Who makes the best all around laptop?

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spincut

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 19, 2005
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I need to get a laptop for work. Honestly, for once, I actually really want to get a Macbook pro, but our IT person says it's a no go :( .

I also will likely double it as a gaming/media PC, so it having some "oomph" will also be important, or at least he latest Nvidia mobile GPU.

But yeah, in my opinion, it's kind of hard to beat the superior design of a Macbook pro, especially the new ones, which at least in this case really tilts in Apples favor, but alas, I need to seek out other venues.

But yeah, well made Laptop brands would help. I have heard good things about Asus but I despise the way they have set up their lines (their website also doesn't differentiate them very well). Maingear definitely was a thought, although they push their desktop stuff quite a bit more.
 
This is all personal opinion but I really love Lenovo build quality, keyboards, and the nub. If it was me, and I was going all professional I would get the W530. If this is more of a personal laptop that doubles as a work laptop Lenovo is poor choice as no gaming discrete cards. You may be best served by Asus G55VW-ES71 with its ivy bridge i7 and the geforce 660m.

Well that's my two cents
 
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No need to reccomend specific models, I'll customize it per my needs.

And what do you mean no discreet cards?

I really wanted to like Asus, I really did, but I just really don't like their business model for laptops.

I still felt that the new Macbook pro's were perfect for me, but again, sadly, they are not an option :( .
 
I think that the Lenovo Thinkpads (X, T, & W-series) are the best laptops all around.

I won't advocate a specific model, but I did point out which series of laptops are the higher quality ones. Lenovo Ideapads are not of the same quality as Thinkpads imo, and the other Thinkpad series are not as nice as the X, T, W-series.

Enjoy if you pick one out!
 
Seems like the Y and W series are the only one with seperate graphics, and the W, oddly, while having a stronger CPU, only offer Quadro graphics chips (which seems like a no go unless I wanted to do rendering). So really, out of Lenovo the only even feasible model is the Y series (which sadly lacks the same processor selections as the W, but has the best Geforce mobile processor option).

But yeah, once again I feel rather unimpressed by the likes of Asus, Dell, Lenovo, HP, ect.
 
If price weren't an issue, I would recommend getting the Blade which has so many awesome features.

http://www.razerzone.com/blade

It has the "Switchblade UI" which is a touchscreen mousepad and has buttons customizable with custom images. One of the thinnest and lightest laptops out there which makes it easily portable (thinner and lighter than a MacBook Air). Comes with 8GB of memory and Nvidia 555M video card.

Only bad is you can't change any of the components and the price is steep @ $2,800.
 
Buy your MBP and put windows on it.

He's probably only saying no because he doesn't know how to support Macs or don't even want to think Mac.

You get what you want and your IT team stays ignorant. Happiness all around.
 
I have not been a fan of the Lenovo offerings, I can only speak for the X series Tables however.

For my money Dell has always been a solid laptop brand.
 
I'm not as fond of the non-X series Thinkpads since they switched to the Core i models, but that may just be me. I wasn't as happy with the W510 as I was with the W500 (and the same holds true for the T variants).

That being said, other models to look into are Dell's Precision & Latitude models. They're the best quality for your buck, especially if you can find one on their outlet. My new Latitude E6420 configured with Core i5 2430M, 4GB RAM, 250GB HDD, 14" 1600x900, DVD burner, and 3 year warranty was $599. I almost picked up a refurb Precision M4600 (same CPU, RAM, HDD was a 500GB, screen was a 15.6" 1080P, and had a FirePro m5950 with 3 year at home warranty) for $850 this past weekend.

HP's Elitebooks are freaking expensive, but personally, I preferred my 8560W to the Precision models I've worked with.
 
wpd7 said:
Buy your MBP and put windows on it.

He's probably only saying no because he doesn't know how to support Macs or don't even want to think Mac.

You get what you want and your IT team stays ignorant. Happiness all around.
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Is there a way to apply a group policy to a mac client from Active Directory?(Not using third party software)
 
Elitebooks ftw.

