Buying a new laptop

[KhunLA]

ASUS fan, bought 3rd one recently (also a 4th for daughter at Uni), just as upgrades, as other 2 still work fine at 10 yrs old. Acer also has be friendly to us, and 2 of those still working and also 10 yrs old, though sitting idle, and charge up occasionally.

[buksida]

With computer prices about to surge again, I reckon it might be a good time to retire the old Acer and get a new laptop. Lenovo is coming out top at the moment as they have some decent spec machines for about 25K. Anyone bought a Lenovo recently?

MSI also look good but I have no experience with them. Will avoid ASUS as the last one of those I had only lasted a year.

[caller]

Anyone bought a Lenovo recently?

Yes, just after Christmas, I think. I got an IdeaPad Flex 5 14ITL05 with win 11 pre-installed. So far so good. It helps that my other half gets a 15% discount as she works for the company we bought from. It is definitely a step-up in quality from the last Lenovo I bought. But I am not into gaming, or storing much on it. But do live streaming and watch films and other stuff and all is well.

I wanted an Acer but at that time of looking, there was a real lack of options for touch screen. No idea why. So much so, that I actually askerd if they still sold them! This was universal across a range of outlets in Bkk.

[buksida]

A touch screen on a laptop is the last thing I'd want!

The major decision now will come down to physical size. Do I go for the 14" which is much easier to travel with, carry on a bike etc, or the full size 15.6" which will be nicer to work on but cumbersome to carry around? Spec-wise, the budget sits at 10 or 11 gen Intel i5 (I have an AMD laptop and they run hot so going for Intel this time). Doesn't look like any of them come with 16GB of memory so I'm stuck with 8 though upgrading is an option.

[buksida]

Narrowing down the options, going for the smaller form factor for easier transport since I only really use a laptop on the road.

Cant find much wrong with this Ideapad 3 which ticks all the spec boxes, has a good battery, full HD screen, and is only 1.5kgs. It is also under budget at 18K (the graphics are the weak point but I wont be gaming on it):

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/lenov ... 20725.html


Not sure what the differences are with the Ideapad 5 which is 7,000 more for a very similar spec (ok, it flexes and has a pen that I'd never really use):

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/lenov ... 21904.html


Its 5,000 more for the identical laptop with an i7. For basic office work, internet, and the odd movie, I'm not sure even that warrants the 5,000 baht extra looking at the performance comparison. I'd rather have double the RAM but you have to go up near the 30K budget level to get that so may just buy an extra memory module.

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/lenov ... 65692.html


The Acer equivalent is called the Swift 3 and it is 6,000 baht more for an identical spec machine as the first one.

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/acer- ... 77472.html


This all makes the first one seem too good to be true for the price, but it is from the official Lenovo store so unlikely to be a Laz fake.

[hhinner]

Of the 2 Ideapads, I would buy the cheaper one because:

Wouldn't want a touch screen with Windows anyway
So wouldn't want the fold back function
Can upgrade the memory from 8 to 12, though this would mean one channel has less than the other. The more expensive model memory is not upgradeable.
Possible to add an extra hard drive.

Generally I would prefer that both memory modules be in sodimm slots to be more upgradeable.

Not sure I would want my main laptop to be without Ethernet. Even though I don't need it usually, there have been a few times when needed.

[buksida]

Yep, makes sense to me also, will pull the trigger on that one today.

Haven't used a LAN cable with a laptop for years, but I guess its a good backup should the Wifi adaptor have a problem.

[buksida]

The beastie arrived today, took nearly a week as all the delivery drivers have covid!

Impressed so far, super lightweight, crystal clear screen, and snappy performance. Now its time to get rid of all the bloatware (there isn't actually that much) and disable all the intrusive Microshite stuff. Its prompting me for Windoze 11 but I think I'll stick with 10.

Edit: pretty damn good timing also, the one I just bought has jumped in price by 4,500 (27%).
https://www.lazada.co.th/products/lenov ... 20725.html

[handdrummer]

Why don't the manufacturers use a solid-state hard drive? My HP hard drive crashed after only 2 yrs. and Mr. Don installed a SS hard drive. The HP now performs about 10 times faster.

[huahin4ever]

I have had a top spec'ed Lenovo X1 Yoga Gen 1 for 6 years. I bought it new in US. Best ever laptop I've had and still quite up to date. Core i7 processor, 16 gig ram, 1 tb SS hard drive, 4G LTE, memory card reader, stylus, touch screen etc. Fantastic laptop. Only minus I will not get Win11 due to the series of processor is too old

I can really recommend Lenovo even though they may be a bit more expensive.

YNWA

[Dannie Boy]

I have had a top spec'ed Lenovo X1 Yoga Gen 1 for 6 years. I bought it new in US. Best ever laptop I've had and still quite up to date. Core i7 processor, 16 gig ram, 1 tb SS hard drive, 4G LTE, memory card reader, stylus, touch screen etc. Fantastic laptop. Only minus I will not get Win11 due to the series of processor is too old

I can really recommend Lenovo even though they may be a bit more expensive.

YNWA

Maybe not quite such a high spec but I have a 4 year old HP Spectre with an i7 processor but only a 500 gb hard drive, touch screen, B&O speakers and it has been lightning fast since day 1 - like you though, it can’t upgrade to Win11, but that’s hardly the end of the world!!

[buksida]

Why don't the manufacturers use a solid-state hard drive? My HP hard drive crashed after only 2 yrs. and Mr. Don installed a SS hard drive. The HP now performs about 10 times faster.

They do. Pretty much every laptop you can buy now has a SSD or M2.

I still have a four-year-old AMD Acer that works well, and a ten-year-old Lenovo netbook that still runs. Never had an issue with Lenovo/IBM hence the latest purchase. Just very surprised how quickly they hiked the prices, timed it perfectly.

I declined Win11 since 10 works perfectly well and I don't want all that tablet/apps/touchy screen bullshit.

[handdrummer]

Why don't the manufacturers use a solid-state hard drive? My HP hard drive crashed after only 2 yrs. and Mr. Don installed a SS hard drive. The HP now performs about 10 times faster.

They do. Pretty much every laptop you can buy now has a SSD or M2.

I still have a four-year-old AMD Acer that works well, and a ten-year-old Lenovo netbook that still runs. Never had an issue with Lenovo/IBM hence the latest purchase. Just very surprised how quickly they hiked the prices, timed it perfectly.

I declined Win11 since 10 works perfectly well and I don't want all that tablet/apps/touchy screen bullshit.

I also have a 10 yr. old Dell laptop with Win 7 that still works well and all I've ever done was replace the battery.

[migrant]

I guess it's time. Mr Dan has done his best but it's still acting up so need a new lap top.

I use to watch movies, listen to music, read articles and do some work at times, I don't game on it.

All suggestions welcome Thanks!

[Gregjam]

I have now switched to Apple for my phones and laptops but retain a Windows based PC as this is is the OS used at work. I am still adjusting to the differences but have found using the Apple devices more reliable with less glitches. More expensive but easier to live with and will be usable for longer. I have some older laptops that would not support more recent versions of Windows, perhaps I might install Linux on them but that would in all honesty be for an experiment although it can reduce the costs of a computer considerably.
Just a few thoughts.