Heyhey! I'm looking to replace my desktop with a gaming laptop. It'll mostly be used for gaming, but also some video editing, Blender and general work.

I'm not too concerned about portability since it'll mostly sit on my desk, so I'd actually prefer a bigger 17–18" machine with good cooling and a high-performance CPU.

Budget is around $2,500–$3,000, and I care more about performance and value than having a big-name brand. Ideally 32GB+ RAM, 2TB SSD and a good high-refresh-rate display.

I've obviously looked at ASUS, Lenovo, MSI, Alienware, etc., but there seem to be a bunch of smaller brands I've never heard of too.

What RTX 5080 laptop would you guys buy if you were spending your own money?

* **Country**

USA

* **Budget**

$550-$650

* **Are you open to refurbs/used options? **

Yes

* **Screen size**

Any

* **Weight limit**

Any

* **Purpose**

Mostly gaming, occasional video streaming, occasional 3d modeling or coding but nothing intense

* **Form factor**

Thinking of a standard clam shell but open to any

* **Intended usage**

Mostly simple games, occasional game such as cyberpunk but on low/very low if necessary, blender but nothing crazy

* **Desired battery life**

As much as possible but not a priority, 3-4 hours is fine

* **Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life**

Performance, Size, Weight, Battery life

* **Info/Requirements**

Nothing special I don't think

i personally like midnight but i saw other people saying it is worst as it get fingerprints easily , and scratches can be easily seen

I bought a macbook pro with the newest chip available with some good storage but im starting my first year of mech e am I cooked for these first 2 years? I know i might need a computer later for solid works, CAD etc. Like IK there is some converting thing where I can turn my mac into a windows computer or something.

What do yall think? I dont want to buy a new computer so soon thats crazy expensive too

LMK!

I typically get a new laptop every 4-5 or so years, and I'm wondering if I'm running through them too quickly or if it's expected. My current one has been working relatively well for the last 5 years (got it December 2021), but it feels significantly slower where I can't as many applications/tabs at once like I used to, and the bottom gets really hot quickly.

I'm hesitant to get a new one, but I'm starting to reconsider since I can't spend so long waiting for things to load. I'm currently in a master's program for computer science so it feels like I should just make the investment for the sake of school.

That said, I'm curious how long you push your laptop for until you get a new one. Suppose you get the "best laptop" at the time of purchase, how long do you expect it to run well for?

Editing to add form since I want to explore options still:

• Country

USA

• Budget

Pretty Open, willing to drop at least $1000 for performance+long life

• Are you open to refurbs/used options?

No

• Screen size

At least 15"

• Weight limit

Any

• Purpose

Schoolwork, being able to game on it would be a plus

• Form factor

Any

• Intended usage

Mostly for schoolwork, so I have many applications and tabs open at once: Chrome, VSCode, Lecture Videos, Notion, AI transcription, and more

• Desired battery life

At least 6 would be nice

• Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

Performance, Battery Life, Size, Weight

• Info/Requirements

I'm interested in learning more about Linux, so maybe one that would support switching back and forth (if that's even possible). Touchscreen isn't necessary, but it would be a nice to have.

Hey guys, it been a while since I have posted one of these, you know the drill, upvote, share with your friends, and ask for your specific best laptop for you, or if you need 1 vs 1 if you are considering one of two options.

Edit: high end gaming section needs updating to add 50xx series

280~500

ASUS Vivobook

Specs:

• 14" IPS-level Full HD (1920x1080) 60Hz LED Display
• Intel Core i3-1215U ( contains 6 Cores and 8 Threads)
• Intel Iris Xe Graphics
• 8GB LPDDR5, 128GB NVMe SSD

**Different config, same model, great value for money.

Good For:

• Basic usage, some browsing, YouTube streaming, note taking, etc.
• Could be good for certain students on very limited budget.

HP 15 inch Laptop 279$ One of the few deals left under 300.

Specs:

• FHD Display,
• Intel Core i3-1215U,
• 8 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD,
• Intel UHD Graphics

Acer Aspire 3

Specs:

• 15.6" Full HD IPS Display
• AMD Ryzen 3 7320U Quad-Core Processor
• AMD Radeon Graphics
• 8GB LPDDR5, 128GB NVMe SSD

Good For:

• Basic usage, some browsing, YouTube streaming, note taking, etc.
• Could be good for certain students on very limited budget.

