Requirements for Impossible Wifey

[Procyon001]

Hi all,

 

I haven't purchased a laptop for about 10 years, but am now urgently looking for one for an anniversary gift. My darling wife, who loves to have 100 browsing tabs open "simply" desires a fast machine with a bright, beautiful screen and rugged, durable construction. She will use it for browsing, watching movies, basic photo editing and iMovie type video creation/editing. She is unconvinced of the 2-in-1s, has no need for a stylus or touch screen, although I think she would like them if she tried it. She is OK with a 13 inch screen, a smaller SSD and a bit of weight up to 4 lbs.

 

Our budget is undefined but she appears to get uncomfortable around $2K CAD. We have young kids so accidental damage warranty is preferred. 

 

I have looked at both Dell's XPS and Inspiron series, all Macbooks, HP Spectre and Intel's ThinkPad X1 series but simply can't settle on a machine I have great confidence with.

Leaders so far is this Macbook Air and this XPS 13 w/ 2 years Premium Support Plus.

 

Also, must be new! No refurbs allowed! 

 

Help! 

[manikyath]

take a look at the hp envy x360 series of laptops.

IMO spectre is a touch overpriced, and the envy is a really appealing middle ground between that and the 'unappologeticly plastic' pavilions.

 

defenately shouldnt drop them, but they're built quite well.

[TheGlenlivet]

Is she willing to go and look at them with you so she can tell you what she wants?  

(can you tell I'm married too...?? heh)

Buy from somewhere that you can make returns easily unless she goes with you to tell you the EXACT THING she wants.

 

If you get no input from her (oh, just surprise me) then the XPS is a good place to start if she doesn't want a Mac.

[Dedayog]

All the brands/models you listed have their pros/cons but yet they fulfill your requirements.  You simply don't like them for some reason.

 

Like above, have her go with you and try each keyboard out and hold each model.  

[F___M]

Buying her something she doesn't want is a bad idea.  Send her some flowers, write a nice note on a beautiful card, take her out for a romantic dinner, and let her buy her own laptop.  I guarantee you, you don't want the blame if something isn't quite right.

[mariushm]

Forget the Macs ... unreliable and with ssd soldered to circuit board, ram soldered or non upgradeable.

 

The 100 tabs thing is not an issue ... get something that allows you to upgrade memory and install 32 GB of memory

Good panel ... get something with a decent IPS

Get something with m.2 and a nvme drive

 

I'd look into a Lenovo ... may be worth checking Fujitsu as well.

 

[Procyon001]

@manikyath

I was actually just looking at the Envy series while typing this up. I will go play around with one in BestBuy soon. Thanks! 

 

@TheGlenlivet

We've been a few times, yeah, but the kids always tag along and that makes it a nightmare. We've actually done a 'laptop shopping date' once and it amounted to anxiety, but concluded a bright screen and rugged construction 'feel' was necessary. 

 

@jstudrawa, @mariushm

I read that the Macbook Air has difficulty with having many Google Chrome tabs open. Their accidental policy is maximum 2 claims for the life of the product. Dell's is once per year. I have a hard time making decisions when trade-offs appear minor, but could be major.

@F___M

These are good thoughts, but she's wanted a new machine for a while. Plus, it's our 7th so copper is the traditional gift! Ha ha!

[Dedayog]

Sounds like my ex.  May want to change the original title to "Requirements for Impossible Wifey" 

 

 

[Donut417]

8 hours ago, Procyon001 said:

Leaders so far is this Macbook A

Watch Louis Rossmann and you'll rethink that very quickly. Apple has shit QC on their mobile computers. 

[DarkDragon2K04]

16 hours ago, Procyon001 said:

Hi all,

 

I haven't purchased a laptop for about 10 years, but am now urgently looking for one for an anniversary gift. My darling wife, who loves to have 100 browsing tabs open "simply" desires a fast machine with a bright, beautiful screen and rugged, durable construction. She will use it for browsing, watching movies, basic photo editing and iMovie type video creation/editing. She is unconvinced of the 2-in-1s, has no need for a stylus or touch screen, although I think she would like them if she tried it. She is OK with a 13 inch screen, a smaller SSD and a bit of weight up to 4 lbs.

 

Our budget is undefined but she appears to get uncomfortable around $2K CAD. We have young kids so accidental damage warranty is preferred. 

 

I have looked at both Dell's XPS and Inspiron series, all Macbooks, HP Spectre and Intel's ThinkPad X1 series but simply can't settle on a machine I have great confidence with.

Leaders so far is this Macbook Air and this XPS 13 w/ 2 years Premium Support Plus.

 

Also, must be new! No refurbs allowed! 

 

Help! 

I recommend an LG gram, a surface laptop 2 or the xps 13 and 13 2-in-1 that will soon be refreshed with the intel ice lake CPUs. Even the surface laptop and gram will be refreshed in a month or two