New laptop (2018 thread)
 

I've been using a Samsung series 7 for nearly five years now, and I think that it's getting to the end - I'm getting BlueScreens pretty much every day.

[I'm sure that there must be a current 'what laptop' thread but I can't find it]

I'm not a power user, but I do a lot of travel, so priorities are:
- light
- strong
- light
- no slower than this one (i5-3317, 4GB RAM), but guessing that anything I buy now will meet this.
- as light as the Samsung (about 2.5 pounds)
- will be buying in the UK, but something around $1000 as a budget.

Bought an XPS13 for my partner last year, which she likes, so that's certainly an option. Also quite like the look of the Asus ZenBook Deluxe. Or an HP Spectre.

Anyone got any thoughts/input? ndekel?

Thanks

Don't take that for granted; Intel et. al. are making a lot of slugs now in the pursuit of thinner & lighter while at the same time extending battery life.

if i bought any laptop running windows, i would only consider lenovo (x1), or microsoft (surface).
everyone else just churns out mediocre slapdash products

Lenovo T or X series if it's going to be your main computer. If it's a secondary, I've had decent luck with the smaller Lenovo Yoga series.

My office used to run Dell exclusively...and while Dell's on-site tech support guys are nice and professional, we were seeing them constantly, whether it be for the server or laptops. Switched over to Lenovo ~8 or so years ago and it's been smooth sailing.

If I wanted the laptop like you describe now I'd be looking at LG Gram, although I haven't personally used it. Dell XPS is also a solid contender. I've had a number of ThinkPads over the years but would not recommend one now, they haven't been worth their premium price for quite a while. I actually still use a Zenbook I bought years ago, now as my second laptop: although Asus is by far not the worst in terms of engineering, they stop caring about their product the moment it goes off the shelves, which means practically no driver or even UEFI updates. They should do better than that, particularly for a premium product: their pricing can sometimes be very attractive on the other hand, in the US at least.

In general, buying a laptop these days, especially if you are going to use it for work, I'd strongly suggest to consider the one with the best warranty policy, and I'd actually go as far as trying to find people's actual experiences with getting things fixed where you are located to see how cumbersome it is in practice.

On a separate note, blue screens could be caused by software or something as simple to replace as a faulty memory module.

So in your opinion, only 2 Windows notebooks in the whole world are worthy of consideration? Got it.

It's more expensive than the OP's budget but I would strongly recommend the Microsoft Surface, which fits the OP's requirements in all respects other than price.

OP back again. I can stretch to $1100 (what B&H are charging for the Surface laptop w 8GB and 256GB SSD) but am I right in reading that it only comes with *one* USB port? Add that to my list of requirements - minimum 2 x USB.

Not sure why you need 'two' USB ports. I carry something like this with my Surface3: and that easily gets me to 4 ports.

Because without '2' USB ports, you have to carry around something like that. :p

Yeah, and it's not even USB-C.

I'd say the Dell XPS 13 is a good option.

With a Surface, you also need a mouse, a keyboard, and the power adapter. If you do presentations, as I do, add both a Mini Display Port to HDMI cable and a Mini Display Port to VGA cable. When traveling, I also need a USB charger (4-port) and a USB battery bank. I also carry two tablets (Android and IOS). I need cables for all of this mess.

I don't understand your snark. There are MANY tradeoffs and we are discussing them. We're trading off weight vs functionality vs convenience. Frankly, picking a portable work PC based on 1 vs. 2 USB ports is missing the forest for the trees.

Maybe we are arguing the same thing here. I don't know why you'd choose a laptop that's 2.7lbs (vs. say 3.0) if it means you'd need to carry around extra cables/adapters.

At some point you're sacrificing a lot for something that's 1/4" thinner and 5oz lighter.

I realize Asus got trashed up thread, but I got this one for the 8th gen i7. Its a little over your requirements for price but close. It has just 2 USB C plugs, but the plug in adapters are very light and very useful for me. I got a second one on Amazon. The power cord is much lighter than even the tiniest bricks I have had in the past. I love it and its light at a hair over 1 kg. I have been getting updates on it. Battery life is good, back light keyboard if you want it, It gets hot when the processor is really working. And if it is your thing, it can game.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-2-...?skuId=6077502

USB C adapter

I have read / heard rumors in the last 10 days that Apple is going to release a new "Air" model or something like an air model in the very near future. There is an conference coming up in a few days where an announcement might be made. I am not sure if you would be interested in a mac, but waiting a few extra days could be worth it. Here is the link.

https://www.macrumors.com/2018/03/16...ch-27-chicago/