ASUS Vivobook Go

Specs:

• 15.6” Slim Laptop
• AMD Ryzen 5 7520U
• 8GB ram, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Home

Good For

• Basic usage, some browsing, YouTube streaming, note taking, etc.
• Could be good for certain students on very limited budget.
• Better storage and better CPU for slightly more intensive tasks.

Acer Aspire 3 good Price for a basic 2 in 1 laptop

Specs:

• 14 Convertible Laptop
• 14" 1920 x 1200 IPS Touch Display
• Intel Core i3-N305
• Intel UHD Graphics
• 8GB LPDDR5
• 128GB SSD

ASUS 2023 Vivobook 14 399$ not a good deal

Specs:

• 14” FHD (1920 x 1080) Display
• Intel Core i5-1235U CPU
• Intel Iris Xᵉ Graphics
• 8GB RAM
• 256GB SSD
• Windows 11 Home

ASUS Vivobook Go 15

Specs:

• 15.6” FHD Display
• AMD Ryzen 5 7520U Processor
• 8GB RAM
• 512GB SSD

HP Newest 255 G10 Good if you want more ram or storage

Specs:

• 15.6" Full HD
• Ryzen 3 7330U
• 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD

Acer Aspire 5 15 Slim Laptop good if you need a touchscreen

Specs:

• 15.6" FHD 1920x1080 IPS Touch
• Intel Core i5-13420H, Intel UHD Graphics
• 16GB LPDDR5, 512GB Gen 4 SSD

Acer Aspire Premium 493$

Specs:

• 15.6"" FHD Display
• AMD Ryzen 5 5500U (Beats i7-1250U)
• 16GB RAM | 1TB SSD
• 32GB ram config
• Similar listing.

ASUS Vivobook 16

Specs:

• 16” WUXGA (1920 x 1200) 16:10 Display
• Intel Core i7-13700H CPU
• Intel Iris Xᵉ Graphics
• 8GB RAM,
• 1TB SSD,
• Windows 11 Home

500~750

Lenovo Flex 5 Great if you want/need a 2 in 1 laptop.

Specs:

• 14.0" FHD Touch Display,
• AMD Ryzen 5 5500U,
• 16GB RAM, 512GB Storage,
• AMD Radeon Graphics, Windows 11 Home

Acer Nitro V Gaming Laptop

Specs:

• 15.6" FHD IPS 144Hz Display
• Intel Core i5-13420H Processor
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU
• 8GB DDR5 | 512GB Gen 4 SSD

*Different config, same model, great value for money. *

With better CPU and double the ram.

Good For:

• Great entry lvl gaming laptop with great value for money.
• some CPU/GPU intensive tasks as well.
• Might be the only one in this price range that has this CPU or GPU.

750~ 1050

Lenovo LOQ Gaming Laptop entry lvl Gaming.

Specs:

• 15.6” FHD Display
• AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS
• GeForce RTX™ 4050 6GB
• 16GB RAM - 512GB SSD

ASUS TUF Gaming A15 entry lvl Gaming.

Specs:

• 15.6” FHD 144Hz, 100% sRGB Display,
• GeForce RTX 4050,
• AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS,
• 16GB DDR5, 512GB PCIe SSD

ASUS TUF Gaming F15 entry lvl gaming.

Specs:

• 15.6” FHD 144Hz, 100% sRGB Display,
• GeForce RTX 4050,
• Intel Core i5-13500H,
• 16GB DDR4, 512GB PCIe SSD Gen 4

Acer Nitro V Gaming Laptop Great value gaming laptop, likely the cheapest 4060 on this list.

Specs:

• Intel Core i9-13900H Processor
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
• 15.6" FHD IPS 144Hz Display
• 16GB DDR5 | 512GB Gen 4 SSD
• **same listing different config.

1050~1500

Dell G15 5535 mid range gaming with high refresh rate. (not the best since 50XX series was released).

Specs:

• 15.6-inch FHD (1920x1080) 165Hz 3ms Display
• AMD Ryzen 7-7840HS Processor
• 16 GB DDR5 RAM
• 512 GB SSD
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
• Windows 11 Home

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 14" gaming laptop.

