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-   -   The Laptop Thread: Configs, deals & questions (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/67390-laptop-thread-configs-deals-questions-371.html)

Thanks Pratyush.
I will change my laptop for sure in sometime. Which laptop did you upgrade to? What price can I expect of my laptop, ballpark if you will.
Thanks Poloman.
I will ensure nothing less than 8gb Ram for my next machine.
A few (actually lots :)) questions for everyone, please chip in with your knowledge as I have very little in this.

Any particular laptop recommend as per my usage mentioned earlier in the Windows world.

I would like to move to the MacBook Air if it is feasible since I use an iPhone, Apple TV and AirPods.

If someone can guide me regarding the Air it would be super.
- what about Word and Excel? Can I get that loaded in the Air and since I have a load of earlier files, would I be able to use them also without issues.

- I have a WD Elements external hard drive 2 TB, can this be connected to the Air?

- SD card slot which is not provided on the Air, can it be used?

- I believe there are hardly any slots on the Air, can I get adaptors which can work for the above?

- Any particular model you guys recommend in the Air range? I want a fast machine even though I have a limited usage.

Guidance provided will be deeply appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers

My personal laptop is a mac book air. If you are looking for a slick and sleek machine used for browsing, streaming and some productivity work, no windows machine can beat this one in the long run. Win10 machines get progressively slow and laggy for some or other reasons.
Due to thin form factor, ports are an issue in macbooks. Even to use a wireless mouse you need an adapter. So you can buy an adapter of your choice of interfaces and plug in to the type c port.
One issue which I face is that my adapter drains power even when the mac is sleeping or not allowing it to sleep.

So if I understand you correctly - Word/Excel can be loaded, SD card and my external hard drive all can be used with adaptors in the Air.

Please confirm.

Thanks again.

Cheers

I upgraded to the 15.6inch Asus Vivobook. It has a Ryzen 5 quad core processor with Vega 8 graphics, 512GB SSD (This makes all the difference) and 8GB of ram. It was for about 42K. Considering I paid the same 2 years ago for my lenovo, I find this an amazing deal for a machine that actually works. Only con is the low screen brightness.

I did not sell my old laptop, just shifted it to the office. My machines are used for a good 8-9 years at the office before replaced so it made sense for me to shift it there especially because I spent a good sum on the repairs not too long ago.stupid:

Yes most of the things you can do on a Win 10 laptop, you can do on a mac nowadays. Word/excel you will have to buy from Apple store. Get a good adapter though it will cost upwards of 5K with ports you mentioned.

I got a 2019 version for around 84K, 6 months back.

It is highly portable being a 13" laptop. My daughter is mightily impressed with it and attending all her online classes and doing project works with the same.

Ultimately this is what I did. Thanks! :)
https://www.dell.com/en-in/shop/lapt...c-2a18859960cc

It'll definitely be convenient for you since you already have the rest of the Apple ecosystem. :)

Poloman has already answered most of your questions. You can get an adapter like this to connect your external HDD, SD cards and lots of other devices to your Macbook.

Not sure what your budget is, but since you say that you want it to be fast (and remain so), then I think you should be looking at the Macbook Pro, instead of the Air. It will definitely be more future-proof. Comparison of the models in India here.

Congrats on the new laptop, and happy to help. May it serve you well! :)

Cheers

Thanks a lot Joxster!

My usage is for Word (a lot) Excel (a lot), surfing (not a lot) and online banking. Preferable budget around one lac and last me maybe for 5-7 years. If I can get the smoothness and speed say like my iPhone 11 would be more than enough for me.

Based on my usage mentioned above could you recommend one model of the Air and one model of the Pro which you feel would be apt. The Air starts at 92xxx while the Pro starts at 1,22,xxx with more expensive and confusing configurations above it. For my usage would the Pro make that much of a difference in day to day usage to warrant the minimum extra spend of 30k? From a layman’s perspective I prefer the Air since it’s thinner, lighter and of course less expensive :).

The Eksa 8-1 adaptor which you linked from Amazon looks really good for my needs. Since you mentioned “like this” is there something else you would recommend or can I go ahead and buy this one.

Please clarify on the above.

Cheers

In that case, go for the Air with the i7 + 16GB of RAM. This combo should go the distance of 5-7 years for you.

I suggested the adapter from Eska because it's a German brand which I am familiar with, and has good reviews - no personal experience with these kind of adapters to be honest. The adapter just comes down to personal choice, so if you liked this one, then don't bother looking at any others. :)

Cheers

Hey Joxter, Since you are answering so many questions, I have a set of my own, request your inputs.
I am not a gamer, but would like the GPU to assist in normal everyday tasks.

