May Need New Laptop

[coxhaus]

My old laptop is acting up. It could be the battery or power adapter. I have an Intel AC7260 in my laptop. I would want better wireless than what I have if I buy new. I can not go any higher on a wireless card on my current laptop. I was looking around and it looks like maybe the Dell XPS13 or a Microsoft SurfacePRO7. I don't need to play games or anything like that as I use a desktop. I think 8 gig memory and at least 256 SSD as this is what I have now but my current Dell laptop is 3 years old. If I buy a laptop I will buy Dell as Dell is built here where I live. I have 2 Cisco WAP581 wireless APs which I don't want to change out now. What do you guys think?

I was trying to hang on to wait for wireless 6E.

 

[AndreiV]

If I buy a laptop I will buy Dell as Dell is built here where I live.

Don't count on that , Dell computing products are assembled in 7 different countries and many come from China.

 

[coxhaus]

OK. Dell headquarters is here. Lots of parts every where.

I do know Dell assembles a lot of equipment here but I don't know what. They have parts semi-trailer trucks backed up to their warehouses full of parts.

 

[hyelton]

OK. Dell headquarters is here. Lots of parts every where.

Just remember. You can live next to a business. Order something and it could come from any warehouse. The closest one won't have an affect on that.

Sent from my SM-G981U1 using Tapatalk

 

[coxhaus]

Austin Texas is a Dell town even though Dell is in Round Rock all part of Austin area.

I know I can finds part for my current laptop but do I really want to sink more money into an old laptop. I am going to call today and price parts.

 

[AndreiV]

Time to change to something with more memory and a high speed SSD.
12-16GB of RAM at least.

The MS Surface is good but I would rather have something I can drop a Linux Distro onto once it has done a few years service.

ASUS have a good range of laptops and and notebooks.

Dell produce servers in Austin, they may be assembling some laptops there again now but most are from China.

 

[RMerlin]

Personally, I'm not a fan of the Surface products. I've had too many customers suffering from early failures of their Surface Pros. Also, Microsoft seems to be using a pretty customize UEFI, which frequently suffers from compatibility issues (even with their own Windows updates), requiring frequent firmware updates to address. Far more frequently than products from Dell/Lenovo/HP/Asus/Acer/etc...

Start by establishing yourself a budget. Then look within that budget for devices that meet you requirements (don't forget to factor in the screen size - a very important element).

Based on your needs, I would look at either an AMD Ryzen 5 4xxx or an Intel i5.

Dell's XPS 13 is a great product line if it matches your needs, however it will require you to have a fairly generous budget to pay for it.

I replaced my own laptop last week, since my 4 years old Thinkpad Yoga 15 started to show stability issues. I ended up picking the just-released Lenovo Ideapad 5 (AMD). So far I absolutely love it - one of the best laptops I have owned so far for my specific needs. It had specs generally seen in products sold for 250-300$ more, such as a generous 512 GB NVME SSD, a six-core CPU that can rival even with Intel's i7 in benchmarks, backlit keyboard, Wifi 6, etc... Its only flaw is that memory is soldered, and limited to what I purchased (8 GB, which will be sufficient for my future needs). Canadian SKUs were limited to just two however, in other countries they have different SKUs that offer more RAM, and even faster versions of the CPU.

Be aware that laptops are like cars: everyone will have their own personal opinion as to which brand is better than others. Personally, I prefer Lenovo, Asus, Dell (NOT their low-end products), HP (only their higher-end products like the ZBook line). Lenovo is at the top of the list for me, especially their Thinkpad product. No other manufacturer that I have seen still offers BIOS updates to a product released 4 years ago. My Thinkpad Yoga 15 received a BIOS update a few months ago fixing the latest wave of Intel CPU security flaws. With any other manufacturer, if your laptop is over 2 years old, you are most likely out of luck.

 

[coxhaus]

What about a Microsoft Surface laptop 3 or a Microsoft Surface Book 3? Anybody looked at these?

Dell released late Bios fixes also for my old laptop.

 

[AndreiV]

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/may-need-new-laptop.63964/#post-581213

Personally, I'm not a fan of the Surface products. I've had too many customers suffering from early failures of their Surface Pros. Also, Microsoft seems to be using a pretty customize UEFI, which frequently suffers from compatibility issues (even with their own Windows updates), requiring frequent firmware updates to address.

 

[L&LD]

I too have seen issues with Surface Pro's (5, 6, and 7th gen) that make them unsuitable for me for reliability concerns. Thinkpads are a gold standard for a reason. They just work and are built like tanks.

However, the Surface Book line of Microsoft products is markedly better than any of their other lines (Pro's or Laptops) currently.

Surface Book 3 would be a major upgrade from a Dell product (no, I don't recommend Dell at all. Made to fail and they do that well, usually right after the warranty expires with many issues/service calls in between).

The price of the Surface products are high, but buy one with better than entry-level specs and it will last a long time (I am still using a 2015 Surface Book, for example).