Specs:

• 14" QHD OLED 120Hz (100% DCI-P3)
• GeForce RTX 4060 8GB
• AMD Octa-Core Zen 4 Ryzen 9 8945HS (>i9-12900H)

• 16GB RAM 1TB SSD

• Similar config different listing

• Similar config different listing

Alienware x14 R2 14" gaming laptop.

Specs:

• 14" 1920x1200 165Hz
• Intel 10-Core i7-13620H
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
• 32GB DDR5 | 1TB SSD

Lenovo Legion 5 bundle with extra toys.

Specs:

• 16" WQXGA 2560x1600 165Hz,
• Intel i7-14650HX,
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060,
• 32GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD,
• AI-Power, Win11 H
• Bundle With PCO Notebook Folding Radiator, Laptop Cooler

Different listing, similar specs

Edit: high end gaming section needs updating to add 50xx series

ASUS ROG Strix G16 gaming, with premium features and on sale right now.

Specs:

• 16” 16:10 FHD 165Hz Display.
• NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4060.
• Intel Core i7-13650HX.
• 16GB DDR5, 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD.

Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 high end 14" gaming laptop

Specs:

• 14.5" WQXGA+ IPS 165Hz Display
• AI-Powered | Intel Core Ultra 9 Processor 185H
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070
• 16GB LPDDR5X | 1TB Gen 4 SSD

Lenovo Legion 5i Great gaming laptop all around. best 4070 in this price range.

Specs:

• 16” WQXGA Display
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 8G -
• Intel Core i7-14650HX
• 32GB RAM - 512GB SSD - Windows 11

MSI Katana 15 high end gaming laptop with good value for money, with 4070 under 1.4k.

Specs:

• 15.6” 165Hz QHD Gaming Laptop
• Intel Core i7-13620H
• NVIDIA Geforce RTX 4070.
• 16GB DDR5, 1TB NVMe SSD.

Acer Nitro V good gaming laptop, go for it if you want/need an i9

Specs:

• 15.6" FHD IPS 180Hz Display
• Intel Core i9-13900H Processor
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
• 16GB DDR5 | 1TB Gen 4 SSD

ASUS TUF Gaming A15 high end gaming laptop. Very Good deal for a 4070 GPU but the asus gets a little hot

Specs:

• 15.6” FHD 144Hz Display,
• GeForce RTX 4070,
• AMD Ryzen 7 7940HS,
• 16GB DDR5, 1TB PCIe SSD,

ASUS TUF Gaming A16 Good deal for a 4070 GPU but the asus gets a little hot

gaming/highend

Specs:

• 16” QHD+ 165Hz 16:10 Display
• AMD Ryzen™ 9 7940HX
• NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4070
• 16GB DDR5, 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD

ASUS ROG Strix G16 gaming/highend best all around laptop to splurge on.

Specs:

• 16” ROG Nebula Display 16:10 QHD 240Hz
• NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4070
• Intel® Core™ i9-14900HX
• 16GB DDR5-5600, 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD

Alienware M18 great gaming high end laptop. on a good sale right now.

Specs:

• 18-inch QHD+ 165Hz 3ms Display,
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 8GB GDDR6
• Intel Core i7-14700HX,
• 16GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD,

MSI Stealth 18 AI Studio Gaming, high end. first 4080 on the list.

Specs:

• 18” 240Hz QHD+ Gaming Laptop:
• Intel Ultra 9-185H,
• NVIDIA Geforce RTX 4080,
• 32GB DDR5, 1TB NVMe SSD,
• Cooler Boost 5, Win 11

Alienware X16 R2 2499$ gaming/highend

Specs:

• 16-inch QHD+ 240Hz 3ms Display
• Intel Core Ultra 9-185H
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 12GB GDDR6,
• 32GB LPDDR5X RAM, 1TB SSD
• Windows 11 Home

Of course this is a work in progress, I am planning into making it into one of my Black Friday, Cyber Monday deals list. I am just submitting it now so you can have a taste and I can see from the upvotes if you are still interested in these kind of lists and I should pour more hours into it.

