Laptops for work purposes

[jaeminyou]

Hello geeks, nerds & gamers

As some of you guys may know that I've posted some threads about me planning to get a gaming laptop. Over a certain period of contemplation, I've decided not to buy it because gaming would be a disturbance during my study sessions. So, I've came up with an another solution which is to get a workplace laptops (mainly ultrabooks for portability). After few days of research, I'm now stuck between:

-XPS13 .        -XPS15 (I've seen many issues) .        -Razer Blade Stealth .        -HP spectre 360X.          -Asus Zenbook 3 .       

I have a budget of US$1650, and I'm not planning to build a PC although it is a great idea, because I mainly need a device which is durable and portable along with a superb battery life so I can carry with it anywhere I go without lasting the whole battery. I'll mainly use the device for programming, school work, and web browsing. 

What do you guys recommend me (with your personal experiences)?

 

As always, thank you LTT community

[SCHISCHKA]

After using a macbook air with the 2.2GHz i7 I would go for something faster for compiling software. I would not get anything less than 2.5GHz i7. There are lenovo laptops that have 2.8GHz intel processors. The Zenbook looks really nice.

[Arika]

[removed]

[comicsansms]

I really don't like ASUS, my laptops problems sums up ASUS. 

 

Out of the ones listed, dell XPS 13 or 15, I haven't seen a bad dell. 

 

What would I recommend? Dell Latitude or Vostro,  Lenovo thinkpad and HP Elitebook and Probook series. Business quality means good quality and you can repair it If it dies for not very much (for parts) , and it is easy to repair. 

 

I want an elitebook 840, they are really nice. 

[AlTech]

13 minutes ago, jaeminyou said:

Hello geeks, nerds & gamers

As some of you guys may know that I've posted some threads about me planning to get a gaming laptop. Over a certain period of contemplation, I've decided not to buy it because gaming would be a disturbance during my study sessions. So, I've came up with an another solution which is to get a workplace laptops (mainly ultrabooks for portability). After few days of research, I'm now stuck between:

-XPS13 .        -XPS15 (I've seen many issues) .        -Razer Blade Stealth .        -HP spectre 360X.          -Asus Zenbook 3 .       

I have a budget of US$1650, and I'm not planning to build a PC although it is a great idea, because I mainly need a device which is durable and portable along with a superb battery life so I can carry with it anywhere I go without lasting the whole battery. I'll mainly use the device for programming, school work, and web browsing. 

What do you guys recommend me (with your personal experiences)?

 

As always, thank you LTT community

Actually, a gaming laptop is not a bad idea if you don't game on it.

 

(I know you're probably scratching your head confused)

 

Basically, I find that Dual core mobile CPUs are just too weak. If I could take back my laptop purchase and buy something with a quad core then I probably would.

[jaeminyou]

1 minute ago, Sierra Fox said:

why not go the king of business/work laptops? Lenovo, specifically they X1 Carbon or x1 Yoga

I personally don't like Lenovo's design of laptops. 

[AlTech]

Just now, jaeminyou said:

I personally don't like Lenovo's design of laptops. 

The XPS 15 is a decent machine if you can afford it.

[jaeminyou]

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

Actually, a gaming laptop is not a bad idea if you don't game on it.

 

(I know you're probably scratching your head confused)

 

Basically, I find that Dual core mobile CPUs are just too weak. If I could take back my laptop purchase and buy something with a quad core then I probably would.

Sure, but I will end up playing games due to eagerness haha...

[jaeminyou]

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

The XPS 15 is a decent machine if you can afford it.

 

4 minutes ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

I really don't like ASUS, my laptops problems sums up ASUS. 

 

Out of the ones listed, dell XPS 13 or 15, I haven't seen a bad dell. 

 

What would I recommend? Dell Latitude or Vostro,  Lenovo thinkpad and HP Elitebook and Probook series. Business quality means good quality and you can repair it If it dies for not very much (for parts) , and it is easy to repair. 

 

I want an elitebook 840, they are really nice. 

 This is an example of one of the issues. You can see many complaint videos on Youtube.

[AlTech]

2 minutes ago, jaeminyou said:

Sure, but I will end up playing games due to eagerness haha...

Then read my other post recommending the XPS 15. Also, having a dGPU can help accelerate programs like CAD and Visual Studio.

[AlTech]

Just now, jaeminyou said:

 

 This is an example of one of the issues. You can see many complaint videos on Youtube.

This is a firmware issue. Frankly, DELL should issue an update to fix it.

 

Try an XPS 15 in store. Play with it a little and see if it works. If you have that issue above the contact dell and tell them all about it and ask them to fix it.

[jaeminyou]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

This is a firmware issue. Frankly, DELL should issue an update to fix it.

 

Try an XPS 15 in store. Play with it a little and see if it works. If you have that issue above the contact dell and tell them all about it and ask them to fix it.

I've heard many customer complaints in the comment sections. Some of them got their laptops replaced several times that Dell stopped replacing them. So I assume Dell has poor customer service  

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, jaeminyou said:

I've heard many customer complaints in the comment sections. Some of them got their laptops replaced several times that Dell stopped replacing them. So I assume Dell has poor customer service  

Actually a friend of mine bought an Alienware (they're owned by Dell) and the customer service is wonderful.

[jaeminyou]

6 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Actually a friend of mine bought an Alienware (they're owned by Dell) and the customer service is wonderful.

Hmm.. looks like it depends on the region

[mrchow19910319]

21 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Basically, I find that Dual core mobile CPUs are just too weak. If I could take back my laptop purchase and buy something with a quad core then I probably would.