You can buy decent elitebooks that are off-contract or off-lease on ebay for less than half the price.

I own a 8530w -- It's the older C2D model -- but I can't fault it. Screen is beautiful and it's very solidly made.
 
ChuckLogan said:
Is there a way to apply a group policy to a mac client from Active Directory?(Not using third party software)
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Password policies can be enforced from an AD. The vast majority of Windows GP does not apply to a Mac anyway. You can extend AD's LDAP implementation to send LDAP policy to Mac/Linux clients as well.

A Windows environment in a VM or Boot Camp can join a domain and have GP pushed to it.
 
aznguile972 said:
If price weren't an issue, I would recommend getting the Blade which has so many awesome features.

http://www.razerzone.com/blade

It has the "Switchblade UI" which is a touchscreen mousepad and has buttons customizable with custom images. One of the thinnest and lightest laptops out there which makes it easily portable (thinner and lighter than a MacBook Air). Comes with 8GB of memory and Nvidia 555M video card.

Only bad is you can't change any of the components and the price is steep @ $2,800.
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Yeah, as cool as that looks, way too much money for what I'm getting in the end. A shame there aren't more options to tweak it.

wpd7 said:
Buy your MBP and put windows on it.

He's probably only saying no because he doesn't know how to support Macs or don't even want to think Mac.

You get what you want and your IT team stays ignorant. Happiness all around.
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I suppose I could look into that, although I don't know if I want the hassle of trying to get that to work, I suppose I could at least look into a dual boot solution.

thedocta45 said:
I have not been a fan of the Lenovo offerings, I can only speak for the X series Tables however.

For my money Dell has always been a solid laptop brand.
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Dell? A solid laptop brand? Ehhhhhhhh....not from my experience.

Deluded said:
Elitebooks ftw.

You can buy decent elitebooks that are off-contract or off-lease on ebay for less than half the price.

I own a 8530w -- It's the older C2D model -- but I can't fault it. Screen is beautiful and it's very solidly made.
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Not sure what an elite book is....but I'm not going to be getting my laptop over ebay "off-lease". I want whatever I have to not only be quality, but headache free to own with some actual suppor.
 
If you're going to game don't get a MBP. Video card is weak for gaming.

Sager makes a nice gaming laptop. I recommend notebookreview.com as a good site to check out notebooks and visit their forum to get input from users.
 
Of all the many laptops I have owned, the lenovo X220t is the best for several reasons. So I'd say Lenovo.
 
Dell Precision workstation machines or HP Elitebooks (ideally also their "w" variant, though they get expensive, fast). You can pick up a Precision with a nice GPU off Dell Outlet for around $800 after coupon. Can't beat it, period.

You are clearly only familiar with consumer level laptops given your post about Dell above -- their business machines are exceptional.

Oh, and off lease EliteBooks (HP's business class laptops)? If you do your reading and get one with partial (or in some cases full) 3 year warranty remaining, you get amazing support. HP doesn't care who bought it -- you call / email them, give them the serial number and they fix it no matter what it is. That's the main reason I'll never buy another "consumer" laptop again, only business machines -- no bullshit, great support.
 
HP Envy 15t? AFAIK that's the closest you'll get to a Macbook Pro on the windows side.

1080p IPS display, 7750m GCN graphics (can drive Skyrim at 1080p on mostly high/ultra settings), great speakers, Quad i7 IB and at the moment there's a $450 coupon on these.

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/notebooks/HP-Envy-15-2012.htm

Here's the coupon code:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...2-pavilion-coupons-400-off-dv7tqe-dv6tqe.html

I think it comes out to ~$1050 with the IPS display? I'm considering buying this myself but will wait a month.
 
