A good 15" laptop for work and casual use for 1200 euros (1300 USD) ?

[Tolrag]

Hi,

 

I'm calling the best tech forum for help.

 

I currently have a fairly powerful desktop PC for gaming and a pretty sub tier laptop.

Because I no longer game on PC, i would like to replace them both by a compromise device: a 15" laptop that I can work on. I've heard that the rumored Surface Laptop 3 could fill my needs, but I need to evaluate my options now.

 

My work requires me to browse the internet fast, to be able to play videos, to do light video editing. It needs to be snappy overall. Decent audio speakers would be needed. A good battery that can last around 6 hours would be nice. Being able to do some light gaming (2D games, or even non demanding 3D games) would be a plus, but not necessary. It would have to not be a Mac.

 

There are plenty of options for 13" to 14" ultrabooks and laptops out there, but when it comes to 15" ones, I am lost.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot for having read all of this. I hope it's not too annoying.

 

Have a great day :)

 

 

 

 

 

[5x5]

Lenovo ThinkPad T595 or HP EliteBook 755 G5

[Tolrag]

Thanks! specs-wise, they seem great. I assuming the ThinkPad is the T590 model though? I couldn't find aanything called T595 on Lenovo's website.

I'm trying to see what i can tweak in the specs right now.

[Firewrath9]

XPS 15 w/ dGPU.

Great specs, nice looking and can be easily upgraded

[5x5]

26 minutes ago, Tolrag said:

Thanks! specs-wise, they seem great. I assuming the ThinkPad is the T590 model though? I couldn't find aanything called T595 on Lenovo's website.

I'm trying to see what i can tweak in the specs right now.

I guess they haven't rolled out the T595 Ryzen model. Same thing as a T590 but with a Zen CPU and Vega iGPU (to save on power). T590 is also extremely good though

 

Quote

XPS 15 w/ dGPU.

Great specs, nice looking and can be easily upgraded

Has heat, latency and power issues. Avoid.

[Tolrag]

XPS 15 has great specs, but after seing 5x5 comment, i found out that it had indeed serious issues, including overheat. There are an abnormally high quantity of "1 star" reviews on this product... But thanks anyway. Aesthetically, it was the best. I quite like the Thinkpad, and it is the one that I think is the most likely to be the good choice, but I hate black and red. I know it doesn't matter though.

 

Thanks or the precision about the T590 model. You seem very well informed, are you in the industry or something?

[Tolrag]

I think it will be the t590. One thing though : does it have a bad screen? I've seen that some people consider it a weak spot. Is it better than your average 700 dollar asus laptop, overall?

 

Thanks

[Firewrath9]

On 9/27/2019 at 11:21 AM, 5x5 said:

 

Has heat, latency and power issues. Avoid.

I haven’t had any latency/ power issues, however temps are fine with 80-85c during gaming w/ undervolt, repaste and slower fan curve.

[5x5]

On 9/28/2019 at 10:45 PM, Tolrag said:

I think it will be the t590. One thing though : does it have a bad screen? I've seen that some people consider it a weak spot. Is it better than your average 700 dollar asus laptop, overall?

 

Thanks

I'm not within the industry, no. I work mostly with language courses and art. But I do know that business laptops such as the Lenovo ThinkPads, Dell Latitudes and HP EliteBooks are worlds ahead of the commodity crap like your average Asus VivoBook, Dell Inspiron or Lenovo IdeaPad. Not that all lower end laptops are bad, it's just none of them even comes close to a business-grade laptop. Assuming an MX150/MX250/1030 (same GPU core in all 3) is enough, the T590 is a fantastic choice - it's water resistant, dirt and sand resistant, highly durable and able to take drops and impacts without damage, runs cool, quiet and has exceptional component quality internally. Here's a video from one local retailer showcasing the ThinkPad T and X series in action

 

[Tolrag]

It looks great, thanks for the information and the video. I think i'll have to choose between these three: The ThinkPad T590 for its repairability, sturdiness, reliability; the Surface Laptop 3 (?) for its screen, design, light weight, or the MSI Prestige 15 for a seemingly very good all-around laptop and the best of the three for gaming (again, not a priority) (but probably out of budget).

 

I'll have to wait a few days to see the prestige 15 and laptop 3 retail prices in France, where I live. Each one of them has very serious advantages on the others, 

 

Your advice were very helpful, so thanks a lot again.

[5x5]

2 hours ago, Tolrag said:

It looks great, thanks for the information and the video. I think i'll have to choose between these three: The ThinkPad T590 for its repairability, sturdiness, reliability; the Surface Laptop 3 (?) for its screen, design, light weight, or the MSI Prestige 15 for a seemingly very good all-around laptop and the best of the three for gaming (again, not a priority) (but probably out of budget).

