I'm considering a new laptop and need your advice as to what to get. I don't play games and mainly use it for surfing the web from my Ultimate Command Recliner, so it does not have to be small and portable - I have tablets for that.
1. OS: I'll probably go Linux again, what is your favorite desktop Linux Distro and why do you like it? I'm also open to getting Windows or OS X laptop but tell me why I should over Linux.
2. Hard Drive: solid state vs. conventional and how big?
3. Optical: Is having a Blu-ray drive worth paying extra?
4. Size: okay I know I said size wasn't important, I'm considering a 15.6 inch screen but if somebody thinks it should be smaller or larger I'll consider it.
Any suggestions will be helpful.
If you can wait, Intel is shipping its new Skylake CPUs this Summer. In addition to being faster, it'll be capable of wireless charging and wireless external monitor connections. Both of which would be pretty cool for a living room browser.
15.6 is a great size for recliner duty. IPS screens are very nice (vs TN) because of the wide viewing angles. Matte screens are nice, but harder to find. SSD's are silent and fast. Disc players are phasing out as people stop using CD/DVD/Blu Ray. It makes for a thicker, heavier machine. For browsing, 128gb would probably be ok. Anything more than that, I'd go 256gb.
I don't know what your budget is, but there are some nice machines in a range of prices. I like ASUS.
Just got my parents this model, and almost bought one for myself. http://www.amazon.com/N550JK-DB74T-Touchscreen-Aluminum-i7-4710HQ-Solid-State/dp/B00LO3K002/
And the super-thin, $$$ flagship version: http://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/ZenBook_Pro_UX501/
I don't really have any recommendation when it comes to hardware but it seems that Ubuntu does a pretty good job of being compatible with lots of makes out of the box. I'm partial to Debian myself and setting it up the way I like it.
Travioli - Some real good advice. Thanks.
>ASUS
Wow! Both of those are really good looking! Thanks.
littleman - we are thinking along the same lines, seems like Ubuntu is going to have the most drivers, support and stability. I'm kinda leaning toward Kubutu since I like the UI better than Unity.
I'm way out of date with this stuff. I didn't realise that DisplayPort allows laptops to power multiple external monitors. Apparently the upcoming DisplayPort 1.3 will handle two external 4K displays.
I'm wedded to the ThinkPad TrackPoint, so that really limits my choice. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is very nice, but probably not fantastic value.
Since I am a little apple bitch I would buy a macbook pro 15" retina and max out the ram. MAYBE the 13" macbook pro retina. Basically twice the price that they should be, but really easy to move into. "Migrate from time machine backup" and done.
I would ONLY ever buy a machine with an SSD. ANY MACHINE ever. So much better.
I'd also go with SSD given the choice, from what I've read even an external one via USB3 would perform better than an internal spinning disk.
New Macbook, all you need for browsing and the clincher.... Gold.
I recently upgraded an 8 year old Dell laptop that the kids are using. It was so slow that I don't know why I even bothered upgraded it.
Anyway, I tried putting a solid state drive in it just to see the performance impact on an way too old computer. When the old pita bios is done Windows 8.1 now boots in 15 seconds.
Imagine what a SSD can do you in a new computer.
I'm learning a lot in this thread:
Definitely going SSD based on your recommendations.
Hm, the Macbook is swimming back in the picture because so many of you have recommended one. I always hate getting caught up in Apple's walled garden but maybe I should look at a Macbook again before I commit to Linux.
Linux is always a tradeoff with some plugins like Silverlight not working for me on it. Mostly Silverlight does not mater, but our County government publishes real estate properrty owner maps using Silverlight so that becomes a PITA.
How about chips? I'm seeing i3, i5 and i7 all available is there anything I must have?
While you're building the perfect laptop, a backlit keyboard would be nice. And, at least for me, touchscreen is pretty much worthless.
>maybe I should look at a Macbook again before I commit to Linux.
Why not have both, pretty sure you can run Ubuntu on most Mac's?
I seriously love my 11" Mac Air. It does everything I need and its small form factor is great for travelling.
When I ordered it I maxed out every spec and it's more powerful than my desktop.
>Mac Air
A friend, who is a writer, loves his Mac Air. He carries it everywhere, which makes sense.
>Why not have both, pretty sure you can run Ubuntu on most Mac's?
