Recommendations for a new laptop?

[lumencreative]

I've currently got a HP Envy laptop and hate it...so much so that I'll probably never buy a HP laptop again.
It's specs are quite decent: Core i5 -7200U, 16GB Ram (upgraded), and a 512GB Samsung Evo 960 nvme SSD (upgraded).

However, I absolutely hate the laptop. The touchpad is awful, the screen has pink spots all over it, and I could go on.

So, I'm looking for a laptop to replace this with. My heart says a Macbook (possibly an air) but my common sense says a windows laptop of some description. I'd like to put my ram and SSD in the new laptop so not particularly bothered what they come with as long as my ram and SSD are compatible.

Usage will be Photoshop (usually have around 8 x 1GB files open), and some web dev work.

Any recommendations (preferrably from experience)?

 

[EsaT]

Macbook Air's CPU isn't exactly great in performance for more demanding photoshopping.
It's really more tablet CPU than laptop CPU.
RAM is also soldered so you won't ever be changing that... even after you found correct screwdriver for its screws.
Speaking of which, your HP might use DDR3 while DDR4 starts to be norm in laptops.
So it might be harder to reuse, except in 2017 released models.

M.2 drive again will be easy to change in most laptops... At least in non-fruit laptops.
Apple is having hard on for total draconian control to force users to use their expensive authorized service for everything and now wants to have kill switch in hardware to prevent unauthorized service.
And with UK's humid oceanic climate their humidity indicators could allow them to put any failure on water damage...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2_SZ4tfLns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2r-g8EaTfY&t


As you mention touchpad being bad, I guess you use laptop lot without separate mouse?
Have you ever tried TrackPoint of Thinkpads?
After getting used to, it's very nice mouse substitute.


Anyway what kind budget you have in mind?
And what about size and weight?
"Standard" clumsy 15,6" or something more comfortably carried?
Is standard clamshell laptop good for all your uses or would you have uses for "convertability"?

 

[lumencreative]

Macbook Air's CPU isn't exactly great in performance for more demanding photoshopping.
It's really more tablet CPU than laptop CPU.
RAM is also soldered so you won't ever be changing that... even after you found correct screwdriver for its screws.
Speaking of which, your HP might use DDR3 while DDR4 starts to be norm in laptops.
So it might be harder to reuse, except in 2017 released models.

M.2 drive again will be easy to change in most laptops... At least in non-fruit laptops.
Apple is having hard on for total draconian control to force users to use their expensive authorized service for everything and now wants to have kill switch in hardware to prevent unauthorized service.
And with UK's humid oceanic climate their humidity indicators could allow them to put any failure on water damage...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2_SZ4tfLns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2r-g8EaTfY&t


As you mention touchpad being bad, I guess you use laptop lot without separate mouse?
Have you ever tried TrackPoint of Thinkpads?
After getting used to, it's very nice mouse substitute.


Anyway what kind budget you have in mind?
And what about size and weight?
"Standard" clumsy 15,6" or something more comfortably carried?
Is standard clamshell laptop good for all your uses or would you have uses for "convertability"?

Thanks for the reply.

I guess the main advantage of a Mac would be things like airdrop between my Mac mini and laptop, but that’s by no means a deal breaker. Speccing up a Mac with the specs I’d like is looking like a £2600+ machine whereas a Lenovo/dell alternative would be about £800 cheaper.

To answer your questions, ideally I’d like to stick at 15”, but I don’t like low res, so it’d have to be at least 1080 or higher. The Hp Envy I have is also quite thin but at a cost as the build quality is pants. Would like something reasonable (not too bulky) but fair for its spec.

When I’m at a desk, I do use my laptop with a mouse (mainly because the touchpad is so awful), but I’d struggle to do the kind of stuff I do with a trackpoint (I’ve used them on Dells before).

I’d be happy spending around £1500 for the right spec but an alternative that I thought of is to move most of my work to my Mac mini (2018), and get a laptop for the occasional photoshop work plus browsing/etc. This would save a fortune but I’d have to have a huge shift around in the house to make this work.

 

[lumencreative]

Also worth mentioning, I bought my mum a Lenovo 330 laptop for £280. It’s only a pentium, 4GB ram, 128GB SSD, but man the build of the thing is solid.

