Rummy Posted September 19, 2020 Posted September 19, 2020 Hello all - after advice! I haven't had a working laptop for a year or so now and thinking I should really get around to sorting that out now. However I am super out of touch with the market and where are good places to look buy etcetc! Anybody got recommendations? I'm not after anything particularly fancy(again I have been on a phone only for like a year or so now :p) but think I probably want something with Windows just for the sake of compatabilty; though I may put a linux dual boot on if I can - with that I think I'd probably want something with not too small a hard drive? I see SSDs seem to be quite standard now but I've little idea of how much crap Windows takes up etc. In terms of what I'd be using it for - tbh nothing too fancy. I'd like to be able to play a few steam things/maybe HDMI it out to TV from time to time(tho not a neccessity) but I don't imagine I'm going to be getting into any fancy gaming. I only just logged into Steam for the first time in years anyway I'll probs be trying to get into some machine learning practise and stuff but even that isn't going to need much fancyness, right? Not looking for a beast to process that will be just getting practical basics etc. Given all this I'm basically thinking atm - do I get a basic bottom of the range Win 10 PC and maybe invest in extra storage or get something a bit more mid-range? I know people say buy cheap buy twice but I'm thinking given I don't need it for anything too fancy I might go cheap now and then in 2-3 years get whatevers happening then - not sure how fast tech is moving these days and how quick things change?
bob Posted September 19, 2020 Posted September 19, 2020 I was looking for a laptop for my wife's grandparents, and there really isn't anything good in the cheap or midrange categories anymore. I was surprised at what little you got for I remember when that amount used to get you a pretty good machine, but now you have to be spending more than £1000 to get anything useful. 1
Rummy Posted September 19, 2020 Author Posted September 19, 2020 4 hours ago, bob said: I was looking for a laptop for my wife's grandparents, and there really isn't anything good in the cheap or midrange categories anymore. I was surprised at what little you got for I remember when that amount used to get you a pretty good machine, but now you have to be spending more than £1000 to get anything useful. Hmmm I was thinking it was just me but yeah - either everything is super cheap and crap or expensive to be good with the inbetweens just...looking quite middling? Just not really up to where I thought things would be? Dunno if its OS prices or SSDs or what but nothing screams at me as fitting(hence I was just gonna go dirt cheap/bottom range and poss dual boot a light linux distro) - ironically enough in this my mate's just messaged saying they have an old laptop! Not fantastic but hey - not gonna turn my nose up. If it turns on and runs I'll see how I go with it with something light and maybe wait a bit before getting a full brand new one. Again I don't really follow much of industry anymore - does anyone know if there's effects with covid brexit etc. atm or if this is just what the market state is right now?
Will Posted September 20, 2020 Posted September 20, 2020 7 hours ago, Rummy said: Again I don't really follow much of industry anymore - does anyone know if there's effects with covid brexit etc. atm or if this is just what the market state is right now? There’s definitely something of a shortage at the moment as tons of companies are trying to buy laptops for their newly working from home employees. We’re having huge issues trying to buy them. I’m sure it’s having huge knock-on impacts on consumer devices too. Personally I’m always of the opinion to go for the best thing you possibly can and it will last you longer than equivalent lower cost options, pay half as much and you won’t get half the use from it. My previous MacBook Air lasted me about 8 years and I upgraded to a maxed out MacBook Pro which I expect will last longer than that. My Dad on the other hand seems to be always buying some crappy laptop that never solves the problems he has, but refuses to buy anything of higher quality. 1
