[vaibhav_one]

I would recommend a Macbook Pro for the following reasons :

1. Absolutely gorgeous display! Macbook Pro's retina display is among the best out there. It's a glossy display with way less reflection compared to an average glossy display, making all types of applications from editing documents to watching movies a very pleasant experience. The thin bezels add to its beauty!
2. It's fast. With the advent of Solid State Drives (SSD), applications that used to take seconds to launch up, now take under a second. Actually this holds true for all laptops with SSDs. However, what makes the Mac stand out is that the Operating System (Mac OS) and many applications that run on it are optimized for each other and the machine (processor, disk and RAM) altogether. This makes everyday tasks like waking up the laptop from sleep (on the new Macbook Pro, lifting the laptop lid does this!) and switching between multiple applications an absolute breeze.
3. Absolutely fantastic trackpad! In my opinion, the Macbook has the best trackpad in any major consumer laptop today. The keyboard takes some time getting used to though, and could be better (especially when compared to the excellent one on the Thinkpad)
4. Solid build quality. Being enclosed in an aluminium enclosure does help! The build quality is solid and screams premium.
5. The newer Macbooks have USB-C ports. Since the world is slowly moving to USB-C, I think the issue of requiring a separate charger for a Mac would slowly go away.

To list some cons, it's expensive than some of its competitors and can be costly to repair out of warranty. But the whole end user experience makes up for it!

[akash_v12]

Originally Posted by GTO

As mentioned in this thread, my current 2.5 year old Dell Latitude 7490.
No real budget as this is going to be a work tool. Quality, reliability & uptime are top priorities. Imagine how it feels to have this stupid Dell Latitude hang up in the middle of an Official Review!

GTO,
Your main contender for the laptop is a MacBook Pro (16"). It's superbly capable, has a super-smooth processor (i7) and a high-resolution display. It's also built very well and supports high loads.
Otherwise, another option is to go for the MacBook Air or an Asus Zenbook (although it's a 13.3 inch screen).

The Mac is quite expensive, but still worth it. It's a solid machine, especially the 16 inch one! The only issue that you might face is After-sales, but that too should be solved with the oncoming of Apple Authorized Dealers & Online Stores in the Country.

The Asus on the other hand, is a cheap but 'worth a look option', it's quite VFM and has decent performance for your purpose (assuming you don't do heavy editing or gaming). Asus's main service center is in Mumbai itself and the laptop performs very well too. I'd recommend not going with Lenovo's since I've had major hinge issues both the times we had a Lenovo laptop. It used to come off and fixing that was around 5-6K (for both hinges).

P.S - I'm surprised to see that you've had a bad experience with Dell. Dad has had 2 Dells before this and the laptop & PC we have at home are both Dells. The PC did have a major (read motherboard) issue earlier but that too had been fixed within 2 days.

[Teesh@BHP]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks a ton, guys ! Guess its between Lenovo & Macbook going by the posts.

- Usage is basically business & Team-BHP content creation. Nothing too heavy like picture or video processing, but I have a lot of programs running simultaneously (right now, it's Chrome with 25 tabs + iTunes + Excel + Word + Firefox + GDrive + Dropbox + etc.).

- Lenovo - Which model? If X1 Carbon, which generation? Am seeing 6, 7 & 8 on their website. If ThinkPad, which model or series in particular?

- Macbook - Okay to run Windows?

- Macbook - 13" or 16"? Is 13 too small & 16 too big?

For your use case of productivity that mainly involves browsing, writing emails and documents, macbooks are ideal. They will never let you down. In the recent times, their keyboards were trash, but they fixed it with the 2020 lineup by going back to the tried and tested key switches. Macbooks are built premium, they have great displays, great keyboard and the best trackpad on any laptops.

One can clearly see that many BHPians highly recommend the Macbook lineup. Leaving the hardware aside, I think it is mainly because of MacOS. In my opinion, MacOS is far superior for productivity than windows 10. I was a long time windows user and made a switch to MacOS in 2017 and haven't looked back since.

In your original post, you mentioned that you have a highly customised windows 10 environment. Switching to a new computer let alone new operating system will be time consuming and there will be a learning curve to master. But I am pretty sure that at the end of it, your productivity will have increased and we will get to see your content sooner


Buying a macbook only for the hardware and run windows on it wouldn't make sense. if Windows 10 is important, Dell XPS 2020 lineup or Thinkpads would be better options.

If you want to go with macbooks, in terms of the the size, checking them out at the store is the best option. Any version that has 4 cores/16 Gb of RAM should do the trick.

