Fair point. I just assume all the fastest laptops with decent memory happen to be gaming ones.You’re paying a shed load for a 3080, which would great fun, but probably not helpful if you have study to get on with.
Affordable laptop recommendations: budget £350-£450
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Throbbing Angel
this is no longer a place of honour
Your paying a shed load for a 3080, which would great fun, but probably not helpful if you have study to get on with.
Correct - and those fans going off (on?) would do my head in.
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
Will confirm that most thin and light uber alles laptops have soldered everything. It's the boxier ones that are user serviceable. Doesn't much matter if you buy the spec you like though. I would say I slightly prefer the Thinkpads to use, but Dell support is slightly less awful than Lenovo's. (yes, it's a low bar)
Well this is what headphones are for. They’re a bit warm though, if your mouse hand travels a little bit too close.
two sheds
Least noticed poster 2007
Theoretical question that's not really relevant to OP but ... would a micro-sized type PC with laptop-sized display and wireless keyboard/mouse be worth considering? Would be almost as easy to carry round given the right carrier, and you'd get better specs for the money?
Any you have in mind? I assume the small desktops don’t come with rocket fuel CPUs and large RAM.
I doubt that will cut it. Good shout though as this might:
If there’s WiFi you could simply control that from any laptop via Teamspeak or similar.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Yes. I suspect a Dell Precision mobile workstation and upgrading the RAM is the best option. I had a quick look last night a Ryzen options, but it seems the high end ones are mostly gaming laptops. Out of interest do you know how well the new Intel efficiency cores play well with VMs or does it depend on the hypervisor?
Throbbing Angel
this is no longer a place of honour
Cheers all - as this is the affordable laptop thread, and this chatter is about anything but, I've another thread going on this topic
www.urban75.net
P.S. I'm not carting a micro PC, monitor, keyboard, mouse etc around
ffs
Help - I need to buy a new 'high-spec' laptop for a course I'm doing
As per this - all suggestions are welcome. the cheaper the better as far as I'm concerned I need a laptop that meets the following requirements for a course as my M1 MacBook and 5th gen processor ThinkPad won't cut it. Any suggestions?? CPU: 64-bit Intel i5/i7 (8th generation or newer), or...
www.urban75.net
P.S. I'm not carting a micro PC, monitor, keyboard, mouse etc around
ffs
Throbbing Angel
this is no longer a place of honour
...but less weightI thought I was replying on the other thread
I dunno you people have no creative instinct. And you'll also be carting round a computer, monitor, keyboard and trackerball around when you carry your laptop
MyMacBook is like 1.3kg or summat - floaty light - feels like less tbh - but I cannae use that 
#MyPoorOldDisabledSpineEtcBlah
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
The e-cores are an interesting side-story in CPU development. Even Intel knows that they don't have a long life in their current form where there are major differences between the large and small (they're not really "efficiency" cores in x86 land) cores. Long term Intel's plans are the same as AMD's - the same core but with less cache and laid out for size over clock speed.
I like comparing them to the older Zen2 cores that AMD still ships in laptops - Intel Gracemont core is a lot smaller, somewhat more efficient, and less performant than a Zen 2 core. A Zen 2 core is a somewhat smaller, quite a bit more efficient, and less performant than an Intel xxx Cove "big" core. The answer I suspect you're looking for is they're adequate. As fast as the top of the line from 7 years back. And you have to remember that for many years performance was at a bit of a standstill. They're actually a bit thirsty for the performance they offer, but they're very small - that's the efficiency Intel is after. To pack more and more of them in there. It's probably ideal for low-stress VM hosting. Under high loads the scheduler really has its work cut out for it though - it can't know which VM is more important - which is why you're not seeing heterogenous cores in the Xeon line. Yet.
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
Yes, exactly. Quite different to the Apple and ARM efficiency cores, which are optimised for low power draw. Intel's e-cores do draw less power, but they're primarily optimised for die space first, performance second, and actual energy efficiency third. Though in bits where I do a comparison including size and performance, I mean efficiency as Apple et.al. mean it. So to take a Zen 2 core, it's in a sweet spot for performance vs. power draw (it's almost as good as M1!) but not very space efficient.
Edit: I'm realising I just shouldn't use the word "efficient" if I want to make sense to anyone other than myself!
Edit: I'm realising I just shouldn't use the word "efficient" if I want to make sense to anyone other than myself!
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Throbbing Angel
this is no longer a place of honour
£200 Dell Refurb.
These are the 'base' laptops we have at our place (local govt) for yer standard office roles that don't need any fancy or resource-heavy software.
They cope well with that user case scenario. I use mine docked 90% of the time so I'm unable to comment realistically on how good the battery is.
Keyboard's OK. Camera's OK.
Would be fine for a secondary school/college student or someone who doesn't need it for summat heavy duty. YMMV, obvs.
These are the 'base' laptops we have at our place (local govt) for yer standard office roles that don't need any fancy or resource-heavy software.
They cope well with that user case scenario. I use mine docked 90% of the time so I'm unable to comment realistically on how good the battery is.
Keyboard's OK. Camera's OK.
Would be fine for a secondary school/college student or someone who doesn't need it for summat heavy duty. YMMV, obvs.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Looks great for a budget machine. I mean I think the 5 series feel cheap, but I'm just being snobby, they're still better then many consumer devices. I'll probably get one in my new job. 
Throbbing Angel
this is no longer a place of honour
They do feel cheap imho, you're not wrong.Looks great for a budget machine. I mean I think the 5 series feel cheap, but I'm just being snobby, they're still better then many consumer devices. I'll probably get one in my new job.
Plasticky.
But, you have no choice when your employer makes the buying decisions, eh?
But the majority of my office use them docked to a proper office set up 90+% of the time so it didn't matter. We were all given one the week we were sent home at the start of the first lockdown in 2020 so we could WFH.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
I'm being silly really. They're fine. I've got a 7 series which is nice and I think I've got a good chance of keeping when I leave, but I wouldnt spend my own money on one.
Throbbing Angel
this is no longer a place of honour
From £176
A friend of mine has a T480 that he dual boots between Linux and Windows 10 and he loves it.
A great workhorse machine I'm told.
He didn't get it from these guys but they crop up regularly as a good seller on HUKD.
ska invita
back on the other side
Anyone know what the build quality is like on a HUAWEI MateBook D 15 compared to a ThinkPad?
Throbbing Angel
this is no longer a place of honour
Depends which Thinkpad and build/chassis/screen res etc blah. Are you comparing like with like or Apples with Oranges?
The Matebook has an aluminium rigid chassis and is deemed to be of 'decent build quality'. That model is 3 years old now (D 15) and there are various specs available.
Apparently, the screen/display is average if that matters to you.
I really like my newish (2022 model) Thinkpad, and my 2nd had refurbed 6ish years old Thinkpad, but they both pale in comparison to my 2020 Macbook Air for many and different reasons.
What is important to you in a laptop?
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Wrong thread 
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UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
An 8th Gen one I hope?
I like the design of Thinkpads, I think they look wonderfully old school, but it's quite marmite, guy I was working with recently hated them.
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