Programming/University laptop

[SimonW]

I'm looking to get a new laptop that I can hopefully use to replace my desktop for most purposes. I don't really need it to game that much, but some of my projects require testing with games so I'd need at least a decent bit on most games (I think a 1050 Ti should do the job?). I've been looking at the Dell XPS 15 as the I7 8750H + 16gb + GTX 1050Ti should work well for what I'm looking to do, however, I've ran into some dodgy support from and I've heard of issues with the XPS effectively required a fresh OS install to get it to function properly. So I'm hoping there are some better options (I was just going to get it after lurking on here for a while). I'll be bringing the laptop to my University lectures so I need to have good battery life as well. I plan on using it primarily with Linux with a Windows virtual machine for testing software, so even though I'm not aware of Linux compatibility really being an issue anymore, it's something to keep in mind. My budget would be about max £1600 but I'm not looking to spend tons of money, so the cheaper the better. 

 

I've looked at the Gigabyte Aero 15X, 15(W?) and 14, they look good, but the 15X/15(W?) look to be too expensive and I haven't been able to find availability for the 14. I also like the look of the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 UX550GD (even though I've seen word of thermal issues with previous models) as I currently have a lower end Zenbook, however, It doesn't seem to be available at all and I haven't found anything with any clue of a release date for it. I like the look of the I7 8750H and don't particularly want to go for a 7700HQ due to the lower core count and performance. I've seen other laptops that have the specs I'm looking for, however, a lot seem to be lacking a lot on battery life which is pretty important, I'd need at least a consistent ~6hrs as sockets aren't really available in my lectures and I've had days in the past year that have required that from my current laptop. I haven't completely ruled out the Dell XPS 15, the customer support and issues I've heard just don't fill me with confidence,

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance

[TLCH723]

XPS15 has thermal issues.

Aero 14 has a QHD so is hard for the intel GPU to drive the display.

 

I have the Aero 15x. I run VMs on and off on balanced profile and give me around 5 to 6 hours

[K i a r a]

I just ordered the Lenovo Y530, Its in the mail right now, You can check my Signature Below to see the full specs. 

But it was rather thin, With a really nice screen, Thin bezels for a "Gaming laptop" Plus has a i7-8750 + 1050ti.

 

I bought it for the sleek look, so I can use it for school, without being a Eye catcher, and still play some games on the side.

[genexis_x]

5 hours ago, SimonW said:

Snip

Any links of online stores?

1 hour ago, K i a r a said:

Lenovo Y530

Off topic: mind doing a review on it?

[K i a r a]

2 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

Any links of online stores?

Off topic: mind doing a review on it?

Yea! 
I Was planing on it, 

Sadly 10-12 days "Building"

and 3-7 days "Shipping"

[SimonW]

11 hours ago, TLCH723 said:

XPS15 has thermal issues.

Aero 14 has a QHD so is hard for the intel GPU to drive the display.

 

I have the Aero 15x. I run VMs on and off on balanced profile and give me around 5 to 6 hours

I've heard that people have solved the thermal issues by undervolting. I like the Aero 15X but it seems to be about £2000, I'd consider it if I found somewhere where I could get it on 0% PayPal credit though

 

11 hours ago, K i a r a said:

I just ordered the Lenovo Y530, Its in the mail right now, You can check my Signature Below to see the full specs. 

But it was rather thin, With a really nice screen, Thin bezels for a "Gaming laptop" Plus has a i7-8750 + 1050ti.

 

I bought it for the sleek look, so I can use it for school, without being a Eye catcher, and still play some games on the side.

The Lenovo Y530 looks pretty good, however, I can't find any availability for it in the UK unfortunately.

 

10 hours ago, ZM Fong said:

Any links of online stores?

Off topic: mind doing a review on it?

1

1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/

https://www.overclockers.co.uk

https://www.scan.co.uk/

http://www.argos.co.uk/browse/technology/laptops-and-pcs/c:29953/

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops-315-c.html

https://www.johnlewis.com/electricals/laptops-macbooks/c60000876?rdr=1

These are some I can think of.

 

Also, I should have mentioned that my preference for screen size is 15", I currently have a 13" laptop but would like to go up in size.

[genexis_x]

18 hours ago, SimonW said:

at least a consistent ~6hrs

This is limiting your options. Around 5 hrs OK?

[SimonW]

35 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

This is limiting your options. Around 5 hrs OK?

I could live with that if the rest of it is solid. But the more the better.

