Seeking new work laptop (mostly research and audio/video editing)

[Unlocated]

Hiya there,
I've to get a new laptop and I'm getting confused with all the marketing and getting overwhelmed by the info available when looking at the specs of each different laptop model.

The variables I am considering:
- I'll be using it mostly for work, where I work with Nvivo (database and qualitative data), will do large use of SQL, as well as editing with audio and rarely on video.

- I'll be travelling a lot so portability is mostly welcome both in terms of weight and battery life.

- Memory I already have 2 SSD of 250Gb each so I could possibly change what is available (unless that voids the warranty, which is quite likely) - I have a preference for SSD of 256Gb which should be enough with use of external SSD.

- in terms of CPUs I've seen the new M series which I quite like as they reduce the amount of components which can break in the long term. I'm not sure whether an m5 could be good for the tasks I'll put the laptop through and I have no idea how to work that out. I know the Intel i7 would be the best choice but if the M5 is comparable then I'd go for it.

- Budget: I would be around £500 but i'm happy to spend more for a laptop which is going to last me another 5-10 years (the current one is 8 year old and can't find any more replacement parts).

Any suggestions?

Thank you very much

 

[velo3100]

For £500 you may struggle to find a laptop that can last 5 - 10 years. At this range you are looking at mostly looking at basic office laptops which is fine but they won't be good for what you need. I would recommend spending at least around £800 - £1000 which I know is twice your budge but then you can get a laptop with a quad core cpu like a i7 - 6700HQ which most gaming laptops use which is much more powerful than the low powered m cpus which are mostly for people that have light usage.

If you give me some websites that you visit, I can look for laptops for you and show you a comparison in terms of performance.

 

[Unlocated]

For £500 you may struggle to find a laptop that can last 5 - 10 years. At this range you are looking at mostly looking at basic office laptops which is fine but they won't be good for what you need. I would recommend spending at least around £800 - £1000 which I know is twice your budge but then you can get a laptop with a quad core cpu like a i7 - 6700HQ which most gaming laptops use which is much more powerful than the low powered m cpus which are mostly for people that have light usage.

If you give me some websites that you visit, I can look for laptops for you and show you a comparison in terms of performance.

Hi there, thanks for the response. I sort of thought that I might have to slash more cash and I'd be happy with a good laptop..so up to £1000

I'm looking at asus ux330ua ux305ca or some other asus with i7 core.. and the most battery life I can get and the 330 seems to be the best and also has a thunderbolt port if I'm not wrong. .
Any suggestions in these respects?is asus up to the game? (And in case Would you know why I'm struggling to find them in the UK? I understand the ux330ua should be released soon?)

I am not looking at any particular website besides those from asus and comparisons and reviews. .

Thanks!

 

[velo3100]

You could look at scan pcs as they have some laptops that fit your criteria. This should be a lot better than the ones you have suggested. Here is their website: https://www.scan.co.uk/

The cover both portable laptops which have a lot of power to pure desktop replacements. Another site you could go to is pc specialists as I have heard that they are good.

 

[Unlocated]

that's great suggestions. I didn't know the websites and will look at them. I have also realised there's the "back to school" discounts, so I might actually profit from one of those (e.g. Lenovo Yoga 25% off + cashback of 10% through topcashback.. not bad- although I'm not sure I want that one).
Thank you again.

 

[hang-the-9]

How important is light weight and size vs speed? The systems you are looking at are U model CPUs, which are low power dual core models. For good use of heavy data crunching, you would want an HQ model CPU, which are true quad core laptops CPUs. But those use more power and are found in bit heavier and larger systems.

This is a decent price, and is not very heavy with a quad core i7 CPU https://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-i7-6700HQ-Quad-Core-Touchscreen/dp/B018YIGHVK/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1472664791&sr=1-1&keywords=i7+hq#Ask

 

[Unlocated]

How important is light weight and size vs speed? The systems you are looking at are U model CPUs, which are low power dual core models. For good use of heavy data crunching, you would want an HQ model CPU, which are true quad core laptops CPUs. But those use more power and are found in bit heavier and larger systems.

This is a decent price, and is not very heavy with a quad core i7 CPU https://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-i7-6700HQ-Quad-Core-Touchscreen/dp/B018YIGHVK/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1472664791&sr=1-1&keywords=i7+hq#Ask

thank you very much for the suggestion. for some reasons I started thinking they gave up on 2+ cores, but happy to see the quad cores are still going.

Portability is quite important: I'll be mostly commuting 4 hours (return) every week plus attending conferences and the alike, so portability is not at the top priority but high there with data/SQL crunching.

How about the reliability of HP machines? I have one which is still surviving but had friends and family with HP machines which started overheating for no reasons..

I've been looking into this and the alternative is ASUS Zenbook Pro UX501VW here http://www.intel.co.uk/buy/uk/en/product/laptops/asus-zenbook-pro-ux501vw-fy095r-26ghz-i7-6700hq-156-1920-x-1080pixels-greystainless-steel-notebook-494220

The main difference is in the weight and the fact it has a thunderbolt 3.0 port, which I assume might be beneficial in the long term.

thoughts?



Thanks

 

[hang-the-9]

How important is light weight and size vs speed? The systems you are looking at are U model CPUs, which are low power dual core models. For good use of heavy data crunching, you would want an HQ model CPU, which are true quad core laptops CPUs. But those use more power and are found in bit heavier and larger systems.

This is a decent price, and is not very heavy with a quad core i7 CPU https://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-i7-6700HQ-Quad-Core-Touchscreen/dp/B018YIGHVK/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1472664791&sr=1-1&keywords=i7+hq#Ask

thank you very much for the suggestion. for some reasons I started thinking they gave up on 2+ cores, but happy to see the quad cores are still going.

Portability is quite important: I'll be mostly commuting 4 hours (return) every week plus attending conferences and the alike, so portability is not at the top priority but high there with data/SQL crunching.

How about the reliability of HP machines? I have one which is still surviving but had friends and family with HP machines which started overheating for no reasons..

I've been looking into this and the alternative is ASUS Zenbook Pro UX501VW here http://www.intel.co.uk/buy/uk/en/product/laptops/asus-zenbook-pro-ux501vw-fy095r-26ghz-i7-6700hq-156-1920-x-1080pixels-greystainless-steel-notebook-494220

The main difference is in the weight and the fact it has a thunderbolt 3.0 port, which I assume might be beneficial in the long term.

thoughts?



Thanks

HP is behind ASUS, Dell and Lenovo in overall quality, but of course any system may have issues. That ASUS you linked looks good, make sure your programs and files will be OK on the 256 GB drive it has.