For work and play, I'd say the Envy 15/17 fits the bill. However, it does seem like a crap shoot whether or not you get a perfect one not. I had no quality issues, but that's doesn't seem to be universal. HP seems to have less quality control than Lenovo. I have a T500 and would highly recommend the T530/W530 but the graphics are pretty weak for gaming. The Envy is the closest Windows laptop to a MacBook Pro in terms of quality and performance. The Samsung Series 7 comes close, but their screens are below average. The new Dells look very nice, but use GT640m cards. MSI has nice gaming laptops, but probably too flashy for work and too much plastic. Asus N56 is nice, but might as well get the Envy.

My vote is for the Envy. Good luck on your search.

7380961178_cdd94bb9ab_c.jpg
 
maverick777 said:
For work and play, I'd say the Envy 15/17 fits the bill. However, it does seem like a crap shoot whether or not you get a perfect one not. I had no quality issues, but that's doesn't seem to be universal. HP seems to have less quality control than Lenovo. I have a T500 and would highly recommend the T530/W530 but the graphics are pretty weak for gaming. The Envy is the closest Windows laptop to a MacBook Pro in terms of quality and performance. The Samsung Series 7 comes close, but their screens are below average. The new Dells look very nice, but use GT640m cards. MSI has nice gaming laptops, but probably too flashy for work and too much plastic. Asus N56 is nice, but might as well get the Envy.

My vote is for the Envy. Good luck on your search.

7380961178_cdd94bb9ab_c.jpg
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When I looked at HP last (although again my opinion of them via past experiences is not super high) I remember Envy, while flashy, was not their best all around performing model even? Just the prettiest looking?
 
The EliteBook line is without question head and shoulders above the Envy line, but they're also business machines, so...
 
I haven't tried the latest Thinkpad's but IMO they have weak speakers, I always had to use earphones to listen to music/watch movies etc. Elitebooks have better audio at least.
 
MrCrispy said:
I haven't tried the latest Thinkpad's but IMO they have weak speakers, I always had to use earphones to listen to music/watch movies etc. Elitebooks have better audio at least.
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Also, after multiple visits to Lenovo's website, I have concluded they are almost as terrible as Asus as far as their website and divying up their machines. Little to no ACTUAL customizeability (each model level has 3-4 very similar pre-set configs to choose from), and finding the proper letter among them that actually has the stuff I want alone is a chore (finally figured out that it was the Ideapad "Y" series of all things, and not a thinkpad...).

So yeah, I dunno, they seem decent, but just seeing how they bloat up the lines alone kind of turns me off.
 
for work laptop,
Lenovo- Thinkpads
HP- Elitebook
Dell- Latitude or Precision

the consumer lines are shitty compare to the business line as one of the posters above said. There is a reason why the business line laptops are more expansive. You get what you paid for kind of thing (but you get way better support)

I prefer Lenovo and HP because they based warranty off serial number so less hassle when i try to sell it after i'm done.
 
spincut said:
I need to get a laptop for work. Honestly, for once, I actually really want to get a Macbook pro, but our IT person says it's a no go :( .

I also will likely double it as a gaming/media PC, so it having some "oomph" will also be important, or at least he latest Nvidia mobile GPU.

But yeah, in my opinion, it's kind of hard to beat the superior design of a Macbook pro, especially the new ones, which at least in this case really tilts in Apples favor, but alas, I need to seek out other venues.

But yeah, well made Laptop brands would help. I have heard good things about Asus but I despise the way they have set up their lines (their website also doesn't differentiate them very well). Maingear definitely was a thought, although they push their desktop stuff quite a bit more.
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So does that mean your budge is 2200 because the MBP is in your choices?

Also as for quality, all mac book pros are is sort of dumbed down business laptops, really thats what their model is, sell business laptops to consumers. Dell precisions a milspec meaning you can like drop them and they are designed to withstand that.
The problem is if you want to game most of the business workstations have pro graphics which are alot more expensive. But anyhow sager/ clevo makers are pretty much the closest thing in laptops to desktops where you can configure whatever you want and it will be reasonably priced. Also if you work for someone they can typically negotiate better deals with HP / Dell.

If you want to just choose what you want then sager / clevo is the way to go, they dont rip you off for upgrades like everybody else including apple. In fact I find it ironic you dont like the asus / lenovo upselling technique because apple does the same thing to an even more restricted level.