[genexis_x]

9 minutes ago, SimonW said:

I could live with that if the rest of it is solid.

Light weight:

3XS LG15 Vengeance Pro / CyberpowerPC Tracer III Slim 15 / PCSpecialist Recoil II

MSI GP63

 

If you don't mind a bit of weight:

MSI GE Raider (GE63)

CyberpowerPC Tracer III 15 / PCSpecialist Vyper - entry level FHD IPS panel

Dell G5 - entry level FHD IPS panel

Dell G3 - entry level FHD IPS panel, OKish cooling

Asus GL503GE - OKish cooling

Gigabyte Sabre 15 / 3XS LG15 / PCSpecialist Optimus IX- OKish build quality and cooling

 

You have to sacrifice battery life for performance

18 hours ago, SimonW said:

Dell XPS 15

Gigabyte Aero 15X, 15(W?) and 14

ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 UX550GE

All have cooling issues. Other aspects are OK (XPS 15 has other minor issues)

[RimsOnAToaster]

19 hours ago, SimonW said:

I'm looking to get a new laptop that I can hopefully use to replace my desktop for most purposes. I don't really need it to game that much, but some of my projects require testing with games so I'd need at least a decent bit on most games (I think a 1050 Ti should do the job?). I've been looking at the Dell XPS 15 as the I7 8750H + 16gb + GTX 1050Ti should work well for what I'm looking to do, however, I've ran into some dodgy support from and I've heard of issues with the XPS effectively required a fresh OS install to get it to function properly. So I'm hoping there are some better options (I was just going to get it after lurking on here for a while). I'll be bringing the laptop to my University lectures so I need to have good battery life as well. I plan on using it primarily with Linux with a Windows virtual machine for testing software, so even though I'm not aware of Linux compatibility really being an issue anymore, it's something to keep in mind. My budget would be about max £1600 but I'm not looking to spend tons of money, so the cheaper the better. 

 

I've looked at the Gigabyte Aero 15X, 15(W?) and 14, they look good, but the 15X/15(W?) look to be too expensive and I haven't been able to find availability for the 14. I also like the look of the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 UX550GD (even though I've seen word of thermal issues with previous models) as I currently have a lower end Zenbook, however, It doesn't seem to be available at all and I haven't found anything with any clue of a release date for it. I like the look of the I7 8750H and don't particularly want to go for a 7700HQ due to the lower core count and performance. I've seen other laptops that have the specs I'm looking for, however, a lot seem to be lacking a lot on battery life which is pretty important, I'd need at least a consistent ~6hrs as sockets aren't really available in my lectures and I've had days in the past year that have required that from my current laptop. I haven't completely ruled out the Dell XPS 15, the customer support and issues I've heard just don't fill me with confidence,

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance

I've only just started doing my real-world comparison tests to replace the 2014 MacBook Pro 13" that carried me through my undergraduate degree, so I can't give as good of a recommendation as other here can on particular models. I can tell you that in a lecture hall or library setting, you want your laptop to be optimized for high battery life, low noise, and low displacement. It's a huge faux pas to encroach upon your classmates' bench space because your laptop is too big or interrupt a smaller lecture because your fans kick into high gear out of the blue. It also sucks to have to carry the extra heft of a gaming laptop to a course that doesn't require the extra horsepower you're packing.

 

From the sound of your question, you need a laptop that can handle computationally-demanding tasks while remaining thin and light enough for everyday student use. I was in the same boat two years ago, and instead of getting a whole new desktop or laptop I built an eGPU for like, $400 USD out of parts from eBay, tools in my dorm, and randomly posted scripts found on Tech|Inferno. Today, the eGPU community is embraced by major brands like Asus, Apple, HP, and Razer, you can buy prefab enclosures that don't require a degree in electrical engineering to assemble, and over Thunderbolt 3 you can get a lot of performance for your pound out of your graphics card.

 

If you really dig programming, which it seems like you do, you should consider investing in an enclosure like the Sonnet Breakaway 550, a graphics card of your choice, a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and laptop. It sounds like a lot because it IS a lot, but the resulting configuration is just so much easier to work with.

 

Here's the shortlist of Laptops that I'm considering pairing to my Aorus GTX 1070 Gaming Box. I really hope this helps! Hit me up if you have any questions!

 

• Dell XPS 13 9370
• Lenovo T480
• Lenovo Yoga 920
• Lenove X1 Carbon 6th Gen
• HP Spectre x360

 

 

[SimonW]

2 hours ago, RimsOnAToaster said:

snip

 

I agree with what you're saying, however, I'd like to have stronger CPU performance than the I7-8550U.

