Question Recommend me a laptop CPU

[greigm78]

So for my job I build a lot of process and data models (use excel and statistics software quite heavily with hundreds of thousands of rows of data).

As I am freelance I have to supply my own equipment and need to replace an old Surface Pro that's given up on me. It never was the best but it was a gift from my in-laws when I started out my business.

So I am weighing up what I need and seen some decent HP deals but my dilemma is whether I go i7, i5 or Ryzen 7. 8GB RAM is okay as I will drop another 8GB in and the ones I am looking at all come with 256GB NVMe SSDs as standard.

The one I am actually looking at is the HP Omen 17-an101na as it seems to come with decent spec and a 17" screen which, while not essential, would be handy especially for process models. AND they are selling it for £950GBP (£150GBP saving).
It's a bit excessive with the 1060 GPU and it wouldn't get used for gaming but it seems a decent option.

My real question is for heavy data stuff, am I better with i7, i5 or are the new Ryzen 7 APUs good?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

New Ryzen 7 apus are pretty good, however, they only come with a max of 4 cores and 8 threads, the same as newer most I5s. Modern high-end I7 laptops will generally beat them with more cores.
Can you link the Laptop you are looking at? What is your max budget?

 

[greigm78]

https://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=3ZV26EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Looks like a solid laptop.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Here is a decent option.
I7 8750h 6c/12t
16gb RAM dual channel
1060 6gb
256gb NVME SSD
1TB 7200RPM HDD
5.6in 1080p IPS 120hz
Windows 10 Home
949 pounds.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-FX505...50h+laptop&qid=1557871944&s=computers&sr=1-10
https://uk.store.asus.com/asus-tuf-...d-nvidia-gtx-1060-6gb-dedicated-graphics.html
This costs the same as the HP OMEN, however, it has 16gb of ram and 256gb SSD, compared to the 8gb ram and 128gb SSD in the HP OMEN. Specs are close otherwise with the same CPU and GPU.
The downside to the ASUS is that it is a smaller 15.6 in laptop and has a battery half of the size of the HP.

 

[Finstar]

I'd rather get a Dell or a Lenovo than a HP. Do you need battery life? That gaming laptop will last 2h at best.
I'd look into this:
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/work/shop/laptops/vostro-15-7580/spd/vostro-15-7580-laptop

 

[Rjich]

It's worth checking reviews which measure thermal throttling of the laptop. Many come with super fast sounding i7, i9 4-5ghz turbo boost CPUs which then throttle to pedestrian speeds after a few seconds (MacBook Pro). The workstation class laptops typically seem to hold up better according to reviews on notebookcheck or similar.

 

[greigm78]

I'd rather get a Dell or a Lenovo than a HP. Do you need battery life? That gaming laptop will last 2h at best.
I'd look into this:
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/work/shop/laptops/vostro-15-7580/spd/vostro-15-7580-laptop

Excellent point and not one I had considered. The Surface Pro had shocking battery and was one of my hates of it.
I will look more at workstation types but not really wanting to spend almost £2k on one IF it can be avoided.

I will say definitely not Dell though after many horrible experiences with their products.

 

[Finstar]

Excellent point and not one I had considered. The Surface Pro had shocking battery and was one of my hates of it.
I will look more at workstation types but not really wanting to spend almost £2k on one IF it can be avoided.

I will say definitely not Dell though after many horrible experiences with their products.

Lenovos Thinkpads are a very good option too.
The better the specs the higher the price, if you can live with a quadcore and an Intel igpu then under £1000 is easily possible.
Considering your use case isn't very gpu intensive i'd say that's fine.
https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/thinkpad/l-series/ThinkPad-L580/p/22TP2TBL580