[kits]

I was debating between Macbook and Surface laptop, and went ahead with Surface Laptop. Have been using for quite some time now and pretty happy with it.

My usage mostly have been
- 3 to 4 power point open with Autosave on and upload to One Drive
- 3 to 4 excel open with Autosave on and upload to One Drive
- 3 to 4 browser open with each browser having 6-8 tabs
- 3 to 4 chat and meeting tools (Slack, Skype, Teams)

[kovilkalai]

Had the exact same experience with my Dell Inspiron 3459 All-in-one desktop recently. I bought this computer roughly 3 years back and this desktop died a week into my daughter's online school term.

I reached out to Dell's only authorized service centre in Bangalore and they told me that the motherboard had fried and couldn't be replaced. Basically, I had to pull out the hard drive and dump the computer. I have a 7-year-old Macbook Air that is running just fine.

I understand we live in a fast-changing tech generation, but expecting that someone would spend Rs. 50K every three years is just nuts.

Since I needed a desktop, I decided to go the assembling route. Basically, I bought all the parts and assembled them. Each part comes with at least 3 years warranty (unlike a computer that only comes with 1 year). You won't necessarily save any money, but you will get exactly what you want.

[neo_narender]

Originally Posted by GTO

- Usage is basically business & Team-BHP content creation. Nothing too heavy like picture or video processing, but I have a lot of programs running simultaneously (right now, it's Chrome with 25 tabs + iTunes + Excel + Word + Firefox + GDrive + Dropbox + etc.).

- Lenovo - Which model? If X1 Carbon, which generation? Am seeing 6, 7 & 8 on their website. If ThinkPad, which model or series in particular?

- Macbook - Okay to run Windows?

- Macbook - 13" or 16"? Is 13 too small & 16 too big?

As per the requirements you have mentioned, MBP 13" should be fine. If you are going with this, get the 10th gen Intel processor ones which start at ₹1.75 lacs (512 GB) - ₹1.95 lacs (1 TB). There is no day & night difference in performance between an 8th gen & 10th gen for office works, only can be noticed while video rendering, which takes longer. Or other similar applications. One more advantage is future proofing.

I would generally ask you to go with MBP 16" for the real estate you get on the screen for content creation. Personally I would need something bigger than a 13" mainly to post process in Lightroom, anything else can be managed. But I would ask you to wait, as we may get a refresh in specs this month in their event.

Also, I cannot stress this enough. Please get Apple Care (Can be purchased within 12 months of your product purchase too. I know how big you & Team-BHP are on extended warranties for automobiles, same applies in case of Apple). This will give you three years of peace of mind. You also get priority access to tech support.

The usual warranty is limited to one year & 90 days of complimentary tech support.

Windows on a Mac:

1. You should be fine with Parallels Desktop, if you want a fuss free experience, with absolutely no tinkering necessary. But it's subscription based & costs $100/year.
   
2. Or make a Dual Boot with the help of Boot Camp Assistant. Personally I would recommend this. All you need is a Windows 10 download which costs ₹10k for Home Edition & make a bootable drive. There is some tinkering involved, but not difficult at all.
   
   Apple themselves support this now & have clear written instructions on how to install a Windows OS on a Mac in the following link.
   
   https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT201468

A final suggestion, please buy from Apple Store itself rather than Amazon or Flipkart. Just a personal opinion. Nothing against anyone.

Neo

[ads11]

All I can offer is that everyone in our lab has the XPS line, mostly XPS 15's and they're absolute workhorses at crunching through the heavy duty modelling we all do. But for the most part I'd have to say the new XPS 13 is the de facto standard for those looking for a light, excellent Windows machine.

That being said a few friends of mine have the HP Spectre line and those are also excellent Windows machines.

Not as sure about the SIM card slot though. Imagine that's where the new ARM based machines come in but they're too new to recommend I think. Those are just my personal experiences.

I've learnt the hard way that it's just better to go for the $1000 options as they tend to last the longest, in a similar way to flagship mobile phones. Sure it's tough to swallow the initial outlay but they're the only ones that last comfortably without you needing workarounds for your daily use of them a few years down the line (2016 Samsung S7 Edge daily driver)

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks a ton, guys ! Guess its between Lenovo & Macbook going by the posts.

- Macbook - Okay to run Windows?

- Macbook - 13" or 16"? Is 13 too small & 16 too big?

I'd pick the Macbook too. Apple's after-sales is very good and they are generous with replacements. You pay more upfront but the experience is hassle free when things go wrong.