Rummy Posted September 20, 2020 Author Posted September 20, 2020 3 hours ago, Will said: There’s definitely something of a shortage at the moment as tons of companies are trying to buy laptops for their newly working from home employees. We’re having huge issues trying to buy them. I’m sure it’s having huge knock-on impacts on consumer devices too. Personally I’m always of the opinion to go for the best thing you possibly can and it will last you longer than equivalent lower cost options, pay half as much and you won’t get half the use from it. My previous MacBook Air lasted me about 8 years and I upgraded to a maxed out MacBook Pro which I expect will last longer than that. My Dad on the other hand seems to be always buying some crappy laptop that never solves the problems he has, but refuses to buy anything of higher quality. Hmm I kinda get this but again I'm fairly old school and don't really need 'top' tech. I was on a HP 255 until the fan died eventually last year and that I bought probably with my house - about £200-250 with ubuntu over windows(tho id like a windows option now just cos compatibility can be a bitch sometimes and i cant linux command line at all) and honestly if the fan hadnt gone I'd probs still use it. I think for many folks I'd agree on the buy better etc. - but if I'm buying cheap I kinda know what I'm getting(tho this is also why to date i have avoided SSDs - just because i dont want to get psychologically spoiled by lightning quick things :p)
Mr_Odwin Posted September 25, 2020 Posted September 25, 2020 I bought this recently for my daughter: https://ao.com/product/fx505dthn484t-asus-laptop-gold-77152-251.aspx With the cashback that's about as cheap as you'll get it. Only one complaint - the wifi chip is a bit weak. I was using this website a lot: https://laptopmedia.com/top-100-best-gaming-laptop-deals-price-performance/ Even though it says gaming laptops, it's really just a list of good laptops bang for buck. Especially the ones that don't come with a separate graphics card. So if you're looking in the range of sub-600 then the best gaming laptop in that range will probably also be the best day-to-day laptop in that range. 1 1
Retro_Link Posted January 28, 2021 Posted January 28, 2021 I couldn’t think of a better people to ask for advise on this and low and behold there’s been a thread started recently. Can anyone recommend a laptop that would suit me well for photography? Anyone recently looked into this sort thing or bought something they would recommend? running photo editing software, great true colour display and screen, good processor/RAM, number of ports, weight... Am I destined to buy into Apple? Are there good alternatives? Ideally I don’t want to spend a lot of money, but if it’s an investment and will last me a long time as @Will was saying, that would ease things. And wouldn’t be made to feel that I should be replacing it with each subsequent model released. Also, In which case would a refurbished model be worth looking at? Any help or advice would be massively appreciated! 2
Will Posted January 28, 2021 Posted January 28, 2021 I’m definitely not a photo editing expert but I believe macs do a pretty great job with them. I’d be seriously thinking about waiting for the next upgrade to the MacBook Pro expected some point this year. My intel one is three years old now and still absolutely flying, the M1 machines by all accounts blow it out of the water. 1
Happenstance Posted January 28, 2021 Posted January 28, 2021 If it's just photo editing you are looking for then a mac probably would be your best bet. I'm more of a Windows guy though so I feel a bit dirty saying that I've got the 2020 Razer Blade 15 at the moment which I love. Nice and powerful for any editing I need to do, video or photo and then I'm running games at high to max settings. Surprised how good the temps are for it as well. 1
Retro_Link Posted January 28, 2021 Posted January 28, 2021 @HappenstanceYeah I’m not currently thinking of getting into video or any other sort of content creating. Really I’m thinking I’d like to finally do something with my photography and make it more than just a hobby. So I’ll be looking into new hardware, software and creating a new website. Honestly I’m really not very techy, so this will probably take some researching. @Will I imagine the new MacBook Pro will be pricey, when do they currently drop and how often do new models come out? Could I potentially look at an older model? 1
Will Posted January 28, 2021 Posted January 28, 2021 4 minutes ago, Retro_Link said: @Will I imagine the new MacBook Pro will be pricey, when do they currently drop and how often do new models come out? Could I potentially look at an older model? I think they’re due sometime in the second half of the year. I’d say an older model would be fine, and you can also get returbs direct from Apple at a pretty good price. The only thing I’d be mindful of at the moment is the Apple silicone models only just launched and you probably don’t want to get one of the older intel ones if you’re thinking about keeping it for a long time. 1
Retro_Link Posted January 28, 2021 Posted January 28, 2021 21 minutes ago, Will said: I think they’re due sometime in the second half of the year. I’d say an older model would be fine, and you can also get returbs direct from Apple at a pretty good price. The only thing I’d be mindful of at the moment is the Apple silicone models only just launched and you probably don’t want to get one of the older intel ones if you’re thinking about keeping it for a long time. That’s good advice, thank you!
