Best laptop 2020

[jpereira95]

I wanted to ask the community for any laptop recommendations. Here is what I'm looking for: AND THANK YOU IN ADVANCE

• Thin and light
• Powerful, intel 10th gen CPU with Iris graphics
• Long Battery Life, 10 hours or more
• Touch screen
• Good keyboard. It's especially important to have a long space to put my hands on while I type without feeling the edge of the computer cutting through my palms or wrists.
• Bright display (400 nits minimum) with small vessels
• Above-average speakers, I don't need mac level speakers but I need them to be decent so I don't have to put on headphones every single time for conference calls.
• 2-1 isn't required but I'd like the flexibility to take notes.
• Ideally, it would have at least 1 type USB Type-A to avoid using stupid dongles

Overview if you don't want to read the breakdown per brand:

• Thoughts about the Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen 8 and Yoga C940 14inch even though their speakers are bad and they don't have the more efficient Iris graphics? Are they releasing any new models or CPU updates that I should hold on for?
• Thoughts about the HP Spectre & Dragonfly? How is HP's customer service and how is their keyboard compared to the competition?
• HP Dragonfly seems to be one of the best options... Any idea of when the G2 refresh is supposed to be released? Thoughts about the first generation for those that have it?
• Any other recommendations I should consider?
• With the Tiger Lake CPU's coming along in the second half of the year is it worth waiting or not?

Macbooks: I hate macOS, they didn't upgrade to s 14 inch and the fact that they don't offer a touchscreen is frustrating. Excel in Mac is also absolutely horrible as well.
Dell XPS line up: Their 2-1 have is quite a bit worse than the normal more traditional one. I tried a normal XPS 13 3 years ago and ended up returning it after 1 week for the quality control problems and horrible malware that came out of the box that was impossible to uninstall without deleting windows. Does anybody have any experience with the new ones? Thoughts?
Razer (Stealth): Hate the brand after owning a razer blade that didn't last more than 2 years and their customer service is one of the worse in the industry. Touchscreen only available in 4k and why do you need a 4k in a 14-inch display aside from killing your battery?
Lenovo (X1 carbon Gen 8 & Yoga C940): I hate the nipple cursor thing in the middle of Lenovo, speakers aren't the best, the camera is HORRIBLE for video calls, doesn't have Iris graphics and vessels could be smaller but they seem to get the job done. Anybody had any experience with the newest models?
Microsoft (Surface lineup - has HUGE vessels): Surface laptop isn't a 2-1 and has the old CPU. The Book 3 is chunky, not very powerful and the whole unclip your display thing has no use for me. I have a surface 5 and I'm never getting another one in my life because the hinge broke and it's very uncomfortable and the battery doesn't last enough among other issues.
HP (Spectre & Dragonfly): Both of these options seem to be the best ones out of all the competition, but I have concerns about HP's customer service and their keyboard reliability anybody had any experience with either of these devices? The Spectre seems to be a bit too small for typing and the Dragonfly has the old 8th gen CPU, any idea when the refresh Dragonfly G2 is coming out?

THANK YOU!

 

[NOT_PROVIDED_16]

Everyone has their own opinion, Personally I've always liked Dell's.
They still sell let's say "normal laptops" in their XPS lineup.
I've always found Dell laptops to be well made and built to last.

 

[jpereira95]

Everyone has their own opinion, Personally I've always liked Dell's.
They still sell let's say "normal laptops" in their XPS lineup.
I've always found Dell laptops to be well made and built to last.

Thank you for the message! Do you know if they come with any bloatware?

