I need/want a new laptop

[NotChetHanks]

So I am thinking about buying a new laptop for work. I am heavily leaning towards the surface book, entry level edition. Is there something with these specs and build quality for cheaper? I have no problem paying $1500, but I don't WANT to if I don't HAVE to.

 

https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/productID.5072642200?VID=5072761400

[Anibal P]

What are you going to be doing on this laptop? 

I've switched to Chromebooks for laptops because I don't need much more than basic browsing and music streaming, but that's just me 

 

[zhangm Supervisor]

Well, the SB has some interesting specs - detachable 3000 x 2000 px display for one. Not sure that there's anything out there comparable.

 

I recommend going with the next highest drive capacity - 128 GB is restrictive.

 

If you're mostly after a portable laptop, XPS 13, or the XPS 13 2-in-one, which is convertible like the Lenovo Yoga series.

[NotChetHanks]

Just now, Anibal P said:

What are you going to be doing on this laptop? 

I've switched to Chromebooks for laptops because I don't need much more than basic browsing and music streaming, but that's just me 

 

Word processing, presentations, maybe music tagging and watching movies. See, I have a laptop now that I bought for work and it sucks. It's a Lenovo Ideapad 100s but if I want to watch a youtube video while working on an Excel file, I'll never get to the video. I THOUGHT I wanted something just for word processing, but no.

 

Here is my laptop now;

 

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Celeron-Storage-Windows/dp/B0178FGO22/ref=sr_1_16?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1487433919&sr=1-16&keywords=lenovo+ideapad+100s

2 minutes ago, zhangm said:

Well, the SB has some interesting specs - detachable 3000 x 2000 px display for one. Not sure that there's anything out there comparable.

 

I recommend going with the next highest drive capacity - 128 GB is restrictive.

 

If you're mostly after a portable laptop, XPS 13, or the XPS 13 2-in-one, which is convertible like the Lenovo Yoga series.

I want something portable that has great battery life. Not one I have to plug in every few hours. And the SSD size isn't that important because it will be strictly for work which consists of word and PDF docs. I highly doubt I'll even touch 128 GB since there won't be much media on it.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

Have you considered a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon or ThinkPad Yoga?  Either model is in your budget.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

[The Evil Overlord]

I was about to suggest but @goretsky had better recommendations

For that kind of money, there's got a lot of good laptops

[NotChetHanks]

The X1 Carbon looks great, but to be honest, if I'm going to spend that kind of money I would rather buy the Surface Book because I like the way it looks much much better. Anything comparable under $1,000?

[NotChetHanks]

Especially something that lasts over 10hrs or so with no optical drive.

[xendrome]

https://slickdeals.net/f/9786667-dell-xps-15-6-fhd-ips-i7-7700hq-8gb-ddr4-256gb-pcie-ssd-gtx-1050-4gb-wifi-ac-thunderbolt-3-win10h-1234-79-with-f-s

 

Check this out  You can even game with this one

[NotChetHanks]

3 minutes ago, xendrome said:

https://slickdeals.net/f/9786667-dell-xps-15-6-fhd-ips-i7-7700hq-8gb-ddr4-256gb-pcie-ssd-gtx-1050-4gb-wifi-ac-thunderbolt-3-win10h-1234-79-with-f-s

 

Check this out  You can even game with this one

Literally just saw this at Best Buy before my last response. Thanks for the discount!

[xendrome]

Looks like a good deal

[zhangm Supervisor]

12 minutes ago, C-Squarez said:

The X1 Carbon looks great, but to be honest, if I'm going to spend that kind of money I would rather buy the Surface Book because I like the way it looks much much better. Anything comparable under $1,000?

Basically, no. AFAIK there is no other device out there that has comparability to all of the SB's features at that price point. The display is amazing. The key travel is quite good (a consequence of the wedge design) and the trackpad is one of the best.

 

There are a lot of straight ultraportable laptops that are probably comparable in terms of performance and even better in terms of connectivity. But you're going to lose the detachable tablet feature. For something considerably lower price, maybe the ASUS ZenBook Flip UX360UA (the i5 version)?

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

My Dad (For Xmas president) got a refurbed Lenovo X1 Carbon. It was on microcenter for $500. @T3X4Stold us about this. He has several that he buys for his family.

 

http://www.microcenter.com/product/407481/ThinkPad_X1_Carbon_14_Ultrabook_-_Carbon_Fiber

 

(It's not available at the moment)

[T3X4S]

Yep - $500 gets you a corporate lease return, in perfect condition. (new they are $2000)

microcenter X1

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

1 hour ago, T3X4S said:

Yep - $500 gets you a corporate lease return, in perfect condition. (new they are $2000)

microcenter X1

Wrong link

[T3X4S]

On 2/19/2017 at 8:46 PM, Mindovermaster said:

My Dad (For Xmas president) got a refurbed Lenovo X1 Carbon. It was on microcenter for $500. @T3X4Stold us about this. He has several that he buys for his family.

 

http://www.microcenter.com/product/407481/ThinkPad_X1_Carbon_14_Ultrabook_-_Carbon_Fiber

 

(It's not available at the moment)

 

On 2/19/2017 at 8:48 PM, T3X4S said:

Yep - $500 gets you a corporate lease return, in perfect condition. (new they are $2000)

microcenter X1

Not sure if OP bought a laptop already - but I did... again...

 

I think this makes 11 or 12 that I have purchased for people.  IMO one of the best deals around.

However, unless I have to get another one for someone within the next month or two - this might be the last one of this build-spec I purchase.
Seeing as how the CPU is getting a little behind and prices haven't changed.  I am told they will try to keep this supply chain open as it has been popular.  
If they can get some more of this gen with series 5xxx intel core CPUs, then - all is good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2017 by T3X4S

[T3X4S]

Well, I apologize for rehashing a 2 week's old thread.  But I FINALLY rec'd my latest Carbon X1.

The local Dallas store was out, so I found one @ the Houston store.  When I clicked that I needed it shipped, it turned it into a .com order instead of a "pick it up in 18 minutes @ the store" order. 

Apparently this caused some problems, because it took them over a week to get it to me.

It finally arrived.

Everything was as expected.  Very clean bezel, screen in great shape.  Although a little bleeding around the edge (typical IPS crap - nothing to mention)

But I am configuring it for my accountant's son.  He is graduating high school and heading off to Texas A&M (like his father, his 2 uncles, 2 aunts, several in-laws, everyone on their street, their dog, the homeless guy who digs in their trash, etc)

Im sure he'll like it.  I gave them one of my Office365 licenses as a "gift"  (even though he's not going to the vastly superior academic institution on "god's 40 acres" - University of Texas   \m/ \m/  Hook Em Horns !  ahem* sorry.



The build date on this one was June of 2014.   Since this program was so successful for them, they wont be dropping any prices.   I might wait before getting the next one to see what other options are out there. 

I noticed the brand new versions did away with the adaptive function key LCD strip across the top of the keyboard.

 

[+Biscuits Brown MVC]

I have to hand it to you T3X4S, you get some great deals in the Carbon X1. Great machine for a very good price.