Anyhow you need to be more specific about what you want. What level of GPU / CPU is important. You want to game sure, but how well on what games? I have people who are happy with a 650M / 3610QM for less than $1000. Might also help to know what line of work you are in.
 
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Dell Vostro are good machines and you can get them cheap in the outlet. I am picking up 2 of them one with ATi 6630 (Vostro 3450) and the other with intergrated graphics (Vostro 1440)for me and my wife. I curently have 2 dells a vostro 1400 that is 4+ years old and a Studio 1558 that is nearly 3 years old..

EDIT: Ironically I forgot to mention that I have 2 HP laptops that don't work, one is completely dead and the other one does not reconize the webcam nor charge the battery anymore
 
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spincut said:
When I looked at HP last (although again my opinion of them via past experiences is not super high) I remember Envy, while flashy, was not their best all around performing model even? Just the prettiest looking?
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That's not the case with the current generation. It's quite the powerhouse. Standard quad i7, 8gb of ram, and an AMD 7850M. It has the power, but the build quality is definitely not as high as a Thinkpad or Dell Latitude.

And I agree, HP's track record is not great compared to Lenovo Thinkpads or Dell Latitudes. I'd take either of those before I'd look at an Elitebook.

I got the Envy for home use and gaming. The 7850M trounces anything a Thinkpad or Latitude has unless you get something exotic like the Quadro 5000M which costs more than most laptops.
 
rudy said:
Anyhow you need to be more specific about what you want. What level of GPU / CPU is important. You want to game sure, but how well on what games? I have people who are happy with a 650M / 3610QM for less than $1000. Might also help to know what line of work you are in.
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That's an excellent point. Does the OP mind gaming on mid levels with 30fps or want to play BF3 mostly cranked like a gaming desktop? Answering this will determine what type of laptop for x dollars a lot easier.

You're not going to game on a MBP but maybe ask your IT dept if using Bootcamp and Windows 7 on it acceptable. Windows on a Mac is always a little flaky and slower than normal because Apple makes crap drivers on purpose...which is dumb as I'm sure lots of people would get MBPAs and toss Windows on them. Meh whatever. Personally I'd let the idea of the MBP go because it's being used for work and won't get the IT blessing (which is most likely founded and not laziness on their part)
 
The new Dell Latitudes are crap compared to the old ones. I'd go with HP EliteBook or Lenovo ThinkPad.
 
Well, some good news finally! The waiting paid off because they replaced the apparently crappy Netgear router with a better one that is far easier to configure to get along with Apple. So it looks like I will be getting one after all.

The question I have now is (which I asked at the apple store but did not get a clear answer), does getting a macbook with a retina screen gank gaming performance because you're forced into such an ultra high resolution (ala the retina look), or do they do something to compensate for that?

My personal "trick" has always been to run a far lower resolution. My desktop (which sadly just broke and I don't know why, await a separate thread for that), I paired with a 20" widescreen, pretty small by today's standards, but a 1650x1280 or whatever resolution was more than enough for me, and allows me to still rock a Geforce 8800 GTX to this day and not miss a beat even with most current games.

Anyway, that's the only thing giving me pause with the Apple updated retina notebooks. Well, also would be nice to get a slightly better chip than a 650M, but most other PC brands don't seem to largely do that (and the ones that do I imagine have some heavy power sucking as a result).
 
Yea, you're going to have issues gaming at native resolution on the MacBook unless you're playing an older game that isn't as strenuous. Lowered settings, lowered detail.

Do Macs work in clamshell mode? If they do then you can plug in an external monitor
 
pelo said:
Yea, you're going to have issues gaming at native resolution on the MacBook unless you're playing an older game that isn't as strenuous. Lowered settings, lowered detail.

Do Macs work in clamshell mode? If they do then you can plug in an external monitor
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Well, they DO still make non-retina models (where you have the option of a 1440 resolution or a step up to 1650), so I have been considering that, plus the money savings. Downside is you get the old body style and lose a few of the update options from the Retina models, even though it technically is otherwise up to date I think.

