Non-Mac Laptop, $1500 Budget, 16GB RAM and High Nits

saitken on 02/02/2021 - 21:41
Last edited 02/02/2021 - 21:42

Hi All,

I've been looking for a new laptop for my partner who's coming off a rubbish HP 12 inch thats now really old.

Unfortunately he doesn't like Mac and the reason I say that is because to me it represents really good value in the market right now and can get away with 8gb given performance and battery life (I have 13 inch M1 MBP)

This means a windows PC thats kinda portable and up to 14 inches max

It also needs 16gb considering its windows I want to make sure it's a bit future proof. My 2013 MBP was still running just fine but a windows laptop will never have that longevity with 8gb right now (please dont make this statement the topic of conversation - its an opinion)

Also the screen is relatively important at least to me anyway - I think a higher brightness display is the way to go.

So given this list of requirement I'm finding it hard to find anything suitable - any advise is greatly appreciated I'm a bit flexible with the budget but not really the specs as there always has to be compromise so for me it's price (very non OZB)

Thanks

Computing Computer Laptop

Comments

  • MS Paint on 02/02/2021 - 21:50
    +3

    Non-Mac Laptop

    Linux then?

    • saitken on 02/02/2021 - 21:54

      'Now listen, I don't wanna have this argument again ok I'll just buy you the Mac'.. hasn't worked so far - maybe Ill try the Linux line (as in sentence)

  • Drakesy on 02/02/2021 - 21:57
    +5

    Lenovo X1 Carbon
    Best in class keyboard
    Incredible Battery Life
    Bulletproof build quality
    light as fark

    Also, i may be biased as i have a gen 4 X1 carbon

    Can also save a load buying a refurbished one off ebay as private industry is continually turning them over every few years, mine was one of these.

    • saitken on 02/02/2021 - 22:08

      thank you very much

      Jeez it's a dated looking thing IMO but I used to have one back in the day when they were IBM machines I believe? I personally love having the pointy mouse thing as it was on the only option on my very first laptop.

      It was a Toshiba Satellite pro as I recall and had an active matrix display all my mates at the time had passive screens and so this was a big deal at the time. I loved that laptop so much

      Not sure he will appreciate the nostalgic look as much as I do

      • Drakesy on 02/02/2021 - 22:30
        +1

        Yeah the looks haven't changed much over the years, but honestly when you pick one up you'll be blown away. They retail for $2500+ for a reason. The build quality (especially being made of carbon fibre) is incredible and they tend to last forever because of it.

        If you're after looks maybe a microsoft surface pro?, have one for work, although doesn't feel as sturdy and a tad more prone to scratching.

        • Agret on 02/02/2021 - 23:55

          If you get surface pro make sure you pray that nothing goes wrong with it. The keyboard touch covers can fail out of the blue and are like $200 to replace. Even when you pay for the warranty you have to mail it and the turn around is not great and they don't even repair your unit, they just send you back someone elses from the refurb pile. Heaps of problems with people getting dud refurb units back that they have send back again for exchange. If you google it you will see every generation of surface this happens and some people have returned 5 dodgy refurbs in a row just trying to get a working computer.

          Surface is a disposable product line, more for students than anything. Better to buy a proper business computer like Lenovo Carbon / Thinkpad or Dell XPS.

  • Optimistic Goat on 02/02/2021 - 22:51
    +1

    You can sometimes find a Dell XPS 13 in that budget if you're patient enough. The only other laptop in the same build quality class as the XPS and Macbook would be a Microsoft Surface device. However, I don't really see the need for 16Gb RAM outside some more professional work circumstances. I would be much more concerned with trying to find the best CPU within my budget, and with that in mind, the new 4000 series AMD chips are looking like VERY good value.

    • saitken on 02/02/2021 - 22:59

      I agree here - this looks like it has great build quality which is really what I'm after

      There has to be a compromise and like I said maybe its price but then based off your comment maybe it is ram. Ideally it would be upgradable just in case but that doesn't seem an option here.

      I feel like 2021 needs to be the year that windows laptops break this mould and deliver real value

    • kerfuffle on 02/02/2021 - 23:05

      However, I don't really see the need for 16Gb RAM outside some more professional work circumstances

      You need 16GB if you're like me and open a million internet tabs. I've had 16GB on my laptop since 2012.

      Incidentally, I also have a Surface Laptop 3, but I don't think you'll be getting 16GB of RAM for less than $1500, even when there's a 20% off sale (I have the 512GB AMD version with 16GB RAM).

      • Optimistic Goat on 02/02/2021 - 23:10

        I run 32GB on my work machine and I wouldn't dream of using any less than that for the types of programs it has to run, so I can respect if you're doing anything like that. However, for my personal laptop, 8GB has literally never once held me back. Just normal web browsing, word docs and gaming with an attached eGPU, never had an issue.

        • kerfuffle on 02/02/2021 - 23:39
          +1

          Firefox with 100 tabs open and Chrome with a about 20 tabs eats up a lot of RAM … I was at 91% usage yesterday

          • Agret on 02/02/2021 - 23:59
            +1

            @kerfuffle: Right now on my desktop PC i've got 555 processes running and 901 tabs open in Edge and am using 19.5GB/31.9GB RAM

            My Lenovo X1 Extreme laptop came with 16GB DDR4 but thankfully it is user upgradable and I upgraded it to 64GB (2x32GB stick) and it's so nice having that extra headroom, being a laptop I just put it to sleep all the time so things don't really get closed often on it.

            • Kail on 03/02/2021 - 00:13
              +4

              @Agret: What on earth are you people doing with that many tabs open???

            • casho on 04/02/2021 - 21:51

              @Agret: 901 lol! You do know you can close them

  • p1 ama on 02/02/2021 - 23:17
    +3

    There was a Lenovo P41s on here for around $1.5k yesterday that looked like a really good deal.

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