Looking for a few laptops 12-15” 1 workhorse and 2 school

A

alkemyst

Limp Gawd
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Feb 20, 2005
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307
looking for one workhorse for myself and a couple for our high schoolers.

The first I am looking at the T/W530 or 540, the Dell M4800 or HP 8570w. Also considering an X series or equivalent. I’d like true quad core, a decent GPU, 16GB, two HDD with at least one SSD, a good screen at least 1080 HD and on the fence for a number pad vs better non number pad keyboard. The HP i have read gets throttled with higher end CPUs. My rig at home is a 2600K at 4.5GHz, 6GB 1060 GTX and 16GB low latency RAM with a fast SSD.

The other two will be first time lappys for our kids (14 and 16). Primary needs are homework and I am ok with openlibre for them. I’d like something that feels snappy with the eye candy on in Windows 10, has a nice screen and is decently portable. I am not sure if they will get into games but I doubt it as one has a console and the other just likes to chat on their phone.

Budget is open for the right machine. If I can get by cheaper esp on the homework only ones that would be great. Figuring $500-700 for the workhorse and $150-250 for the homework ones.

Thanks for the advice
 
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Side-by-side comparison of W540 and M4800

Quick overview: W540 is lighter, has better ergonomics, better battery life, better keyboard. M4800 has better cooling (dual fans), better screen.

Definitely use Notebookcheck reviews to make a decision. There's no clear winner, it depends on what you value. Each model has its pros and cons.
 
janas19 said:
Side-by-side comparison of W540 and M4800

Quick overview: W540 is lighter, has better ergonomics, better battery life, better keyboard. M4800 has better cooling (dual fans), better screen.

Definitely use Notebookcheck reviews to make a decision. There's no clear winner, it depends on what you value. Each model has its pros and cons.
Click to expand...

Open to models I may not know about and some real experience.
 
bump really would like advice on the kid's systems. Something nice but cheap and small (13-14") with a nice screen
 
Thinkpad P50 for the workhorse as I have had mine since release and they are in 500-700 range for decent models used. I also own a T530 as my previous laptop and of those mentioned being the dell, hp, and lenovo the thinkpad gets the better battery life. I have owned all of those listed. One consideration of all of those is the use of high resolution screens. To my knowledge only thinkpad w530 supports 4k 60hz with dedicated gpu, the dell m4800 likewise possibly as that was the change over era for gpu resolution support. The HP for sure doesn't support 4k 60hz.

Decent GPU is hard to quantify but none of these really have what would be considered a good gpu anymore. Most of their dgpu are on par with the latest gen intel igpus at much more power usage and heat.
 
Still looking for a good thin high quality bang for buck machine for myself. Getting the two HP 14-DF0023CL's for the kids was an excellent plan. I spent a little more than I wanted but the hardware is top notch (NVMe SX8200 Pro, Intel 9260 Wifi, 500GB WD Blue for their music and videos on a 8130U with 1920x1080 resolution + HDR). They also never had a back lit keyboard and love it.

In reality, I am working now on a i7-5500U with GTX850M thats decent (CPU could be snappier) but it's a 17" monster. I am giving this to my g/f once I find my 13-15" solution.
 
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