I was tempted to run Windows on my Mac when I first switched. Believe me, this is an absolutely terrible idea. It's not worth the trouble, will give you a subpar user experience and handicap the machine significantly. In car terms, it'd be like turning on limp-home mode. Go with the MacOS, it will take you less than a week to get used to it. If you still hate it after a month, then consider your Windows idea but I'm pretty confident you won't.

I'm not sure if they have this facility in India but with new products, Apple allows you to return them anytime during the first 14 days for a full refund. No questions asked. You could try both sizes and keep the one you like.

[akbaree]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

This is actually a question rather than an answer. Is it safe to buy a Surface Laptop here in India? This is with respect to warranty and after sales. Because it is built by Microsoft, I am guessing they would have tested Windows extensively on it, hence a guess that it would be much reliable.

And that 3:2 screen is the more practical aspect ratio for content creation. 16:9 is only good for watching movies.

I have been using Surface Book 2 for couple of years. I had bought it in Australia though. I never contact their customer service. So I can't share after sales experience. But I can say - as an example - the latest Windows Update (May 2020) got released my Surface Book just last week - that is 3 months after it was officially rolled out. So in my experience it is not prudent to assume that Microsoft has tested Windows extensively on Surface devices

And I have had below par experience with Surface Book 2's battery. It hardly gives me 4 hours of uptime with not very CPU intensive use.

Compared to that I had a ThinkPad since 2011 and I continued to go back to work on it (rather than Surface Book) until it died a few months back. I had bought the ThinkPad in the US and the replacement mother board was not available here so I have put it in the graveyard now with a very heavy heart. Whenever I buy my personal laptop next, it will be a ThinkPad (unless something drastically changes).

[T-Bone]

Dear GTO,

I have been using HP laptop since 2006 (HP employee ). In last 14 years of my employment, I switched laptop only once (as a part of asset refresh program) but never have had any issues with both laptops. I still use my 10 year old HP Pavillion DV6 laptop (my kids now use for their online classes). I have also got HP laptops for few friends (employee purchase program) and no complaints from them till now either.

So based on the above experience, I would recommend HP.

By the way, I am ex-Dell

Best Regards,
T-Bone

[sgiitk]

This is a tough one. With Apple moving away from the Intel platform to ARM so that becomes a question.Also during he switch software may be iffy. AAs for Lenovo just remember they are Chinese.

As for service a lot depends on the local dealership. I had a Lenovo where my grandson managed to spill liquids. I found it easier to tap my Kanpur contacts.

[ZenMaster]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks a ton, guys ! Guess its between Lenovo & Macbook going by the posts.

- Usage is basically business & Team-BHP content creation. Nothing too heavy like picture or video processing, but I have a lot of programs running simultaneously (right now, it's Chrome with 25 tabs + iTunes + Excel + Word + Firefox + GDrive + Dropbox + etc.).

- Lenovo - Which model? If X1 Carbon, which generation? Am seeing 6, 7 & 8 on their website. If ThinkPad, which model or series in particular?

- Macbook - Okay to run Windows?

- Macbook - 13" or 16"? Is 13 too small & 16 too big?

For the kind of usage you intend, for longevity, on the windows side, RAM is the most important spec. Don't go below 16gb unless the RAM is not soldered and can be updated later. This determines how many years you can ise your system without hiccups.

Chrome can swallow any amount of RAM you throw at it, once you start piling up tabs


As for hardware reliability I'd go for Lenovo Thinkpad series.

[download2live]

Thinkpad T series. Expensive but very reliable. It is a workhorse and has never let me down. It is tough as nails. It is a business laptop so no glossy screen or high grade multimedia capability.

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by GTO

If we were to go by pure functionality, then I wouldn't need anything more than a Dzire either . But I want a laptop with a top-class build, premium finishing, a high quality screen etc. Would prefer to have more power than less .

Check out the Microsoft Surface Pro laptops too if Windows is essential. These are premium products from Microsoft to compete with the Macbooks.

Great build quality and top-shelf specifications, with Windows 10 Pro and MS Office included in the higher-end versions.

[Zen Av8r]

I have been a MacBook user since 2010 and have passed it on to my son for his classes. Didn't go in for another MacBook since Apple is in the process of changing over to ARM chipsets. After managing for a while without a laptop, I picked up a 14 inch ASUS Vivobook S14 with Ryzen 5 4500, 8GB RAM, 512 GB NVMe M.2 SSD last month. Comes with MS Office 2019. Its small and light, easy to carry around and lightning fast. I found it value for money too.