4 hours ago, ZM Fong said:

snip

 

Are there any different ones that are more Ultrabook like the XPS 15, as RimsOnAToaster said, I'd want something which is more lightweight, quiet and with a good battery. Are there no laptops similar to the XPS15, Aero 15 etc that does not have thermal issues? Providing the thermal issues are not on normal usage and it only becomes an issue on really heavy load then it shouldn't be that bad of an issue?

[genexis_x]

5 hours ago, SimonW said:

stronger CPU performance than the I7-8550U.

8550U is just about a 8250U and requires good cooling to perform well

5 hours ago, SimonW said:

Are there any different ones that are more Ultrabook

The 3 above. But as I said, all have their own issues. Thin laptops of course will have thermal issues. With CFL-H CPU, cooling in medium load already causing problems

[SimonW]

Hm, I'm more unsure about it than I was before making the original post. I've looked more into the XPS 15 and it's definitely not an option as I've seen lots of people having significant thermal issues with it. I've started looking at the likes of the Dell XPS 13, but my only concern is with the performance of the i7-8550U, I'm not sure if it'll be enough to handle what I'll throw at it, my current laptop has an I5-6200U (I know it's not exactly comparable) and I'm extremely disappointed in its performance, I've currently got chrome and Spotify open with it running at max frequency and it's occasionally lagging as I type this. I don't expect me to be playing many games, if any on it normally, as I have a desktop (I7-4790K + 780 TI). However, I go to university overseas from home (I have my desktop with me at uni) so I don't have constant access to it, especially this summer. I don't need a ton of GPU performance, but I'd like to have the option to be at least able to play a few games at a decent framerate. Originally I was planning to replace my desktop, but I've realized that it's not really going to be possible to do it in such a way that I'm happy with.

 

EDIT: Are there any laptops using the I7-8705G that have decent thermals? I've been looking at the HP Spectre x360 15-ch004na and it looks pretty good so far

[genexis_x]

32 minutes ago, SimonW said:

Are there any laptops using the I7-8705G that have decent thermals? I've been looking at the HP Spectre x360 15-ch004na and it looks pretty good so far

All 8705G laptops (XPS 2 in 1, Spectre x360 15) seem to have good enough cooling as the CPU doesn't require massive cooling solution

[SimonW]

23 hours ago, ZM Fong said:

All 8705G laptops (XPS 2 in 1, Spectre x360 15) seem to have good enough cooling as the CPU doesn't require massive cooling solution

I decided to go with the HP Spectre x360 15-ch004na and I'll see how that goes, if it has significant thermal issues I'll likely return it. Haven't seen much people talk about it so I might make a post talking about my experience with it.

[K i a r a]

6 hours ago, SimonW said:

I decided to go with the HP Spectre x360 15-ch004na and I'll see how that goes, if it has significant thermal issues I'll likely return it. Haven't seen much people talk about it so I might make a post talking about my experience with it.

That this is horrible when I had it..

Wait tell you hear the Fans on it, Or at least on mine they were so loud.. I had 2 of them after returning the first one.

 

But hopefully it doesn't happen to you!

 

Goodluck.

[SimonW]

6 hours ago, K i a r a said:

That this is horrible when I had it..

Wait tell you hear the Fans on it, Or at least on mine they were so loud.. I had 2 of them after returning the first one.

 

But hopefully it doesn't happen to you!

 

Goodluck.

Well, I got it today, the fans weren't annoying, but one of the ram sticks is faulty causing random blue screen loops, have to wait till Monday to be able to call support to get it sorted. Fun stuff.

[K i a r a]

38 minutes ago, SimonW said:

Well, I got it today, the fans weren't annoying, but one of the ram sticks is faulty causing random blue screen loops, have to wait till Monday to be able to call support to get it sorted. Fun stuff.

Oh yea, Wait tell you talk to the Over seas HP team, Y I K E S.

But yea, I lost all hope for HP after having to deal with them too.

[SimonW]

9 hours ago, K i a r a said:

Oh yea, Wait tell you talk to the Over seas HP team, Y I K E S.

But yea, I lost all hope for HP after having to deal with them too.

We'll have to see how it goes, I hope I can get it sorted, I like the laptop, if I end up returning it I might stick with 2 in 1 as it'll come in handy for drawing diagrams for my lecture notes