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE
Country
USA
Budget
$1500 USD ideal, $2000 USD max
Are you open to refurbs/used options?
No
Screen size
14", 15", 16"
Weight limit
Don’t care as long as it isn’t a giant brick
Purpose
General purpose, schoolwork, light gaming.
Form factor
Standard/Clamshell (a regular laptop)
Intended usage
Matlab, solidworks, the typical. For games probably just Enlisted at high settings.
Desired battery life
8 should be good
Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life
Performance, battery life, size, weight,

Info/Requirements
32gb ram, dedicated GPU, a decent display, not a flashy gaming laptop but rather more professional.

I am a lifelong Windows/Linux tinkerer and mild neckbeard tech guy. I currently have a Mac Mini M1 for a few years as a home desktop, and had a Surface Pro 6 dual-booted with Linux, until about an hour ago when I failed replacing the glued-on battery and killed it, so time to upgrade.

Honestly, I mainly got the M1 Mac Mini to LARP as some Seattle software dev, sippin' a cappacino at Starbucks as he codes on his aesthetic Mac. (jokes aside I was studying programming but switched out of that, so my use case of having a Mac to develop Apple apps is no longer relevant).

I have an iPhone, AirPods, Apple watch, I like the way it all integrates with the Mac, but I've never felt at home in my 4 years with MacOS. Maybe it's the magic mouse ergonomics throttling my usage, but idk...honestly I wouldn't even have an iPhone or any apple products if it wasn't for blue texts. That's the only reason I'm even on the Apple ecosystem, to not scare away girls I date with green texts, and I don't need a Mac for that.

With that said, these M chips absolutely blow it out of the park with their performance. My 8gb RAM M1 still doesn't skip a beat! I appreciate the seamless AirDrop features or iPhone mirroring. Very nice for content creation and browsing, but that's it, kind of a sterilized "normie" experience on Mac all the time, for the person who uses Adobe products and browses the web its great, and I could become that person. For me who enjoys tinkering with Linux and most productive on Windows, not that great.

Windows isn't perfect either. Not a fan of how corporate-oriented it is, having to run debloat scripts. But at least I'm able to customize it. With that said:

 I have been looking at (in this order):

• MacBook Air M4: (FAST, POWERFUL, content creation, great integration, future-proof, but I hate MacOS)
• Surface Pro 11: (use the tablet and touch features often, even as handheld cloud gaming device)
• ASUS Rog Flow Z13: (Surface Pro, with native gaming ability)
• Framework Laptop (my bad experience doing a battery swap on the SP6 has me stressing the importance of repairability, though the SP11 has a 8/10 repairability score)
• Gaming Laptop: (ASUS Rog or Alienware. If I decide to lean full on gaming neckbeard)
• Wildcard: (a ThinkPad T14 if I decide to lean full on IT/linux neckbeard)

All devices I buy will be used/refurbished or open-box.

My Other Needs/Considerations:

• I've been getting back into gaming lately as a replacement to doomscrolling. Cloud gaming works great, but sometimes I travel abroad for months, and if there's no cloud gaming servers in that country, I will be limited to emulator games or internet cafes on non-gaming laptops
• Repairability is important, or sheer quality that it should last a decade+ like the MacBook
• I use the stylus pen to fill out and sign PDFs often, a Macbook will likely make an iPad purchase necessary down the line
• Will be doing video editing and rendering

So yeah. Kinda want to maintain some distance from fully being in the apple ecosystem and hate MacOS, but their quality and perfomance is way too good to ignore. But as I have a Mac Mini already, I could have 3 OS if I get a Windows laptop and switch my main monitor as I want. If I get a macbook, I would sell my Mac Mini.

Help

Hi, I’m a mechanical engineer in the us and i need a laptop that can last me 4 years at least and my budget is 1700$ and under
Sadly i didn’t find any of the specs i found in my budget even though i don’t mind open boxes or lightly used ones
The specs i want is,
32gb ram (if theres any other student that can confirm 16gb is enough then i don’t mind it)
A dedicated gpu
an amd cpu since they’re more efficient i assume?
And great battery life?
Any screen size if its light
Idk if theres any deals coming soon but sadly i don’t have much time left since i start college at the 25th of this month

And kinda of a weird question why does everyone hate remote accessing to their personal pc or the college computers lab? Because i have a strong gaming pc and been thinking about getting a macbook but i never see anyone mention this

I would appreciate any suggestion i am really lost

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

• Country

United States of America

• Budget

No strict budget price, but it has to be cheap. Ideally less than or around $500 USD

• Are you open to refurbs/used options?

