Looking for new all around laptop.

ThatCraftySOB

Estimable
Apr 12, 2015
10
0
4,560
I currently have a Lenovo Y50-70 17" that I've had for around 5 years. It's starting to drive me crazy and I just felt it's time to update.

1. What is your budget? I would like to keep it under $1000 but I am a bit flexible if it's in my best interest.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? Preferably a 15.6", definitely no bigger than that. I'm tired of the huge 17 but dont want a tiny 11.6 or 13.

3. What screen resolution do you want? 1920 would be cool but I'm fine with 1080. Willing to sacrifice res for performance.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? This will be my only computer or tablet.

5. How much battery life do you need? Good battery. I don't need great battery life as a lot of it's use will be done near outlets.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)? I'd like to have the option to play if I wanted to but when I use pc for games they aren't usually intensive. No PUBG or anything. I don't need high or ultra settings. Just clean fps.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.) Possibly some video editing but that's tbd.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? 256 ssd is fine, I don't mind carrying an external.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links. Whatever gets me the best deal, idc.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? I typically keep my laptops for 5 years or so, so I tend to buy fairly powerful rigs that way they aren't obsolete so quickly.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? None.

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. I don't want Mac or Dell. I just don't like Mac and the last Dell I used left me very unhappy, felt cheaply made. Currently have a Lenovo and im happy with their quality, the touchpad on mine is a bit janky though. I also like the way the Asus models look and the new(ish) Huawei Matebook X looks very nice.

13. What country do you live in? USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Biometrics are not important to me. Webcam quality is also not important. I would prefer an aluminum casing over a plastic one. 16 gb ram would be nice but I trust if people think lower will be fine. I want to buy new, not refurbished.

I'm in the market for a new laptop but I dont have any pressing needs to get it quickly so I am willing to wait for things that are out of stock or have extended ship times. I just figured it was a good time to look for a good price.


More than I wanted to spend but I really like it's design and specs.
https://www.adorama.com/hu53010caj.html?gclid=CjwKCAiA0O7fBRASEiwAYI9QAt21g4mT6P-58m7ATXxqA-VTGi8oH2g2SQ7_TUeSSZorzdtCI4o-PRoCDQMQAvD_BwE

Also found this one, looks interesting using a Ryzen 7 over an Intel but seems to check most the boxes.
https://www.abt.com/product/128392/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Flex-14-Onyx-Black-Laptop-Computer-81HA0004US.html

I don't know much about HP or Acer but Acers seem to be very commonly recommended on this site. I'm open to any suggestion. Thank you for your time, I tried to provide ample information.
 
Solution
Hi ThatCraftySOB,

I just want to make you aware that the US Government urges it's allies, retailers in the US and US citizens not to purchase any Huawei product due to concerns of ties to the Chinese Government who have been known in the past of using electronic telecommunication devices to eavesdrop on US and allies networks to mine for intelligence information. It is not a direct accusation against Hauwei, but more of a potential security alert.

https://www.androidcentral.com/why-does-us-government-mistrust-huawei

Making your own processors then arranging them in a mobile chipset is a rarity. Apple does this, as does Samsung (which also makes components to sell to other manufacturers). But any other instances are few and...
Hi ThatCraftySOB,

I just want to make you aware that the US Government urges it's allies, retailers in the US and US citizens not to purchase any Huawei product due to concerns of ties to the Chinese Government who have been known in the past of using electronic telecommunication devices to eavesdrop on US and allies networks to mine for intelligence information. It is not a direct accusation against Hauwei, but more of a potential security alert.

https://www.androidcentral.com/why-does-us-government-mistrust-huawei

Making your own processors then arranging them in a mobile chipset is a rarity. Apple does this, as does Samsung (which also makes components to sell to other manufacturers). But any other instances are few and far between back to the time when Motorola flip phones ruled the market. It also takes more than just silicon and copper as there is a lot of machine-level software and firmware involved so processors can talk to things like modems or graphics adapters. You'll find a Huawei-made chip inside all the company's high-end phones as well as the network routers and switches and transfer equipment Huawei builds for companies like AT&T to run their cellular network. In plain language, Huawei makes the parts inside the phones and other gear an it's almost impossible to independently review that they are doing what Huawei claims. The U.S. government is afraid that these components can be instructed to eavesdrop on our digital communications and send it all back to the Chinese government.

That concerns partially stems from an incident reported back in 2008 where counterfeit Cisco router that originated from China could have been used to hack into sensitive equipment.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2008/oct/06/security.china

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Acer laptops are generally recommended because many people are looking affordable laptop and Acer laptops are certainly pretty affordable for the most part. For example, excluding holiday sale the least expensive laptop with a modern dedicated mx150 GPU is an Acer Aspire selling for $600 which was generally around $75 - $100 cheaper than other brands. Acer is known for selling affordable budget laptops, but they were also known in the past for mediocre quality as well. That probably started to change maybe about 4 years ago when they started to focus a bit more on build quality. I actually bought an Acer Nitro 5 laptop with a Core i5-8300H and GTX 1050 Ti GPU for $600 during the Black Friday sale. I have not done much stress testing with it yet, but it generally gets a lot of good reviews.

Perhaps you will like the following 14" ASUS VivoBook S with an i7-8550u CPU, mx150, 256GB SSD, 8GB of RAM and 1080p display.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B7VFTN9/ref=dp_cerb_3
 
Solution

ThatCraftySOB

Estimable
Apr 12, 2015
10
0
4,560



First off, thank you very much for the response, I was about to take down the thread due to lack of response so I really appreciate it. I know that I was kind of asking for a lot from one machine. Further, thank you for that information on Huawei, it was very interesting. I wasn't going to go with that anyways as it was much higher than I wanted to pay.

I like that model you recommended, I actually found a similar one and wondered if the VivoBooks were any good. The only gripe I would have with it is the 8gb memory, if it is capable of being upgraded that I would be fine with.
Due to the lack of responses and having a day off of work today, I spent practically the entire day searching the web and researching things and these are the two that I narrowed it down to from my own research. I would love if you could take a look and tell me what you think comparing all three machines (that being the 2 I found and the one you suggested).

Lenovo Flex 6:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?reviews=all&Item=N82E16834850635&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-2-in-1+Laptops-_-N82E16834850635&gclid=Cj0KCQiA8_PfBRC3ARIsAOzJ2uoS6YfF7wBMuTyZzkQtZxeHQ7EK_-gE26uJyiicNMRTjE_yIsMVRGAaArHQEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Asus Vivobook:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAA0S8EW0747&ignorebbr=1


Note that both fall under the $1000 budget I was trying to stick to and the Asus actually has a an additional 10% off promo making it under $900.


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Update 11/30/2018:
I ended up buying the Lenovo Flex 6 from Newegg two days ago and it has already arrived. Literally just signed for it so I haven't gotten a chance to try it out but it was seemingly the best choice after all the things I read on the above laptops. The Flex 6 out performed the Vivobooks in virtually every way. But to be fair the tests I saw were not between the exact models of either computer. In the end I chose the Flex and hope I will be satisfied with it. Thank you for your help and information. Take care.