Laptop recommendations - it's my turn...

roundthebend

My current employer furnished me with a MacBook Pro for the last 2 years, and I've really enjoyed it. I'm a software developer so it's pretty high spec so I can run Windows VMs, but I've been quite happy with MacOS itself.

As of Friday I won't be working for them any more, and won't get a laptop in the new job. I don't have a personal laptop or even a decent tablet.

I want something for the usual domestic duties of email, Facebook, Amazon, YouTube, Wikipedia, Spotify etc. But also something with enough grunt to run Microsoft Visual Studio and things like Docker.

I was looking at the MBP 13 (2015) which is what I have at work, and available for just over £1000.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Laptops/Apple-MacBook-13-inch-Laptop-Intel-Core-Graphics/B00UY2U93W

I wondered what people would recommend as a Windows machine, that's similar or better spec for the money. £1000 would be the upper limit really.

I quite like the Yoga things that @Sporky talks about.

digitalscream

For a bit less than that, you can get a better-spec Lenovo Yoga 900 - faster CPU, better screen, bigger SSD.

I have Sporky's old Yoga 2 Pro, which has a 4th gen i7 CPU and the same screen...it's bloody wonderful. If it died for whatever reason, I wouldn't hesitate to get another.

roundthebend

digitalscream said:

For a bit less than that, you can get a better-spec Lenovo Yoga 900 - faster CPU, better screen, bigger SSD.

I have Sporky's old Yoga 2 Pro, which has a 4th gen i7 CPU and the same screen...it's bloody wonderful. If it died for whatever reason, I wouldn't hesitate to get another.

Ace, the Clementine Orange will match my company logo too! (I'm setting up my own business).
That might be the decision made, nice and easy!

digitalscream

For what it's worth, the Yoga 2 Pro can be had on eBay for £400 (which is what I paid for mine), which is probably the biggest bargain you'll ever get in a laptop.

The interesting part is that the Yoga 2 Pro is better than the Yoga 3 Pro, owing to the i7 processor instead of the Core M processor you get in the Yoga 3 Pro. Everything else is basically identical, except you only get one USB 2.0 port and one USB 3.0 port (I don't find this a particular handicap, mind, even for recording).

roundthebend

@digitalscream where does the 900 sit in the range?

digitalscream

roundthebend said:

@digitalscream where does the 900 sit in the range?

Chronologically. In order:

Yoga 2 Pro
Yoga 3 Pro
Yoga 900

Basically, it's the latest and greatest. @Sporky has one, I believe (he upgraded when I bought his old one).

notanon

I have Windows boxes, my main work machine is Mac (long story) my preferred operating system is Linux for desktop. Latest Linux mint is very nice to work with. Multiple desktops, focus can follow mouse, . . .

digitalscream

notanon said:

I have Windows boxes, my main work machine is Mac (long story) my preferred operating system is Linux for desktop. Latest Linux mint is very nice to work with. Multiple desktops, focus can follow mouse, . . .

Yep, I have Ubuntu (with GNOME) on my desktop and the Yoga 2 Pro, which is fully-supported hardware-wise since 15.04.

Sporky

digitalscream said:

Basically, it's the latest and greatest. @Sporky has one, I believe (he upgraded when I bought his old one).

I do, in eye-searing orange. It's ace. For general Windowsy stuff it's not much different from the Pro 2, but it is significantly faster for 3D work. And the new hinge is a thing of considerable engineering beauty.

Snap

Dell XPS 13. Had one for a year or so. Brilliant. Deserves all the plaudits.
Best laptop I've had. It goes round the world with me, light, fast, 4k screen, robust. Ticks every box, at least 10 hour battery life too. I use it for database work, as well as the usual office stuff, so it gets a moderate amount of hammer.

And the case is aluminium, which is ever so nice to run your fingers over, lol

olafgarten

digitalscream said:

notanon said:

I have Windows boxes, my main work machine is Mac (long story) my preferred operating system is Linux for desktop. Latest Linux mint is very nice to work with. Multiple desktops, focus can follow mouse, . . .

Yep, I have Ubuntu (with GNOME) on my desktop and the Yoga 2 Pro, which is fully-supported hardware-wise since 15.04.

CentOS is my favourite distro, I don't use Linux but have it in a VM because it can be useful sometimes. 

I think KDE is nicer to look at than GNOME, but both are a lot better than Unity. 

oaf

Snap said:

Dell XPS 13. Had one for a year or so. Brilliant. Deserves all the plaudits.
Best laptop I've had. It goes round the world with me, light, fast, 4k screen, robust. Ticks every box, at least 10 hour battery life too. I use it for database work, as well as the usual office stuff, so it gets a moderate amount of hammer.

And the case is aluminium, which is ever so nice to run your fingers over, lol

Another vote for the XPS. I have the larger screen but the bevel is very slim so it is still compact. i7, 16GB and 1TB SSD runs everything I've thrown at it.

Works very well with Reaper and an RME interface when recording too.

Not sure the high spec XPS machines will come in under a grand? Worth a look though.

oaf

Only thing that is not so good is 16:9 screen ratio. I prefer 16:10. The 4K screen is very good however.

robgilmo

Have a look here, cheap as chips but with full warranty etc,  mine was just slightly scratched on the top of the casing, hardly noticeable,  and I got it well cheap.
You have to be quick though cos they get snatched up quickly.
http://www.dell.com/learn/uk/en/ukdfh1/campaigns/splitter?ST=dell outlet&dgc=ST&cid=41142&lid=1069631&acd=239715600720560&ven1=sYAF5A1Bx&ven2=e

digitalscream

oaf said:

Only thing that is not so good is 16:9 screen ratio. I prefer 16:10. The 4K screen is very good however.

Same here - that's why my dekstop's main monitor is a 1920x1200, even though my side monitors are higher res (2048x1152). I'd rather have a few extra pixels of vertical space than a lot of extra pixels horizontally.

roundthebend

@digitalscream / @olafgarten ;
Do you run Linux and Windows? Dual boot or something? Is that feasible?

digitalscream

I don't; I've just got Linux on mine; the only use I have for Windows is playing Elite: Dangerous, and that's best done on my desktop. I don't dual boot, though, because it's a pain in the ass when it comes to problems. I installed Linux on one drive, pulled the drive and installed Windows on another, then I select the boot disk from the EFI boot screen. That way, they're both completely separate and not dependent on the boot sector of the other drive.

Dual boot is feasible, but you'll probably need a sizeable SSD to make it work. The SSDs in the Yoga 2 Pro are 42mm ones, which are a little harder to come by...don't know about the Yoga 900's SSD.

Of course, there's an alternative - install Windows to the hard drive, then get an external SSD and install Linux on that. Hell, you could get a tiny 128GB USB 3.0 stick and install to that; some of those memory sticks have phenomenal performance.

Sporky

digitalscream said:

 The SSDs in the Yoga 2 Pro are 42mm ones, which are a little harder to come by...don't know about the Yoga 900's SSD.

Definitely less than 42mm thick, that much I know.

roundthebend

Love that idea of running Linux on an external SSD. Think that's a winner, nice one @digitalscream ;

digitalscream

roundthebend said:

Love that idea of running Linux on an external SSD. Think that's a winner, nice one @digitalscream ;

Well, in that case I'm glad I actually achieved something today

roundthebend

@digitalscream another option, I suppose, is to run Linux inside a Docker container? Though I don't think you'd get the full GUI experience.