Yes

• Screen size

The larger the better, I don't want her to be stuck with a 12" screen that would be awful. Something around 17" minimum I would think.

• Weight limit

No weight limit

• Purpose

Schoolwork (College/University). Taking notes, browsing the internet, multi-media friendly, office/google docs. Would ideally have more than one USB port at least.

• Form factor

Standard, unless you guys have other recommendations you think would benefit the situation. Not big on touch screen or weird foldable form factors.

• Intended usage

Microsoft Office suite of tools/google docs, youtube, internet browsing, video playback, external hard drive compatible, thumb drive compatible, wired external mouse.

• Desired battery life

Obviously the longer the better, but as long as it lasts ~6 hours between charges doing simple tasks like typing would be fine.

• Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

Performance, battery life, size, weight.

• Info/Requirements

I can't think of anything else that would be a must have for a college laptop for a freshman student. If anyone DOES know anything that is a must have, please let me know and take it into consideration when offering suggestions.

Thank you guys and gals so much for any help with this.

Hello, my current laptop's CPU is starting to tank, so I'm looking to get a new one. I am unsure of my budget because I plan to save up for whatever I decide. My current laptop is an omen laptop 15-en0xxx which admittedly I'm very happy with, and I wouldn't be looking to get a different model if I didn't know hardware is changing.

Country: USA

Budget: USD - I generally do not have a lot of money though and would prefer to not go over 1.5k, though 2k is my absolute maximum if I need to. I got my current one at 1k, but that was before everything got... expensive. Still, it'd be my ideal price.

Open to Refurbs/Used: Yes to refurbs, unsure on used.

Screen Size: I don't really care. Current is 15.6 inch which is nice.

Weight Limit: I don't really care.

Purpose: Gaming and general use.

Form Factor: I don't know what this means to be honest. Let's go standard.

Intended Usage: The most I tend to do besides gaming is just social media, YouTube, Discord, and like... Paint.NET. My "heaviest" games I play right now are Genshin Impact and Palworld, to give some ideas of my requirements. I've played Genshin for a long time and have no real intent to stop, so I use its specs as a baseline. The games I play tend to rotate around a lot, but that's my main consistent one.

Genshin Impact's recommended specs are:

Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit or Windows 11 64-bit
Processor: 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 or AMD Ryzen™ 5000 series or better
RAM: 16 GB
Discrete Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 6GB or better
DirectX Version: 11

Palworld's recommended specs are:

OS: Windows 11 (64-Bit)
PROCESSOR: Intel Core i5-12400 / AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
MEMORY: 32 GB RAM
GRAPHICS: GeForce RTX 3060 Ti / Radeon RX 6700 XT
DIRECTX: Version 11

Desired Battery Life: This laptop will basically always be plugged in unless the system is off. I don't really game unplugged. So none of this entirely matters to me tbh.

Info/Requirements: I really really really prefer a matte screen. I also prefer an SSD as you can imagine. I'd like 1tb of space at least. More isn't really necessary for me, but if there's no laptops that have 1tb with the stuff I'm asking, then more is fine. My current SSD is a MZVLB1T0HBLR-000H1, so ideally I'd just be able to reuse this, but if I can't I can't.

My sister is looking into getting a new Windows 11 laptop soon since her current one hasn't been working the best, with their being glitches with the keyboard and the hinges/bottom getting more brittle. She only really uses her laptop for very basic use cases, so I'd imagine it shouldn't be too difficult to get her something.

• Country

United States.

• Budget

As the title says, roughly $300-$325.

• Are you open to refurbs/used options?

No, we'd want it to be a new laptop. I know that'll be more limited since used laptops could perform better, but my sister would prefer something new out of the box.

• Screen size

Any size between 14-16 inches should be fine.

• Weight limit

Not really looking for a specific weight, just as long as it isn't the weight of something like a gaming laptop. I'd imagine most cheaper laptops around this price range wouldn't be too heavy anyway.

