Laptop questions

[WoodTurner]

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.

Not always the case. Mine is a touchscreen with a matte finish.
Some people prefer glossy screens for their often better colors and contrast. If glare might be an issue, better to go with matte though.

[Dragunov]

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.

Actually, I do this work on a Lenovo W540, Graphic Arts Workstation. Mine has an i7-4900mq Haswell processor, and it's more powerful than the high end T480, T485, T490, and T495, and will do the work much faster, as the Haswell Quad Cores, are still some of the most powerful processors you can get.

"Technically", the T490/T495 are a little faster, but if you stress the Ryzen, and Intel "U" processors, they overheat, and vomit, while the i7-4900mq< Haswell's eat the same projects with no problem. Especially running a couple VM's at the same time.

Mine also has 32gb/RAM, 3k display, x2 1tb Samsung EVO 860 SSD's, a 480gb M.2 NGFF drive, nVidia Quadro, K2100m video that makes short work of Photoshop, 3D Desktop, and AutoCaD. It's also not a half bad gamer. This is my "Daily Driver", and I have another backup W540, with 1080p IPS display, and an i7-4800mq processor. Everything else is the same as my DD.

I haven't used a Desktop since around 2003, as a "Daily Driver".

I had to make a correction, it was 2011 when I stopped using a desktop as a Daily Driver period. What was I thinkin'.

[WoodTurner]

Actually, I do this work on a Lenovo W540, Graphic Arts Workstation. Mine has an i7-4900mq Haswell processor, and it's more powerful than the high end T480, T485, T490, and T495, and will do the work much faster, as the Haswell Quad Cores, are still some of the most powerful processors you can get.

"Technically", the T490/T495 are a little faster, but if you stress the Ryzen, and Intel "U" processors, they overheat, and vomit, while the i7-4900mq< Haswell's eat the same projects with no problem. Especially running a couple VM's at the same time.

Mine also has 32gb/RAM, 3k display, x2 1tb Samsung EVO 860 SSD's, a 480gb M.2 NGFF drive, nVidia Quadro, K2100m video that makes short work of Photoshop, 3D Desktop, and AutoCaD. It's also not a half bad gamer. This is my "Daily Driver", and I have another backup W540, with 1080p IPS display, and an i7-4800mq processor. Everything else is the same as my DD.

I haven't used a Desktop since around 2003, as a "Daily Driver".

I had to make a correction, it was 2011 when I stopped using a desktop as a Daily Driver period. What was I thinkin'.

[Dragunov]

Yes, options are very good. Not everyone does the same things. I run AutoCaD in one VM, while testing games and other graphics applications in others, and throw in Linux Mint Cinnamon, using FireFox on-line in one VM. I punish my CPU's. Good thing I have lots of ram.

I tried doing the exact same thing with a T480, and it kept throttling on me, even after I re-pasted the CPU. It's not meant to be pushed to "Punishment" level, but that's not what it was designed to do. Over all, it's a pretty decent computer.

[Fizz]

Not always the case. Mine is a touchscreen with a matte finish.
Some people prefer glossy screens for their often better colors and contrast. If glare might be an issue, better to go with matte though.

What model do you have that has such a panel? I know the ability for touch matte screens exists (early PDAs/smart phones, etc.) but they typically used resistive style touch sensor, vs capacitive. IME, the touch performance of resistive touch sensors is pretty abysmal for things like swiping.

[WoodTurner]

What model do you have that has such a panel? I know the ability for touch matte screens exists (early PDAs/smart phones, etc.) but they typically used resistive style touch sensor, vs capacitive. IME, the touch performance of resistive touch sensors is pretty abysmal for things like swiping.

Lenovo T480 with the 1080p touch screen. Part number B140HAK01.0

[Fizz]

Lenovo T480 with the 1080p touch screen. Part number B140HAK01.0

Interesting. When you tap on the screen with a fingernail, does it feel hard like a cellphone or soft like a business card? And, can you see any distortion of the underlying pixels (discoloration/smudging) when you push firmly?

