Need Help with Picking a New Laptop

Love a bargain on 21/12/2016 - 19:45
Last edited 21/12/2016 - 19:55

Looking for a new laptop with the following must-haves and desirable features.

Must have:
* i5 or i7
* F1-F12 keys can be accessed without pressing the Fn key. Some brands (e.g. HP, Lenovo) have made the short-cut functions which share the F keys primary. I know that with HP, it's not possible to change that setting. Lenovo's support page talks about being able to disable the short-cut fuctions via BIOS setting but I'd prefer them not to be disabled (because that means it'll be more difficult to change volume and brightness, for examples) but just not to be the primary functions of those keys.
* 14" or 15"
* 1+ USB3.0

Desirable:
* FHD
* dedicated graphic card
* 1TB+ memory (I know that means having HDD rather than SSD. I'd prefer not to run out of room and have to have a external drive attached all the time)
* internal DVD drive

Budget: up to about $1k

Weight: I don't take my laptop out of the house much (only occationally when I'm travelling) so weight is not too much of an issue although I'd still want it to be as light as possible.

I'm looking for something that is decent in terms of quality & specs. Each of my previous laptops have lasted about 5 years on average and I'm hoping the new one will last about the same period of time.

I've had a look at the shops and struggling to find something that has everything I want.

Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

Computing

Comments

  • scrimshaw on 21/12/2016 - 19:51
    • dedicated graphic card

    a lot of laptops under $1k with dedicated graphics cards tend to be very average machines, usually consumer grade stuff with no real business cred and still not enough grunt to count as a gaming capable device.

    You can have a look at MSY's Notebook PDF and there are plenty of humdrum laptops with low-end 940MX's and Radeon R5 GPU's (they will be sucky for gaming).

    Even if not for gaming, only 2/10 of these devices only have 1366 x 768 TN displays.

    I'm looking for something that is decent in terms of quality & specs. Each of my previous laptops have lasted about 5 years

    5 years is a long service life for a 'consumer' grade device. A business laptop can last you 5 years or more with the right amount of care and maintenance, like cleaning out it's fans and heatsinks once a year.

    I'd be looking at something like a Dell Latitude (from the Dell Outlet), HP Probook or a Lenovo Thinkpad 13 if you want a nice machine with great keyboards and durability features. (but none of these will have a graphics card and the price range of these laptops start from $800 onwards)

    • Love a bargain on 21/12/2016 - 20:00

      That's why it's a nice-to-have rather than a must-have.

      Already ruled out HP and Lenovo because of the F-key issue.

      • scrimshaw on 21/12/2016 - 20:04

        If you raise the budget to $1.3K you could get the ASUS G55. It's the cheapest one in Australia (normally $1.5k)
        http://www.warehouse1.com.au/epages/shop.sf/en_AU/?ObjectPat…

        I7-6700HQ (quad core)
        15.6"FHD
        1TB HDD,
        DVD drive
        Dedicated 960M 2GB VRAM
        USB 3.1 ports (three)

        so far it ticks all your boxes, though for $300 more than you intend to spend.

        There's also the MSI CX62. $1000 or so. Google it yourself for the specs.

      • adante on 21/12/2016 - 23:16

        current gen (and last gen) lenovo's allow you to toggle between the F1-F12 keys and the… for lack of a better term the 'advanced controls'.

        By which I mean you can set it up so that pressing the F3 key without a modifier acts as F3, and pressing Fn+F3 does mute (or or vol/brightness up/down or whatever). Changing the toggle would do a vice-versa. The toggle persists on reboot and is switched by hitting a Fn+FnLock key.

        Source: Am W540 owner. I also hate having to press Fn+X to get a F4 key but after this toggle wasn't too bothered by it.

        I'm just mentioning because based on OP I'm not sure if you understood exactly how this worked. Still not sure if I'd recommend a Lenovo

        • Love a bargain on 22/12/2016 - 10:22

          Good to know that.

          Having a FnLock key would definitely solve that problem. Now the question is how to work out which model has this FnLock key, and which one doesn't, without physically looking at it keyboard.

          PS. The research that I'd previously done told me that, for some lenovo models, it's possible to disable the "advanced controls" function at BIOS, which led me to believe all you can do is to switch the "advanced controls" off, if at all.

        • scrimshaw on 22/12/2016 - 10:32

          @Love a bargain:

          Eh, the fn lock key is present in all Lenovo models. I don't know about the Ideapads but the Thinkpad keyboards work just as described.

          For the current Thinkpad E series, The Fn key is usually located where the Ctrl key usually sits but a toggle in the BIOS switches the keys around and gives you a more legacy layout.

        • Love a bargain on 22/12/2016 - 10:54

          @scrimshaw:

          Just looked up the picture of the keyboard of a random Thinkpad E series model on google (http://icdn3.digitaltrends.com/image/thinkpad-e550-1-1500x10…). I can see the Fn key next to the Ctrl key on the bottom left but I can't see a FnLock key anywhere. Am I missing something?

        • scrimshaw on 22/12/2016 - 12:26

          @Love a bargain:

          Provided as a combination of two buttons.
          You press Fn and Escape to turn on the lock.

          There is no dedicated lock button.

        • Love a bargain on 22/12/2016 - 13:19

          @scrimshaw:

          Oh I see.

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