Dufniall Posted January 28, 2021 Posted January 28, 2021 1 hour ago, Retro_Link said: I couldn’t think of a better people to ask for advise on this and low and behold there’s been a thread started recently. Can anyone recommend a laptop that would suit me well for photography? Anyone recently looked into this sort thing or bought something they would recommend? running photo editing software, great true colour display and screen, good processor/RAM, number of ports, weight... Am I destined to buy into Apple? Are there good alternatives? Ideally I don’t want to spend a lot of money, but if it’s an investment and will last me a long time as @Will was saying, that would ease things. And wouldn’t be made to feel that I should be replacing it with each subsequent model released. Also, In which case would a refurbished model be worth looking at? Any help or advice would be massively appreciated! I think for photo editing the most wished feature is a proper screen, with a high sRGB and Adobe RGB %. I'm not hardcore into photo editing, but as I understand it the higher the % the closer it is to "the real deal", which is especially handy if you also want to print stuff. That way what you are seeing on the screen is closer to the print-out. For the rest Photoshop is not the heaviest of programs, so a middle-of-the-road processor can get you a long way (Intel i5 or Ryzen 5), with say 8GB or 16GB RAM. If you are going for content creation a proper graphics card is handy as well. Most of the high RGB screen laptops are focused on content creation, and are therefore often bundled with a proper graphics card and higher specs, but this is costly. There is currently a whole market focused on content creation and more and more brands are putting out creation laptops: https://www.msi.com/Content-Creationhttps://www.asus.com/nl/Laptops/For-Creators/ProArt-StudioBook/https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/conceptd-homehttps://www8.hp.com/us/en/workstations/zbook-create.html Basically the whole idea of this is Windows trying to get market share from Apple for this user scenario. You can also invest in a separate monitor that is designed for photo editing, and you can do with a run-of-the-mill laptop if you stick to Photoshop. Or indeed, buy an Apple. They are expensive, but they have good screens, and stuff like Photoshop is well optimized. 1 1
Retro_Link Posted January 28, 2021 Posted January 28, 2021 @Vileplume2000Thank you. Yeah I think what you’re saying is definitely the correct approach. I can run and use Photoshop on my 5/10 year old £500 Samsung laptop, but the screen is awful for seeing the real colour of the photos I’m taking. I was blown away when I looked at some of my pics on a MAC last year. I think for ease of being able to work on things from anywhere I will look for a laptop with a quality screen rather than invest in a monitor, but that’s a great shout for the future. I will take a look through the links you’ve included. Thanks for that! Something holding me back from Apple is then having to buy everything Apple. I can’t use existing external devices etc... But it’s something I’ll need to read up on. @Goaferhow do you go about your photo editing?
Goafer Posted January 28, 2021 Posted January 28, 2021 1 hour ago, Retro_Link said: @Goaferhow do you go about your photo editing? I either use a fairly old Dell laptop or the MacBook Pro that I use for work. I generally don't worry too much about colour accuracy, as I'm very unlikely to print any of my photos, so they'll appear different on different monitors anyway. In my old job as a school photography editor, we colour calibrated our monitors fairly regularly. We either used a proper calibration tool or just printed a photo and then adjusted the monitor to match (was a bit more accurate for us, as it matched our specific printers). 1
Will Posted January 28, 2021 Posted January 28, 2021 7 hours ago, Retro_Link said: Something holding me back from Apple is then having to buy everything Apple. I can’t use existing external devices etc... Anything in particular you’re worried about? I can’t think of much that isn’t universal nowadays. 1
Retro_Link Posted January 29, 2021 Posted January 29, 2021 19 hours ago, Will said: Anything in particular you’re worried about? I can’t think of much that isn’t universal nowadays. Oh maybe. I was just thinking of external hard drives and USB’s. Are they universal now? There was certainly a time when Apple products requires their own external hardware and disc drives etc... right??
Eenuh Posted January 29, 2021 Posted January 29, 2021 I've been looking for a new laptop as well to replace my old MacBook Pro. The advice seems to be that for creative work, Apple is still the best out there. It's just annoying that they ar so expensive! But yeah my current one (8GB RAM) is just not running properly anymore and often lags or crashes. I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, After Effects... so I feel like I need something powerful. Apple's new M1 models seem to run really well though apparently, so I'm keeping my eye out for the 16" one and see how much it would set me back. But you can already get a 13" one now. Also, I don't own any other Apple products. I can connect my Wacom tablet and use my external harddrive (you probably can't use a Windows configured one on a Mac and vice versa though). If you do buy Apple, just check what ports it has and if they work with what you're planning to use. 1
Happenstance Posted January 29, 2021 Posted January 29, 2021 1 minute ago, Eenuh said: I've been looking for a new laptop as well to replace my old MacBook Pro. The advice seems to be that for creative work, Apple is still the best out there. It's just annoying that they ar so expensive! But yeah my current one (8GB RAM) is just not running properly anymore and often lags or crashes. I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, After Effects... so I feel like I need something powerful. Macs may be the best out there for creative work but I definitely don’t think they offer enough that a cheaper Windows laptop wouldn’t easily be worth it if you wanted to save money. 1
