Laptops

I like Lenovo and Asus Laptops, Although Asus, since becoming more mainstream, has really gone down in quality. Acer is actually good too, owned one a few years back and the price-to-performance ratio was quite good. but had to sell them both for extra cash.

 

I use T500 and my gf uses T440p.
Do not touch the T440p. It's Utter turd. Screen had died 3 times, dead pixels all over the place even now. What the hell did they think about when they designed that MacBook esque trackpad without trackpoint buttons? It's unusable. On top of that it's slow to use even with SSD, as slow as T500 with spinner. Dunno why. Case is soft and flexes through, USB ports don't work half of the time regardless of OS. I'm not gonna buy another ThinkPad.
T400/T500 was the last ok-ish full size Thinkpad, ime.
And ergonomics/build quality wise even these are shit compared to old IBM Thinkpads.
That is really sad.
My sis has some Yoga or something that feels solid and she is happy.

 

I personally have also traded power for portability and battery life . I migrated from workstation class machines like the HP/Lenovo/Dell 17" monsters to a Yoga 3 11 convertible. For the vast majority of my use it is perfect. When I really need to crunch something, I'll do that on my work machine, a Lenovo X250 which is more than fast enough.

In fact I worked exclusively on a Lenovo Thinkpad 8 tablet for almost a year. I work on a computer all day, primarily now in productivity applications (Office etc.) but with the odd bit of writing code which was the downfall of the tablet. It's now my media player and works brilliantly in that capacity.

 

@sphinxvc, shut down everything Cortana and if you have the W10 for consumers get the W10 Pro.

I cannot forgive Microsoft for creating this spyware OS. I suspect Microsoft paid money to hush the critics because only a few magazines outlined the Cortana issues.

 

W10 hasn't been rosy on the graphics side especially nvidia optimus drivers, so so bad, playing videos kinda suck too. Part of it might be my madvr settings as well but I don't remember it being like that. Using a Asus X550JK.

Okay now I know why I type wrong often due to the centering issue LOL

 

I have had great luck so far with the HP Spectre x360 that I got this summer. I went to a Microsoft store and played with all the laptops they had. Spectre had the best balance of specs, build quality, and price. I wanted to like the Yoga 3 and the Dell XPS 13, but they were too thin and light. The Yoga 3 was warping just holding it. Didn't like the key travel on the XPS 13. Spectre weighs a touch more, but the machined aluminum gave it a much nicer feel.

I like Windows 10 a lot and have had no issues with it on any of my devices (Asus tablet, Surface Pro 1, Spectre x360, custom built desktop).

 

Surface Pro 3. It is the best compromise fot me in terms of power, portability and looks. I also have a docking station at home where my DAC, HDD, mouse are connected. I have other laptops from ASUS and Dell but rarely use them.

 

I have been buying and using top of the line HP Elitebooks for the past several years. They work well (SD card readers aside), they are relatively quick, I don;t care if they get dinged, and they cost under $300 for units that went for $1500-$1800 new. Models that just work well are 8440p, 6930P for example. And getting one with an SSD inside is priceless. My main machine is an 8440p with ssd and 4gb ram with i5 that runs a Dell monitor. Runs all day with no complaints.

 

I absolutely love my asus N series notebook. Aluminum body, looks professional, good specs, very nice screen, nvidia x50m series discrete graphics (current version has a 950m) and truly excellent heat management. Game away with it on your lap without fear of burns. Install the ssd yourself to save a couple hundred - takes 3 minutes, is immediately accessible and gives you the incentive to do a clean windows install without the preinstalled bloat.

The large multitouchpad took a few days to get used to but I'm happy with it now. If you aren't looking for an ultralight and want good discrete graphics, this is where it is at. The b&o audio and freebie mini sub is a cute gimmick but not comparable to decent phones or real speakers.

 

When I went from Windows 8.1 to 10, I chose the Custom rather than Standard install. Mostly the Custom install consisted of checked boxes that I unchecked to not include that sort of stuff. I was taken aback by what they had in there.

 

A bit confused: that comes with a keyboard, or works only as a tablet? Had to replace Mrs. G's laptop a year or so ago, and did wonder about a Yoga tablet. She is very happy carrying her 7-inch asus tablet around. As a lifetime touch-typist, though, I think she is quite attached to keyboards, as, when static, am I.

My Compaq laptop, which she was using previously, had, with occasional minor repairs, lasted over ten years. Marathon for a laptop: I didn't expect it. Mind you, it was the old-school big+heavy: we never carried it around. The modest-cost Dell that replaced it has been in for its first maintenance issue in its second year

We got the Dell with Linux, and at about the same time, Mrs G (already having the tablet) discarded a Windows phone in favour of an Android device. We are both retired, and have no need of any professional "productivity" software/compatibility, and are now a Microsoft-free household. Actually, my big complaint about Libre Office is it is too MSish.

I stick with a desktop. I'm still attached to keyboards and mice. I used to leave computers at home when out and about; got 7-inch tablet for travel, and, since having a 5.5-inch phone, I'm afraid that I no longer get away from it all when I leave the front door.

I would not buy a laptop for home use --- but neither would I buy another big-box machine. I don't do video or gaming; I don't need power. Next time I have to buy it would be a lower-power, fanless, small-box thingy.

 

Prepare to go "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" until you find a way to turn off everything that makes W10 a spy ware O.S.

 

You can install the Windows 2016 server tech preview. That's essentially win10 without all the crap.

Personally, I'm waiting for the new MBPs.

 

Looks like I have some research to do.