Laptop for a student with big budget

[fatymid]

I am looking for a student's laptop, the requirements are:

• at least i5 8th gen
• good battery life
• good screen (bright, clear picture)
• good keyboard (I write a lot)
• good cooling (I do not play many games - CS:GO on low details or Tyranny are the most demanding)
• I need a laptop that will last years
• max price: 1900 € 

All games I currently play run well on intel HD 520, so I do not necessarily need dedicated GPU, however, I don't mind having one. 

In terms of RAM, I think 16 GB at this price point is expected.

It might have a touchscreen, I do not care about that. 

 

I was thinking about ThinkPad T480 , but this review: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T480-Core-i7-8650U-FHD-Laptop-Review.315574.0.html makes me wonder if it is a good choice.

Besides that, HP Elitebook G5 860 seems like a good deal.

Also, Huwaei Matebook Pro X or Razer Blade look good. 

Too many options so I have no idea what to choose. Could you help?

[5x5]

The Blade is an extremely poor laptop. It has many problems from heat to failing touchpads to failing batteries to failing motherboards. Just, avoid. People are actively suing Razer over their poor customer support as well.

 

The Matebooks have throttling issues so you end up with rather poor performance. Huawei customer support is also abysmal.

 

Definitely grab a business class laptop. ThinkPad, Latitude or EliteBook. They are water resistant, sand/dirt resistant, can withstand shocks and drops and won't break easily unlike most commodity laptops.

I'd suggest the ThinkPad X1 Extreme. It's a powerful, extremely durable device with a 1650 and the best laptop keyboard on the market.

Give it an undervolt and it becomes a cool, quiet and powerful device

[Akira Shimazu]

17 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

The Blade is an extremely poor laptop. It has many problems from heat to failing touchpads to failing batteries to failing motherboards. Just, avoid. People are actively suing Razer over their poor customer support as well.

 

The Matebooks have throttling issues so you end up with rather poor performance. Huawei customer support is also abysmal.

 

Definitely grab a business class laptop. ThinkPad, Latitude or EliteBook. They are water resistant, sand/dirt resistant, can withstand shocks and drops and won't break easily unlike most commodity laptops.

I'd suggest the ThinkPad X1 Extreme. It's a powerful, extremely durable device with a 1650 and the best laptop keyboard on the market.

Give it an undervolt and it becomes a cool, quiet and powerful device

Razer poor build. matebook well hot enough tho/. i guess since you are going with Low-gaming. Dell XPS and THinkpad might suit you. but the Thinkpad is much more sturdy in term of build quality compare to dell.

[fatymid]

45 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

The Blade is an extremely poor laptop. It has many problems from heat to failing touchpads to failing batteries to failing motherboards. Just, avoid. People are actively suing Razer over their poor customer support as well.

 

The Matebooks have throttling issues so you end up with rather poor performance. Huawei customer support is also abysmal.

 

Definitely grab a business class laptop. ThinkPad, Latitude or EliteBook. They are water resistant, sand/dirt resistant, can withstand shocks and drops and won't break easily unlike most commodity laptops.

I'd suggest the ThinkPad X1 Extreme. It's a powerful, extremely durable device with a 1650 and the best laptop keyboard on the market.

Give it an undervolt and it becomes a cool, quiet and powerful device

I am not throwing the laptop around the room. I care for my devices. What I meant in the post is that I want a device with insides that are easy to repair or do not stop working after a few years. 

 

But yeah, I am really into EliteBook. I've been to a technician (with my current laptop) and he said that Lenovo uses some kind of glue that makes repair hard (he showed me the motherboard and talked about something under the processor).

[fatymid]

30 minutes ago, Wolfycapt said:

Razer poor build. matebook well hot enough tho/. i guess since you are going with Low-gaming. Dell XPS and THinkpad might suit you. but the Thinkpad is much more sturdy in term of build quality compare to dell.

XPS has severe QC issues. 

[5x5]

16 minutes ago, fatymid said:

I am not throwing the laptop around the room. I care for my devices. What I meant in the post is that I want a device with insides that are easy to repair or do not stop working after a few years. 

 

But yeah, I am really into EliteBook. I've been to a technician (with my current laptop) and he said that Lenovo uses some kind of glue that makes repair hard (he showed me the motherboard and talked about something under the processor).

Eeeerm, idk what you were told but ThinkPads don't use glue. As for the CPU paste, every computer has that. If you don't have thermal paste, you end up with overheating issues. The paste between the CPU and cooling assembly fills the micro chasms and ensures optimal thermal transfer.

