I need a new lappy, $1700 max?

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › I need a new lappy, $1700 max?

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655 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3111721 4-Aug-2023 10:22

As already mentioned, overclocking of laptops isn't worth considering. These days there are very few differences between laptop and desktop processors apart from the thermal headroom. You can't easily improve the thermal dissipation of a laptop, therefore overclocking is fairly pointless. Some laptops don't even have enough thermal dissipation for CPU to run at max speed for more than 20 seconds - after which it throttles to protect itself.

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jjnz1

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#3111725 4-Aug-2023 10:35

+1 for Apple Silicon, +2 for Apple refurb plus 3y Apple care warranty.

I purchased a MacAir M2 with 8GB/512GB and it was fantastic until I had a few running out of memory warnings (which I wouldn't expect a normal user to get).

I sent it back 4 weeks later (my first Apple Mac, but I'm in love with their flexible customer service!) and upgraded to 16GB/1TB M2 Air.

It has been amazing! I have spent decades preaching Windows devices/laptops, but I am now converted.

Everything is instant - opening apps, starting up and log ins - definitely not windows like!
Battery is amazing - real world with brightness at 75%, easily can do 9-5 work day and then some.
It is connected via USB-C dock to two 4K external monitors and doesn't miss a beat
Gaming is fantastic via Geforce Now. Well AOE and Destiny2 is all I play occasionally.

Go for the Apple Refurb M1 Air, it will blow any Windows powered device out of the water for that price point.

My experience with the M2 is CPU performance is irrelevant. It comes down to optimisation, and it seems M based OSX is a lot more optimised that x86 Windows.

Senecio

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#3111742 4-Aug-2023 10:48

Scanning through that refurbished store I'm surprised the intel based Mac are holding their value so well. Comparable Intel based Macs on that store are more expensive than their Apple silicon equivalents. Are people still looking for Intel Macs to run certain software that isn't optimised for Apple silicon?

rb99

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#3111757 4-Aug-2023 11:51

Can I briefly interject here and ask whats the point of Applecare, does it cover more than the CGA should / would ?

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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jjnz1

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#3111759 4-Aug-2023 12:01

rb99:

Can I briefly interject here and ask whats the point of Applecare, does it cover more than the CGA should / would ?

gehenna: AppleCare for convenience, CGA for patience.

AppleCare also covers accidental damage and any battery capacity issues over the 3 years.

Also, AppleCare for iphone - I chipped my iPhone 14 camera lens, they couriered me a new iPhone 14 Max Pro, I transferred my data etc, then put my old phone into the same packaging and sent it back. Easy.

rb99

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#3111760 4-Aug-2023 12:12

I know its not my thread, and you've heard this a million times before, but while Apple may make really lovely stuff, I soon loose interest when I look at the price. You're obviously free to tell me where I'm going wrong.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

Senecio

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#3111774 4-Aug-2023 12:47

rb99:

I know its not my thread, and you've heard this a million times before, but while Apple may make really lovely stuff, I soon loose interest when I look at the price. You're obviously free to tell me where I'm going wrong.

I think the Apple silicon laptops break that stereotype. Yes, there is normally the Apple tax but to match the performance of that $1,700 MacBook air with a windows machine you would most likely be paying more.

SpartanVXL

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Ultimate Geek

#3111781 4-Aug-2023 13:14

Senecio:
rb99:

I know its not my thread, and you've heard this a million times before, but while Apple may make really lovely stuff, I soon loose interest when I look at the price. You're obviously free to tell me where I'm going wrong.

I think the Apple silicon laptops break that stereotype. Yes, there is normally the Apple tax but to match the performance of that $1,700 MacBook air with a windows machine you would most likely be paying more.

It entirely depends on what you are doing. If power efficiency is your top concern then the Apple chips are best in class, pointed out clearly by their battery life to performance.

If you however don’t mind chucking over 100W at a problem then traditional processors are still fine to use, not to mention not having as much trouble running any software you need that might not run natively on ARM.

But since this is a laptop thread the point remains, an apple macbook would suit well. At least until there are models with something like a Ryzen 7840U available.

ratsun81

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Ultimate Geek

#3111820 4-Aug-2023 15:46

TeaLeaf:

Ive mostly been looking at gaming lappies,but none of them you can overclock CPU at this price point.

Processing power is really important. Im prob going to buy an external monitor for photo work, one hundred SRGB etc.

Im prob looking at an older gtx1060? I see they are up to 4060 now. Of course an xx70 model would be prefered.

But some quality is important to me. Like Lenovo business lappies feel so good to type on.

Just if you know of a deal thats really good, let me know and I will chec it out.

Your needs arent properly defined.

Why are you looking at laptops, why are you looking at older architectures such as the 1060 GPU range?

Every single laptop you look at is going to be thermally limited this is purely because ALL hardware these days runs much higher wattage and therefor more heat.