 

[LordVile]

I wanted to ask the community for any laptop recommendations. Here is what I'm looking for: AND THANK YOU IN ADVANCE

• Thin and light
• Powerful, intel 10th gen CPU with Iris graphics
• Long Battery Life, 10 hours or more
• Touch screen
• Good keyboard. It's especially important to have a long space to put my hands on while I type without feeling the edge of the computer cutting through my palms or wrists.
• Bright display (400 nits minimum) with small vessels
• Above-average speakers, I don't need mac level speakers but I need them to be decent so I don't have to put on headphones every single time for conference calls.
• 2-1 isn't required but I'd like the flexibility to take notes.
• Ideally, it would have at least 1 type USB Type-A to avoid using stupid dongles

Overview if you don't want to read the breakdown per brand:

• Thoughts about the Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen 8 and Yoga C940 14inch even though their speakers are bad and they don't have the more efficient Iris graphics? Are they releasing any new models or CPU updates that I should hold on for?
• Thoughts about the HP Spectre & Dragonfly? How is HP's customer service and how is their keyboard compared to the competition?
• HP Dragonfly seems to be one of the best options... Any idea of when the G2 refresh is supposed to be released? Thoughts about the first generation for those that have it?
• Any other recommendations I should consider?
• With the Tiger Lake CPU's coming along in the second half of the year is it worth waiting or not?

Macbooks: I hate macOS, they didn't upgrade to s 14 inch and the fact that they don't offer a touchscreen is frustrating. Excel in Mac is also absolutely horrible as well.
Dell XPS line up: Their 2-1 have is quite a bit worse than the normal more traditional one. I tried a normal XPS 13 3 years ago and ended up returning it after 1 week for the quality control problems and horrible malware that came out of the box that was impossible to uninstall without deleting windows. Does anybody have any experience with the new ones? Thoughts?
Razer (Stealth): Hate the brand after owning a razer blade that didn't last more than 2 years and their customer service is one of the worse in the industry. Touchscreen only available in 4k and why do you need a 4k in a 14-inch display aside from killing your battery?
Lenovo (X1 carbon Gen 8 & Yoga C940): I hate the nipple cursor thing in the middle of Lenovo, speakers aren't the best, the camera is HORRIBLE for video calls, doesn't have Iris graphics and vessels could be smaller but they seem to get the job done. Anybody had any experience with the newest models?
Microsoft (Surface lineup - has HUGE vessels): Surface laptop isn't a 2-1 and has the old CPU. The Book 3 is chunky, not very powerful and the whole unclip your display thing has no use for me. I have a surface 5 and I'm never getting another one in my life because the hinge broke and it's very uncomfortable and the battery doesn't last enough among other issues.
HP (Spectre & Dragonfly): Both of these options seem to be the best ones out of all the competition, but I have concerns about HP's customer service and their keyboard reliability anybody had any experience with either of these devices? The Spectre seems to be a bit too small for typing and the Dragonfly has the old 8th gen CPU, any idea when the refresh Dragonfly G2 is coming out?

THANK YOU!

Why would you want a touch screen on a laptop... the OS isn’t designed for it and it’s just clunky. A good trackpad (A MacBook trackpad Windows ones are horrendous) is a lot better than a touchscreen

 

[jpereira95]

Why would you want a touch screen on a laptop... the OS isn’t designed for it and it’s just clunky. A good trackpad (A MacBook trackpad Windows ones are horrendous) is a lot better than a touchscreen

I would be okay without a touchscreen, but it's preferable. I take notes, and I use it to brainstorm the structure, flows and other details of a large system I'm building. I would love to have a large wall to write on with sticky notes or a whiteboard, but I can't do this with my current living situation. I've tried other methods in the past, but writing things down and seeing the big picture is really important for me. I used a lot of notebooks and paper in the past to do this, but they always end up lost, misplaced, etc. It's also very useful when I use the laptop in bed which I'm unfortunately doing a lot more than I'd like to in my current situation while we develop the system overseas

 

[LordVile]

I would be okay without a touchscreen, but it's preferable. I take notes, and I use it to brainstorm the structure, flows and other details of a large system I'm building. I would love to have a large wall to write on with sticky notes or a whiteboard, but I can't do this with my current living situation. I've tried other methods in the past, but writing things down and seeing the big picture is really important for me. I used a lot of notebooks and paper in the past to do this, but they always end up lost, misplaced, etc. It's also very useful when I use the laptop in bed which I'm unfortunately doing a lot more than I'd like to in my current situation while we develop the system overseas

lol tbh at uni I had a white board propped against the wardrobe for that. Would you consider a tablet or do you need more grunt/certain programs?

