Help me find a laptop (please)

[not_MrFrost]

Hi everyone! I need to buy a laptop, but I don't know what brand to pick (or if I should go for AMD or Intel), so please help me!

Here are the things that I NEED and the things that would be cool to have:

 

Price: up to 700€ at most (I live in Europe)

 

I need:

HDMI port, headphone jack

At most 1 year old processor (so AMD 7000 series or Intel 13th gen)

At least 512GB of storage

For RAM, I was thinking about 16GB (I don't think that 8GB is very "future proof")

 

Cool to have:

Type-C charging port

Brands that make student discounts?

 

I saw some Lenovo laptops that had pretty much everything that I need, same for HP laptops, but I don't know what to choose; I had a HP AMD laptop with which I was pretty happy, but I always had problems with drivers, so idk... you tell me what you think is best!

Thanks in advance for you help and time!

[PowerPCFan]

@not_MrFrost

 

I recently bought the Lenovo Yoga 7 16ARP8. It was only $500 when it was on sale, but it still fits your budget even when not on sale. Ryzen 5 7000 series, 512gb SSD, HDMI, headphones, type-c, and 8gb ram. Fits almost all your criteria. In the US you can get it at Best Buy, but I'm not sure. A quick Google search of "Buy Lenovo Yoga 7 16ARP8" might yield results. If you have Walmart in your country they should also carry it. 

 

Written by Grammarly

[not_MrFrost]

32 minutes ago, PowerPCFan said:

@not_MrFrost

 

I recently bought the Lenovo Yoga 7 16ARP8. It was only $500 when it was on sale, but it still fits your budget even when not on sale. Ryzen 5 7000 series, 512gb SSD, HDMI, headphones, type-c, and 8gb ram. Fits almost all your criteria. In the US you can get it at Best Buy, but I'm not sure. A quick Google search of "Buy Lenovo Yoga 7 16ARP8" might yield results. If you have Walmart in your country they should also carry it. 

 

Written by Grammarly

We don't have Walmart in Italy lol

I also found other Lenovo laptops that are pretty good or even better. My main worries are: do I go for Intel or AMD? From what brands to buy?

[Bismut]

28 minutes ago, not_MrFrost said:

I also found other Lenovo laptops that are pretty good or even better. My main worries are: do I go for Intel or AMD? From what brands to buy?

I would recommend AMD, especially if you want a convertible (I have an Intel processor and it does NOT do well with "just" 15W; my ThinkPad X230 is about on par with my X13 Yoga Gen 1, even though they are multiple years apart in terms of age). My Ryzen 5 1600AF is running circles around both of them, combined.
Also, anything under 16GB of non-upgradable RAM is complete garbage, unless you are literally only using a text editor, no browser, .pdfs or so. It is a different story if you can upgrade the RAM, but that is increasingly rare.

You can generally upgrade the SSD, so 128GB of ROM and 32GB of RAM < 512GB of ROM and 16GB of RAM; again, unless you can upgrade the RAM yourself.

 

I would recommend a cheap, used ThinkPad (like the X220/X230) with a USB C charging adapter and a more powerful desktop computer at home, if you are only going to be taking notes and looking at .pdfs in university.

 

1 hour ago, not_MrFrost said:

Brands that make student discounts?

Those might not be worth it, I have found things for cheaper on sites that do not offer such discounts.

[not_MrFrost]

1 hour ago, Bismut said:

I would recommend AMD, especially if you want a convertible (I have an Intel processor and it does NOT do well with "just" 15W; my ThinkPad X230 is about on par with my X13 Yoga Gen 1, even though they are multiple years apart in terms of age). My Ryzen 5 1600AF is running circles around both of them, combined.
Also, anything under 16GB of non-upgradable RAM is complete garbage, unless you are literally only using a text editor, no browser, .pdfs or so. It is a different story if you can upgrade the RAM, but that is increasingly rare.

You can generally upgrade the SSD, so 128GB of ROM and 32GB of RAM < 512GB of ROM and 16GB of RAM; again, unless you can upgrade the RAM yourself.

 

I would recommend a cheap, used ThinkPad (like the X220/X230) with a USB C charging adapter and a more powerful desktop computer at home, if you are only going to be taking notes and looking at .pdfs in university.

 

Those might not be worth it, I have found things for cheaper on sites that do not offer such discounts.

Thanks for the advice! I was thinking the same about the RAM; the pc that I had before, I upgraded the ram after 2 years, which was worth it. Also, forgot to mention that it won't be used just for school. I was asking for advice to buy a laptop for a friend, and the student discount was so I could buy it with a little discount if possible, not for me directly, but anyway.

So, in 2024 is better to buy an AMD laptop rather than Intel? I like AMD, but I hate it that I have to reinstal the AMD software adrenaline thing, because it breaks and won't open or update. Also, I see that you are also talking about Lenovo, so I recon that they are good?

[not_MrFrost]

While looking online, I've found THIS little beast (from what I've seen); do you guys think that it's worth it?

[Bismut]

2 hours ago, not_MrFrost said:

Thanks for the advice! I was thinking the same about the RAM; the pc that I had before, I upgraded the ram after 2 years, which was worth it. Also, forgot to mention that it won't be used just for school.

Being able to upgrade things is awesome. What is the laptop going to be used for, besides school? Do not buy a Laptop for gaming, they can be what almost amounts to scams, I would recommend sticking to cheap laptops and building proper desktops for performance applications.

 

2 hours ago, not_MrFrost said:

So, in 2024 is better to buy an AMD laptop rather than Intel? I like AMD, but I hate it that I have to reinstal the AMD software adrenaline thing, because it breaks and won't open or update. Also, I see that you are also talking about Lenovo, so I recon that they are good?

Yes, AMD in general. I do not think that you are going to need the Adrenalin software, also keep in mind that Intel has a software of its own.
Lenovo is not necessarily good, but I can whole-heartedly recommend the X230 if you are looking for a cheap, reliable laptop.

 

2 hours ago, not_MrFrost said:

While looking online, I've found THIS little beast (from what I've seen); do you guys think that it's worth it?

Not a bad machine, no.

[A Friendly ShyGuy]

My response will probably not be very helpful, but here’s my outlook on it.

 

If you want durability then I’d go for either a toughbook or an older laptop (probably with Linux or windows 10 installed). I have an old Dell and it fell onto a floor and didn’t break at all.

 

Considering what you need though, I’d recommend a more up-to-date or faster laptop.