Also a laptop gpu and desktop GPU are NOT the same thing Nvidia has for a long while used the same naming convention for parts that do not match at all. TL;DR a 3060 Desktop GPU vs a 3060 mobile GPU is not equivalent

So tell us, what are you trying to achieve with the purchase?

TeaLeaf

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#3111843 4-Aug-2023 17:43

ratsun81:

[So tell us, what are you trying to achieve with the purchase?

fair enough, really nothing grandeur, but some power for at least a few years on a tight budget.

Productivity and power on a small budget that can run games during a break, so function over form. a 100% sRGB or greater screen would be nice, but anything for photography will likely be resolved by using a large main 2k monitor. I get along with any KB, but do enjoy using Lenovo's. 16GB ram will probably to start with, but the ability to hit 32GB if and when needed. I tend to store off laptop so hard drive size isnt so important.

I see a lot of gaming is going into the Cloud, so Im wondering how much power do I really need in a dGPU? Im not a hard core gamer, I just never used the Xbox, it ended up being a control for access to Netflix and TVNZ. So selling it, the latest Chromecast looks better with access to apps, a browser, a remote etc. Was frustrating to use on the phone which was only for one channel.

Portability is so I can take my machine with me and work elsewhere.

Love hate with apple with 4 decades of reasons for and against. and I would say the sme with MS. I dont know why but Ive always enjoyed Lenovo. But the real value is in asus, acer, gigabyte and HP. Possibly Dell.

Will apple run the Xbox gaming Cloud? Certainly not ruling them out.

I did consider buying a used iMac 27" of the last intel dual boot machines. The older ones are so cheap they are almost worthwhile for use as a monitor. I think using MS added accessibility for many folk to apple, we will see how long the hiatus lasts. But no doubt their chips are glorious.

toejam316

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#3111857 4-Aug-2023 18:18

What games are you actually wanting to run during your break? Because it's honestly sounding a lot like you're better off with an Apple M2 Refurb than anything else, anything Windows based that's capable of anything other than very light gaming is out of your budget. Your budget doesn't allow for a 60 series GPU in a mobile laptop, and certainly not a high quality laptop. You're faced with the dilemma of power, value, build quality, Pick 2.

Without getting more specific I'd say an M2 Mac with cloud streaming would be your best option, closely followed by some sort of Ryzen APU based laptop, but I'm not sure we have a good supply of those options.

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

SpartanVXL

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Ultimate Geek

#3111937 4-Aug-2023 21:24

I wouldn’t go with cloud gaming personally, it again depends on what you want to play. Shooter games are a no go. Sports/racing might be okay. It keeps getting pushed in the news but it will never happen due to technical/infrastructure limitations.

The problem is alway latency. There are no datacentres in NZ (yet) so your connection needs to go out to Sydney and back. Xbox cloud gaming is also 1080p 60fps stream, it’s recommended to have at least 20Mbps speed, and thats not accounting for bitrate degradation (blockiness) or other encoding stuff that won’t make it look nice on a good screen.

You can test it on your xbox one if you still have it, it needs the xbox game pass ultimate subscription ($20pm) to use as well as a controller if using it on mobile or pc.

I don’t know if this is an issue with xbox cloud too, but nvidia geforce now service would have time restrictions if there was too much demand i.e. youd get kicked off so someone else can have a turn.

If you are only playing stuff like footy/nba or forza then I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple M2 already runs those well, try do a search on specific titles and whether they run on ARM.

This also applies to any other software, I take it you’re aware enough to understand between x86_64 and arm runnables if you do decide to get the mac.

If you really want a windows laptop then I’d say make a US friend and have them ship a model that fits your spec rather than be limited by the stock here. Maybe amazon aus can ship some things not available here? Just don’t forget gst.

Handle9

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#3111998 5-Aug-2023 06:32

rb99:
I know its not my thread, and you've heard this a million times before, but while Apple may make really lovely stuff, I soon loose interest when I look at the price. You're obviously free to tell me where I'm going wrong.

Look at comparable build quality, screens and keyboards on windows. You’re likely looking at a touchscreen but a different sacrifice.

To give you an example I bought my daughter a Vivobook flip 13. It’s a smaller, lower res oled machine than an M1 MacBook Air 13 but has 16GB of RAM. It’s was pretty similar money to a MacBook Air with slightly different but broadly comparable specs for real world performance.

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#3111999 5-Aug-2023 06:34

rb99:
Can I briefly interject here and ask whats the point of Applecare, does it cover more than the CGA should / would ?

Self insurance + CGA makes much more financial sense than any extended warranty, including AppleCare. Over the long term you’ll likely win but you may not.

rb99

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#3112033 5-Aug-2023 11:01

Yes, it all depends on the examples you happen to land on. Fr'instance, the refurb Apple and Asus linked to in the first page by Behodar and myself, the Asus has twice the memory and four times the storage for 60 or 70 dollars more. Sounds way better to me, but if I value compactness and a no doubt considerably better screen, not so much.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

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