 

27 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

After using a macbook air with the 2.2GHz i7 I would go for something faster for compiling software. I would not get anything less than 2.5GHz i7. There are lenovo laptops that have 2.8GHz intel processors. The Zenbook looks really nice.

What kind of cpu intensive task do you guys need to do on your laptop??? I have no idea how weak is a dual core or how much better a quad core especially on a laptop.....  I use my old 2012 non retina macbook, the most demanding thing for me is ram.... 8G is just about "enough"... Do you guys do 3d rendering??? Or programming???   Under what circumstances I NEED a laptop with powerful CPU??? 

[jaeminyou]

2 minutes ago, mrchow19910319 said:

 

What kind of cpu intensive task do you guys need to do on your laptop??? I have no idea how weak is a dual core or how much better a quad core especially on a laptop.....  I use my old 2012 non retina macbook, the most demanding thing for me is ram.... 8G is just about "enough"... Do you guys do 3d rendering??? Or programming???   Under what circumstances I NEED a laptop with powerful CPU??? 

programming possibly, along with other adobe programs.

[AlTech]

2 minutes ago, mrchow19910319 said:

 

What kind of cpu intensive task do you guys need to do on your laptop??? I have no idea how weak is a dual core or how much better a quad core especially on a laptop.....  I use my old 2012 non retina macbook, the most demanding thing for me is ram.... 8G is just about "enough"... Do you guys do 3d rendering??? Or programming???   Under what circumstances I NEED a laptop with powerful CPU??? 

Programming, CAD and overall performance would be better with a quad core. I have 16GB RAM so RAM is a non issue for me.

[mrchow19910319]

I think you can buy a gaming laptop. You can game on it, just don't play game 24/7..... You have to develop some sort of self discipline when it comes to gaming and almost every other things in life... A good gaming laptop can do almost anything. Whether you are doing cpu intensive or cpu intensive tasks, it can get it done. And... personally I don't really like Razer's product. I've heard many people complained about it, some at this forum, some are my friends or people I know. 

 

Also:

If you are okay with apple and OS X, should buy a macbook..... I know a lot of people at this forum may disagree... But I find mine really handy especially when it comes to work. All personal preference. 

[mrchow19910319]

5 minutes ago, jaeminyou said:

programming possibly, along with other adobe programs.

 

4 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Programming, CAD and overall performance would be better with a quad core. I have 16GB RAM so RAM is a non issue for me.

I just got into programming. Learning through freecodecamp. Care to explain your workflow briefly??? What text editor/ ide you use??? What about virtual machine??? I'm a noob, but I am really interested to know anything about programming. 

[jaeminyou]

2 minutes ago, mrchow19910319 said:

I think you can buy a gaming laptop. You can game on it, just don't play game 24/7..... You have to develop some sort of self discipline when it comes to gaming and almost every other things in life... A good gaming laptop can do almost anything. Whether you are doing cpu intensive or cpu intensive tasks, it can get it done. And... personally I don't really like Razer's product. I've heard many people complained about it, some at this forum, some are my friends or people I know. 

 

Also:

If you are okay with apple and OS X, should buy a macbook..... I know a lot of people at this forum may disagree... But I find mine really handy especially when it comes to work. All personal preference. 

I was intending to buy the Alienware 15 R3; however, I would feel very guilty to purchase such an expensive product with a decent battery life (99Whr). Although my parents don't care about the spending (depends on how much I attain for scholarship), yet I still feel uncomfortable as people will probably "Mock" and will think of me as an Alienware fanboy. It'd be pretty immature of them if they do so...

[jaeminyou]

4 minutes ago, mrchow19910319 said:

 

I just got into programming. Learning through freecodecamp. Care to explain your workflow briefly??? What text editor/ ide you use??? What about virtual machine??? I'm a noob, but I am really interested to know anything about programming. 

I too, started programming C# recently. Which operating system do you use?

[mrchow19910319]

1 minute ago, jaeminyou said:

I was intending to buy the Alienware 15 R3; however, I would feel very guilty to purchase such an expensive product with a decent battery life (99Whr). Although my parents don't care about the spending (depends on how much I attain for scholarship), yet I still feel uncomfortable as people will probably "Mock" and will think of me as an Alienware fanboy. It'd be pretty immature of them if they do so...

Well I've seen a lot of game designers/ developers using alienware laptop. Nobody called them fanboys... It's all about what you do. I am not really familiar with gaming laptops so... you should consult other people here.

[AlTech]

10 minutes ago, mrchow19910319 said:

 

I just got into programming. Learning through freecodecamp. Care to explain your workflow briefly??? What text editor/ ide you use???

Depends on what programming languages you use. If I deal with Java then I use Eclipse and if I use C# or C++ then I use Visual Studio. But if I develop web stuff then I use Atom code editor.

Quote

What about virtual machine??? I'm a noob, but I am really interested to know anything about programming. 

Check out the programming section on the forum and don't be afraid to ask questions .

[mrchow19910319]

2 minutes ago, jaeminyou said:

I too, started programming C# recently. Which operating system do you use?

What you mean??? I am using a macbook... So, OS X. I am learning HTML CSS and soon javascript.. I am able to learn 1 hour per day. If I put more hours than that, I got frustrated...LOL.  

[jaeminyou]

Just now, mrchow19910319 said:

What you mean??? I am using a macbook... So, OS X. I am learning HTML CSS and soon javascript.. I am able to learn 1 hour per day. If I put more hours than that, I got frustrated...LOL.  

Great start, I started with HTML and CSS. Learning and installing Javascript is so complicating on OSX that I gave up on the installation. So I ended up starting C# instead haha