Laptop questions

[Dragunov]

Under $225 on Ebay, and all are upgradeable.

i5/i7, some with dGPU, no soldered ram, the "s" models do not have upgradeable CPU's:

Lenovo,T420/T520/T420s=$>100.
T430/T530/T430s/Dell, E6430=$90-120.
T440p/T540p/x230/Dell, E6440= $150-$225.
W520=$200-$225.

Between $226-$500 ALL "W, and "P"" series Lenovo's have a dGPU
Almost ALL W, and P series lenovo's are Quad Cores:

T440p/T540p >$250.
Lenovo W530=$275-$300.
W540/W541/Dell, M4800=$350-$450.
Lenovo, P50 (low end, CPU non-upgradeable)=$500.

Between $500-$700 (non-upgradeable CPU):

Acer Nitro5, Intel powered=$500-$575.
P50=$500-$700, depending on configuration.
T460p/T470p=$575-$625.
Dell 17 Inspiron 7778 (17", reliable 1080p IPS touchscreen)/other high-end Dells=$650-$700.

Also in the $600-$700 price range, you can get a good quality, used, MSI, or Asus ROG.

The above laptops are pretty much the ONLY ones I recommend in these price ranges.

Avoid the Lenovo, T440,T450,T460,T470,(x240, and<), and their "s" versions UNLESS you're doing ONLY basic computing, or coding, and need the battery life.
Avoid ANY HP's in these price ranges. HP put out some REAL turds during this period of time.
Most used gaming machines are reasonably decent in the $350-$700 price range. Avoid the Lenovo "Y" series, and Legions. They have reliability issues.

[Frozenguy]

I just picked up this guy. Great value with an i5 9th gen, 512 sad, Gtx 1660ti graphics card, extra slot for another sshd hard drive, ips hd display, 8gb of ram but upgradable. I bought 2 sticks of 16gb for 32 go total. Or you can buy another 8gb stick ezpz.

https://www.newegg.com/black-asus-rog-strix-g-gaming-entertainment/p/1TS-001A-00RB9?item=1TS-001A-00RB9

[Bushwack44]

Still looking for a laptop. As I have $900 in Amazon credit, I'd prefer making the purchase there. I have narrowed it down to this Thinkpad https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...NXXCIAR5&psc=1 or this Acer https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...35CZ2MR5&psc=1 Both get favorable reviews on YouTube.

My hesitation is I am not clear if the Acer can upgrade to 16GM Ram. Also, as 80% of the laptop will be for surfing and using MS Office (the other 20% will be minimal Photoshop retouching), should I look for a dedicated video card, or as high a processing speed I can afford?

[The War Wagon]

I don't have many recommendations on a *new* laptop. As far as I'm concerned right now, and until Lenovo gets their crap together, most all of them are junk. ATM, the ONLY laptop I would recommend, is a used Lenovo (W541, or older), a newer P series ThinkPad, a high end Dell, an MSI/Alienware, or some other mid-range to high end gaming machine (Asus ROG, Acer Predator). Why? Because ONLY the ones I've mentioned, have been known to be reliable, and are of decent build quality.
How do I know this? Because I work on laptops every day.

Stay away from HP, they're currently putting out "iffy" laptops. Stay away from touchscreens, unless you're getting a high end Dell. Stay away from new Lenovo's, as they're having Thunderbolt issues that tend to be unfixable.

Yes, I know some of you will chime in with "Well, I have (insert laptop brand), and it runs GREAT". Yes, you may have a good one, or you may just not have had problems with it yet. Give it time.

My most requested repairs? MacBook Pro, Surface Book Pro, most HP's, a lot of the new Lenovo's, Acers (not their gamers), and some low end Dell's. Pretty much in that order.

What I DON'T see very often, if at all. Older Lenovo, P series Lenovo, Asus ROG, Alienware, MSI, Acer Predators, and High end Dells.

Surf through C-L for deals as well. I've always had good success with C-L computer/parts deals.

[Dragunov]

Still looking for a laptop. As I have $900 in Amazon credit, I'd prefer making the purchase there. I have narrowed it down to this Thinkpad https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...NXXCIAR5&psc=1 or this Acer https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...35CZ2MR5&psc=1 Both get favorable reviews on YouTube.

My hesitation is I am not clear if the Acer can upgrade to 16GM Ram. Also, as 80% of the laptop will be for surfing and using MS Office (the other 20% will be minimal Photoshop retouching), should I look for a dedicated video card, or as high a processing speed I can afford?

Go for the Acer. Here's why. The ThinkPad has a pathetic display, and the Acer has a 1080p display. MUCH easier on your eyes.

[RBShooter]

Dragunov what do you think of the AMD processors...

https://www.costco.com/asus-rog-zephyrus-g15-laptop---amd-ryzen-7---geforce-gtx-1660-ti---144hz-1080p.product.100655382.html

[Frozenguy]

Dragunov what do you think of the AMD processors...
https://www.costco.com/asus-rog-zeph...100655382.html

I know you didn't ask me but I'll put my two cents in.