 

As for repairability and upgrade ability, ThinkPads, EliteBooks and Latitudes are all excellent and you will certainly have a very long lasting laptop whichever one you get. Also look at HP ZBook or Dell Preciont/ThinkPad P series.if you want a workatation

[5x5]

18 minutes ago, fatymid said:

XPS has severe QC issues. 

QC isn't the issue with the XPS. It's just an ancient desing from 5 years ago and has thermal and latency issues that have been a problem for half a decade now.

[panzersharkcat]

28 minutes ago, fatymid said:

But yeah, I am really into EliteBook. I've been to a technician (with my current laptop) and he said that Lenovo uses some kind of glue that makes repair hard (he showed me the motherboard and talked about something under the processor).

Yeah, echoing what 5x5 said, what is he talking about? ThinkPads are known for being maintenance-friendly. The one that glues components down is Apple. Hell, I don’t think Lenovo glues stuff down even on the IdeaPads. I used to have one and I’ve never seen anything like what that technician described.

[5x5]

23 minutes ago, panzersharkcat said:

Yeah, echoing what 5x5 said, what is he talking about? ThinkPads are known for being maintenance-friendly. The one that glues components down is Apple. Hell, I don’t think Lenovo glues stuff down even on the IdeaPads. I used to have one and I’ve never seen anything like what that technician described.

Exactly. It's been a few months since.i last cleaned my IdeaPad 720S but I don't remember any glue either. Also, Razer is adopting the glue approach from what I've seen so there is that

[Super Spartan]

3 hours ago, fatymid said:

I am looking for a student's laptop, the requirements are:

• at least i5 8th gen
• good battery life
• good screen (bright, clear picture)
• good keyboard (I write a lot)
• good cooling (I do not play many games - CS:GO on low details or Tyranny are the most demanding)
• I need a laptop that will last years
• max price: 1900 € 

All games I currently play run well on intel HD 520, so I do not necessarily need dedicated GPU, however, I don't mind having one. 

In terms of RAM, I think 16 GB at this price point is expected.

It might have a touchscreen, I do not care about that. 

 

I was thinking about ThinkPad T480 , but this review: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T480-Core-i7-8650U-FHD-Laptop-Review.315574.0.html makes me wonder if it is a good choice.

Besides that, HP Elitebook G5 860 seems like a good deal.

Also, Huwaei Matebook Pro X or Razer Blade look good. 

Too many options so I have no idea what to choose. Could you help?

I suggest you the ThinkPad X1 Extreme from HIDevolution for their added quality control, customization options, and most importantly, the ability to choose "Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut + Fujipoly Extreme Thermal Pads", that upgrade alone reduces temps by as much as 15C + you get their superb lifetime tech support for free.

 

You could also take a look at the MSI PE65, GS65 or GE75:

Custom Built MSI GS65 9SE Stealth-483 - 15.6" FHD 240Hz - i7-9750H - RTX 2060

Custom Built MSI GS65 9SF Stealth-422 - 15.6" FHD 240Hz - i7-9750H - RTX 2070 Max-Q

Custom Built MSI P65 Creator 8SF-253 15.6" FHD 144Hz - i7-8750H - RTX 2070 Max-Q

Custom Built MSI GE65 9SF Raider-051 - 15.6" Thin Bezel FHD 240Hz - i7-9750H - RTX 2070

[fatymid]

1 hour ago, 5x5 said:

Exactly. It's been a few months since.i last cleaned my IdeaPad 720S but I don't remember any glue either. Also, Razer is adopting the glue approach from what I've seen so there is that

I am not an expert on this topic so I might have misrepresented what the technician said. He showed me a motherboard of a cheaper Think Pad and told me about something (I do not remember if he described it as a glue) that makes access to the processor very difficult. 

[5x5]

Just now, fatymid said:

I am not an expert on this topic so I might have misrepresented what the technician said. He showed me a motherboard of a cheaper Think Pad and told me about something (I do not remember if he described it as a glue) that makes access to the processor very difficult. 

Nope - no such thing. He probably showed you the thermal paste ( a glue-like substance that vastly improves heat transfer - it's used in every laptop and desktop on the market. Even some phones and tablets use it). Nobody here has any idea what he was talking about but why would you need to access the CPU at all? No modern laptop (laptop as in something under 5kg) has upgradeable or swappable CPUs. It's all soldered to the board

 

[fatymid]

2 hours ago, 5x5 said:

Nope - no such thing. He probably showed you the thermal paste ( a glue-like substance that vastly improves heat transfer - it's used in every laptop and desktop on the market. Even some phones and tablets use it). Nobody here has any idea what he was talking about but why would you need to access the CPU at all? No modern laptop (laptop as in something under 5kg) has upgradeable or swappable CPUs. It's all soldered to the board

 

Yeah, whatever.