 

[EsaT]

To answer your questions, ideally I’d like to stick at 15”, but I don’t like low res, so it’d have to be at least 1080 or higher.

When I’m at a desk, I do use my laptop with a mouse (mainly because the touchpad is so awful), but I’d struggle to do the kind of stuff I do with a trackpoint (I’ve used them on Dells before).

Plenty of choise in 15,6" size.
Not all makers seem that interested on 14".
Also 1920x1080 is basically minimum resolution, except for some lowest models.

Though would have to check that display is fit for photoshopping.
Quite many of those basic level displays have basic laptop gamut seriously missing sRGB...
As in not covering even 75% of it.
In case of Lenovo upper 2560x1440/3840x2160 options seem to be usually good or very good, with some of them nearing full AdobeRGB coverage, like in ThinkPad X1 models.
(curiously Yogas seem to have better sRGB coverage than basic displays of ThinkPads)
Also T480's 2560x1440 covers sRGB very well and possibly better than T580's 3840x2160.
Notebookcheck.net has good reviews.

In size 15,6" laptops are pretty much 370+ mm wide, while 14" ones slim it down to ~330mm (~250+ vs ~230mm in depth) making them good amount more portable.


ThinkPads have always had the best TrackPoints, while apparently Dell used the absolutely worst one just to get that checkbox into adds for stealing buyers.

Last Place: Dell Latitude Pointing Stick
Imprint on my finger and this Latitude's to blame, Dell gives nubs a bad name.
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/looking-for-nub-best-and-worst-notebook-pointing-sticks

Nice effective way to slander competition's feature: Do yourself crap implemention of it...


Do you have precise model number of your HP?
That would tell if it has DDR3 or DDR4 memory.

Envy serie is one of HP's basic consumer series, so no wonder if it feels flimsy.
Spectre would be their upper consumer serie.
Then they have multiple business model series.
Here's Dell's rough serie line up:
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/which-dell-for-you

 

[lumencreative]

Thanks, I must admit, the Lenovo's look really good. Was seriously impressed with the quality feel of the Lenovo I bought my mum.

I think I'll give Dell a swerve...the only thing that puts me off is the soft touch palm rests that reviews say always look greasy after a short use.

My HP Envy is the Envy 15 7265ngw so does look like it's DDR3 unfortunately. When I looked at the reviews, they all said how great the touchpad was so now I think mine is maybe faulty....too late to do anything about that now though

 

[EsaT]

There are likely quite a few variants of 7265ngw and even in same model different production runs might use parts from different factories.
So who knows if some production runs had better touchpad than others.
Cost custs in later production runs could have also dropped its quality.
Wouldn't wonder if "cost downitis" is common in cheaper consumer models after initial "review period" production runs.


Lenovo's site is at least relatively easy for browsing for different models and opening them in new tabs.
https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/c/LAPTOPS
Though there's no own model number for different model configurations.
But at least you could customize wanted parts while having cheapest storage option for reusing M.2 SSD from you current laptop.

Lenovo also has silver versions of some ThinkPads.
Though that colour just feels so "un"-ThinkPad as idea.
Black is almost like trademark for them.


Dell's site feels messy with hard to make differentiation between different models, starting from artificial dividing to home and work section.
Latitudes seem to suffer from crappy gamut displays not intended for other than office use.
Like under 55% sRGB coverage in this.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-...creen-Laptop-Review.315432.0.html#toc-display

HP again smashes everything into one hard to see details list/page, but has decent filtering options.
Anything Gorilla glass likely has very glossy and reflective surface.
(though there are anti-glare filters you can buy)


If battery life is important you should focus on models with U-serie CPU.
H-serie CPUs aren't very good at power saving and more performance focused.
Y-serie is again performance sacrificing tablet CPU with ultra low power consumption.


If you want to do thorough comparison between various candidates Keynote NF would be good for doing product lists with plusses and minuses listed for product.
Cherry Tree and Zim would be other programs for doing such lists.
NotePad is rather limited for comparing longer list of products, with everything in one list making it long and slower to browse.
Though easy for cutting and pasting candidate to new position.