 

[jpereira95]

lol tbh at uni I had a white board propped against the wardrobe for that. Would you consider a tablet or do you need more grunt/certain programs?

I feel you! We are getting an iPad with all the accessories because my partner needed a "computer" while her mac gets fixed (screen stopped working after a mistake from apple when they replaced the keyboard, had to break during the pandemic and while we are working in a country with no Apple Store lol). It gives her the touch screen in the mac ecosystem and something that complements the mac for when she gets it back (probably in December or later with how things are evolving and considering the only repair shop here is closed)

Aside from needing some light use of illustrator we mostly need online services like Figma, Microsoft Teams, Once Drive, ClickUp and lots of google meet calls with different front-end and back-end team members so I kind of need a webcam.

I'm used to having the pc I built, but we have in storage in the US until we complete the system MVP and I need a new laptop myself for work and to do some gaming again. My surface pro 5 is completely busted (hinge is broken, the screen is literally coming off on the side caused by the inflated battery and it's SO slow) and I'm kind of hating the form factor a bit which is why I wanted a normal laptop or a 2-1. Since I wrote the post HP has come out with the new Envy lineup that looks pretty good especially this one https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-envy-laptop-15-ep0098nr, thoughts?

 

[Girdlehot]

Apple brand should be one of the best laptops this year 2020. They are just built for quality.

 

[LordVile]

I feel you! We are getting an iPad with all the accessories because my partner needed a "computer" while her mac gets fixed (screen stopped working after a mistake from apple when they replaced the keyboard, had to break during the pandemic and while we are working in a country with no Apple Store lol). It gives her the touch screen in the mac ecosystem and something that complements the mac for when she gets it back (probably in December or later with how things are evolving and considering the only repair shop here is closed)

Aside from needing some light use of illustrator we mostly need online services like Figma, Microsoft Teams, Once Drive, ClickUp and lots of google meet calls with different front-end and back-end team members so I kind of need a webcam.

I'm used to having the pc I built, but we have in storage in the US until we complete the system MVP and I need a new laptop myself for work and to do some gaming again. My surface pro 5 is completely busted (hinge is broken, the screen is literally coming off on the side caused by the inflated battery and it's SO slow) and I'm kind of hating the form factor a bit which is why I wanted a normal laptop or a 2-1. Since I wrote the post HP has come out with the new Envy lineup that looks pretty good especially this one https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-envy-laptop-15-ep0098nr, thoughts?

I’m a MacBook guy tbh, Windows laptops just haven’t been nice to use for me

 

[jpereira95]

Apple brand should be one of the best laptops this year 2020. They are just built for quality.

I feel you, but my partner has one and I hate it. The fact that apple refuses to give touchscreens and that it doesn't let you play any videogames out of the box without going through the Bootcamp workaround is very unattractive to me, especially considering how much they charge. And the mac excel is horrible for crunching numbers because its missing 99% of the advance settings.

Also, with all of the changes coming to apple I think its a bad idea buying any of their laptops or pc for the next 1-2 years until they complete the transition to their chips. Once they do I think they are going to unstoppable because they are going to reduce prices a little bit to match premium windows brands while performing much better. So my next laptop will probably be a mac but not yet, it has too many unanswered questions

 

[jpereira95]

I’m a MacBook guy tbh, Windows laptops just haven’t been nice to use for me

I feel you, but my partner has one and I hate it. The fact that apple refuses to give touchscreens and that it doesn't let you play any videogames out of the box without going through the Bootcamp workaround is very unattractive to me, especially considering how much they charge. And the mac excel is horrible for crunching numbers because its missing 99% of the advance settings.

