ddrueding
Fixture
The new ThinkPad touchpad is clearly inferior to the old one; having the entire surface move is disconcerting and not having dedicated buttons adds uncertainty. I use a mouse much more than I used to.
Laptop Recommendations
- Thread starter Will Rickards
- Start date
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
I'm a huge fan of the new touchpad. It took about 2 days of on and off use to get used to it and be able to right-click consistently. I can more easily use my wife's Apple.
That said I don't hate the old one either.
That said I don't hate the old one either.
I actually find the touchpad on my mac book better than any other laptop I've used. I still don't enjoy using the touchpad because of fatigue and the frustration that ensues when I try doing a selection and run out of touchpad space or anything that needs me to move the curser beyond the scope of the track area. I can't stand using the trackpad on my T500. I've disabled it because when it was enabled the mouse was constantly jumping all over the place from accidentally bumping it with my palm.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
My touchpad continues on automatically when I get to the edge, for exactly the reasons you mention. I'd be surprised if this wasn't available in a newer driver.
sedrosken
Florida Man
Am I weird for not using the touchpad, ever? I ALWAYS have a mouse with ANY laptop that doesn't have a good ol' tracknipple.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Plenty of people won't use a touchpad. I think that's more than a little foolish, since having to carry and use a mouse is just one more thing to deal with and the touchpad is always available.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
I never use the nipple; not enough precision in my hand and it feels like extra effort to reach beyond the pad. To each their own.
So many ways to respond to this. LMAO.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
Context is everything. 
ddrueding
Fixture
I understood that it was called the joy-nipple. A much better name, IMHO.
sdbardwick
Storage is cool
Will Rickards
Storage Is My Life
Hmm... let's try to get back on the original topic.
So some skylake laptops are out, notably the microsoft surface book.
Any other good ones announced worth considering?
Only hard work it will do is photo processing as I'm not a PC gamer.
Needs decent screen but I'll probably hook it up to a monitor for photo work.
I'd like dual monitor support as well.
I don't have an exact budget but the surface book is probably too expensive.
So some skylake laptops are out, notably the microsoft surface book.
Any other good ones announced worth considering?
Only hard work it will do is photo processing as I'm not a PC gamer.
Needs decent screen but I'll probably hook it up to a monitor for photo work.
I'd like dual monitor support as well.
I don't have an exact budget but the surface book is probably too expensive.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
If you don't care about Windows, then how about? https://www.crowdsupply.com/purism/librem-13
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
That machine seems expensive for what you're getting. I understand why that is, but you're really paying a premium for what would easily be under $1000 otherwise.
Will Rickards
Storage Is My Life
What do you think of the Asus Q534UX
Seems exclusive to best buy.
That price is about my budget (current rewards amount).
I was looking at the lenovo/dell ones that were similar but it seems the upgrades (screen/processor/ram/ssd) ramp up the price fairly quickly, especially the screen.
My work laptop was replaced a few months ago with a 13ish inch screen one (Dell E7240). This is too small. I can't really stand it and asked for a replacement. The light weight is nice though.
Seems exclusive to best buy.
That price is about my budget (current rewards amount).
I was looking at the lenovo/dell ones that were similar but it seems the upgrades (screen/processor/ram/ssd) ramp up the price fairly quickly, especially the screen.
My work laptop was replaced a few months ago with a 13ish inch screen one (Dell E7240). This is too small. I can't really stand it and asked for a replacement. The light weight is nice though.
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Stereodude
Not really a
I wouldn't buy it because of the glossy touchscreen, but that's just me.
I've been a real big fan of my now several year old HP Elitebook 840 G1. If I were buying a new laptop today I'd get the Elitebook 840 G3 with the QHD antiglare display. It's pretty light and thin while still having proper ports on it and doesn't need a dongle for everything. Of course that doesn't necessarily help your BB rewards.
I've been a real big fan of my now several year old HP Elitebook 840 G1. If I were buying a new laptop today I'd get the Elitebook 840 G3 with the QHD antiglare display. It's pretty light and thin while still having proper ports on it and doesn't need a dongle for everything. Of course that doesn't necessarily help your BB rewards.
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
I buy HP ZBook 15 G3 to employees at the office. One with a 4K display and a 512GB PCI-E SSD will cost you 900$ more than that Asus consumer laptop, but the CPU will be more capable and it wll be globally studier. Of course, that may very well be out of your budget.
We only bought one Elitebook 850 G1 and found the design too flimsy, especially the keyboard. The ZBook are tougher. The laptops are often used in relatively rough environments. This isn't always a the case for everyone else.
We only bought one Elitebook 850 G1 and found the design too flimsy, especially the keyboard. The ZBook are tougher. The laptops are often used in relatively rough environments. This isn't always a the case for everyone else.
Will Rickards
Storage Is My Life
I just ordered this refurbished Dell Precision 7510 model.
I'm a little wary of buying it off ebay but I took a shot.
I'm a little wary of buying it off ebay but I took a shot.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I'll be interested to hear what battery life is like with that 4k panel.
Will Rickards
Storage Is My Life
Got the laptop. It is impressive. But they loaded the OS on the 1TB hard drive instead of the SSD.
Before I image that drive and restore the partition to the SSD, is there any other way I should be approaching this?
Perhaps a clean install is called for? Is there a way to easily package all the drivers from the existing install?
Before I image that drive and restore the partition to the SSD, is there any other way I should be approaching this?
Perhaps a clean install is called for? Is there a way to easily package all the drivers from the existing install?
Stereodude
Not really a
Not as far as I know. Usually they have all the drivers on their website though.