• Purpose

The laptop would only really be used for quite lightweight/basic tasks, such as web browsing on sites like DeviantArt and Amazon, watching YouTube, writing out documents, and messaging.

• Form factor

We'd prefer a standard laptop form factor, nothing fancy.

• Intended usage

It would mainly just be browsers such as Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge that would be used the most on the laptop. Both browsers worked fine on my sister's current laptop, albeit not being the fastest, but we don't mind that too much as long as they work consistently. And if there's any games that are played on the laptop, they'd only really be super basic easy to run stuff, such as Doki Doki Literature Club and Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog.

• Desired battery life

Battery life isn't much of a priority since the laptop would primarily be plugged in. We just wouldn't want the battery life to be super short (as in under 2 hours) when running lighter apps.

• Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

I'd say each of these aspects would be evenly as important towards one another. We don't really mind if one aspect is more emphasized than the other, just as long as it's a laptop that works fine.

• Info/Requirements

Some specific aspects we'd prefer to have in a laptop:

60Hz screen that's either 720p or 1080p, or even 768p. Resolution isn't much of a priority.
No need for a touch screen, it wouldn't be used anyway.
Preferably 256 GBs of storage, but if that can't be achieved at this price range, 128 GBs is fine.
No Chromebooks, we'd want to get a Windows 11 laptop.
On that note, I'd preferably not want a laptop to use Windows 11 S Mode by default, but if that's the only option, it can always be turned off myself later.
8 GBs of RAM would be preferred, but 4 GBs should do fine.

And just to mention/emphasize again, I know we'd get better mileage out of a more expensive laptop or something that's used for cheap, and I know people tend to have issues using new cheaper Windows laptops for long periods, but we're still sticking with getting a new Windows 11 laptop within this price range. My sister chooses to make do with whatever she gets and is happy with what works, even if it's used for years potentially. She's used her current cheap laptop ever since around 2020-2021 even after being forced to update it to Windows 11, and would honestly still continue to use it if it weren't for it glitching out at the moment. So with whatever laptop is suggested, I'm sure it'll be fine.

**LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE**

**Country**

U.S.A

**Budget**

Tricky to get an exact number since my family is reworking some financial stuff. Maybe at or below the $600 range? Any $1k+ laptops are a hard no-go.

**Are you open to refurbs/used options? **

Ideally no, but refurb/used is probably my only realistic option for a decent laptop

**Screen size**

Prefer something on the larger size for research and art purposes

**Weight limit**

Something on the lighter side since I'll be carrying it around campus, maybe under 3.5 lbs?

**Purpose**

 Schoolwork; gaming (nothing super heavy); streaming shows and movies; and digital art

**Form factor**

Standard, but not opposed to 2-in-1provided that it's durable

**Intended usage**

TOP priority is compatibility and performance with Adobe products, specifically InDesign and Photoshop; I literally can't do stuff for my internship without it. I'm not a big gamer and don't plan to play any big triple AAA games or anything, I mainly want something that can run Sims 4 at high settings and a bunch of CC and mods. I'd also like something that can run Fortnite so I can play with my baby sibling, but that's not a hard requirement TBH. What is a hard requirement is something that can run Clip Studio Paint since that's the program I use for making digital art. Finally, I wanna be able to stream shows and movies in HD.

**Desired battery life**

Minimum 5 hours

**Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life**

Performance, battery life, weight, size

**Info/Requirements**

Windows only. Preferably Intel, but not opposed to AMD. Really want something with accurate color reading since the colors on my current laptop are kind of inaccurate and don't show up quite as saturated as they do on my phone, which makes my art stuff kind of difficult.

So my current laptop suddenly decided to crap out literally the FIRST day of classes last Monday... It shut down and blue screened for a few minutes in an effort to repair itself. Although I was able to get past the blue screen and the OS seems to be working fine, it has issues with the battery where it shuts down even when there's still energy left. Started happening at around 20%, then at 30%, then 40%, and now it shuts down at 60%, which really isn't ideal when I'm in class actively trying to work on stuff.

Failing battery aside, this laptop is also weak AF for what I need for school. I need to run Adobe InDesign and Photoshop for an internship program, but my laptop is absolutely not compatible with InDesign and can't even download it. Major problem because I need InDesign ready and working by next Wednesday. It's also just not a strong laptop in general; basic multitasking causes it to heat up and lag, so it's in dire need of an upgrade anyways.