Also, with all of the changes coming to apple I think its a bad idea buying any of their laptops or pc for the next 1-2 years until they complete the transition to their chips. Once they do I think they are going to unstoppable because they are going to reduce prices a little bit to match premium windows brands while performing much better. So my next laptop will probably be a mac but not yet, it has too many unanswered questions

 

[LordVile]

I feel you, but my partner has one and I hate it. The fact that apple refuses to give touchscreens and that it doesn't let you play any videogames out of the box without going through the Bootcamp workaround is very unattractive to me, especially considering how much they charge. And the mac excel is horrible for crunching numbers because its missing 99% of the advance settings.

Also, with all of the changes coming to apple I think its a bad idea buying any of their laptops or pc for the next 1-2 years until they complete the transition to their chips. Once they do I think they are going to unstoppable because they are going to reduce prices a little bit to match premium windows brands while performing much better. So my next laptop will probably be a mac but not yet, it has too many unanswered questions

Why would you want a touchscreen on a laptop... Just get one with a good trackpad and it's infinitely better. You can also play games what are supported on MacOS, some are some aren't.

Lol apple reduce prices? What planet you on?

 

[jpereira95]

Why would you want a touchscreen on a laptop... Just get one with a good trackpad and it's infinitely better. You can also play games what are supported on MacOS, some are some aren't.

Lol apple reduce prices? What planet you on?

I use the touchscreen a lot, I just do. In the last couple of years with all laptops using windows precision drivers in their trackpad, so they are all pretty good and close to the mac that most people use as the reference to beat.

You cannot game on MacOS, lol every gamer knows that. There might be some games that are supported, but I don't want to be dealing with compatibility issues on that front. Plus, Apple is one of the worse companies to dissipate heat from their laptops and offer very low power GPU's which don't let you do much gaming to start with.

I personally hate apple, but I really think they are making a big long term play with the ARM move and they are going to destroy everybody. Apple has come to the conclusion that they can rip off consumers with hardware alone and keeping it "exclusive" as they've been doing (they only have 20% market share of the phone industry, but 60% of the profits); or they can make the hardware a little tiny bit more accessible, with the goal of ripping customers off with other services (apple news, apple music, apple cloud, apple pay to keep stealing money from the company owners that accept apple pay, etc). Moreover, if more consumers already have an Apple device they are also more likely to buy more hardware to pair it with (earbuds/toothbrush heads, apple watch, etc) which will, in turn, feed the other services even more! With the move to ARM chips, apple:

• Saves about $250 per device allowing them to cash it in or reduce their prices a bit to make them more accessible and sell the other services later.
• Will make their laptops way more energy efficient
• Will make their laptops more powerful, especially with Intel lagging behind so much in the chip industry

The new iPhone 12 is going to come in 5 freaking models I think: with pro, no pro, super, no super, max, no max... its a chaos. For the first time in MANY years, they are breaking from simply releasing 1-2 models (which will be the Pro ones from now on) and including a couple of "non pro" models that will be cheaper in exchange for some feature sacrifices. Finally, with the newest iOS update (I think its the 14 version already?) they are purely copying android and opening some of their tools further to get even more developers on board.

If you dissect every movement apple is doing (multiple phone models, apple software update, ARM chips to control power and costs, copying android software, opening additional developer tools) its doing it with the goal of making more money. They continue to rip off consumers by providing ancient tech for a cheaper price, continue to rip off consumers with their PRO EVERYTHING and this only increases that 20% market share which are now more people to rip off and sell their accessories and online services. ITS GENIOUS! And let's not forget the security play and the Apple flex of the brand that nobody else has.

 

[LordVile]

I use the touchscreen a lot, I just do. In the last couple of years with all laptops using windows precision drivers in their trackpad, so they are all pretty good and close to the mac that most people use as the reference to beat.

You cannot game on MacOS, lol every gamer knows that. There might be some games that are supported, but I don't want to be dealing with compatibility issues on that front. Plus, Apple is one of the worse companies to dissipate heat from their laptops and offer very low power GPU's which don't let you do much gaming to start with.

