Team-BHP - The Laptop Thread: Configs, deals & questions

Quote:

Originally Posted by poloman (Post 4809609)

Disagree here. The main advantage of Mac is that it will feel snappy even after 5 years and multiple OS updates. This is not the case in Windows.

Agree with this. Same goes for iOS vs Android debate. But the point is why keep something for 5 years, when you can upgrade every 2-3 years and get benefits of new generation components like next gen wifi/bluetooth/usb support, faster memory/storage/cpu/ram. I will always prefer to buy 35K android phone and replace it every 2 years than keep a 70K iphone for 5 years, unless i am fixated over the apple logo. Gadgets are much easier to replace in life with better options than say your wife or girlfriend, so make the most out of it :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptainPrice (Post 4811783)

There are a variety of SSDs. As it stands, some of the best of the lot for both value, performance and reliability are below: (for 1TB, and in increasing order of price at the time of writing):

There are mainly 3 different forms of SSD: 2.5 SATA, M.2 SATA & M.2 NVMe. With regards to performance, considering similar class of products, NVMe > M.2 SATA > 2.5 SATA. In laptop especially, what kind of SSD u need to purchase boils down to what your laptop supports. In my laptop i have a 2.5 bay & two M.2 NVMe. So i can buy 2 NVMe sticks & 1 2.5 SSD in theory. It came with 2.5 1TB 7200RPM drive and 1x256GB NVMe drive as stock. I am thinking of buying one 1TB NVMe drive to use the free slot once the prices drop down a bit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fillmore (Post 4812124)

Windows Defender is good enough. It has come a long way and offers the same level of protection.

Ryzen 5 3550 / 500gb SSD / 16gb Ram / 1TB HDD / Radeon 560 graphics card.
Frankly dont feel like going back to the Mac.

It also doubles up as a gaming laptop. The Ryzen 5 does a good job here. I picked an Xbox one wireless controller, hook it to the TV and your AVR and you have a decent gaming system.

The biggest benefit of windows system by far is gaming of course, although things are slowly catching up in linux & mac world. I only use windows defender & malwarebytes along with AVG Tuneup all these years and they have served me well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by revvharder (Post 4813747)

I am facing a weird problem with my Hp laptop, when I press the power button it turns on and immediately shuts off, it sometimes happen 5 to 6 times and then the windows turn on or sometimes have to press the power button to switch off and then on in order to boot the windows.

Try this solution:

Control Panel>Power Options>...top left "choose what the power buttons do">change settings that are currently available>...then UN-check "Turn on Fast Startup".

If this doesn't work then there could be an issue with power button itself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ontheroad (Post 4813953)

I am in lookout for a laptop with a budget of Rs40k and found Asus Vivobook14 X412DA-EK502T with Ryzen5 processor, 8GB, 512 GB SSD, Windows 10Home to suit my requirement of browsing and some MS excel use. Can Bhpns suggest any better deal available? How reliable are Asus laptops? I would be using the laptop for atleast 5 years.

I had an Asus vivobook. I own an Asus ROG gaming laptop and an Asus zenbook today. They're terrific. Never had any issues. Take extended warranty. Asus after sales service is pretty good.

Am looking to buy another Asus zenbook fr only office work or maybe the MacBook Pro. Been smitten with the LG gram.

Asus vivobook that you're looking at has very minimal battery life, about 3-5 hours. The zenbook that I bought goes on for about 7-9 hours and that's what I love about it. The Asus ROG is just pure performance. Asking about its battery life would like asking a Lambo owner, "Kitna Deti hai?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joxster (Post 4818290)

such a poor design and for cheaping out on the display. :Frustrati

Why this happens always with laptops paired with AMD processors? The sleek and nice looking models always comes with Intel processors. I was looking for 'Ryzen 7' 4000 series laptops and almost everything by major manufacturers like Dell/Lenovo/Asus are bulky and uglier. Dell should introduce 'Ryzen 7' processors on Inspiron, XPS and Vostro models.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joxster (Post 4818290)

Shame on ASUS for such a poor design and for cheaping out on the display. :Frustrati

TUF is the budget line up of Asus like Nitro is for Acer & the top end ROG trades blows with Predator. However there is no excuse for releasing something like this, if you can see from the graph, the 9th Gen 6 core i7 + 1660Ti Helios 300 is having more frames than this machine with 8 core latest Ryzen 7 with RTX 2060 having 10W more TDP :Frustrati

The Laptop Thread: Configs, deals & questions-1.jpg

https://youtu.be/2diqewBCiq8

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMaruru (Post 4818421)

I was looking for 'Ryzen 7' 4000 series laptops and almost everything by major manufacturers like Dell/Lenovo/Asus are bulky and uglier. Dell should introduce 'Ryzen 7' processors on Inspiron, XPS and Vostro models.

Ryzen 4000 series laptops are still in their nascent stage even abroad. You have to wait a minimum of 3-4 months to make their presence felt in India. Last year i was on the lookout for laptops with Intel 9th Gen H series processors and their prices became reasonable around August and i got a sweet deal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMaruru (Post 4818421)

I'm not sure I would agree that this is always the case with laptops paired with AMD processors, because there have been/are plenty of badly built laptops with Intel processors as well. As Sam already pointed out, laptop makers switching to AMD on their mid-range to higher-end laptops are currently in their nascent stages, and need more time.

FYI - ASUS did get in contact with Tim post him making that video, and weren't happy about it (of course). Since I am a Patreon supporter of the Hardware Unboxed channel, I am part of their Discord server, hence privy to other information that may not be disclosed in their videos. :)

Please see what Tim had to say below:

The Laptop Thread: Configs, deals & questions-tim.jpg

Also, I see Lenovo and HP making some decent laptops with the Ryzen 4000 series processors. Take a look at them here. There are more still on the way from all the laptop manufacturers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samfromindia (Post 4818747)

Ryzen 4000 series laptops are still in their nascent stage even abroad. You have to wait a minimum of 3-4 months to make their presence felt in India.

Most certainly! :thumbs up

Cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMaruru (Post 4818421)

Intel is rightly putting lot of money and resources in making the laptops thin and light. Many of these patented technologies are finding way in to the OEM systems. So most of the sleeker premium laptops will have Intel processors.

AMD is still just a processor company. It does not have much leeway with OEMs and they can't do much if such design choices are being made in some products. Intel will never allow such things and has tighter control on the design flow.

So in the premium laptop segment, Intel based designs will be miles ahead.

Thermal engineering in laptops is an art. That said I am not very convinced that an established company like ASUS will do such seemingly stupid things. They have extremely good thermal and mechanical teams. There may be be some science v/s engineering v/s cost balancing act being done here.

Guys. I have a 13 yr old Dell Inspiron which is still going great. The only problem is that its running on Windows Vista. With online classes starting for my daughter, we thought we will use this laptop. But the problem is that google meet isnt compatible with any of the browsers that can be installed on this laptop.

Anyone know what can de done next?
1. Do I need to throw this out to buy a new laptop. If so any recommendations under 25k?
2. Can i buy a Windows 10 OS DVD and install it in my laptop. Is it worth the effort?
3. Any other options preferably reutilising the old Dell laptop? (Third party apps that support meet, OTA windows upgrade etc.?)