Goron_3 Posted January 29, 2021 Posted January 29, 2021 On 28/01/2021 at 12:52 PM, Retro_Link said: I couldn’t think of a better people to ask for advise on this and low and behold there’s been a thread started recently. Can anyone recommend a laptop that would suit me well for photography? Anyone recently looked into this sort thing or bought something they would recommend? running photo editing software, great true colour display and screen, good processor/RAM, number of ports, weight... Am I destined to buy into Apple? Are there good alternatives? Ideally I don’t want to spend a lot of money, but if it’s an investment and will last me a long time as @Will was saying, that would ease things. And wouldn’t be made to feel that I should be replacing it with each subsequent model released. Also, In which case would a refurbished model be worth looking at? Any help or advice would be massively appreciated! The new Apple M1's are absolutely incredible judging from reviews and benchmarks. You'll be getting double the performance of a Windows equivalent with 15-20 hours battery life. Grab yourself a Pro. 1
Will Posted January 29, 2021 Posted January 29, 2021 5 hours ago, Retro_Link said: Oh maybe. I was just thinking of external hard drives and USB’s. Are they universal now? There was certainly a time when Apple products requires their own external hardware and disc drives etc... right?? Yeah, back in the day they needed their own file format, nowadays they will understand whatever you plug into them. 4 hours ago, Happenstance said: Macs may be the best out there for creative work but I definitely don’t think they offer enough that a cheaper Windows laptop wouldn’t easily be worth it if you wanted to save money. i really think this is a false saving though. Buy something for half the price and it will only last you a third as long. Though I will caveat that with it’s not a Mac vs PC thing, I’m sure if you buy a top end windows laptop it will last you just as long as a Mac will, it’s just that Apple don’t really make low end devices. 3 hours ago, Goron_3 said: The new Apple M1's are absolutely incredible judging from reviews and benchmarks. You'll be getting double the performance of a Windows equivalent with 15-20 hours battery life. Grab yourself a Pro. Honestly they seem to be so good you don’t even need the Pro, seems the Airs are absolutely phenomenal. It really does seem like the M1 line is by far the best you can buy right now. If you do decide to go Mac @Retro_Link, I don’t think you can go to far wrong with any of the M1 lineup available right now. Dependent on how quickly you need something, you may benefit from waiting as this years models are meant to be the ‘big’ revisions with new form factors and features etc. 2
Happenstance Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 5 hours ago, Will said: i really think this is a false saving though. Buy something for half the price and it will only last you a third as long. Though I will caveat that with it’s not a Mac vs PC thing, I’m sure if you buy a top end windows laptop it will last you just as long as a Mac will, it’s just that Apple don’t really make low end devices. My point was more that you can get the equivalent pc laptop to a Mac for a cheaper price, not to get a less powerful laptop for cheaper. I don’t think the Apple tax is worth it.
Goafer Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 I've used several PCs and Macs as part of my various jobs and whilst Macs have definitely been better for creative work overall, it's personal preference if they're better enough to justify the price. I'm about 50/50 on whether I'd buy my own Mac when I come to replace my laptop. I do like how well they work with the the Adobe creative suite, but the limits when it comes to gaming and other software etc are a big drawback. That said, PCs do seem to require a bit more research to get a decent one. My general thoughts are if you're purely going for creative work and the price doesn't bother you, get a Mac. If you want a laptop for other use or aren't sure about the price of a mac, get a PC. 3
Will Posted January 30, 2021 Posted January 30, 2021 10 hours ago, Happenstance said: My point was more that you can get the equivalent pc laptop to a Mac for a cheaper price, not to get a less powerful laptop for cheaper. I don’t think the Apple tax is worth it. Very fair point and I know many would totally agree with you. As I see it it’s never quite a fair comparison as although you’re getting the same specifications for less it’s not put together the same way or with the same level of quality as you get with a Mac. 3 hours ago, Goafer said: but the limits when it comes to gaming and other software etc are a big drawback This is a really good point too, do not expect to be doing any good gaming on a Mac. Another thing I just thought of is what phone/tablets/devices do you have? One of the great things about being in the apple ‘ecosystem’ is things really do just work. We have multiple Macs, iPhones, iPads, Apple TV etc. and I can use one to control the other, buy things on one device and have them immediately available on the other, take calls on whichever device is closest to me... and the list goes on. For personal stuff it can be a real value add having everything work together like that. If you don’t have that sort of interest it’s another plus point of the apple stuff you won’t be gaining from.
drahkon Posted November 16, 2021 Posted November 16, 2021 Pretty big bump and I don't know which thread to use Got a MacBook Pro (2010) from work. They wanted to throw it away... Seems to run just fine but has some serious signs of usage. Would it be worth anything? I.e. would it be worth the hassle to try and sell it? If not, can I do anything with it? I've never used an Apple product so I doubt it's of any real use to me. Unless you can maybe install Windows?
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