As you all know, I may need a new laptop. I had a Macbook, but the price and quality just doesn't line up. I may need to get a new Business laptop that will run my office apps and my cloud based management software. A nice crisp large screen would be nice with a long battery life would be swell. I guess sticking with the name brand players would be best.

Any ideas? Or just go to Amazon and put "17" business laptop" and pick something that looks good enough?

A couple of questions - Will this laptop always be on the go with you? Are you ok with a Windows machine ( a lot of Mac users do not like Windows). Do you have any software that would be demanding to any hardware (CPU Memory Graphics intensive)? Are you hard on your machines… are any of these common with past machines: drops spilling your coffee/drinks cracked screens

W/O know all the details, here are my thoughts. comments are for a Windows machine. If you really love Macs, then bite the bullet and buy a Mac. The time you save with familiarity, especially in the field is worth something. Also buy apple care because it's a Mac a repair would cost a fortune w/o it.

I will make the assumption you do not have any real hardware demanding needs. With that said, think about how hard you are physically on your machines. If it lives a gentle life maybe consider getting something with a little horsepower for future proofing a hope for maybe a 5 year run. Or just get something pre-configured from Sams/Costco/ Amazon or MicroCenter if you live in Houston or the Metroplex. With that hope for a 2 year run and anything more is a bonus.

I would say 16GB of memory is the minimum on a machine you do not expect to have long. For just productivity, anything over 32GB may not provide much more of a gain outside of a few tasks.

There are exceptions; generally speaking, a 1080p display will have less drain on the battery that something higher resolution. It also costs less.

If you use this in the field and want to also use it in the office; you might want to get something with a Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 port (will physically look like a USB-C port). Then get a dock that is connected to a couple of monitors, keyboard, and mouse that always stay on your desk.

Then when you get back to your office one cable charges your laptop and connects the mouse, keyboard, and monitors. Kind of turning it into desktop mode. For this use you may want to look at a laptop that has a graphics card versus just onboard graphics especially if you are running two monitors on your desk. It doesn't have to be a fancy graphics card to be able to run two monitors. Having a separate one, just means it won't borrow memory and some CPU power from the main system.

This is just general info and there are definitely exceptions to all of this; plus personal preference.

If you're going consumer line as well (something from Costco instead of something like a Latitude designed for business), go ahead and get one with the Intel Evo badge. It has minimum specs required that the OEM meet in terms of thinness, weight, battery life, and boot up time so it will generally give you a better experience.

Here's some more info.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057480/processors/intel-core-processors.html

Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon

I was looking at Lenovo. I want something robust but I don't want a bunch of bloatware. We are not hard on stuff. My laptops look new. I'm not set on apple. My MacBook Pro is currently used in bootcamp mode to run windows. I used to run Linux all day at work, and iOS but Windows is the business OS and what everyone uses.

I want future proof to some degree and I don't mind spending up to 1k for it if it's good. We would like a big screen though. We stay mobile but we aren't toting it across the country. It's from home to the office a mile away. Lol.

What about the Lenovo Ideapads?

My dad got a Lenovo Slim 7 a couple of weeks ago when it was on sale for $899. It's a really nice machine.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1763759-REG/lenovo_82vb0000us_16_ideapad_slim_7.html

Jason_InfinityRoofer said:

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I was looking at Lenovo. I want something robust but I don't want a bunch of bloatware. We are not hard on stuff. My laptops look new. I'm not set on apple. My MacBook Pro is currently used in bootcamp mode to run windows. I used to run Linux all day at work, and iOS but Windows is the business OS and what everyone uses.

I want future proof to some degree and I don't mind spending up to 1k for it if it's good. We would like a big screen though. We stay mobile but we aren't toting it across the country. It's from home to the office a mile away. Lol.

What about the Lenovo Ideapads?

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The ONLY line you should look at from Lenovo is their ThinkPad line in a business setting.

Jason_InfinityRoofer said:

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I was looking at Lenovo. I want something robust but I don't want a bunch of bloatware. We are not hard on stuff. My laptops look new. I'm not set on apple. My MacBook Pro is currently used in bootcamp mode to run windows. I used to run Linux all day at work, and iOS but Windows is the business OS and what everyone uses.

I want future proof to some degree and I don't mind spending up to 1k for it if it's good. We would like a big screen though. We stay mobile but we aren't toting it across the country. It's from home to the office a mile away. Lol.

What about the Lenovo Ideapads?

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Whatever you get, I would seriously consider an enhanced warranty. I think about it as relatively cheap peace of mind. If you're THE GUY at your company, losing too much time to a computer breaking down can be expensive so it is easy to justify the couple hundred dollars for the warranty.

I was in a similar spot and my Dell laptop didn't stop working, but the battery swelled and made the touch pad stop working. They sent someone out to my house to repair it the next day. They tried to get me to accept shipping me the parts or making me send in my laptop (which kind of pissed me off) but they didn't fight me very much when I told them I wanted my next day on site service.

The business lines of the major players tend to be pretty solid. If you're used to a MacBook, Dell's XPS line is more premium, but obviously you pay for it. I'm on my second XPS after using the first one for 6 years.

I would try to avoid things with soldered on SSD's and ram. I prefer that they be replaceable.

Jason - can you be more specific with:

Quote:

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run my office apps and my cloud based management software.

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• Do you need to run apps offline
• Are these "office apps" just simply MS Office (Excel, Word, etc.) or are there customer roofer/Infinity apps that need to run?

If you are doing basic excel stuff, word stuff and web based apps, then consider a chrome book.

CapCity12thMan said:

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Jason - can you be more specific with:

Quote:

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run my office apps and my cloud based management software.

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• Do you need to run apps offline
• Are these "office apps" just simply MS Office (Excel, Word, etc.) or are there customer roofer/Infinity apps that need to run?

If you are doing basic excel stuff, word stuff and web based apps, then consider a chrome book.

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Office management software. It's software that runs out business. Think of it as a fancy site specific CRM. It manages customers, takes payment, issues fees, etc. However, it's cloud based. So, you download the software or as they call it an app, and when you log in, it grabs everything from the cloud to populate itself.

So, if I use my laptop and do some work, come home and log in on the app on my pC, all the customers are there and updated. I could run that app from my laptop, your laptop, my pC, your pC, and when I log in it's populated like i was using that workstation since the beginning.

Nothing is truly stored on the PC itself. The app requires Windows. There is a web based version but it sucks and doesn't look the same. It's for emergency stuff like "I'm in vacation in Mexico and all I have is my iPhone and need to send a contract right now" thing. Rarely used.

yeah I get it...

Quote:

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Nothing is truly stored on the PC itself. The app requires Windows.

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you're beholden by poor technology, thereby limiting your options

Yep. But it's hard to have a niche software developer go through the expense of developing for a niche OS. They have to write for market share. That's what drives business. Just because I want to be different and I like Linux and apple doesn't mean I can complain I guess.