I guess I was just curious about how exactly retinas work considering the ultra resolution and how that would affect performance because the Apple store guy wasn't very good at answering that. It was kind of like a "sort of, maybe, I don't know for certain I don't think they'd design a computer with such a weakness due to a super high resolution but who knows" kind of answer.

I think it does work in clamshell mode though, considering how big they are on that thunderbolt monitor display so they can sell more of their (admittedly very well made) displays. Not that I plan to do that though....
 
I hear alot of people complaining the mbpr gets really hot, like hot to the touch, so I have my doubts about these. I always like to say there is no magic, now days alot of companies sacrifice alot of cooling to make laptops thin. I have seen a ton of laptops that sport 650m

There is no one best laptop and certainly no one best company you have to put together your desires and then if they are stupid like I want it all but I want it to be thin you need to learn that wont happen. Then you just need to say, what am I willing to sacrifice, its going to be performance / cooling or light / battery life, you cant have both period.

I tend to lean on performance and just learn to carry around extra batteries or stick to over sized batteries. Opens my options up. Seems like most people these days are going the other way though.

Of course the resolution issue is big too, most of our lives we have been purposely avoiding high resolution screens because we cannot afford the perfomance hit. I think apple does not care because they dont target gaming. But you can always scale I suppose.

To me just like so many other times in history people need to keep their minds open though, until I saw that stat link I posted I never would have guessed asus had reliable laptops, but there they sit at the top.
 
rudy said:
Of course the resolution issue is big too, most of our lives we have been purposely avoiding high resolution screens because we cannot afford the perfomance hit. I think apple does not care because they dont target gaming. But you can always scale I suppose.

To me just like so many other times in history people need to keep their minds open though, until I saw that stat link I posted I never would have guessed asus had reliable laptops, but there they sit at the top.
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First of all, believe it or not, most of the ratings I looked at for overall laptop brands placed apple on "the top".

Secondly, while the super juiced resolution of the retinas do in the end seem to provide for a pretty big performance hit, like I said, they have their non-retina models still as well, which I actually got :p (well, I made sure to at least bump up the resolution to 1650, but I know that a 650m could at least easily handle that....considering I have a Geforce 8800 that still could for the likes of Diablo at max settings).
 
http://www.eurocom.com/

EUROCOM W3x0ET Shark:
  • 15.6-inch or 17.3-inch FHD 1920x1080; Matte (Non-Glare) or Glossy (Glare) LED Backlit Display
  • VGA Technology: NVIDIA GTX 660M with 2GB DDR5 on-board; Optimus 1.2
  • Processor: Ivy Bridge technology up to Intel i7 Core 3940XM Extreme; Intel HM77 chipset
  • Memory: up to 24GB DDR3-1600; 3 RAM SODIMM sockets
  • Storage: 2x HDD (SATA3) + 3rd via ODD Bay
  • Optical Drive: choice of DVD-RW, Blu Ray -RW or 3rd HDD/SDD
  • I/O Ports: 1x VGA; 1x HDMI out; 3x USB 3.0; 1x USB 2.0; 1x LAN

