SuperSpreader Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 I'm looking for a portable but I'm not quite sure what to do. All these options do some things I want. I'm looking for a device with long battery, that can do basic productivity apps like Office, email, and note taking/writing for work, but I can also use as a desktop replacement for banking, some light scripting/design, etc. I work from home so I'm hoping I can use it to leave my desktop and do some basic stuff from another space and then go to my home office when it's time for intense-desktop work. I just need to "get out of the office" sometimes and recently got a new phone that I don't want to install work stuff on for creating boundaries. I'm not sure what I'm even asking! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skillzdadirecta Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 Sounds like you want a laptop. Whether it's a mac or pc is up to your preference. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 10 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said: Sounds like you want a laptop. Whether it's a mac or pc is up to your preference. I've always talked shit about Macs but I'm interested in something different. But then I was at a coffee shop today and there was a couple studying, she had a Lenovo and he had a MacBook and I thought "pshh, what a loser, I bet she pulls all the weight in this relationship., How can she stand to be with someone so inept??" So maybe I've already answered my own question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_MH Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 For thin and light laptops, I'd prefer either a MacBook Air or a Surface Laptop. The MacBook Air is going to get you a few more hours of battery, but if you don't care for macOS, the Surface Laptop is a pretty great, little machine. Honestly, for the price, I'm not sure you can really beat the build quality of either. For productivity, my favorite thing about the Surface Laptop line is the 3:2 screen ratio. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 i love the macbook air if you’re willing to spend the money that or the surface is what i would go with. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 14 hours ago, johnny said: i love the macbook air if you’re willing to spend the money that or the surface is what i would go with. Does it bother you that or doesn't have a touchscreen? Rumor is the new Air will just be called MacBook and will use the Pro processors in April. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 15 hours ago, Ghost_MH said: For thin and light laptops, I'd prefer either a MacBook Air or a Surface Laptop. The MacBook Air is going to get you a few more hours of battery, but if you don't care for macOS, the Surface Laptop is a pretty great, little machine. Honestly, for the price, I'm not sure you can really beat the build quality of either. For productivity, my favorite thing about the Surface Laptop line is the 3:2 screen ratio. Nice. I'll investigate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kal-El814 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 If you're not wed to an OS for a specific game / app and you care about resale value at all, a MacBook is a good choice. I resold a 12" MacBook from 2015 a few weeks ago and got $350 for it, which is pretty good considering the age. Perhaps Surfaces get the same ROI, I haven't looked into it. The Mac Rumors Buyer's Guide has fairly reliable info about when new products might come out. So if you're the kind of person who hates buying something only to have the next rev come out, or if you swing the other way and want to get something once the price drops after refresh, that could help you zero in on either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 13 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said: If you're not wed to an OS for a specific game / app and you care about resale value at all, a MacBook is a good choice. I resold a 12" MacBooks from 2015 a few weeks ago and got $350 for it, which is pretty good considering the age. Perhaps Surfaces get the same ROI, I haven't looked into it. The Mac Rumors Buyer's Guide has fairly reliable info about when new products might come out. So if you're the kind of person who hates buying something only to have the next rev come out, or if you swing the other way and want to get something once the price drops after refresh, that could help you zero in on either way. Nice! Thanks! Yes I would rather pay more and have a PC for a longer time than less and have it be outdated sooner. Usually my desktops last without upgrades for ~8yr. So if a new MacBook is coming I'd rather get that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted January 18, 2022 Author Share Posted January 18, 2022 I was gonna get the Surface Laptop 4 but the specs I want are sold out. The XPS 13 is a good deal but now I'm thinking I'll wait for the Gen12 processors in March. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 I got the HP Spectre x360 and absolutely love it, but I cared a lot about getting a touch screen. My next laptop will probably be a Macbook tbh. I don't use the touch screen very much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted January 22, 2022 Author Share Posted January 22, 2022 Went to Best Buy and tried a bunch of options. MacBook and iPad are definite no's for me. I hate that you have to physically click to click instead of just tapping on the track pad. The iPad magic keyboard doesn't seem great for long term typing at all. Dell XPS 13 and Lenovo Yoga 13 we're nice, but the 3:1 Microsoft laptop screen won me over. Unfortunately Microsoft is sold out of all the configs I want, but now I know I can keep an eye on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris- Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 11 minutes ago, SuperSpreader said: Went to Best Buy and tried a bunch of options. MacBook and iPad are definite no's for me. I hate that you have to physically click to click instead of just tapping on the track pad. The iPad magic keyboard doesn't seem great for long term typing at all. Dell XPS 13 and Lenovo Yoga 13 we're nice, but the 3:1 Microsoft laptop screen won me over. Unfortunately Microsoft is sold out of all the configs I want, but now I know I can keep an eye on it. You absolutely can tap to click in OS X, if you couldn't that just means someone turned it off on the floor unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_MH Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 