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goodcooper
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2005
- Messages
- 9,771
ok friends, i need your help...
9 years ago (!!!) i got my lenovo x201, within probably less than a year, it had 8GB ram and a new (at the time) 250GB 840 pro ssd in it
what i LOVE about this laptop:
after 9 years it's still completely viable... i have win10 pro on it, still incredibly snappy
they keyboard is GLORIOUS
built like a tank
perfect (literally perfect) size
the reason why i must move on:
the i5 in it is one gen before they got really good, and it's like 9 generations old (prob exaggerating, but might be close, actually)
the 9-cell battery's life is not where i'd like it to be (only like 5 hours instead of where it used to be... 12?) and a replacement is half of the worth of the laptop
sata ssd perf not where it should be
need 16GB ram
i didn't get the one with the webcam, and due to work changes, i'm now telecommuting a lot and a webcam is a must
1280x800 (or something like that) resolution makes it tough to be productive
i would really like something that can output 4k 60hz to my big 40" monitor (for when i'm in the office)
what i hate about most modern popular laptops:
they sacrifice a LOT for thinness... it's crazy to me that the battery life on a lot of these units are the same as my tired 9 year old x201's battery (even though it's an enormous 9 cell)
it must be a 12" laptop, or like... a 13.3" in a 12" case type of thing....
what i'm using the laptop for:
ops type dev work, so the ram is a must for vagrant/virtualbox spinning up vms, it's nice to be able to spin up several VMs and not absolutely murder my user experience in the meantime... a pcie based ssd would be great for moving around disk images and spinning up and destroying VMs quickly
this is my short list (changing all the time):
early 2015 mbp 13"
pros: the os... the tools i use are actually pretty slow on windows, so i'm not closed to the idea of going to macos, i have an old mini i use and must admit, the linux power without the linux fiddlyness is attractive to me, the resale value is crazy, the build quality is good
cons: COST, i want to spend under a grand, and to get a 16GB one of these that's not absolutely tore up costs right around $1000, which is crazy for me for a (going on) 3 year old laptop... i feel like 120GB ssd isn't large enough, i feel like i need at least a 256GB... since the SSDs are removable (but proprietary) i'm not completely opposed to buying a 120GB module and swapping, but they're incredibly expensive, so that oftentimes puts me into $1200 territory... that's a lot of cheddar for an old dual core machine when those really nice i7-8550 cpus are out now
x280
pros: love my x201, maybe i can get another 9 years out of one of these? quad cores available
cons: way over budget, where ARE they? sacrificing a lot of features for thinness, crappy keyboards
x260/x270
pros: not quite as bad as the x280 in many ways
cons: why are these still so expensive? still has crappy keyboards... finding 1080p ones seems tough... what's that all about?
newly added: latitude 7280/7270
pros: love that it's still upgradable, has dimm slots, has standard pcie ssds
cons: i haven't looked too much into these but i haven't really found a lot of cons so far (???)... doesn't have quad cores yet, but the prices aren't bad either... this may be one of the more viable options
razer blade stealth
pros: just about everything, good build quality, seems to have decent resale for a non-apple
cons: cost, newer ones with decent specs are a bit over my limit at ~$1500
medium list:
~2013,2014 mbp 13s
newer macbook (non pro), tough to find w/ 16GB
clevo (whatever one the galago pro is), hidpi is a bit annoying, waste of battery (just give me 1080p plz?), and crappy battery, crappy battery life... that said it has the ultimate in standards... i could throw 32GB and whatever samsung pcie ssd i want in here, a 1080p version of this with better battery and better build quality, and the ability to run macos would be my dream laptop
prob won't get but maybe viable:
something really old for way under budget.... unibody macbook (still has some upgradability, 16GB models seem to be easy to find, but... old style sata ssd... i could take the samsung out of my x201 and save even more money)
really old slightly newer lenovo x220/x230/x240
xps 13... thinness over all else, 4k screen (i prob need to look at the older xps 12s more closely)
hp x360, see above, x1 carbons (ugh)... basically seems like 90% of the "ultrabooks" are in this category
so... what are your suggestions, are there any obvious models i'm missing? must have:
12" (or like... 13.3" max)
1080P for non osx (retina for osx is fine/good)
16GB ram
excellent build quality
would like:
pcie ssd
quad core (8th gen?, or i guess a Q series 7th gen? which maybe hard to find in this sized laptop)
decent battery life (can i get at least an 8 hour workday of medium to heavy usage?)
