need help picking laptop

[sirkdev]

So my MacBook Pro is nearing end of life, looking for a replacement mostly online research and surfing, good speakers, 15-16, backlit key board, robust build quality what would you recommend? Replacement is crazy... $2500 ish not in the cards, thinking of a refurb lenovo thinkpad. My understanding is you can get an app to enable texting sync with I phone if it has an Intel processor. Would like to go full dark with a good VPN and anti virus. Any suggestions?

 

[mclean]

Tablet and Bluetooth keyboard?

 

[Catchme]

After doing my research here’s what I bought. Dell Inspiron 16 inch, backlit keyboard, speakers out the top, licensed windows 11, 1tb hard drive, 16g ram and one year of platinum support from Dell. No one else could match this price from the Dell store on Amazon. Processor is a i7 1360 which before Christmas was the latest. I see they have a newer one out now. Not meant for gaming by any means but fast and powerful enough for anything I can throw at it.

Dell Inspiron 16 5630 Laptop - Intel Core i7-1360P, 16-inch 16:10 FHD+ Display, 16GB LPDDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, Windows 11 Pro, Services Included - Platinum Silver https://a.co/d/1ChIftJ

 

[sirkdev]

Would be nice..

 

[ABMax24]

Not sure how the speakers are, but the OLED displays on these ASUS units are wicked (seriously, go to Best Buy and check one out, they make my gaming laptops display look like crap). It's pretty light and flimsy though, but would have decent battery life. You'd have to check if the keyboard is backlit.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/asus-vivobook-15-15-6-oled-laptop-indie-black-intel-core-i7-12700h-1tb-ssd-16gb-ram-windows-11/16690944?icmp=Recos_4across_cstmrs_ls_vwd&referrer=PDP+Reco_CAV

This one is heavier, has a dedicated graphics card so would game reasonably well if that's your thing, speakers will be good for a laptop, but battery life won't be that great.

Asus TUF Gaming FX506HE-EH74 w/ Core™ i7-11800H, 16GB, 1TB SSD, 15.6in Full HD, GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, Wi-Fi 6, BT, Win 11 Home - Laptops / Notebooks - Memory Express Inc.

www.memoryexpress.com

You could go with something like this, but the old 10th gen processors are like dinosaurs compared to the 12th gen. And I can't stand the dinky 14" screen, 15.6" is the smallest I'd go.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/open-box-asus-vivobook-15-15-6-oled-laptop-indie-black-intel-core-i5-12500h-1tb-ssd-16gb-ram-win-11/17231338

Or snag this open box model:

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/open-box-asus-vivobook-15-15-6-oled-laptop-indie-black-intel-core-i5-12500h-1tb-ssd-16gb-ram-win-11/17231338

IMO the $1000 price point is the place to be, performance really drops off if you go below this. The first 2 have reasonably fast processors with 16gb of ram and a 1tb SSD. Should stay current for at least 5 years for your use case.

 

[ABMax24]

I screwed something up, this was supposed to be the third link:

Lenovo ThinkPad T14 (Refurbished) Laptop w/ Core™ i5-10310U, 16GB, 512GB SSD, 14in Full HD, Wi-Fi 6, BT, Win 10 Pro - Laptops / Notebooks - Memory Express Inc.

www.memoryexpress.com

 

[sirkdev]

Thanks for the suggestion all. Appreciate it.

 

[TylerG]

I did this same thing this time last year, I also wound up buying a dell Latitude Laptop, but used my employee purchase program through work for a discount on it.

It's 90% data/presentations and word processing for me, with a side of internet.

 

[rknight111]

go to Memory Express you can get a decent thinkpad for 600-1200 there good laptops.

 

[jhurkot]

Apple refurbished is what I usually do…
If you are already using Apple products I think you’d be disappointed with how a PC works with your phone and iPad.

Certified Refurbished Products

We test and certify all Apple refurbished products and include a one-year warranty.

www.apple.com

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[sirkdev]

I use an older MacBook but don't really need it, it sure has been a good run though, 12 years and a few batteries.. I'm sure cost wise they are close to or less than a PC over the duration. I do use use texting a fair bit as well, but I understand there are apps, for a PC but you know how that goes. Apples are just so easy.

 

[TylerG]

I use an older MacBook but don't really need it, it sure has been a good run though, 12 years and a few batteries.. I'm sure cost wise they are close to or less than a PC over the duration. I do use use texting a fair bit as well, but I understand there are apps, for a PC but you know how that goes. Apples are just so easy.

Windows 11 has an app that works great with the android phone for accessing your text messages etc.

My apple phone is a work phone, so I don't have it tied to my computer.

 

[cdnredneck_t3]

I don't know if you ever intend to hoom it to a dock, but if you do make sure it is capable of USBC charging and capable of video out of the USBC. Then it's a simple single plug into a dock.