1 minute ago, Chris- said: You absolutely can tap to click in OS X, if you couldn't that just means someone turned it off on the floor unit. Yes, you can absolutely change that behavior. Also, BetterTouchTool on Mac is so good. I kind of wish there were something like it on PC. I more than happily paid the $20 for a lifetime license like 6 or 7 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted January 23, 2022 Author Share Posted January 23, 2022 1 hour ago, Chris- said: You absolutely can tap to click in OS X, if you couldn't that just means someone turned it off on the floor unit. Other things: no touch screen, overpriced for the specs, build quality felt.. fine. I didn't see what the big deal was compared to other (comprable) laptops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris- Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 15 minutes ago, SuperSpreader said: Other things: no touch screen, overpriced for the specs, build quality felt.. fine. I didn't see what the big deal was compared to other (comprable) laptops. The build quality is fantastic, otherwise your perspective more or less means it probably isn't for you. With Macs you are paying a premium for (1) design/build quality and (2) OS X. From a dollars to raw power perspective they are definitely overpriced, but that's not how anyone who buys one evaluates their options. Nothing wrong if you do value that, it just means a Mac doesn't suit what you want or need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted January 23, 2022 Author Share Posted January 23, 2022 41 minutes ago, Chris- said: The build quality is fantastic, otherwise your perspective more or less means it probably isn't for you. With Macs you are paying a premium for (1) design/build quality and (2) OS X. From a dollars to raw power perspective they are definitely overpriced, but that's not how anyone who buys one evaluates their options. Nothing wrong if you do value that, it just means a Mac doesn't suit what you want or need. Yup. Macs still suck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted January 24, 2022 Share Posted January 24, 2022 1) The M1 chips curb stomp the Intel chips in Windows laptops. 2) No touch screen is a positive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nokra Posted January 24, 2022 Share Posted January 24, 2022 Yeah I had a touchscreen on my Lenovo Yoga and barely ever used it. Don't have one on my new Lenovo X1 Carbon and I don't miss it at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 4 hours ago, Nokra said: Yeah I had a touchscreen on my Lenovo Yoga and barely ever used it. Don't have one on my new Lenovo X1 Carbon and I don't miss it at all. @Rachel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 21 minutes ago, Rachel said: I love having a touch screen. I use it. Not exclusively but I kinda switch back and forth between the mouse and the touch screen as needed. So I get the best of both worlds. I definitely prefer it to not having one. I use it when web browsing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted January 28, 2022 Author Share Posted January 28, 2022 Ordered a Surface Laptop 4 13" with a Ryzen processor (19hr battery life) and 16GB ram for $1,199. Pretty excited! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted February 1, 2022 Author Share Posted February 1, 2022 On 1/27/2022 at 8:47 PM, SuperSpreader said: Ordered a Surface Laptop 4 13" with a Ryzen processor (19hr battery life) and 16GB ram for $1,199. Pretty excited! 999.99 they dropped the price and refunded the difference 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted February 1, 2022 Author Share Posted February 1, 2022 This thing is pretty awesome so far tbh. Updated it to Windows 11 (a little weird) and already installed all my apps (Creative Cloud, etc) pretty quickly. I'm trying to switch to Edge browser because it's supposed to be better for battery life, and yes - I continually use the touch screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_MH Posted February 2, 2022 Share Posted February 2, 2022 3 hours ago, SuperSpreader said: This thing is pretty awesome so far tbh. Updated it to Windows 11 (a little weird) and already installed all my apps (Creative Cloud, etc) pretty quickly. I'm trying to switch to Edge browser because it's supposed to be better for battery life, and yes - I continually use the touch screen. I use the touch screen on my laptop all the time. My current main laptop is the Surface Studio Laptop which I also do a little gaming on. It's ok. 3050TI it's very meh for gaming. Sometimes I'm holding the laptop in such a way that flicking through an pages by touch makes sense. I also use the touch screen whenever I bring up the calculator since the laptop doesn't have a number pad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted February 2, 2022 Author Share Posted February 2, 2022 3 hours ago, Ghost_MH said: I use the touch screen on my laptop all the time. My current main laptop is the Surface Studio Laptop which I also do a little gaming on. It's ok. 3050TI it's very meh for gaming. Sometimes I'm holding the laptop in such a way that flicking through an pages by touch makes sense. I also use the touch screen whenever I bring up the calculator since the laptop doesn't have a number pad. Nice. Yeah I find myself switching between the keyboard and touch. I liked the studio but didn't want to spend that much since I didn't want a dedicated GPU for battery life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 On 2/1/2022 at 7:57 PM, SuperSpreader said: Nice. Yeah I find myself switching between the keyboard and touch. I liked the studio but didn't want to spend that much since I didn't want a dedicated GPU for battery life. Does the Studio not do the thing where it can switch between the dedicated GPU when you're plugged in/tell it you don't care about power draw even though you're on battery, and defaulting to the integrated graphics for when you're on battery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted February 21, 2022 Author Share Posted February 21, 2022 5 hours ago, Jason said: Does the Studio not do the thing where it can switch between the dedicated GPU when you're plugged in/tell it you don't care about power draw even though you're on battery, and defaulting to the integrated graphics for when you're on battery? 🤷♂️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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