Need a laptop for a mobile IT pro

Benzino

Benzino

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 3, 2005
Messages
1,640
So I work in managed services, meaning I'm on the road for my job and doing IT everything for clients. My new gig will be work from home primarily with onsite work also.

This is what I'm looking for in a laptop:
  • Core i5 Minimum
  • Virtualization (really only to run Kali)
  • 10-key
  • Gb ethernet
RAM and storage are irrelevant, I'll upgrade it to probably 16GB and a monster SSD anyways. When I'm working from home I have my own VMware box so I don't need this to do crazy virtualization. Also will have a 27' monitor at home so screen size doesn't bother me.

I see the HP ProBook 450 G3 as a good candidate, but want to see what others recommend. Brand is not a concern, just not Apple for obvious reasons. :LOL:
 
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Dell 15.6" Inspiron 15 3000 Series Notebook I3543-8750BLK

  • 2.2 GHz Intel Core i5-5200U Dual-Core
  • 4GB of 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM
  • 1TB 5400 rpm SATA Hard Drive
  • Integrated Intel HD Graphics 5500
  • 15.6" TrueLife Display
  • HD 1366 x 768 Native Resolution
  • SuperMulti DVD Burner / Card Reader
  • 802.11n Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 4.0
  • Built-in 720p HD Webcam, Mic, & Speakers
  • Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
 
Gomar said:
Dell 15.6" Inspiron 15 3000 Series Notebook I3543-8750BLK

  • 2.2 GHz Intel Core i5-5200U Dual-Core
  • 4GB of 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM
  • 1TB 5400 rpm SATA Hard Drive
  • Integrated Intel HD Graphics 5500
  • 15.6" TrueLife Display
  • HD 1366 x 768 Native Resolution
  • SuperMulti DVD Burner / Card Reader
  • 802.11n Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 4.0
  • Built-in 720p HD Webcam, Mic, & Speakers
  • Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
Click to expand...
No Gb ethernet port. Better include that as a requirement.
 
Take a look at Dell's Latitude 15 5000 series line stay away from the Inspiron line its just trash.

I got my wife one and she loves it compared to her last two Inspiron units.
 
Dell XPS 15 9550 or 15" Macbook Pro Retina. Not sure why you said "no apple for obvious reasons", they are extremely nice and there's pretty much nothing you can't do with them.
 
DarkStar02 said:
Dell XPS 15 9550 or 15" Macbook Pro Retina. Not sure why you said "no apple for obvious reasons", they are extremely nice and there's pretty much nothing you can't do with them.
Click to expand...
As a Windows admin, I'm trying to figure out in my head how to run the tools necessary to administer a Windows AD network on a Mac. I'd need Parallels and a Windows VM anyways. Unless I'm straight up 100% wrong, which I could accept.
 
Don't think that RAM is entirely irrelevant, some of the machines you look at might have soldered RAM.

By 'Gb Ethernet' I think you really mean a full-sized ethernet port? The Mac will require a thunderbolt > ethernet adapter for that, it doesn't bother me, but it might bother you. You also mentioned wanting a 10-key, which rules out the Retina MacBook's as well.

If you decided in the end to get a MacBook, which I doubt would happen, use VMWare Fusion instead of Parallels, you'll be happier using software from the same brand when you're back at home. I have an ESXi box at home and use VMWare Fusion Pro on my MacBook Pro for everything on the go, just like you mentioned, 16GB RAM and a monster SSD.

Check Lenovo's latest ThinkPad's, should make good candidates that meet your needs.

Also consider that purchasing your machine at a certain spec will include a warranty for *that* spec, might be a reason to purchase a higher end machine from the get go instead of upgrading it yourself, as an IT Pro, I would appreciate the peace of mind for a machine that is part of my livelihood.
 
Look at the new P series Lenovo's or even the T460s. Just tried one out and its probably one of the better T series models in recent years.
 
DarkStar02 said:
Dell XPS 15 9550 or 15" Macbook Pro Retina. Not sure why you said "no apple for obvious reasons", they are extremely nice and there's pretty much nothing you can't do with them.
Click to expand...

I've got the 9550 and it's a PITA with driver shenanigans. It's like Dell just doesn't care. Also, no GBE port. USB A or C adapter required.... and if you're using the USB C adapter from Dell.... well, don't. It's crap (drivers) too.
 
mrwizardno2 said:
I've got the 9550 and it's a PITA with driver shenanigans. It's like Dell just doesn't care. Also, no GBE port. USB A or C adapter required.... and if you're using the USB C adapter from Dell.... well, don't. It's crap (drivers) too.
Click to expand...

That is incredibly disappointing. That model seemed to tick off a lot of checkboxes in all the right places :-/ Wonder if the Precision has the same issues, since they appear to be driver and not hardware related.
 
mrwizardno2 said:
I've got the 9550 and it's a PITA with driver shenanigans. It's like Dell just doesn't care. Also, no GBE port. USB A or C adapter required.... and if you're using the USB C adapter from Dell.... well, don't. It's crap (drivers) too.
Click to expand...

What driver issues are you experiencing? I just bought one on Saturday (the maxed out one) and haven't ran into any yet. Not doubting you're experiencing problems, just wondering what they are.
 
DarkStar02 said:
What driver issues are you experiencing? I just bought one on Saturday (the maxed out one) and haven't ran into any yet. Not doubting you're experiencing problems, just wondering what they are.
Click to expand...

So far I'm struggling with audio. Plug in a pair of headphones. Do they work? Unplug them, do you have sound on the machine at all after? The Realtek drivers suck. My machine will stop playing all sound until I uninstall the device using device manager - then it'll work again until Windoze 10 re-installs the driver. I've tried a few different versions (including the one just released within the past month). This is my number one driver problem at this point.

I also have issues with the Thunderbolt / USB C dell dongle that has Ethernet, HDMI, VGA, and USB connectivity. It will randomly act wonky where it doesn't show up. No amount of plugging / unplugging / replugging fixes it without a reboot. The latest Thunderbolt firmware update seems to have corrected this (at least in my minimal testing lately). We'll find out this week. I'm on-site with a customer using this machine as a lab host running some Hyper-V machines. Hopefully it all goes well, if not I will fall back to my USB based Ethernet adapter I snagged off Amazon and had overnighted a few weeks back. Today is lab day one.
 
If it weren't for the GB requirement, the Spectre x360 would be a nice choice. Light, powerful, and can be used as a tablet if need be.
 
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