 

What do you think about Lenovo X1 Extreme? Here's the comparison according to my local shop at the price point I can afford.

Lenovo/Hp

Lenovo costs 200$ more

Intel Core i5-8300H (2.3 GHz, 4.0 GHz Turbo, 8 MB Cache)/Intel Core i7-8565U (4 rdzenie, od 1.80 GHz do 4.60 GHz, 8 MB cache)

Both 16 GB of RAM (HP upgradable)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q/Intel UHD 620

Lenovo has bigger battery, but runtime difference is about 2 hours only (according to notebookcheck)

 

[5x5]

Just now, fatymid said:

Yeah, whatever.

 

What do you think about Lenovo X1 Extreme? Here's the comparison according to my local shop at the price point I can afford.

Lenovo/Hp

Lenovo costs 200$ more

Intel Core i5-8300H (2.3 GHz, 4.0 GHz Turbo, 8 MB Cache)/Intel Core i7-8565U (4 rdzenie, od 1.80 GHz do 4.60 GHz, 8 MB cache)

Both 16 GB of RAM (HP upgradable)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q/Intel UHD 620

Lenovo has bigger battery, but runtime difference is about 2 hours only (according to notebookcheck)

 

The 8300H is a much more powerful CPU than the 8565U since the i7 is power limited so it cant run at more than 2GHz. The 1050 To is also four times more powerful. If you ask me, the X1 is the clear choice

[5x5]

4 minutes ago, fatymid said:

Yeah, whatever.

 

What do you think about Lenovo X1 Extreme? Here's the comparison according to my local shop at the price point I can afford.

Lenovo/Hp

Lenovo costs 200$ more

Intel Core i5-8300H (2.3 GHz, 4.0 GHz Turbo, 8 MB Cache)/Intel Core i7-8565U (4 rdzenie, od 1.80 GHz do 4.60 GHz, 8 MB cache)

Both 16 GB of RAM (HP upgradable)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q/Intel UHD 620

Lenovo has bigger battery, but runtime difference is about 2 hours only (according to notebookcheck)

 

The X1 Extreme is also upgradeable. It has two memory slots and two M.2 slots for SSDs

[fatymid]

3 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

The X1 Extreme is also upgradeable. It has two memory slots and two M.2 slots for SSDs

I found the offer for this laptop that is slightly cheaper than HP
Do you think that Lenovo will not struggle with battery life when using such powerful GPU?

[5x5]

5 minutes ago, fatymid said:

I found the offer for this laptop that is slightly cheaper than HP
Do you think that Lenovo will not struggle with battery life when using such powerful GPU?

No, it will easily give you 7-9 hours depending on use

[fatymid]

3 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

No, it will easily give you 7-9 hours depending on use

Ok, so let's talk about Lenovo itself. Do you think there could be any issues with support or issues with repair (like the processor dying after 3 years of warranty?)

[5x5]

Just now, fatymid said:

Ok, so let's talk about Lenovo itself. Do you think there could be any issues with support or issues with repair (like the processor dying after 3 years of warranty?)

Doubtful - ThinkPads, especially the X1, are high end devices - usually come with the best support they offer and are known as durable and reliable systems. Depending on the country, you could be eligible for NBD (Next Business Day) support as well

[fatymid]

I am so scared to spend that much money, though  I will never know if the other choices were better. But now that I found X1 for a cheap price (1581 USD to be precise), I am more inclined to buy it. 

[5x5]

6 minutes ago, fatymid said:

I am so scared to spend that much money, though  I will never know if the other choices were better. But now that I found X1 for a cheap price (1581 USD to be precise), I am more inclined to buy it. 

That's a normal feeling. But you have nothing to fear with business class devices. They're built as a true workhorse, meant to last long under crappy conditions unlike the social status devices like MacBooks and Razers that do nothing but look good and fail yearly

[fatymid]

10 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

That's a normal feeling. But you have nothing to fear with business class devices. They're built as a true workhorse, meant to last long under crappy conditions unlike the social status devices like MacBooks and Razers that do nothing but look good and fail yearly

Yeah. I wrote similar post on other social platforms and some people actually recommended MacBooks saying that my description matches these devices. Their arguments were quite stupid imo, like:

• * even an idiot could use macbook
• * I should not compare MacOS and Windows machines in terms of specs, because MacOS requires less powerful components (when I said that Apple's products are unreasonably expensive)
• * macbooks are pretty
• * macbooks are more comfortable to use (whatever that means)
• * macbooks have reasonable backups (whatever that means)
• * and lastly, one of them said that I do not want Macbooks only because I do not want to change my habits (meaning using Windows)

 

If people buy Macbooks basing their purchase on such arguments, then I have no words.

