to be happy. (god I wish that resolution would die already)

Upgrading RAM and storage may be something I do, except it didn't seem like that much of an extra cost with Lenovo to go from a 1TB HDD to a 512GB SSD.
My budget was at the bottom of the post. I'm aiming around $1300 CAD, but I can go higher if the cost is worth it. I'd prefer the 3700U as I may do some gaming and the Vega 10 would be nicer for that. I'd like to get a high end CPU because its not something I can upgrade. With my last two laptops the CPU became the bottleneck before anything else.

I'm not completely new to all of this, I just don't really know what is out there for AMD Ryzen based laptops.

[step1041]

I think I will look at the Thinkpad T495 and T495s when they come out relatively soon. They look like they will have the features I want even if it will cost a bit more. Only gotcha with those seem to be the soldered on RAM which I imagine is 2400mhz.

[DarkDragon2K04]

6 hours ago, step1041 said:

I think I will look at the Thinkpad T495 and T495s when they come out relatively soon. They look like they will have the features I want even if it will cost a bit more. Only gotcha with those seem to be the soldered on RAM which I imagine is 2400mhz.

I fell you should check out he Asus zephyrus G GA502.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-15-6-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660-ti-max-q-512gb-solid-state-drive-metalic-hairline-black/6335912.p?skuId=6335912

16gb ddr4 ram, 512 GB nvme SSD, ryzen 7 3750H, Nvidia gtx 1660ti Max q and 120 have screen all for $1100. There is also a sound that is $100 less but has a 60hz screen and it 8gb ram

[step1041]

2 hours ago, DarkDragon2K04 said:

I fell you should check out he Asus zephyrus G GA502.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-15-6-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660-ti-max-q-512gb-solid-state-drive-metalic-hairline-black/6335912.p?skuId=6335912

16gb ddr4 ram, 512 GB nvme SSD, ryzen 7 3750H, Nvidia gtx 1660ti Max q and 120 have screen all for $1100. There is also a sound that is $100 less but has a 60hz screen and it 8gb ram

Not looking for a gaming laptop at all. I need an ultraportable. That is why I'm going AMD so I can get the Vega 10 integrated graphics. 

[DarkDragon2K04]

21 hours ago, step1041 said:

Not looking for a gaming laptop at all. I need an ultraportable. That is why I'm going AMD so I can get the Vega 10 integrated graphics. 

Ok. The hp envy x360 has skus with the ryzen 7 3700u - https://www.amazon.com/HP-Envy-x360-15-6-Touch-Radeon/dp/B07QSZDRW7/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=hp+envy+x360+ryzen+7+3700u&qid=1558552831&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull , https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-envy-x360-15-ds0013nr

The lenovo flex 14 also has the ryzen 7 3700u and backlit keyboard - https://www.newegg.com/onyx-black-lenovo-flex-14-81ss0002us/p/N82E16834847869?Description=ryzen 7 3700u&cm_re=ryzen_7_3700u-_-34-847-869-_-Product , https://www.lenovo.com/sg/en/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-c-series/Lenovo-IdeaPad-C340-14API/p/88IPC301189

[step1041]

On 5/22/2019 at 3:27 PM, DarkDragon2K04 said:

Ok. The hp envy x360 has skus with the ryzen 7 3700u - https://www.amazon.com/HP-Envy-x360-15-6-Touch-Radeon/dp/B07QSZDRW7/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=hp+envy+x360+ryzen+7+3700u&qid=1558552831&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull , https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-envy-x360-15-ds0013nr

The lenovo flex 14 also has the ryzen 7 3700u and backlit keyboard - https://www.newegg.com/onyx-black-lenovo-flex-14-81ss0002us/p/N82E16834847869?Description=ryzen 7 3700u&cm_re=ryzen_7_3700u-_-34-847-869-_-Product , https://www.lenovo.com/sg/en/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-c-series/Lenovo-IdeaPad-C340-14API/p/88IPC301189

These are great, but not all of these are available in Canada quite yet.

[DarkDragon2K04]

On ‎5‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 8:04 PM, step1041 said:

These are great, but not all of these are available in Canada quite yet.

Oh I see the problem at hand. Maybe you wait for this to get to our region or you import or something like that. Hope things go smooth for you.