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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-447.html)

I recently bought Thinkpad E14 Ryzen 5500U laptop. In its base configuration it is 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD. To that I added 16GB RAM for a total of Rs.65,000/ This was after negotiating at the Lenovo shop in Nehru Place, Delhi.

I did a lot of research online, and found out that
. Most of the vendors selling at low price are shady - repackaged stuff etc.
. The discounts on Thinkpad are barely 8% of the list price, so any lower price needs investigation.
. Off line shops mostly match or exceed online shop prices.

That said, why Thinkpad?
. Extremely robust build, top and bottom aluminum.
. One of the best keyboards.
. If you have ever used the track ball pointer then you will love it.
. One of the best battery performances.

Why Ryzen and not i5?
. 6 cores against 4 cores.
. Cooler running.

These some of the points considered. There are many more. After using it for 15 days, I am in love with the machine.

As described a few posts back, I have added the following
. USB C - 7 in 1 hub that has HDMI, Card Readers and USB ports.
. SATA dock for 3.5" desktop SATA disks.

So now I have a desktop comparable workstation with two external monitors (that makes 3 screens) similar to my 10+ year old dual Xeon workstation, but sleeker and much faster. Plus it has portability, I can just unplug all the accesories and travel with the Laptop with as many external storage devices as I need.

One grand for the 60Hz FHD panel in 2022? Sounds way too much to me when better built laptops from experienced brands are available with 2.8K 90hz OLED panels (Samsung manufactured panels) or even better.

Anyways, everyone has different priories so best of luck and congratulations for the choice.

Recently my sister asked me for suggestions for a laptop for her son starting his bachelors. I suggested the E14 and looking at the price she was flabbergasted. I tried to impress upon her that the Thinkpad is a sturdily built laptop and would last him a long time, but she wasn't impressed. They have now put off the purchase for the Diwali sales hoping that there would be some good deals available.

I have owned two Thinkpads in the past - an R series (IBM make) and the Edge (Lenovo). Both are budget series and mostly plastic (not a looker IMO), but they were great machines. The R only had the trackpoint and the keyboard was a joy to type on.

Boy, now I feel I want to buy another one.

Yes people are swayed by the price and rarely think about the build and utility of a premium product.

I have had thinkpads since 2002. All of them X series as at that time I wanted a super light laptop for field work.

Since I had retired, a decade ago, my Desktop was the main computer, followed by the phone recently. Now I am phasing out the desktop, hence a laptop. E14 may not be their best, but for its price and construction it is still the best buy.

The Thinkpad is a great product with acceptable build quality and is usually highly durable. However most people would rather shy away from Lenovo and prefer HP, Dell etc.

Every brand has its great and duds, so it is difficult to comment on quality based on the manufacturer.

The only thing that goes in favour of the Thinkpad line, every time, is their build and keyboard. Further IBM that designed the Thinkpad line was always conservative in their design, prefering medium level of performance for greater reliability, rather than pushing the prformance level of the chips to achieve much better performance, which sadly came at the cost of reliability.

The IBM Thinkpad used to be a solid machine, but the quality has come down gradually in the hands of Lenovo. Our Thinkpad M series ( supposedly Military spec) from the Lenovo time did not age gracefully though. We had the plastic screen body cracking away, hinge failure not once but twice, random keys failures within the first few years. We just moved on and never got another Lenovo after that experience. Asus Tuf series bought as replacement appears to be doing rock steady since the last few years.

On the contrary my office laptop M series that was an IBM Thinkpad was built to last. The original battery lasted almost 5 years (and the laptop was in excellent condition when it was replaced as per company policy after 5 years)

Yes some series of Thinkpad were not worth it, but in my personal experience the X and T series, rarely had any issues (if any).

There are true MIL specs laptops and there are "nearly" MIL specs ones. The E series has some MIL specs features, but not all of them, especially drop test and the temparature range.

https://www.msi.com/Landing/2019-MIL...10G-Testing/nb

https://in.panasonictoughbook.asia/c...zed-toughbooks

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/thinkpa...oogle.com%252F

Computer Gurus of T-BHP, I come to you with yet another query for new laptop purchase !

Use case - This will be used by my sister who is going abroad for her master's degree in Cyber Security. So reliability (build & software), good battery backup and portability is what I am looking for. Now to be future proof, I am looking at these two categories mainly -

1. Windows laptop - I am looking at 16gb/512gb combination laptops only and those are in range of 70 - 80k INR and plus. I am concerned about the build quality of these laptops as most of these are plastic body. This makes me look at the below category of laptop.
   
2. Apple laptop - I see M2 MacBook Air, it looks tempting and is in my budget. My worry is if 8gb/256gb combination will be sufficient ? I don't want to go for M1 MacBook air as it has only two ports and this will restrict usability. And if I do select mac book, then which would be best way to purchase this ? On line or any apple store in India/ Croma or reliance digitial ? Any way to get some discounts, if any, on the apple devices ?

thank you all for your help, in advance ! :)

No, who told you that most of them are plastic built? You can very well get your hands on the premium and lightweight Zenbooks. These days some of these MIL-STD-810G/H rated efficient laptops can be found in the affordable category as well.