I personally hate apple, but I really think they are making a big long term play with the ARM move and they are going to destroy everybody. Apple has come to the conclusion that they can rip off consumers with hardware alone and keeping it "exclusive" as they've been doing (they only have 20% market share of the phone industry, but 60% of the profits); or they can make the hardware a little tiny bit more accessible, with the goal of ripping customers off with other services (apple news, apple music, apple cloud, apple pay to keep stealing money from the company owners that accept apple pay, etc). Moreover, if more consumers already have an Apple device they are also more likely to buy more hardware to pair it with (earbuds/toothbrush heads, apple watch, etc) which will, in turn, feed the other services even more! With the move to ARM chips, apple:

• Saves about $250 per device allowing them to cash it in or reduce their prices a bit to make them more accessible and sell the other services later.
• Will make their laptops way more energy efficient
• Will make their laptops more powerful, especially with Intel lagging behind so much in the chip industry

The new iPhone 12 is going to come in 5 freaking models I think: with pro, no pro, super, no super, max, no max... its a chaos. For the first time in MANY years, they are breaking from simply releasing 1-2 models (which will be the Pro ones from now on) and including a couple of "non pro" models that will be cheaper in exchange for some feature sacrifices. Finally, with the newest iOS update (I think its the 14 version already?) they are purely copying android and opening some of their tools further to get even more developers on board.

If you dissect every movement apple is doing (multiple phone models, apple software update, ARM chips to control power and costs, copying android software, opening additional developer tools) its doing it with the goal of making more money. They continue to rip off consumers by providing ancient tech for a cheaper price, continue to rip off consumers with their PRO EVERYTHING and this only increases that 20% market share which are now more people to rip off and sell their accessories and online services. ITS GENIOUS! And let's not forget the security play and the Apple flex of the brand that nobody else has.

Hahahaha close to Macbook. Does actually make me chuckle. They're not. People want them to be but none are anywhere near.

Firstly I wouldn't go off rumours and they have a large amount of profit because they only sell flagship phones (for the most part) and have tighter control over the app store. But the phones hardware wise are pretty much top of class in nearly every way and they're supported for longer and apple pour a ton of money into R+D.

You do realise the majority of what you said is just capitalism and every single company on the planet does it. Why do you think Amazon don't sell google home stuff and Samsung stuff only works with other Samsung stuff?

The security play is legitimate, look at all of the recent CPU vulnerabilities. Modern Macs were immune and they were the first to drop a patch. Plus FaceID still hasn't be beaten in a realistic way yet. Think the closest to actually being doable in the real world involves scanning someone's face.

 

[jpereira95]

Hahahaha close to Macbook. Does actually make me chuckle. They're not. People want them to be but none are anywhere near.

Firstly I wouldn't go off rumours and they have a large amount of profit because they only sell flagship phones (for the most part) and have tighter control over the app store. But the phones hardware wise are pretty much top of class in nearly every way and they're supported for longer and apple pour a ton of money into R+D.

You do realise the majority of what you said is just capitalism and every single company on the planet does it. Why do you think Amazon don't sell google home stuff and Samsung stuff only works with other Samsung stuff?

The security play is legitimate, look at all of the recent CPU vulnerabilities. Modern Macs were immune and they were the first to drop a patch. Plus FaceID still hasn't be beaten in a realistic way yet. Think the closest to actually being doable in the real world involves scanning someone's face.

Oh yeah I agree with you completely. I like to speculate to see if I'm right when it happens. I'll probably get a mac in 3 years when they finish the transition to ARM completely. They've said 2 years, but I'll give them an extra one to polish any rough edges. I already have an iPhone so it will be a simple transition when it happens

 

[LordVile]

Oh yeah I agree with you completely. I like to speculate to see if I'm right when it happens. I'll probably get a mac in 3 years when they finish the transition to ARM completely. They've said 2 years, but I'll give them an extra one to polish any rough edges. I already have an iPhone so it will be a simple transition when it happens

I have a Pro 16" atm so I'm gonna run that into the ground before buying an ARM Mac or depending on how the resale value holds up I might sell it in a few years.