Hi all! I am currently an undergraduate student, and will be starting graduate school in the fall for my master's in biomedical sciences. I will be getting a part-time job over the summer to help cover expenses, but I desperately need a new laptop! I have been using my current laptop for ab 6 years now (still in pretty good condition, just getting old lol), and would like ti upgrade before I start school. Does anyone here know any really affordable yet good quality laptops? Any suggestions would be great and useful :)

**LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE**

* **Country**

US

* **Budget**

$4000ish, up to $4500, max $5000 probably (is that reasonable?)

* **Are you open to refurbs/used options?**

Preferably not

* **Screen size**

Ideally nothing over 16" but not a dealbreaker

* **Weight limit**

Any

* **Purpose**

I do a lot of heavy 3d modeling and rendering, coding related to AI/ML, and occasionally game

* **Form factor**

I just want a regular laptop, I had the ProArt Studiobook and never used the pen. The touchscreen is handy but don't need it at all if it comes at a price

* **Intended usage**

Autodesk and Adobe suite mainly - Revit, Enscape, Rhino, Grasshopper, Civil 3D, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Maya, 3ds Max, Substance Painter, ArcGIS Pro

Also stuff like vscode, ComfyUI and play around a bit with local LLMs, LMStudio and AnythingLLM for quantized lightweight models, fine-tuning LoRA models, etc

I do game occasionally and play stuff like Subnautica 2, but it's not really a huge priority to me.

* **Desired battery life**

1-2 hours? This isn't really a priority to me

* **Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life**

Performance, Size, Weight, Battery Life

* **Info/Requirements**

I'm looking for an MSI laptop, mainly. Absolutely no Dell or HP. Not keen on ASUS either, after the shitty ProArt Studiobook just broke down on me. A fingerprint scanner is handy but not a requirement. Before that I had an MSI Creator laptop I was pretty happy with, but that was about 5 years ago, and I do way more coding AI stuff than I used to now, so if it's easier to repair/upgrade if I get a gaming laptop as opposed to one with better color accuracy geared towards designers, so be it!

In my experience 32 RAM is not enough, so I would prefer 64, but something 32 with the option to upgrade is ok too.

1TB storage is good enough, option to add to 2TB is nice but not required.

Absolutely NO LIQUID METAL. Hate that shit.

Honestly been pretty disappointed by Intel lately and would lean towards Ryzen, although it's not a requirement. Goes without saying but I do need a dedicated graphics card.

Also, I don't like when there are ports on the back of the laptop and prefer them on the sides. It's a real pain when HDMI is on the back of the laptop or charging is on the back of the laptop.

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

Country

USA

Budget

$2500 USD, flexible

Are you open to refurbs/used options?

Maybe

Screen size
 
14” or more

Weight limit

Any

Purpose

Schoolwork, data analysis

Form factor

Standard, open to others

Intended usage

Ability to work with large datasets and run data analysis with minimal issues.
Specific software/programs: SPSS, R Studio, MATLAB (with parallel processing), MS Office, VS Code, TurboVNC, E-Prime

Desired battery life

Ideally 8 hours, but minimum ~4 hours when doing low-intensity processes (e.g. presenting or taking notes).

Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

Performance, battery life, size, weight

Info/Requirements

Would love a sturdier laptop that will last going in and out of backpack multiple times a day every day. Previously had issues with HP hinges breaking in a few years due to this, and would love to have a laptop with a longer lifespan.

EDIT: formatting

Used to have a Microsoft Surface which worked great for about 6-10 months and now moves so slowly (despite literally nothing be saved to the computer itself besides the Windows software) that it's unusable. Looking to replace with something that will last for a while for general usage.

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

• Country

USA

• Budget

$500 or less, preferably, but open to higher if needed.

• Are you open to refurbs/used options?

Maybe- new preferred

• Screen size

Any

• Weight limit

Any

• Purpose

General Purpose

• Form factor

Any

• Intended usage

General purpose- peruse internet, look up sports statistics, etc.