Will Rickards
Storage Is My Life
They apparently have a system image for my device but it wouldn't let me download it for some reason. I'll have to try again.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I have a tool to zip up the drivers from a current Windows installation, but I haven't needed such a thing since the days of XP.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
From what I'm reading, the last Thinkpad T-series models that are capable of supporting 2xHDD + mSATA/m.2 are the Tx40-series. You have to look at a Tx60p to get one that will actually boot off m.2; lesser models will only use them as caching drives. I understand that the ultrabay has always been a niche item but I used mine all the time and I'm sad to see its time has passed.
sedrosken
Florida Man
I can say from experience that my T450 is booting perfectly fine from M.2. Electrically though my understanding is that they won't take PCI-E M.2 stuff, only SATA. Also, having my BIOS updated to the latest version may be helping me on that front as well.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
Have you looked into any alternative bios's? Might be your last chance.
DrunkenBastard
Storage is cool
Prob a little late for you now but I recently got a T460s to replace my old work T520, a tidge over 3 pounds, and 1080p in 14". Small enough to fit in my motorcycle tank bag, pretty snappy with i5, 8gb of ram and a 256gb SSD, only consumer downside is the integrated battery but if I have problems work will swap it out. Certainly a huge weight/volume reduction compared to the T5xx series. Would highly recommend.
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
We have an HP Spectre 360 Pro at the office and I prefer it to the T460s. The screen is better and it's slightly cheaper, at least around here.
What do you guys think of this laptop for $780 shipped after tax? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015PYYDM...lid=282VK02GLH4Q8&coliid=I1XYA33G420JBX&psc=1
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Personally, I'm wary of gaming laptops because they usually fuck up the thermals in ways that lead to shortened life for at least some components, but the GTX960 may not be enough of a power hog to warrant the gaming designation in the first place. That's probably the main thing I'd research, if that's something I wanted to buy.
It won't be 'gamed' a lot but I wanted it to have some decent capability in that respect. It seems to have an available 2.5" dock where you can add in another SSD, which I already have. That sounded nice. My son will be using it mostly for school and when I let him play Minecraft with his friends (which I don't expect will tax it too much at all) and maybe some other games.
Too bad my 10 year old Lenovo R61 (G965, C2D) doesn't have complete drivers for Windows 10. Minecraft won't even run on it but it would probably get the job done for a year or two if it had up to date video drivers.
Too bad my 10 year old Lenovo R61 (G965, C2D) doesn't have complete drivers for Windows 10. Minecraft won't even run on it but it would probably get the job done for a year or two if it had up to date video drivers.
When I looked at it last night shortly after you posted the link the price was $899...I was like, maybe Clocker found a good deal like he usually does with some coupon or something. :-D
Are the Asus Zenbook pros any good? They also come with a GTX 960M inside...maybe to help handle the 4K display.
The ThinkPad X1 Yoga is also interesting with the OLED screen but I don't think it's worth it for the money for what it offers. I like the idea of the Yoga 900 but when I tried one in the store it didn't really do anything for me. It felt sub-par and I really didn't care for the track pad that it had. I've been looking for a replacement for my aged T500 but I'd like something less bulky. Gaming isn't a priority but it might be nice if it could play some stuff. I'd love a Zenbook or equivalent sized machine with the newer GTX 1060|1070|1080 option...so I may just have to wait. Mostly to ensure a 2K or 4K panel is driven easily enough.
The ThinkPad X1 Yoga is also interesting with the OLED screen but I don't think it's worth it for the money for what it offers. I like the idea of the Yoga 900 but when I tried one in the store it didn't really do anything for me. It felt sub-par and I really didn't care for the track pad that it had. I've been looking for a replacement for my aged T500 but I'd like something less bulky. Gaming isn't a priority but it might be nice if it could play some stuff. I'd love a Zenbook or equivalent sized machine with the newer GTX 1060|1070|1080 option...so I may just have to wait. Mostly to ensure a 2K or 4K panel is driven easily enough.
sedrosken
Florida Man
I would think the HD series has the grunt necessary to drive a 2-4K panel as long as you're not trying to game on it. But then, I've never had a 4K display and I'm not likely to get one this decade either.
mangyDOG
Learning Storage Performance
I have found these to be pretty good: https://www.asus.com/au/Commercial-Notebooks/ASUSPRO-B8430UA/specifications/
14" with carbon fibre so 1.7Kg with five year warranty. 12Gb ram, one M2 SSD and space for a 2.5" drive as well.
or these (if you really want some grunt):
http://metabox.com.au/store/b194/P650RP-Overview
quad core skylake, upto 64Gb ram, two m.2 slots and two 2.5" bays.
Cheers,
mangyDOG
14" with carbon fibre so 1.7Kg with five year warranty. 12Gb ram, one M2 SSD and space for a 2.5" drive as well.
or these (if you really want some grunt):
http://metabox.com.au/store/b194/P650RP-Overview
quad core skylake, upto 64Gb ram, two m.2 slots and two 2.5" bays.
Cheers,
mangyDOG
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
FYI, IIRC, there are currently no (public) plans for low-voltage mobile versions of these chipsets, so if you get a laptop with these, I wouldn't expect stellar battery life.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Handy, Zenbooks have been my go-to consumer notebook recommendation for a few years. I re-sell four or five a year and they're well built with nice screens and keyboards. The only reason I've ever opened one is to upgrade an SSD, but even that speaks highly of them since I've not had to swap a screen or a keyboard on one.
Thanks for the feedback on those. Have any of the ones you're re-selling been the Zenbook Pro or are you primarily reselling just the normal Zenbook models?