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Topic:
Laptop Recommendations
This thread has 21 replies. Displaying posts 1 through 15.
Post 1 made on Friday December 25, 2020 at 08:32
Gman
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Need to get a new laptop. I have an HP presently and it is a pig on boot up. This is what I run presently:

Crestron Programming suite including D3 and System builder
URC Complete Control and Total Control
MS Office Suite
DSC program
Dropbox
TeamViewer
A bunch of other stuff on a less frequent basis.

Looking for something with fast boot up and enough memory.
Any recommendations?
Post 2 made on Friday December 25, 2020 at 09:37
highfigh
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Get something with SDD or use an outboard drive and boot from that. I have seen some Acer laptops boot up in a few seconds and I have one of theirs, but not an SDD- I have to give it credit, though- it still works after being dropped from 6', from the top of my ladder.
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
Post 3 made on Friday December 25, 2020 at 10:58
Don Heany
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Thinkpad T590.
Post 4 made on Friday December 25, 2020 at 12:20
jberger
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Surface Laptop 3, awesome device, wish it had been released before I ordered my Surface Book 2, I would have gotten it instead.
It boots up almost instantly, hello camera login is automatic and it's really flipping fast.

Great combination of power, portability and killer screen.
Post 5 made on Saturday December 26, 2020 at 00:15
Impaqt
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Just updated to a Razer Blade 15" Base. Not much base about it though. 144Hz Refresh screen, RTX2060, Intel 10750, 16Gigs of Ram, 512GB SSD, Aluminum Chassis.

Great machine. I added a second 1Tb M.2 Drive and considering upgrading to 32Gigs of Ram.
Post 6 made on Saturday December 26, 2020 at 05:02
ErikU
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Any modern pro laptop will boot in an instant and run the software well... the real information needed to give advice is for you to rate the following in order of importance:

Screen Size
Screen Resolution
Weight/portability
Ruggedness

Do you want something small, light and portable, or do you prefer a giant screen?

Lenovo, Dell, HP (and Microsoft if you are ok with the quirks) all have good solutions here. Steer clear of the student/value models and look at the pro models. You will be better served with something that doesn't fall apart.
OP | Post 7 made on Saturday December 26, 2020 at 06:49
Gman
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All good recommendations. I don’t quite understand the SSD capacity vs. HDD. I had a look at this online and RAM seems fine. What do you think?

[Link: bestbuy.ca]

Last edited by Gman on December 26, 2020 06:59.
Post 8 made on Saturday December 26, 2020 at 07:15
highfigh
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On December 26, 2020 at 06:49, Gman said...
All good recommendations. I don’t quite understand the SSD capacity vs. HDD. I had a look at this online and RAM seems fine. What do you think?

[Link: bestbuy.ca]

With HDD, it has moving parts that can be damaged by rough handling and it takes time for the arm to find the data- with an SSD, nothing moves, it's much faster and everything works without lags from physical characteristics.

I used to read a magazine called 'High technology in the early-'80s and I remember the article about what was then called 'bubble memory' being a success because they got it to store 16KB of data.

How quaint.
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
Post 9 made on Saturday December 26, 2020 at 11:22
iimig
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It always surprises me how many pros are willing to use a consumer laptop. Depending on your business, it's probably your top moneymaker. You will use it every day, multiple times per day, multiple sites per day. You cannot afford to use something that is going to fail. The Ideapad linked is better than average but still isn't meant to last. The Thinkpad line is meant for the continuous duty cycle our job usually entails. The T and P series are the only ones I would look at, personally.

I have always been happy with the Dell Latitude line. Typing on a 5591 right now and wouldn't hesitate to replace it with another 5 or 7 series. Better yet, something from the Precision line. In my 12 year career, I have only had 5 laptops (all Latitude) and the only reason a couple of them were replaced is because I changed jobs.

I'm glad the Razers are working for some people, but I also worked with a guy that had one and within a year multiple ports weren't working and it was always hot, fans full blast and couldn't last even an hour on the battery. The keyboard was cramped and 1 or 2 keys fell off almost right away.

Another thing is the warranties. Sadly 1 year is kind of the default whether it's a consumer or business machine, but at least the business oriented machines have extended warranty options with same day or next day service options. I don't think this is the case with most consumer laptops.

DISCLAIMER: I hate wasting my time and money doing something more than once and sometimes err on the side of overkill
The less I say, the smarter I will appear
Post 10 made on Saturday December 26, 2020 at 13:10
lippavisual
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The Dell XPS line has served me well for the past 2 years. Great machines and you can customize them how you want. I have a few processor intensive programs I run that were soooo slow on my older laptop. The XPS doesn’t even break a sweat with this software now.
Post 11 made on Sunday December 27, 2020 at 03:56
ErikU
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Good advice in the last couple posts. I would also add the Lenovo X series if you value portability over giant screen. Go with Lenovo Thinkpad T, P or X series. These are all pro laptops.

Personally, I prefer portability and have used the X series for many years, but I travel quite a bit and am (was) on planes often.

X - Ultra portable, smaller, lighter
T - Mid size (and probably lowest cost)
P - Workstation in a laptop. Large displays

They all perform very well. I run AutoCAD, Photoshop, and just about everything else well on my X series.

Yes, SSD for sure. If you are like me and use cloud storage quite a bit, you can go with a 256 or 512 SSD. 16G of RAM.
Post 12 made on Sunday December 27, 2020 at 11:39
edizzle
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XPS is a great machine. i have a fully loaded XPS15 from last year, with the 3 year top of the line coverage. it is a beast of a machine. after about 13 months i tripped on a job site while holding it and destroyed the hinges. i used it broken for another month or two because i couldnt even think about it being gone for a week or two while being repaired. i did this until the screen started to not work because of a connector and the power port quit working. so i go out and buy a Surface Pro7 1TB, a $2200 machine to have while i break down and send the XPS back. I finally get my pre addressed shipping box from dell. drop it at fedex. i had it back in 3 days!!!!!!!!! brand new chassis. looks like brand new. didnt loose any info, it couldnt have gone better. service was incredible. if i had known this i would probably not have bought the Surface Pro 7, although after owning it for a while, i have grown to love it and think it makes a great addition to my backpack.
I love supporting product that supports me!
Post 13 made on Sunday December 27, 2020 at 13:19
tobe
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I will second and third edizzile and lippavisual. I have owned many Dell XPS 13s and have two currently. Not cheap, but excellent machines. I take the 3 or 4 year warranty option for peace of mind, but have had little trouble in many years, and what did crop up was dealt with efficiently. Can't ask for more.
Post 14 made on Sunday December 27, 2020 at 16:02
edizzle
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I love supporting product that supports me!
Post 15 made on Wednesday January 6, 2021 at 19:29
Mac Burks (39)
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Lenovo. Whatever the most expensive 15" is. Lenovo has a decent sale going on right now. $3500 gets you a $6000 machine.

Fast top of the line laptops built for business are expensive up front but when you're on year 7 and its still working and still fast (my $3700 mac book pro)...it starts to make more sense. Even at 5 years you're looking at $60 a month (when spending $3500). Think about all the things you spend $15 a week on to make your life easier. A good laptop is definitely worth it.
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