[5x5]

2 minutes ago, fatymid said:

Yeah. I wrote similar post on other social platforms and some people actually recommended MacBooks saying that my description matches these devices. Their arguments were quite stupid imo, like:

• * even an idiot could use macbook
• * I should not compare MacOS and Windows machines in terms of specs, because MacOS requires less powerful components (when I said that Apple's products are unreasonably expensive)
• * macbooks are pretty
• * macbooks are more comfortable to use (whatever that means)
• * macbooks have reasonable backups (whatever that means)
• * and lastly, one of them said that I do not want Macbooks only because I do not want to change my habits (meaning using Windows)

 

If people buy Macbooks basing their purchase on such arguments, then I have no words.

Oh, don't worry - most people tend to give advice without understanding anything about the subject matter. For fun, let me pick apart the arguments

 

1 - an idiot can also eat glue but that doesn't mean eating glue is healthy

2 - it's true that MacOS is more efficient but your performance cap remains the same - the benefit is that MacOS runs better on low end hardware (like the Y-series 5W CPUs in the Airs or the 15W ULV CPUs in the 13" Pros)

3 - So is Napalm

4 - Comfort is subjective and a matter of a person being used to something. You could say that being boiled alive is comfortable once you're used to it

5 - they're talking about Time Machine - something that can be replicated on Windows or Linux with a few minutes of setup

6 - their post is awfully passive aggressive considering not wanting to learn a whole new OS is a perfectly reasonable thing. I'd hate it if I had to swap to Linux for no reason.

 

I've seen people claim even more absurd things. There's a whole thread on here titled "Experiences with non-techies" - it's worth a read (we're over 1000 pages tho, so in short bursts :P)

[Zando_]

4 minutes ago, fatymid said:

 

• * even an idiot could use macbook
• * I should not compare MacOS and Windows machines in terms of specs, because MacOS requires less powerful components (when I said that Apple's products are unreasonably expensive)
• * macbooks are pretty
• * macbooks are more comfortable to use (whatever that means)
• * macbooks have reasonable backups (whatever that means)
• * and lastly, one of them said that I do not want Macbooks only because I do not want to change my habits (meaning using Windows)

• kinda, but any idiot worth their salt can easily fuck up a Mac as well. They are simpler to understand for first time computer users though.
• sort of, macOS is much nicer on hardware than Windows is, but that doesn't magically make up for having slower hardware than PC laptops
• subjective (I think they often are)
• they're angled, thin aluminum and the new keyboards have really short travel so I'd say nah, the 2015 and 2012 ones were more comfortable, and something like a Dell XPS is technically more comfortable due to having a softer place to rest your wrists (I like the keyboard on my 2012 MacBook Pro much better than the XPS though, I've used one of the 13" ones)
• Yes, Time Machine is what they mean. If you have an eternal hard drive, NAS, or Time Capsule it's really damn good for both restoring complete backups, or just going and grabbing and old file if you accidentally saved a mistake over the one you wanted
• If you hate macOS then true, otherwise nah. I think you have plenty of reasons for not wanting a Mac, at the end of the day the choice is up to you, not what other people think you should get. 

[fatymid]

45 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

That's a normal feeling. But you have nothing to fear with business class devices. They're built as a true workhorse, meant to last long under crappy conditions unlike the social status devices like MacBooks and Razers that do nothing but look good and fail yearly

I read Lenovo's review once again. 

 

Here's the part about battery life (although I would be buying FHD screen)

Quote

Gaming on the road is possible for about an hour (63 minutes @ Witcher 3). High-resolution video playback at maximum brightness is also limited, because a 4K HDR Netflix video only ran for 3.5 hours. 

Also, the review gives as cons:

• CPU performance on battery
• energy management at 100% load

(link to the review) https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Extreme-i7-4K-HDR-GTX-1050-Ti-Max-Q-Laptop-Review.335608.0.html#toc-verdict

 

Like I said, I didn't plan to game on that machine, but if I get Nvidia GPU I want to play games (Witcher, PUBg, etc). Now I am concerned about performance and battery life (the review says that Lenovo has better performance and worse battery life than its competitors)