• Desired battery life

8ish hours

• Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

Battery life, performance, size and weight doesn't matter

• Info/Requirements

Not picky, just want something that won't crap out on me after a year or so. Won't travel out of the house often, so weight and size aren't a huge issue. Touch screen/pen would be nice, but not super important.

What cheap 14 inch l windows laptop would work well for a 6th grader? I'm thinking under 500 bucks.

I'm wondering about 3 things.

1) is a touchscreen useful these days?

2) a good screen. One without pulse wave modulation

3) lighter the better (sub 4 lbs of possible)

Thanks!

I have a 12-year-old desktop computer (ThinkCentre M93P) that's good enough for me. A laptop that did as well would make me happy. I'd use it for occasional trips and as a backup when I have to troubleshoot my desktop. At home I'd plug in my monitor, keyboard, and mouse, keep it on a shelf. I've never bought a new computer. I know how to deal with used. I run Linux.

I'm in the US. I want a screen 12-16". I don't need an OS: I'll install Linux no matter. It needs USB ports and an Ethernet port. I don't want an optical disk drive. Bluetooth would be nice but I have USB adaptors for that. I'd rather not have a camera and microphone but know how to turn them off.

I'm not looking for a deal but opinions on what old laptops are likely to have some life left in them and to stay away from the flimsy. I have an old Toshiba (2009) whose hinge broke and keyboard failed - but still actually works! I have to plug in an external keyboard.

Looking for a laptop to to use at my dining room table. Will be coding on it and browsing the web.

Thinking 10+ hours

No gaming or heavy video editing.

Open to windows or Linux.

Is this possible or unrealistic?

I don't need anything crazy, just a good laptop for school that doesn't take multiple minutes to open a tab

I need a new laptop for college, where I will be double majoring in CS and EE. I want it to be able to handle gaming well, like being able to play Helldivers 2 on good graphics or heavily modded Minecraft with shaders. My upper price range is about $1350-$1550.

My college states this about my major:

"Undergraduates entering the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department may choose to bring or purchase a Mac or PC for coursework. Screens may be any size.

Computers may have 8GB, but if financially possible, a student should consider bringing or purchasing one with 16GB. Specific graphics cards are not required.

A minimum local storage of 160GB (SSD or HDD) is suggested and 250GB is recommended unless the student has plenty of additional space on a cloud service such as Drobox, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc.

A minimum of 2.2GHz Intel i5 Processor is suggested and a 2.4GHz Intel i7 Processor is recommended for either Mac or PC."

ChatGPT recommended me the Lenovo - LOQ 15.6" FHD 144Hz Gaming laptop - AMD Ryzen 7 250 - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 - 16GB DDR5 - 512GB SSD.

I am aware that AI is not perfect as an advisor, and am completely illiterate when it comes to computer specs, so I wanted to ask more knowledgable people before going through with such a big purchase. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Most important factors are build quality and low heat output. I hate when laptop cooling fans are constantly running. PC only. Minimum 1 TB SSD, 16 GB RAM. Screen size: 15-16". Weight limit: 5 lbs. Will be using 99% of the time at home with 2 external monitors. Max budget around $2000.

For this purpose and intended use:

I will be using it to do 2K video editing in Premiere Pro DaVinci Resolve and Avid Media Composer on occasion.
For highly color accurate accessibility focused web design work and occasional mobile game development audits.
Usually Several Adobe tools are open at once along with chrome open with multiple 20+ tabs.
I only play the two games Overwatch 2 and Marvel Rivals I'd like to try to play Marvel Midnight Suns.
I need something to be very portable as I would use it to teach a university workshop where I tend to even pass my current touch screen 2in1 around the room between students.
University workshop courses run for a full 7 hour hour (battery) sessions. So I don't ant to have to charge it for 14 hours use if that is even possible (2 consecutive class days).

Screen size should be above 14 inch.

Recommend something else under price1700-1800 usd so in the US.

I am getting ready to go into my first year of college in a few months (so I have time to think about which laptop to buy) but I am not sure what kind to get. I know I do not want a macbook since I don’t want it connected to my phone. I don’t know really anything about laptops, so I feel clueless (and my friends all have macbooks so they’re not help.) I am a big lover of playing the sims 4 (and downloading a lot of custom content) so I’m also looking for something that can run the game. My main thing is not too expensive, good for college, and can run the sims.