13” laptop recommendations
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Before I buy yet another replacement proprietary charger cable for my Surface Book, I’m considering just replacing it with a newer laptop that supports USB-C charging.
I’ve only used it as a tablet a handful of times, so I’m okay just going with a normal laptop instead of a convertible.
This machine is mostly used for web browsing, iTunes library management, and building ebooks. I do occasional lightweight game playing (integrated GPU is fine) and NET Core development on it, but should be okay shifting those to my desktop.
Tentative minimum specs:
- 13”
- 8 GB of RAM minimum
- 256 GB SSD
Probably want x86-64, but if the price delta or battery life is enough I could be convinced to go ARM. (I think there’s 32-bit versions of everything I care about...)
Besides the Surface Laptop and MacBook Air, what else should I be looking at?
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@Unperverted-Vixen if you care about performance, in about 3 months there will be new CPUs and GPUs that are rumored to be much better than the previous generation by a margin not seen since last decade. Also, laptop manufacturers are still just beginning the transition from Core to Ryzen, so you might want to wait a bit just so there's a wider range to choose from.
Or you might just binge buy whatever shows up first on Amazon. Computers are so good nowadays that it should be good enough no matter what you do (unless you're doing something really heavy duty like programming in C++.)
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@Gąska said in 13” laptop recommendations:
@Unperverted-Vixen if you care about performance, in about 3 months there will be new CPUs and GPUs that are rumored to be much better than the previous generation by a margin not seen since last decade.
AMD or Intel? I know the next AMD desktop processors are coming soon, but I didn’t think we were due for any laptop ones for another year or so.
Also, laptop manufacturers are still just beginning the transition from Core to Ryzen, so you might want to wait a bit just so there's a wider range to choose from.
I would love to go AMD. But I didn’t think anybody actually made laptops with their chips anymore...
Or you might just binge buy whatever shows up first on Amazon. Computers are so good nowadays that it should be good enough no matter what you do (unless you're doing something really heavy duty like programming in C++.)
I haven’t touched C++ in over 15 years and have no plans to ever do so again.
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@Unperverted-Vixen said in 13” laptop recommendations:
I would love to go AMD. But I didn’t think anybody actually made laptops with their chips anymore...
Recently AMD has really stepped up their game in both laptop and desktop CPUs, and coincidentally Intel has had an unbroken string of bed shitting so more manufacturers are starting to go back to AMD. I think that's what he was saying, to wait a bit if you can so that you have more AMD options.
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@Unperverted-Vixen there are quite a few AMD-powered laptops to choose from already. Just not as many as Intels - but this is changing fast. Recently they've released a new line of Ryzen 4000G mobile CPUs, but these are "fake" 4000s, using the old Zen 2 architecture instead of the new Zen 3 - these are coming later this year. Both desktop and mobile, IIRC.
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@Gąska I doubt we’ll see mobile Zen 3 before 2021. Even if we do, I’m more interested in low-wattage than raw horsepower, so I’m not sure if it’s the right way to go.
@hungrier Yeah, that’s the tricky part. Spend $30 now (and probably again in a few months) on a shitty third-party charger, or wait and hope manufacturers actually release AMD models?
I’d love to go Ryzen, I’m just doubting it’ll be an option anytime soon.
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@Unperverted-Vixen Linus Tech Tips has done a few tests of the already released models and they absolutely love them. So it's not like there's nothing to pick from even today.
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@Gąska Thanks, I’ll take a look at his video... oh, right. Battery is dying. Tomorrow then.
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@Unperverted-Vixen said in 13” laptop recommendations:
Besides the Surface Laptop and MacBook Air, what else should I be looking at?
Probably a little more machine than you're looking for, but I really like my Lenovo X1 Carbon. (it's actually a 14" machine that's smaller than my previous 13" laptop - thinner bezels). I got my fully fleshed out: 32G memory, 1T SSD, i7-something. It is amazingly light (got it as my "travel" laptop that can still do C++ dev)
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@dcon said in 13” laptop recommendations:
Probably a little more machine than you're looking for, but I really like my Lenovo X1 Carbon.
Definitely more than I'm looking for. I was actually thinking about going with their IdeaPad 5, but it's gone out-of-stock since I was looking this morning. :(
It doesn't seem like there's
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@Unperverted-Vixen said in 13” laptop recommendations:
It doesn't seem like there's
Battery died again. Tomorrow then
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@Applied-Mediocrity Whoops. No, that was a mobile failure (because dead battery, because I have no charging cable).
I did end up buying another power cable anyways; even if I get a new machine, I feel better about being able to pull anything I missed off the old machine and wipe it...
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@Unperverted-Vixen said in 13” laptop recommendations:
Besides the Surface Laptop and MacBook Air, what else should I be looking at?
Dell Inspiron.
For what you're using it for, I'd not bother waiting for (more) AMD options or whatever next-gen is supposed to happen. There's not going to be the sort of huge real-world difference you'd notice.
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@loopback0 Dell's site seems to be broke as shit. If my PiHole is running, it claims there are 9 results but only shows 4 entries in the grid. If I don't, it claims there are 5 results and only shows 3 entries in the grid. Either way it shows two actual results, the other grid entry/entries are blank; and they're both year-old models.
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e.g.
Computers, Monitors & Technology Solutions | Dell USA
Dell provides technology solutions, services & support. Buy Laptops, Touch Screen PCs, Desktops, Servers, Storage, Monitors, Gaming & Accessories
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@Unperverted-Vixen maybe they designed the site after lenovo and hp. I'm looking at something similar (although 15" probably), but those vendor sites are utter crap.
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@loopback0 But that's Intel. 😢
@robo2 Lenovo's site didn't seem too bad (other than the machine I want selling out in the 6-8 hours before I could get a chance to buy it). I wasn't terribly thrilled with HP's build quality on my sisters' laptops (admittedly a decade ago).
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@Unperverted-Vixen said in 13” laptop recommendations:
@loopback0 But that's Intel. 😢
Yeah, and?
edit: Also AMD wasn't in the original requirement, and both the Surface Laptop and Macbook Air mentioned are Intel.
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@loopback0 True. I didn't realize AMD laptops were actually available when I wrote the initial requirements. My fault for not updating them.
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On the Dell 15" Inspirons, they still offer the 3500U and 3700U and the i5-10210U is better than those. Even if they were the 4000U series, for what you need I'm not sure it's going to make any noticeable difference but if you're set on AMD because
then probably best looking elsewhere.
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@loopback0 You may be right about it not making a difference now. I'm afraid about the performance after the next inevitable microcode patches to work around Intel's inability to design a secure processor.
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@Unperverted-Vixen
Don't worry, once you finish installing Windows and TikTok and all the other Chinese backdoors, you can just skip the microcode updates
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@Unperverted-Vixen said in 13” laptop recommendations:
I'm afraid about the performance after the next inevitable microcode patches to work around Intel's inability to design a secure processor.
Those weren't noticeable (to humans rather than benchmarks) in the last round of Spectre/Meltdown patches either.