Between that AMD Ryzen 4800H and say, and Intel I7-9750H (or even I7-10875H) you won't notice a difference unless you are running simulations and timing them down to the minute. Like fluid, mechanical, electrical simulations.

AMD used to be very electrically efficient for the laptop market. You would see improved battery life for a given laptop with an AMD cpu vs intel (most offerings).

Not so much true today.

If you aren't in a benchmark war, or trying to save minutes off of simulations, you won't notice a difference and will be fine with either processor. I would say go with Intel because of their reliability track record but even then, AMD is reliable too.

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-9750H-vs-AMD-Ryzen-7-4800H/m766364vsm1032976

That machine you linked to looks well spec'd for the price including that 1T nvme drive and 16gb ram out the box. Integrated camera and the Ryzen 7.

I used to be an AMD fanboy when I started building computers back in the AMD Athlon and Intel Pentium 3 days. The intels even then were benchmarking better but the budget pcs I built with Athlon were offering gamers effectively the same performance for much lower cost. Sure on a benchmark run, the pentium machines would pull ahead in almost all cases but that doesn't matter much for 95% of gamers.

[Citadelgrad87]

Was this an Amazon purchase?

As for touchscreens, I notice that touchscreens seem to be a little bit less then conventional laptops (which makes little sense).

No, directly from Dell. It was at the start of the shutdown and nobody had anything in stock.

[Bushwack44]

OK...finally narrowed the choice down between a Thinkpad T480 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...QJIMLX3X&psc=1 and this HP - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...BV1YQ4SG&psc=1. My hesitation is if the HP is worth the extra $100 for the i7 and dedicated graphic card (again, about 80% use will be surfing the net and MS Office, 20% some Photoshop work). No video editing. Also, the HP is a touchscreen (which I wont use for its purpose).

[Frozenguy]

OK...finally narrowed the choice down between a Thinkpad T480 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...QJIMLX3X&psc=1 and this HP - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...BV1YQ4SG&psc=1. My hesitation is if the HP is worth the extra $100 for the i7 and dedicated graphic card (again, about 80% use will be surfing the net and MS Office, 20% some Photoshop work). No video editing. Also, the HP is a touchscreen (which I wont use for its purpose).

What do you do with photoshop? Minimum requirements are a gtx 1650, 1660 recommended. That mx250 in the hp won’t cut it:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/system-requirements.html

But that is to cover the whole program suite.

This laptop has everything you would need. Photoshop requires 2gb ram, recommends 8gb. This one has 8gb and super easily upgraded up to 32. storage is easily added to/upgraded with an existing available slot. However it does not have an integrated camera. Has integrated microphone but no camera. So that's something you'd have to pick up. Minor in my opinion.

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Laptop-i5-9300H-GeForce-GL531GU-WB53/dp/B07VWDKV4C

About Lenovo: We exclusively use Lenovo at work and the IT guys love them because they don’t have that many repair requests (~180 in use by employees). Five years ago when they had Dell systems, the IT guys were swamped with keeping the hardware functioning. Lenovo has great customer service in my opinion too.

[Dragunov]

Dragunov what do you think of the AMD processors...
https://www.costco.com/asus-rog-zeph...100655382.html

There is nothing wrong with AMD Ryzen processors. Especially the latest ones

[WoodTurner]

Huge +1 for thinkpad T series.
T480 here and would absolutely buy again.

I would also consider the T485 as it has ryzen instead of intel. Only problem is after the t480, they went to one of the ram sticks being soldered in.

[Dragunov]

Huge +1 for thinkpad T series.
T480 here and would absolutely buy again.

I would also consider the T485 as it has ryzen instead of intel. Only problem is after the t480, they went to one of the ram sticks being soldered in.

Yeah, for most people, a T480 would be fine. I'm personally not impressed with them, but I run a lot of Graphics programs, AutoCaD, 3D stuff, and games. Hard to do that with the "U" processor, but for most people, it would work.

[WoodTurner]

Yeah, for most people, a T480 would be fine. I'm personally not impressed with them, but I run a lot of Graphics programs, AutoCaD, 3D stuff, and games. Hard to do that with the "U" processor, but for most people, it would work.

Yeah, graphic heavy stuff I'd generally recommend a desktop.
I have one step up from what the OP was looking at. I have the 8350. It has been perfectly fine for me. My use is generally more ram intensive than graphical though. Mostly VMs, web browsing and SSHing into my servers with occasional GIMP, Inkscape, and Darktable on the laptop and it has handled those just fine.

[Fizz]

touch screen laptops are smooth/glossy pane LCD panels. Meaning, they have issues with reflections.

Non-touch screens can be glossy or anti-glare. I can't stand glossy screens on something I might be staring at for any length of time.