don't care to spend the extra money for:
4k screen
ultra thin and "sexy" for no real reason
touchscreen (have absolutely no interest in these, had a sp4 for years that i had to give back when i left my last job and never ever used the touchscreen)
i don't really have a brand preference, just a build quality preference... that's why i'm gravitating towards another lenovo or a mac
9 years ago (!!!) i got my lenovo x201, within probably less than a year, it had 8GB ram and a new (at the time) 250GB 840 pro ssd in it
what i LOVE about this laptop:
after 9 years it's still completely viable... i have win10 pro on it, still incredibly snappy
they keyboard is GLORIOUS
built like a tank
perfect (literally perfect) size
the reason why i must move on:
the i5 in it is one gen before they got really good, and it's like 9 generations old (prob exaggerating, but might be close, actually)
the 9-cell battery's life is not where i'd like it to be (only like 5 hours instead of where it used to be... 12?) and a replacement is half of the worth of the laptop
sata ssd perf not where it should be
need 16GB ram
i didn't get the one with the webcam, and due to work changes, i'm now telecommuting a lot and a webcam is a must
1280x800 (or something like that) resolution makes it tough to be productive
i would really like something that can output 4k 60hz to my big 40" monitor (for when i'm in the office)
what i hate about most modern popular laptops:
they sacrifice a LOT for thinness... it's crazy to me that the battery life on a lot of these units are the same as my tired 9 year old x201's battery (even though it's an enormous 9 cell)
it must be a 12" laptop, or like... a 13.3" in a 12" case type of thing....
what i'm using the laptop for:
ops type dev work, so the ram is a must for vagrant/virtualbox spinning up vms, it's nice to be able to spin up several VMs and not absolutely murder my user experience in the meantime... a pcie based ssd would be great for moving around disk images and spinning up and destroying VMs quickly
this is my short list (changing all the time):
early 2015 mbp 13"
pros: the os... the tools i use are actually pretty slow on windows, so i'm not closed to the idea of going to macos, i have an old mini i use and must admit, the linux power without the linux fiddlyness is attractive to me, the resale value is crazy, the build quality is good
cons: COST, i want to spend under a grand, and to get a 16GB one of these that's not absolutely tore up costs right around $1000, which is crazy for me for a (going on) 3 year old laptop... i feel like 120GB ssd isn't large enough, i feel like i need at least a 256GB... since the SSDs are removable (but proprietary) i'm not completely opposed to buying a 120GB module and swapping, but they're incredibly expensive, so that oftentimes puts me into $1200 territory... that's a lot of cheddar for an old dual core machine when those really nice i7-8550 cpus are out now
x280
pros: love my x201, maybe i can get another 9 years out of one of these? quad cores available
cons: way over budget, where ARE they? sacrificing a lot of features for thinness, crappy keyboards
x260/x270
pros: not quite as bad as the x280 in many ways
cons: why are these still so expensive? still has crappy keyboards... finding 1080p ones seems tough... what's that all about?
newly added: latitude 7280/7270
pros: love that it's still upgradable, has dimm slots, has standard pcie ssds
cons: i haven't looked too much into these but i haven't really found a lot of cons so far (???)... doesn't have quad cores yet, but the prices aren't bad either... this may be one of the more viable options
razer blade stealth
pros: just about everything, good build quality, seems to have decent resale for a non-apple
cons: cost, newer ones with decent specs are a bit over my limit at ~$1500
medium list:
~2013,2014 mbp 13s
newer macbook (non pro), tough to find w/ 16GB
clevo (whatever one the galago pro is), hidpi is a bit annoying, waste of battery (just give me 1080p plz?), and crappy battery, crappy battery life... that said it has the ultimate in standards... i could throw 32GB and whatever samsung pcie ssd i want in here, a 1080p version of this with better battery and better build quality, and the ability to run macos would be my dream laptop
prob won't get but maybe viable:
something really old for way under budget.... unibody macbook (still has some upgradability, 16GB models seem to be easy to find, but... old style sata ssd... i could take the samsung out of my x201 and save even more money)
really old slightly newer lenovo x220/x230/x240
xps 13... thinness over all else, 4k screen (i prob need to look at the older xps 12s more closely)
hp x360, see above, x1 carbons (ugh)... basically seems like 90% of the "ultrabooks" are in this category
so... what are your suggestions, are there any obvious models i'm missing? must have:
12" (or like... 13.3" max)
1080P for non osx (retina for osx is fine/good)
16GB ram
excellent build quality
would like:
pcie ssd
quad core (8th gen?, or i guess a Q series 7th gen? which maybe hard to find in this sized laptop)
decent battery life (can i get at least an 8 hour workday of medium to heavy usage?)
don't care to spend the extra money for:
4k screen
ultra thin and "sexy" for no real reason
touchscreen (have absolutely no interest in these, had a sp4 for years that i had to give back when i left my last job and never ever used the touchscreen)
i don't really have a brand preference, just a build quality preference... that's why i'm gravitating towards another lenovo or a mac
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