I would recommend more than 8GB RAM today. I would also be looking at a bigger than 256GB SSD too.

(Note, the 8GB, 128GB SSD Surface Book (along with MS 365 + 1TB OneDrive included) I'm still using is still relevant today. But only as a note-taking machine, for me).

 

[coxhaus]

You are right RMerlin post was long and I was thinking he responded to the Surface Pro models not including laptops.

I may take a closer look at the Microsoft Book 3 when it comes out.

I only need a snappy browsing PC. I can't decide if I want to stay with 13 inches are move to a larger screen as my eyes are getting older. I have a 27 inch screen on my desktop but I rarely use it any more. I seem to use my laptop a lot more now days.

So what I am seeing the AMD CPU is pretty fast but the integrated graphics are not as good as intel.

 

[L&LD]

The Surface Book 3 15" is something I want to try myself.

The detachable 'tablet' part should be very light, very powerful, and very enjoyable when browsing on the couch.

The front-facing speakers of the Surface products (not the Laptop) are excellent as are the class-leading webcam and IR login options too.

They have upgraded the power supply (no longer drains the battery when plugged in and used at maximum loads over sustained periods). They put in AX class WiFi. And a bright, touch, and pen-enabled and calibrated screen too.

The i7-1065G7 with 16GB RAM and a 256GB SSD is the minimum configuration I would consider today (I expect this device to be usable for many, many years. Known design, solid build, stable platform).

The price difference from an 8GB i5 equipped model with the same storage capacity is more than acceptable (the CPU and the iGPU are more powerful in the i7 model and the 16GB of RAM will make this an even better over the long run). With the 15" version, you also get a bigger battery and the larger power supply too (127W vs. 65W or 102W for the 13.5" versions, i5 and i7, respectively).

https://www.windowscentral.com/stop-trying-make-surface-book-most-powerful

https://www.anandtech.com/show/1576...face-book-3-and-surface-go-2-plus-accessories

 

[coxhaus]

Looks like the Surface Book 3 is going to be a solid laptop.

What about a cheaper laptop with a Ryzen 7 4800U CPU?

 

[RMerlin]

What about a Microsoft Surface laptop 3 or a Microsoft Surface Book 3? Anybody looked at these?

I've never encountered one, so I can't really comment on them. I assume that at the very least the hardware will be more reliable than the Surface Pro. I'd still tend to favor a company that has more experience in developing and supporting these types of products, like the companies I mentioned, as their past experience will help avoiding design flaws that a less experienced hardware manufacturer like Microsoft might encounter.

What about a cheaper laptop with a Ryzen 7 4800U CPU?

For day-to-day usage, the 4800U will be a solid performer at a reasonable price, and with a fairly quiet cooling system (if for you that factor is as important as it is for me).

 

[coxhaus]

I decided to wait for a Ryzen 7 4800U CPU laptop later on. I found a power module for my laptop that will be $30 if it fixes it. But after all this I bought a refurbished Dell 14 inch Quad core 3.7 clock 10 generation CPU laptop for temp use from Dell rather than spend money on my old laptop. It was only $355 way cheap enough to throw away. When I find a nice laptop I will give the new Dell to my kids or grand kids.

PS
Dell gives you free shipping and since I am close I will receive it soon. I did have to pay tax.

 

[Klueless]

My old laptop is acting up. It could be the battery or power adapter.

Why do you think it "might" be battery or power adapter?

I was on the verge of tossing my laptop last year and, I forgot what made me reconsider, I bought a power adapter. $20 and it works great. A year later ... still working great.

EDIT: Oops, just saw your update. Sounds like you're up and running with a pre-enjoyed. Good for you!

 

[coxhaus]

It could be the motherboard power plug. This would be the worst case. The battery LED is blinking orange when it should be solid white. It could be the battery not taking a charge. Maybe just a power adapter.

 

[coxhaus]

I read the specs closer and figured out the wireless is an AC 1x1 so I cancelled my order. It has a nice Intel I5 Quad core 3.7 CPU.
So I am still looking for a laptop.

 

[Klueless]

It could be the motherboard power plug. This would be the worst case. The battery LED is blinking orange when it should be solid white. It could be the battery not taking a charge. Maybe just a power adapter.

I'm lucky. I found a great little independent computer repair shop just down the street from me. Free diagnosis/estimate. As I'm "responsible" for about 15 computers I've used him more than a couple of times. What I like is he never pushes me to get one repaired. Quite the opposite, he sometimes advises me that even though he can fix it that it might not be worth the money. And, outside of a few "hand-built" towers, he doesn't even have anything to sell me ... so it's not a con. Just integrity.

They're out there, maybe you'll get lucky?

 

[coxhaus]

What do you guys think of the Intel Core 9th Generation i9-9980HK Processor (8 Core, Up to 5.00Ghz, 16MB Cache, 45W)? What is like to have a 45 watt CPU? Does it mean the case is going to be large like old style laptops? Would it be better to buy a 10th generation CPU?