EUROCOM Racer 2.0:
  • 15.6-inch FHD 1920-by-1080 pixels; Matte (Non-Glare) or Glossy (Glare); LED Backlit Display; 95% Gamut/NTSC Optional
  • Chipset: Intel HM77 Mobile Express Chipset
  • Processor: up to Intel i7-3940XM Extreme Processor; supports both Sandy Bridge (32nm) and Ivy Bridge (22nm) Processors
  • VGA Technology: MXM 3.0b; Choice of: NVIDIA GTX 680M (Kepler), GTX 675MX (Kepler), GTX 675M, GTX 670M, GTX 670MX (Kepler), GTX 660M (Kepler); Quadro K3000M (Kepler), 3000M, 4000M, 5010M; with Optimus technology and AMD HD7970M
  • Storage: up to 3 drives; 1x HDD + 2nd HDD via ODD bay + mSATA; supports Intel Smart Response Technology (SRT)
  • Optical Drive: DVD-RW or BLu Ray-RW; BD-RW supports 100GB/120GB Blu Ray Discs
  • Keyboard: Iluminated, backlit with customizable 7-colours
  • Webcam: 2M FHD 1920x1080; 30fps; with Samsung HD sensor
  • Audio System: External 7.1CH audio output supported by headphone, microphone, S/PDIF and Line-in port; THX TruStudio Pro; two built-in ONKYO Speakers (2.2W) + Subwoofer (2.5W)
  • Ports: DisplayPort 1.1a; HDMI out; DVI-I; eSATA; 2x USB 3.0; 3x USB 2.0; S/PDIF; Headphone; Mic; Line-in; Firewire-400; RJ45 (LAN)
 
Don't throw dell away.

Ispirion 17R SE
i7 at 3.4 GHZ
8 gig ram
1tb 5400 RPM HDD + 32GB intel SSD cache drive
2 gig Nvidia 650M video card
dvd rom

for around 1k right now with coupon codes.

Really a lot of power for the price. Ships with windows 8 only negative.
 
spincut said:
Well, they DO still make non-retina models (where you have the option of a 1440 resolution or a step up to 1650), so I have been considering that, plus the money savings. Downside is you get the old body style and lose a few of the update options from the Retina models, even though it technically is otherwise up to date I think.

I guess I was just curious about how exactly retinas work considering the ultra resolution and how that would affect performance because the Apple store guy wasn't very good at answering that. It was kind of like a "sort of, maybe, I don't know for certain I don't think they'd design a computer with such a weakness due to a super high resolution but who knows" kind of answer.

I think it does work in clamshell mode though, considering how big they are on that thunderbolt monitor display so they can sell more of their (admittedly very well made) displays. Not that I plan to do that though....
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Get the retina model if you can afford the price difference. Basically for gaming you can just change the resolution to a lower setting. For desktop mode (at least with OSX) it renders it at a smaller resolution anyways. They do some trickery with the resolution in order to keep it running smooth I would suggest looking at the Ananadtech review of the 15inch rMBP they explain the resolution details very well.
 
Erasmus354 said:
Get the retina model if you can afford the price difference. Basically for gaming you can just change the resolution to a lower setting. For desktop mode (at least with OSX) it renders it at a smaller resolution anyways. They do some trickery with the resolution in order to keep it running smooth I would suggest looking at the Ananadtech review of the 15inch rMBP they explain the resolution details very well.
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See this "trickery" bothers me though. And anyway, it's kind of too late as I got the souped up but regular screen.

Also, from what I did read, while the scaling is decent seeming, to get the same native resolution so it doesn't look "off" you have to go down to 1440. The 1650 resolution upgrade I got does give you more area to work with at a native resolution than the double up retina one (or the halved down but still native scale).

Unless I'm wrong about this, but that does appear to be what I read. And again, having such a high native resolution does/did give me pause.

I am still curious what screen I literally got though (what the difference was between my model and the lower resolution one, same panels?).
 
spincut said:
Seems like the Y and W series are the only one with seperate graphics, and the W, oddly, while having a stronger CPU, only offer Quadro graphics chips (which seems like a no go unless I wanted to do rendering). So really, out of Lenovo the only even feasible model is the Y series (which sadly lacks the same processor selections as the W, but has the best Geforce mobile processor option).

But yeah, once again I feel rather unimpressed by the likes of Asus, Dell, Lenovo, HP, ect.
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Look at the y500 model, you may be seriously impressed. Lots of power and elegant design.
 
There is no silver bullet for laptops, every one is such a personal machine that a perfect machine for one is totally unsuitable for someone else.
 
Meaker said:
There is no silver bullet for laptops, every one is such a personal machine that a perfect machine for one is totally unsuitable for someone else.
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Or more likely the perfect machine does not exist and you just find one that is least shitty for you.
 
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