One historical downside of the compact laptops was that they lacked the number-pad, but not anymore since Zenbooks have touchpad which also doubles as numpad so you can have numpad and portability both at the same time.

For the efficiency, get the Ryzen 5600/5800 based laptop. Avoid the 12th gen Intel at any cost if efficiency is your priority. 10th and 11th gen are too far behind the Ryzens in terms of performance so Ryzens are the natural choice here.

You can also consider the Ryzen 6000 series based Zenbooks if they fall in your budget. Advantage with the Ryzen 6000 series over the Ryzen 5000 is that you get Most powerful iGPU of the current time (Weakest in the Ryzen 5000 series), PCIE Gen 4 SSD along with the DDR5 RAM, if these matter to you.

If you can find Expertbook in India then that will be even better. ExpertBooks are proper business series laptops which are lightweight yet durable and come with far more type of connectivity ports.

Upgrade windows is also much wider with them where you can also upgrade the RAM in future along with the SSD. Whereas you can only upgrade the SSD in the Zenbooks. Some of them even have slot for the HDD if anyone wants to add large storage capacity. Since your sis is going abroad, she can consider getting the ExpertBook there if its not available here.

About the Apple, just keep in mind that the kind of softwares your sis is going to use will be compatible with the Mac. I guess experimenting with many softwares and hardwares will be involved in the studies your sis is into, and Macs are infamous for their closed natures so the scope for experiments pretty limited with them.

M1/M2 chips are also ARM based, kind of mobile chip. So lots of apps/softwares are still not fully compatible with them despite being so much powerful and efficient.

If none of these points are going to pose any issue with the study material of your sis then Macbooks are also solid option with the usual long term hardware/software support provided by the Apple.

Another advantage with with Windows laptops is that you can easily install Linux in them, or even Android based OS if you are willing to. Far wider options of experiments are open with them which is not the case with the Apple, atleast not in as easier way as it is with any Windows based machine.

Hope this helps.

My few cents:

For windows laptop, sometimes for getting a desired RAM/SSD configuration on a prebuilt, one has to take higher tier CPU/GPU which drives up the cost. If one is having lower budget they can always buy a base model as per their requirement and add RAM+SSD later which works out far cheaper. Like in my case I added extra 16GB ram for 4.5K and 1TB SSD for 9K, taking my total RAM to 32 and drive storage to 1.25TB SSD and 1TB HDD. More details on the link below:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadge...ml#post5001978

Its recommended you buy during Big Billion Day and Great Indian Day sale as you get the best deals during that phase.

Coming to MacBooks, all Apple products in India are overpriced. Sometimes it makes more sense to travel abroad and purchase or better have someone to bring them here for you. As she is going abroad, I feel its better to buy apple from there rather than here, unless there is a urgent requirement.

Here are the current rates of Macbooks in DXB for reference in Dirham (1 DHR ~ 22 INR)

Be careful with apple machines, and ensure that all the key software that be be used during the course will be available for the Mac OS, in case you plan to proceed that way.

On the contrary, windows machines can be made dual or multi boot ( like windows / linux ), which is added benefit.

As long as you go for a decent CPU like i5 11/12 gen or equivalent ryzen with 8 gb ram plus expansion slots , it should be fine. I specifically like the ASUS tuf series as they have free RAM and free NVMe slot plus good cooling because of dual fans, even though heavy. (Shall we say, built like a tank?)

Am not a computer guru, but let me know share my views since you asked about M2 Macbook.

I picked the base model M2 Macbook air on the launch day and it's been almost 2 months now. Coming to some of your questions:
1) Battery life - Brilliant. It will easily last one day. I use it for heavy browsing, document work and online video streaming.
2) Extremely lightweight and easy to carry around. Sometimes, I feel I forgot to take the laptop when I carry my bag around.
3) Ports - yes, this is one major issue. I bought a USB hub and a bluetooth mouse.
4) For official purpose, it meets my requirements and all softwares were compatible.
5) Get the fast charger. The base charger takes around 3.5 hours to fully charge the laptop. I purposely picked the base charger since it was small and handy.
6) Get the starlight color. Less fingerprint magnet. I have the space grey and there's slight fingerprint smudges. But the midnight is pretty bad (my colleague is using it).

My niece who is school also picked this up and till now she's happy. But since your sister is going for her Masters and especially Cyber security, do check with software compatibility. Guess it should be fine.

I am looking for good Laptop Repair services in the Eastern Mumbai - anywhere near Ghatkopar, Vidyavihar, Chembur, Kurla would be fine. A 4+ year old Dell Laptop's battery is in it's last legs. It's a non-removable battery. Does anyone here have any experience with any shop which can install a new battery in the laptop? Also how much should I expect the cost to be?

I could suggest you to check first with the brand after sales service, as sometimes the neighborhood shops may put in some recycled battery from scrap laptop or after market brands that may conk off in a few months.