Antiglare films can be applied over glass and keep capacitance (just like a screen protector on your phone). However, usually when these films are applied over glass, the distance between LCD and the film causes some refraction issues and reduces viewing angles. Perhaps lenovo just figured out how to get that glass distance/optical qualities JUST right.

[brix]

I recently went down this rabbit hole and bought a ASUS A15 FA506 with the 4800 Ryzen 7 processor. I figured if I was going to invest in a new laptop that I would want one of the latest mid range models (probably be long time before I buy another laptop) This one got some good reviews and was within my price range. It seems that a number of newer laptop models are seeing delays in shipping so they are trickling into the market.

I really had no need for a touchscreen (my wife has a MS Surface I find its usefulness overrated) and wanted a laptop that could handle some gaming. This model also has an extra NVME slot for an extra SSD. I added a 1TB for games and for movie storage. (I haven't played games much in the last couple of years but I find myself with a lot more time on my hands lately)

There are some decent ASUS models that are seeing some price reductions (previous model FA505) that got some good reviews as well.

[high_revs]

I have a t-series for work. I originally had a yoga and that was trash (i went thru 2 before i "upgraded" to a used t480s. previously, i had a t460s but it was EOLs.

the only thing i don't like about lenovo is the ram upgrade because most times, one of them is soldered. so you're limited on the 2nd memory bank.

hp - hit or miss. i've not had any problems and i bought one for my kid for his school work because costco gets the 2 yrs warranty.

dell would be most go-to. i have a 2014 xps 15 (had gorilla glass, 1080p, etc). getting to it's age and i have a thread here to replace the fan. i'll re-do the thermal paste this weekend to see if that brings down the temps as i seem to be running it hard. i think it overheated and shut down to protect itself when i was using it the first time to convert a gopro vid to .h264 while uploading to youtube (same videos and to test if i can edit there much easier) while watching prime video. lolz.. it's an i7 processor and 16gb of ram, with msata for primary drive and the original drive as my secondary.

can't speak for the other brands. i don't read much good stuff about samsung.

[WoodTurner]

Interesting. When you tap on the screen with a fingernail, does it feel hard like a cellphone or soft like a business card? And, can you see any distortion of the underlying pixels (discoloration/smudging) when you push firmly?

Antiglare films can be applied over glass and keep capacitance (just like a screen protector on your phone). However, usually when these films are applied over glass, the distance between LCD and the film causes some refraction issues and reduces viewing angles. Perhaps lenovo just figured out how to get that glass distance/optical qualities JUST right.

It's harder than my computer monitor but softer than a phone screen. It does smudge like puddles when pressed firmly. It is capacitive as it does not respond to things such as plastic.

[HecklerNKoch]

I wouldn't use Touchscreen even if the same model costs $100 less.

[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).

Well..I took a different direction and ordered a Lenovo Thinkbook 15
- i7 1065G7, 16GB/512 SSD (https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops.../p/XXTBXTM8001).

Pro's for me was I am better off with a 15.6" screen then a 14" (what T580's that are still for sale came with an i5). Wanted to go back to Lenovo as I had one about 15 years ago and it was more comfortable to use then the Acer or HP laptops I had since. Also, aesthetically and ergonomically, I prefer the color contrast between the keyboard and the laptop surface. The HP I mentioned previously was enticing. But couldn't find any YouTube reviews on it (that were in English).

The cons are I can't switch out batteries as I would be able to in the T line (I like that option but realistically, I never had a power issue with previous laptops). I don't like that I'm limited to 16GB of RAM using one slot (then again, 16GB has always been more then I need for the work I do).

Two lessons worth mentioning:

1. For any price point, you will never find everything you want in a laptop. As in life, compromises must be made.

2. Amazon is NOT the least expensive vendor. Amazon has the laptop at $1,099 (after using Honey at checkout). BH Photo has it at $979.XX + Honey had a coupon code, bringing the price down to $889.XX + tax (NewEgg and TigerDirect were higher then Amazon).

[XDJYo]