Suggestion for a new laptop

#1

Hey guys, hope you all are doing well. So a couple days ago my laptop’s hard drive started having problem with crazy high response time. I ran some built-in diagnostics and malware scan but nothing changed. 2 days ago my laptop didn’t start correctly so I watched a couple videos and turns out my laptop’s hard drive failed.

Now I’m in the market for a new laptop and I’m a CS student and will graduate in about a year. My previous laptop was Dell Inspiron 15 5000 Series and am looking at some better laptops. I asked a couple of my friends and they recommended me some variety of laptops out there which started confusing me so thought it was better to ask someone in the field to see if some laptops out there are even worth the extra money.

My confusion is that I’m not very sure if 256 GB SSD is enough. If I want to future proof myself, should I go with 512 GB of SSD? Also, I would like to stick to Windows 10 and 15" laptop screen because I’m used to Windows 10 (so 1 thing less I need to focus on instead of learning MacOS as well) and 15" screen is good for split screening (at least better than 13").

So for people who are in CS fields here, should I spend extra money on something like XPS or go with their cheaper option of Vostro or Inspiron? My budget is pretty tight but if spending $1500 gets me something that will last me longer, I’m willing to spend that much instead of sticking to around $1000-$1100. Thanks a lot for the help in advance!

Oh and I hope this is alright to put here since it is in General Discussion category

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#2

That’s quite a lot, but I remember your are a student, there is always a lot to be stored .
And this WIN10 takes > 20GB (Nobody can tell you why :rofl:)

Seems your HD is really broken.
Hope you saved all your data. :wink:
IIf the other hardware is OK you could try to swap the disk only.

We were always using LNVO at the university.
These were perfect in the old days.
I can not tell you about the quality of today.

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#3

You should also see when you are buying a new laptop if you can upgrade the ssd storage and ram yourself. If the laptop supports the extra storage and the extra ram then you might be able to save money but buying a base level laptop and then increasing the ram and storage yourself.

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#4

Yea I have everything saved and will try to do some kind of “project” with my laptop and have it as my backup. It was having issues already with frequent bluescreen errors. I also sent it to Dell twice within the first year (under warranty) so don’t want to rely on it for important stuff

Yea that’s the thing I was worried about. Not sure how much Windows 10 will just take up. I had about 700 GB left on my 1TB harddrive so a little scared to go with 256 SSD but I guess I’ll wait for more input from other regulars as well like @jercox @Shenoy. Also @jercox you said you were in AI field if I remember correctly. So you think 8Gb of ram is good or should I opt for 16 right out the box? I could upgrade it later as well (if there is additional slot or system supports it)

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#5

Why can’t you just replace the HDD in your current laptop with a SSD? “if HDD failure is the only issue”
current sata ssd’s are really cheap ($50 for 500 gb and $100 for 1TB).
You will get the max performance improvement by going from HDD to SSD.

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#6

Yup something I’m considering as well. Might have to see if XPS is upgradable or not. I know some $1000 laptops are

#7

I also need additional ram and not sure how long my Intel i3 chip will last. Honestly not sure how much power I’ll need when I graduate

#8

I believe the xps is I could be mistake but I’m pretty sure there is a second pcie slot you could take advantage of and the ram should be upgradable

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#9

Yeah don’t fall for the specs. I’m telling you that ssd in your current laptop will work wonders.
I’m still rocking my 2011 macbook air with i5 and it works just like day 1. Just needed a battery replacement after 8 yrs.

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#10

Chipset may not die that soon, by switching to SSD may give you additonal boost to processing speed. Save some bucks and buy Anker stuff here :smile:

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#11

Agreed ssd fix would do wonders and battery replacements are always needed As they get older

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#12

You can also add more ram and replace the thermal paste for cpu/gpu and it will be as good as new

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#13

If possible, go for the Intel Core i9, highest RAM config 16GB, with HDD (1 TB) and SSD 256GB / 512GB if the Laptop config permits or add as a Portable Drive for files you use very regularly, and with Windows 10. You dont need to worry about upgrades for quite some time.

Need to have a mix of storage Vs Performance, so SSD might be fast and provide better performance, but they wear out with extended usage, so the old HDD is your best friend, need frequent (may be monthly tune-up) but works!

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#14

Save money for when you graduate. You will need money and not power. Power will be provided by your employer :slight_smile:

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#15

You really think an i9 is necessary? Usually I find i7 to be enough and i9 sometimes has thermal issues

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#16

Get a Lenovo thinkpad! I have the thinkpad ultrabook, after 8 years, a blue screen here and there but it’s still kicking! :grinning::grinning:

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#17

Also I know it’s a small minor detail but you might want to actually try out the laptops in the store to see if you like the keyboard before buying. I know ists such a small thing and like the last thing to worry about but if it’s your own money you’re spending and you will be typing on it all the typing it might be nice to know you like the keyboard

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#18

Solution: If the old laptop still useable : LINUX!
(You know me I have to propose this)
Will be even faster than the new one with WIN10. :rofl:

And I still suggest only to swap the disk to SSD.

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#19

true words!!

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#20

That is a real toss up when it comes to which is best suited. I personally have a Surface laptop 3 with a i5-8350U, 16gb RAM and a 256GB SSD for work and it has been solid for the past year now with no issues whatsoever. They have it available with a AMD Ryzen 5 3580U as well, but I opted for the i5 instead. I do personally like the XPS 15 , but it is limited to however much SSD you put into it. You throw a 256gb, you can only get an i5 or i7 and 8GB DDR4-2933MHz. But you can also get a GTX 1650 Ti 4GB GDDR6 with the i7. Increase it to the 512gb and you can push to 16GB DDR4-2933MHz, 2x8G.

Storage is always an issue, but you have to look at the fact that you can get removable or cloud based as well to offset cost, depending on how much you plan on consuming.

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