 

I'll have to wait a few days to see the prestige 15 and laptop 3 retail prices in France, where I live. Each one of them has very serious advantages on the others, 

 

Your advice were very helpful, so thanks a lot again.

The Prestige is not good. It's very flimsy and fragile. I would not pay more for it. The Surface Laptop is good initially but it's literally not possible to open and clean so it will start overheating after a year. I'd personally choose the T590 as it's FAR more reliable and durable, easy to open, clean, upgrade and maintain, cool, quiet and has an exceptional keyboars

[5x5]

2 hours ago, Tolrag said:

It looks great, thanks for the information and the video. I think i'll have to choose between these three: The ThinkPad T590 for its repairability, sturdiness, reliability; the Surface Laptop 3 (?) for its screen, design, light weight, or the MSI Prestige 15 for a seemingly very good all-around laptop and the best of the three for gaming (again, not a priority) (but probably out of budget).

 

I'll have to wait a few days to see the prestige 15 and laptop 3 retail prices in France, where I live. Each one of them has very serious advantages on the others, 

 

Your advice were very helpful, so thanks a lot again.

Keep in mind, only business laptops have liquid resistance. Even a few drops of water can kill a Surface Laptop or the likes and dust easily clogs them up and causes overheating

[Akira Shimazu]

1 hour ago, 5x5 said:

Keep in mind, only business laptops have liquid resistance. Even a few drops of water can kill a Surface Laptop or the likes and dust easily clogs them up and causes overheating

biggest point. Business laptops were designed to handle small accident. while Surface is like more premium consumer like Macbook . i think the best performance and Quality to price is Lenovo Thinkpad

[Tolrag]

Thanks you two for these explanations. I must say that the ThinkPad seems to be a more rational purchase on this regard. The main thing that scares me a bit is that people seem th think that it does not have a great display. I have to stare at images all day for my job and a sharp image is important.

 

The thing is though: when I read that a display is "not good" i never know if it is "not good" compared to others but still great, or actually "not good" at all. Do any of you have first-hand experience with the T590 or models with similar displays?

 

I know I'm asking a lot, but I also hope this thread could help other users as well.

 

Thanks again.

[5x5]

3 hours ago, Tolrag said:

Thanks you two for these explanations. I must say that the ThinkPad seems to be a more rational purchase on this regard. The main thing that scares me a bit is that people seem th think that it does not have a great display. I have to stare at images all day for my job and a sharp image is important.

 

The thing is though: when I read that a display is "not good" i never know if it is "not good" compared to others but still great, or actually "not good" at all. Do any of you have first-hand experience with the T590 or models with similar displays?

 

I know I'm asking a lot, but I also hope this thread could help other users as well.

 

Thanks again.

The 1920x1080 IPS display is good. The only bad options are 1366x768 TN ones.

[Zando_]

8 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

The only bad options are 1366x768 TN ones.

I despise those and also the fact that they still advertise them as "HD". 

[Tolrag]

Wow, yes it sounds very deceptive. Thanks for all the information. I pretty much know everything I need to do the best choice now, at least i'm informed. I'll have to see the price of these devices. I am definitely not going to pick the MSI prestige 15, nor will I buy an XPS 15. But I am still curious about the Surface Laptop 3 announcement, and since it is tomorrow... I guess i'll wait for that. But the T590 is the primary contender.

 

I hope this discussion will help other members as it helped me.

[5x5]

28 minutes ago, Tolrag said:

Wow, yes it sounds very deceptive. Thanks for all the information. I pretty much know everything I need to do the best choice now, at least i'm informed. I'll have to see the price of these devices. I am definitely not going to pick the MSI prestige 15, nor will I buy an XPS 15. But I am still curious about the Surface Laptop 3 announcement, and since it is tomorrow... I guess i'll wait for that. But the T590 is the primary contender.

 

I hope this discussion will help other members as it helped me.

Check the price of the HP EliteBook 850 G models as well. They're in the same class as the T590 and have similar features. Sometes they're better prices

[Tolrag]

Thanks 5x5. Now that the surface laptop 3 was revealed, seems repairable (they actually insisted and showed it on the showfloor, amazing), has usb c, a bigger trackpad and is available in 15"... it changes my perspectives a bit, but i'll keep all of that into consideration.

[Tolrag]

Alright nevermind. Their price in euro is an absolute scam for no reason. ThinkPad it shall be.