1. I'm disappointed with the laptops I've owned that've had so-so GPUs on them. I think my previous laptop a 2nd gen i5 with a Radeon H7550M never really used the GPU. I tried everything to force it to use the GPU but really never mattered. Are discrete GPUs only for dedicated games? Or can they bring their processing power to assist everyday browsing, video viewing, etc.?
2. Are the new AMD processors going to have the same problem, because I notice that the laptop CPUs don't come with graphics capabilities? Will such a laptop require an addon graphics processor or does AMD believe that the CPU will be able handle all the graphics processing without impacting the user?
   

TIA

Thanks once again Joxster!

I can’t seem to find this combo of the Air i7 + 16GB RAM + 256GB anywhere stupid:
Will the Word, Excel program for iOS be available only from the store or online as well and how much would that cost approximately.

How much will Air with the above configuration cost and where will I get it?

Will buy the Eksa adaptor for sure.

Appreciate your help.

Cheers

I paid Rs. 7000 for MS Office - Mac edition.

I have been using Macbook Pros for the last 10 years now. To answer your questions -

1. You can use MS Office programs on Mac. I have an Office365 subscription which gives me all the apps @ Rs.650 per month. This has 5 users and 5TB One Drive space (1TB storage per user) allowed. The Mac version is now at par with Windows version.

2. NTFS hard drives do not work with Mac. You can copy data from it but cannot write to it. You need Mac-Journaled format or FAT32 format. You can do this using the Mac.

3. SD card slots can be bought as adapters.

With iPhone, Apple Watch and Mac the ecosystem is just amazing.

Please reach out to me if you have any questions.

For your use case i5+8GB+128GB model is more than enough. Macbook Pro is not needed unless you are doing some video editing, content creation etc..
So get the one listed in Flipkart. During special sales you can get it as low as 85K. If you can stretch go for the 256GB storage. Remember no HW upgrade possible in MaC.
Apple MacBook Air Core i5 8th Gen - (8 GB/128 GB SSD/Mac OS Mojave) MVFH2HN/A. Here's the link http://dl.flipkart.com/dl/apple-macb...oduct.share.pp

Office 365 has moved mostly to a monthly or yearly subscription model whether it is for Windows or Mac. One time purchase supports very less apps.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/micr...oducts-for-mac

I should probably start charging consultation fees. I'll be able to buy that Lamborghini before I know it! lol:

Technology has come a long way since you bought that laptop. The new Ryzen 4000 mobile processors change the game with their inbuilt graphics. In fact, they are powerful enough to play all of today's AAA gaming titles at the lowest graphics settings and resolution.

Here's a gaming benchmark test of the inbuilt graphics on the Ryzen 4600U, which is AMD's equivalent of the Intel i5 U-series processors:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-ArSfPYDSI

Quite impressive right? These inbuilt graphics should easily be able to handle the task of web browsing and watching videos, albeit at normal resolutions - 1440p & 2160p (4K) might not be so smooth.

To answer your question about discrete graphics cards though, they definitely take all the graphics processing load off of the CPU, and provide a much better experience in all aspects of the display, and not just for gaming, so are recommended if you can afford them. From my own personal experience on my desktop right now, I faced a hardware issue with my graphics card, and had to give it in to the service center, and am now running on the integrated graphics on my 8700K - the integrated graphics on this CPU are now old and outdated, so not to be compared with what you get on the Ryzen 4000 chips, but watching videos in full screen at 1440p or 2160p are a bit glitchy, and I notice that scrolling down webpages takes longer, and some are taking a lot longer to load as well, and this is where the dedicated graphics card has made that difference for me.

Modern day laptops seamlessly switch between integrated and dedicated graphics without you even noticing, so you will definitely not face the issue of trying to force your laptop to use the dedicated graphics.

The new Ryzen 4000 mobile processors all come with inbuilt graphics - not sure where you got the information that they don't? You can see that here.
Personally, I think that the Ryzen 5 4000 series will have the graphics performance you're expecting, but if you're not confident, then go for a laptop which also has dedicated graphics - that would also be the better choice anyway! :)

It looks like you can do the configuration of a Macbook with the specifications you want only in an Apple authorized store. You can find the nearest one to your location using this link.

Only from the App Store. I don't know how much it costs, and I cannot check that either as I am in Belgium. Maybe someone else here who has a Macbook can check the store and confirm how much MS Office costs in the Apple App Store?
Edit: I see that others have already provided the pricing while I was typing this very long post, lol.

Unfortunately I don't have the answer to this, and I think you can only get that answer in the Apple authorized store, as they don't allow you to configure online and get the price - that's honestly quite inconvenient.

He said that he wants the laptop to go the distance, hence my suggestion of i7 + 16GB. As a heavy Excel user myself, I can tell you that 8GB of RAM when working with multiple or large spreadsheets is not enough, and the RAM is soldered in a Macbook, so cannot be upgraded later. The i7 will keep the Macbook feeling snappy even further on in it's life.

You're suggesting only for the present, and I am suggesting for the present+future. Just to ensure that we don't confuse him further.

Cheers