New Laptop Advice

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arnobg

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My early generation Macbook Pro is starting to really struggle through daily activities and I've decided it is time to buy a new laptop. I am also starting to do some side jobs at home that I need a laptop for, but the software is not compatible on Mac so I am going back to PC and that's 100% decided.

Now I think I am pretty set on a Lenovo as I haven't had good luck with many other PC's besides being home built. I can also get a good deal on my Southwest Airlines Rewards site however, I am open to other ideas and suggestions. Now on to the important details....

I won't be watching movies very often at all on it, won't be gaming, won't be doing any crazy graphic design/movie editing however, I want something FAST! The most demanding program I might use is GIMP or Photoshop or Google Sketchup. Those aren't too demanding. I am looking at the Y900 series with the i7 Intel.

Anyone with a recently bought laptop have any suggestions or opinions? I guess it would be important that it isn't too big and that the screen is accurate to displaying colors for when doing some light photo editing. I'm looking at 14".
 
If you want speed, in addition to the i7 I would suggest going SSD. Anything more than 16gb of ram for your described uses would be overkill so spend that money elsewhere.

We use Dell exclusively where I work and they have great tech support. The Lenovos I've worked with have been fine.

I also love the Surface. It's fast, compact and is IMO the perfect laptop-tablet hybrid. It is expensive though
 
If you want speed, in addition to the i7 I would suggest going SSD. Anything more than 16gb of ram for your described uses would be overkill so spend that money elsewhere.

We use Dell exclusively where I work and they have great tech support. The Lenovos I've worked with have been fine.

I also love the Surface. It's fast, compact and is IMO the perfect laptop-tablet hybrid. It is expensive though

Thanks for the suggestion. I agree on the SSD I have one in my PC and it boots up to the desktop in like 8 seconds. Would 16gb even be overkill instead of 8?

For a budget, I don't really have one but I would prefer to keep it below $1,200 but I'm flexible.
 
definitely an i7 with an SSD and Win10 Pro.
I recommend getting a used laptop from eBay and doing the mods yourself.
If you use any sort of cloud storage, a computer is little more than a head unit nowadays. So get a decent used one and ride it til it bucks you. I just got a Dell, i7 and put 8GB and an SSD in it and came out under $350.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I agree on the SSD I have one in my PC and it boots up to the desktop in like 8 seconds. Would 16gb even be overkill instead of 8?

For a budget, I don't really have one but I would prefer to keep it below $1,200 but I'm flexible.

16 gb is possibly overkill but I think it's a good way to furture-proof and not have to worry about upgrading later.

Again I am speaking from experience with dell, but you can get a real nice Latitude series for the 1200 budget. The XPS is even nicer but may again be overkill
 
16 gb is possibly overkill but I think it's a good way to furture-proof and not have to worry about upgrading later.


SSD is going to make the biggest difference. For the applications you describe, i7 cpu and 16GB memory are definitely overkill but certainly won't hurt if you can afford them.
 
We use Lenovo at work mostly. Some Dell's too. Personally I have a Dell, Sony, HP, and Lenovo at home.

If it weren't for the fact that Dell, although doesn't sell, but does nothing to prevent your information to be stolen, it would be my favorite. I get a call from "Steve" from "Microsoft" once or twice a week. I keep telling him new and inventive things he should do with his mother, but he keeps calling :/

The Sony is a fine machine, but over priced.

The HP is a workhorse. It's not as pretty to look at and the speakers are sub-par. A good computer all around.

The Lenovo ThinkPad is my newest one. More bloatware than the rest, but after all that is uninstalled it works like a champ. Great audio & video, good performance.

If you can get a Lenovo at a reduced price that would be great.
 
Lenovo and ASUS are the best IMO.

The Surface Pro is also pretty gosh darn excellent from all accounts.
 
Well I decided to pull the trigger because I needed to make a decision fast to have something to work on this weekend. Just purchased the Lenovo Yoga 900, looks like quite the slick little laptop to compete with the Macbook Air. Thanks for input!
 
You won't need an i7 to run those things. An i5 would be more than enough. That being said if you don't particularly care about the price increase i7s do rock.

I'm a huge fan of the X1 Carbons. They rock. I think the Y700 is a great laptop too.

Honestly in my experience with laptops I've had it multi-fold. I got an expensive one that runs great but the case sucked (not really something that you can get from reviews that the case will likely break in a bit over a year) and I had one with low specs that lasted until it's processor couldn't handle what I wanted to do. It's kind of a pain. For thatreason I have 3 computers. Desktop, surface, chromebook. I use them in order Desktop, Chromebook, surface. Surface is basically my IT PC/Travel PC. When I'm going somewhere doing tech support it's great. When I'm at home it's fine, but typically I'm either not interested in using my computer or in my bed where my Chromebook is better.
 
I also love the Surface. It's fast, compact and is IMO the perfect laptop-tablet hybrid. It is expensive though

I have a Surface Pro 2 and don't think I'll ever buy a laptop again. Perfect device for me. I use it as my desktop at my office, docked to a 24" screen, full keyboard and printer. I use it like an iPad (tablet) but it is not as good as an iPad for that sort of thing, and I keep it with me for streaming music, etc. whenever I'm away from home.
 
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