Looking for 2-in-1/Convertible Laptop (Canada)

[dalekphalm]

Hey Guys,

 

Been considering getting a new laptop, as mine is shit

 

I'm looking for a 2-in-1 or a Convertible (Either flip keyboard style, or detachable tablet style AKA Surface Book).

 

Must have Specs:

8GB RAM (or higher)

256GB SSD (or higher)

i5 or better (or AMD equivalent, if available) - U class is totally fine, as this won't be a workstation replacement

1080p resolution (or higher)

13" to 14" screen (12" MAYBE but anything smaller is too small, and 15" is too big)

Touch Screen (A 2-in-1 is pretty damn useless without one... even though I've seen them around)

Light weight

Good construction (doesn't have to be metal, but I want good build quality)

Long battery life (Looking for ideally 6+ hours of typical usage - will compromise on lower battery if otherwise a kickass laptop/deal)

 

Price:

Ideally: Under $1500 CAD (not incl. taxes)

Max: $2K CAD

 

Options I'm considering, in no particular order (note: some of these links may not work for everyone - mostly CostCo ones):

1. ASUS Zenbook UX360

13.3"

8GB RAM

i5-7200U

256GB SSD

$1200 CAD

https://www.costco.ca/ASUS-ZenBook-UX360UA-Q52S-CB-Bilingual-Notebook%2c-i5-6200U.product.100321120.html

 

2. Acer Aspire R14 R5-471T

14"

8GB RAM

i7-6500U

512GB SSD

$1200 CAD

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA8XY6K16552

 

3. HP Spectre x360 13

13.3"

8GB RAM

i5-8250U

256GB SSD

$1500 CAD

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834268669

 

4. Dell XPS 13 2-in-1

13.3"

8GB RAM

i7-7Y75

256GB SSD

$1700 CAD

http://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/dell-laptops-netbooks-and-tablets/xps-13-2-in-1/spd/xps-13-9365-2-in-1-laptop/nxps139365_bt_s1422e

 

5. Dell Inspiron 13 5000 2-in-1

13.3"

8GB RAM

i5-8250U (upgradable to i7-8550U for $100)

256GB SSD

$1100 CAD

http://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/dell-laptops-netbooks-and-tablets/inspiron-13-5000-2-in-1/spd/inspiron-13-5379-2-in-1-laptop/ni135379_bt_h5009e

 

6. Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1

13.3"

8GB RAM

i5-8250U

256GB RAM

$1250 CAD

http://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/dell-laptops-netbooks-and-tablets/new-inspiron-13-7000-2-in-1/spd/inspiron-13-7373-2-in-1-laptop/ni137373_bt_h001e

 

And lastly, if I'm gonna go balls to the wall:

7. Surface Book 2

13.3"

8GB RAM

i5-7300U

256GB SSD

$1900 CAD

https://www.costco.ca/Microsoft-Surface-Book-2%2c-English-Laptop%2c-i5-7300U-.product.100390403.html

 

So, TL;DR, out of these options, what would you pick? Don't like the list? Link me an alternative (Please only link from Canadian resellers, such as NCIX, CanadaComputers, Newegg.ca (NOT.COM), Amazon.ca (NOT.COM), Costco.ca (you get the idea), etc).

 

Build quality wise, the HP Spectre seems the best for the price. The ASUS has bad battery life and the build quality seems okay at best. The Acer seems alright with great battery but build quality isn't the best. The XPS is a bit too expensive, same with the Surface Book 2. The Inspirons look like good value, but I'm concerned about build quality.

 

Thoughts? Alternate suggestions?

[VintiumDust]

What do you do on your laptop?

[dalekphalm]

1 minute ago, VintiumDust said:

What do you do on your laptop?

General media consumption is the primary usage. Web browsing (Facebook, LTT, etc), YouTube, Netflix (and other streaming services), occasional Plex playback.

 

Outside of that will be occasional document/productivity creation (Word/Excel predominantly), and occasional 3D design (Sketchup/TinkerCAD, etc) or other light editing tasks (Photo/Video).

 

I will be using it a lot on a couch or bed, which is why the 2-in-1 form factor is important. Good battery life was another factor, since my current laptop has a way-past-prime battery (about 25-40 minutes battery life, tops).

 

There will be NO gaming done on here, as I have both an XBOX One S, as well as a fairly powerful gaming desktop.

[genexis_x]

HP Spectre x360 with KB-R CPU, other choices have their weakness

[VintiumDust]

On 11/18/2017 at 9:20 AM, dalekphalm said:

General media consumption is the primary usage. Web browsing (Facebook, LTT, etc), YouTube, Netflix (and other streaming services), occasional Plex playback.

 

Outside of that will be occasional document/productivity creation (Word/Excel predominantly), and occasional 3D design (Sketchup/TinkerCAD, etc) or other light editing tasks (Photo/Video).

 

I will be using it a lot on a couch or bed, which is why the 2-in-1 form factor is important. Good battery life was another factor, since my current laptop has a way-past-prime battery (about 25-40 minutes battery life, tops).

 

There will be NO gaming done on here, as I have both an XBOX One S, as well as a fairly powerful gaming desktop.

If youre willing to give up word and excel along with SketchUp and tinkercad and those programs, Then i would highly reccomend the SAMSUNG Chromebook Plus Or the Samsung Chromebook Pro. I personally have the Samsung Chromebook plus and i love it. Its great for Media consumption and web browsing, especially for the price. The screen is very sharp with at 1440p, and the build quality is higher than you would expect at this price range. Highly Reccomend.

 

 

If youre sticking to windows, I would reccomend the acer spin 7.

[dalekphalm]

8 hours ago, VintiumDust said:

If youre willing to give up word and excel along with SketchUp and tinkercad and those programs, Then i would highly reccomend the SAMSUNG Chromebook Plus Or the Samsung Chromebook Pro. I personally have the Samsung Chromebook plus and i love it. Its great for Media consumption and web browsing, especially for the price. The screen is very sharp with at 1440p, and the build quality is higher than you would expect at this price range. Highly Reccomend.

 

 

If youre sticking to windows, I would reccomend the acer spin 7.

Chromebook is an automatic deal breaker. Not paying for a glorified browser OS, regardless of underlying hardware. 

 

What about out the Spin 7 do you recommend? That wasn’t an option I listed above. 

 

How does it differ from the Aspire R14 I linked above?