Good Work Laptop?

[CharminUltraStrong]

Looking for a good work laptop, I work in politics and my position has a lot of field work.  I accomplish most tasks on the 2 desktops I have running in my office and offload them to my laptop if need be. I'm constantly traveling around and need a good secondary laptop that's travel-friendly. BUDGET IS $899 Here are the requirements,

Must have a good build(Preferably an aluminum construction)

 

Good battery

 

Decent power(i5 - i7 laptop chip or their lower tier U skus)

 

USB 3.0 ports, type C would be nice

 

HDMI ports(needed for quick projector hook ups)

 

NEEDS to be 15.5 inches and under

 

Can't be very heavy

 

8gigs + for RAM

 

Decent screen(I design marketing material, and create presentations that assist with other facets of my job which means some level of color accuracy is required)

 

Needs to consume LARGE excel sheets with advanced formulas while handling intensive interactive Google Maps setups.(This is why 8gbs+ of RAM is a requirement, the proprietary software we use and the Maps setups are browser-based which suck RAM up, not to mention the excel sheets) 

 

Note: My current mobile workstation is an alienware laptop that I hook up to a GFX card at home so gaming specs and whatnot are unimportant for my work PC

[CharminUltraStrong]

I've looked at both the current XPS and used Razer Stealths, just curious to see what you guys could suggest! Thank you!

[genexis_x]

1 hour ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

Can't be very heavy

Max weight preferred in kg? How many USB A ports you prefer? Do you need a numpad?

 

Also, where are you from?

[CharminUltraStrong]

15 hours ago, ZM Fong said:

Max weight preferred in kg? How many USB A ports you prefer? Do you need a numpad?

 

Also, where are you from?

numpad isn't really needed, if I need to make quick data calculations I'll run it on my phone. Weight, probably 2.3kg, I'm from the States.

[GeoffLucas]

Here's a decent deal on a Dell Vostro Laptop:  https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-notebooks/vostro-14-5000/spd/vostro-14-5471-laptop/cav145w10p1c204

 

Specs:

- i7-8550U processor

- 8 GB Ram

- 128 SSD + 1 TB HDD

- AMD 530 Graphics card w/ 4 GB Memory

- 14" screen 

- Aluminum casing

- 2x USB3.1, 1x USB C, HDMI

- 0.69" thick and 3.71 lbs.

 

It has a professional graphics card, which you said isn't really needed, but a nice extra.  I would think this will help with the Goggle Maps bit though.  The main detractor seems to be that the battery is only 42 WHr, so it's not going to last too long.  Truthfully, though, you're going to be hard pressed to find a smaller laptop with a big battery.

[CharminUltraStrong]

4 minutes ago, GeoffLucas said:

Here's a decent deal on a Dell Vostro Laptop:  https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-notebooks/vostro-14-5000/spd/vostro-14-5471-laptop/cav145w10p1c204

 

Specs:

- i7-8550U processor

- 8 GB Ram

- 128 SSD + 1 TB HDD

- AMD 530 Graphics card w/ 4 GB Memory

- 14" screen 

- Aluminum casing

- 2x USB3.1, 1x USB C, HDMI

- 0.69" thick and 3.71 lbs.

 

It has a professional graphics card, which you said isn't really needed, but a nice extra.  I would think this will help with the Goggle Maps bit though.  The main detractor seems to be that the battery is only 42 WHr, so it's not going to last too long.  Truthfully, though, you're going to be hard pressed to find a smaller laptop with a big battery.

Good pick! I will definitely consider this. It's between this, an XPS or a used Razer Stealth.

[genexis_x]

7 hours ago, GeoffLucas said:

It has a professional graphics card

How pro is it?

8 hours ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

numpad isn't really needed, if I need to make quick data calculations I'll run it on my phone. Weight, probably 2.3kg, I'm from the States.

Lenovo Ideapad 720s 14

Lenovo Ideapad 720s 13 - minor performance issue (due to small form factor)

Lenovo Yoga 730/720 13 - minor performance issue (due to 2 in 1 form factor)

Asus UX461UA

Asus UX330UA

Asus UX430UA/UX331UA (I can't find it)

HP Envy 13

Acer Swift 5 - low max brightness, OKish battery life, performance issue

Acer Spin 5 13 - minor performance issue (due to 2 in 1 form factor)

 

Check ports on these models before buying

[GeoffLucas]

9 hours ago, ZM Fong said:

16 hours ago, GeoffLucas said:

It has a professional graphics card

How pro is it?

True.  Was moving too fast - that's a normal GPU.