Now why didn't I think of that? Of course Parallels will run Ubuntu on a Mac and that gives me the best of both OS's. Thank you nffc, this is exactly why I posted.
>11"
Yeah, I was going to post that my 13.1-Inch lenovo is on the brink of being too big. It's fine for a semi-stationary desktop replacement but I really don't have to have all the real estate.
FWIW I do a lot more work in the easy chair with the 11" than I ever did with its predecessor the 13" Air.
It's just easier to handle.
buckworks, you and RC are challenging my pre-conceived notions: I was looking at a 15 inch Macbook Pro and now you two are chopping it down to 13" or less. :)
Now I'm looking again at the 13.3" Macbook Pros. I think I would be squinting too much with an 11 inch screen.
What size does your writer friend have? 13.3 would be max for me.
>Parallels
I think you can just use bootcamp, no need for virtual machine.
Might be worth a trip to your local laptop store to sit with a couple screen sizes. Do you rest your wrists on the laptop while typing in your recliner? If so, make sure the model you choose is comfortable in that respect.
And where does it *really* tend to sit for most of your sessions --on a desk or in your lap?
Definitely sits on lap.
Well, the 13" might be better then. I think a tabletop gives you more leeway in positioning a smaller laptop for viewing comfort and vision. And the ultra-small laptops like the now ancient Toughbook R4 was kind of hard to balance on my lap and type.
>lap
My current laptop gets pretty warm. Feels good on my knees in the winter. Cheaper and less trouble than a cat or dog.
This really comes down to portability vs. seeability.
How about a 13" screen in an 11" chassis?
http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/dell-xps-13-2015
I had to get 'er done.
I ordered a 13" Macbook Pro with Retina Display:
2.9GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
16GB 1866MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Graphics 6100
Force Touch trackpad
Accessory Kit
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
It was the only civilized thing to do. ;D
Thanks all of you for your help this was a very valuable thread as it settled numerous issues:
1. Removed my lingering doubts about SSD and got me to go the digital memory route.
2. Backlit keyboard
3. Buying a Mac and then running Kubuntu on it by various nefarious means.
Again thanks to you all!
I've been looking to replace my laptop and almost went with a Mac Pro 13".
But I've never had anything apple and I've found it hard to click that buy button.
Looking around I really do like the Dell XPS 13 (http://www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-13-9343-laptop/pd).
Ticks all the right boxes apart from it has Win 8.1
So I'm hoping I can hold out until Win 10 gets released so I can push that button.
>Win 8.1
Absolutely not a problem. There are 2 tweaks (boot to desktop, and I forget) that make it very much like XP.
>Win 10
From what I'm reading W10 will be a free upgrade for W8 users
I've owned several Apple computers over the years and hardware failure wise they are not much better than the quality name brand Windows machines. Apple is more stylish but not better with hardware and Apple's quality seems to get better after they have a few months to work the bugs out of a new model.
So a good Dell, or Asus or Toshiba laptop is a fine buy, Chunkford. It's the OS that is the big difference anymore. I have to admit that Apple offering free OS X upgrades from Maverick on played into my decision to go with Mac.
>Win 10
I heard W10 will be a free upgrade back to Win 7, if your hardware can handle it.
ummm, maybe I should take another look-see then :)
Cheers
>How about a 13" screen in an 11" chassis?
That's a nice looking machine.
Just came in on my feed
"The Microsoft Signature version we'd recommend, which includes 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, costs $699"
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/04/28/asus-zenbook-ux305-its-no-macbook-but-its-a-good-midrange-laptop/
I've been looking at Macbook Airs, the ASUS Zenbook above (great deal) and various other 11 - 14", very thin notebooks. These things are darn near as portable as a large tablet except they have a keyboard.
Now you can get a tablet with LTE ala carte, wouldn't it be neat if you could get one of these with LTE ala carte too?
Well it's in.
Installed Vivaldi browser, Evernote, and LibreOffice first thing. Will check on Box and Dropbox apps soon. These make me avoid the worse parts of the Apple walled garden. Also installed AVG Free for Mac Antivirus.
Am finding my way around this version of OS X, and will make a call on installing Parallels after I get used to it.
This Macbook has the new multitouch trackpad with no buttons. :-\ That is taking some adjustment. Frankly it strikes me as fixing a problem that was not there.
Screen is astounding.