Help - which laptop?
Discussion
I currently work for one of the big consultants and have a Thinkpad laptop. I use Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams and Outlook. I currently have two external monitors.
For various reasons I am leaving my job but will carry on working as an external consultant. I can’t take my laptop with me so need to buy me own. I have never had to think about buying a laptop because I’ve always been employed and been given one.
Generally we are an Apple household with iPhones and my daughter has a MacBook Air and the wife has an IPad.
I don’t game or use the laptop for watching stuff or use processor heavy applications.
I will link it up to a couple of monitors as I do work with multiple documents at the same time.
Any advice?
For various reasons I am leaving my job but will carry on working as an external consultant. I can’t take my laptop with me so need to buy me own. I have never had to think about buying a laptop because I’ve always been employed and been given one.
Generally we are an Apple household with iPhones and my daughter has a MacBook Air and the wife has an IPad.
I don’t game or use the laptop for watching stuff or use processor heavy applications.
I will link it up to a couple of monitors as I do work with multiple documents at the same time.
Any advice?
Does your current laptop do what you need? I'd so, why not buy one of those? 
One thing I'd suggest, as you've got two external monitors hooked up to it, is to make sure you buy something with a graphics card with dedicated memory on it.
I had a lightweight Lenovo at the start of lockdown that I put two laptops into and 90% of the time it was absolutely fine, until I tried to run PowerPoint on a Teams call, then everything would start stuttering and freezing. For ages I (and our IT department) assumed it was some sort of home broadband issue, as it manifested exactly like a bandwidth issue, but it turned out to be that it was burning through too much of the main laptop memory trying to render the PPT and Teams across two screens simultaneously.
Once we'd worked it out, IT got me a new laptop with a dedicated graphics card and all has been fine ever since.
One thing I'd suggest, as you've got two external monitors hooked up to it, is to make sure you buy something with a graphics card with dedicated memory on it.
I had a lightweight Lenovo at the start of lockdown that I put two laptops into and 90% of the time it was absolutely fine, until I tried to run PowerPoint on a Teams call, then everything would start stuttering and freezing. For ages I (and our IT department) assumed it was some sort of home broadband issue, as it manifested exactly like a bandwidth issue, but it turned out to be that it was burning through too much of the main laptop memory trying to render the PPT and Teams across two screens simultaneously.
Once we'd worked it out, IT got me a new laptop with a dedicated graphics card and all has been fine ever since.
If your work is limited to the office applications then it might make more sense to stick with Apple. However, they are very expensive (and over powered) for just office applications.
The switch to Apple's M chips means we have to stick to dedicated Windows machines now (we were often using Intel Macs for dual-booting). Lenovo are the best IMO on that side.
Recently switched from an older P52 to a P14s - very impressed by it. It is small, light and very powerful (once loaded with 64Gb RAM...).
The switch to Apple's M chips means we have to stick to dedicated Windows machines now (we were often using Intel Macs for dual-booting). Lenovo are the best IMO on that side.
Recently switched from an older P52 to a P14s - very impressed by it. It is small, light and very powerful (once loaded with 64Gb RAM...).
Almost any laptop will do what you want, why not go for a Thinkpad, similar to as you have now (assuming it is fairly new, with a USB-C thunderbolt port) and get a docking station? That way you can have all your screens plugged in to the dock and simply connect up with a single cable. If you need to take it on the road 1 thing to unplug.
Sheepshanks said:
Some MacBooks - is it the M chip ones? - will only drive one external monitor.
I have a Macbook Air M3 and it will drive 2 displays, but only when the lid is closed.https://support.apple.com/en-gb/117373
I think that is a change from the Air M1 and M2 which will only run 1 display full stop. (This might need checking)
Condi said:
Almost any laptop will do what you want, why not go for a Thinkpad, similar to as you have now (assuming it is fairly new, with a USB-C thunderbolt port) and get a docking station? That way you can have all your screens plugged in to the dock and simply connect up with a single cable. If you need to take it on the road 1 thing to unplug.
Unless they have additional memory, there is no guarantee that "almost any laptop" will be able to run three screens (built in plus two external) and multiple applications such as PPT and Teams simultaneously. Skeptisk said:
I currently work for one of the big consultants and have a Thinkpad laptop. I use Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams and Outlook. I currently have two external monitors.
Generally we are an Apple household with iPhones and my daughter has a MacBook Air and the wife has an IPad.
I will link it up to a couple of monitors as I do work with multiple documents at the same time.
If your clients will be using MS365/Office apps then you might be wise to check on compatibility with the Apple versions; I'm not sure if they are now 100% compatible but there used to be minor differences in the past. Apples are also fussier when it comes to running multiple external monitors unless you are going to spend thousands on Apple displays.Generally we are an Apple household with iPhones and my daughter has a MacBook Air and the wife has an IPad.
I will link it up to a couple of monitors as I do work with multiple documents at the same time.
Since you have used Thinkpads why not stay with them - just make sure you choose from the business range (T, X, X1 or P). If you want to save money there are plenty of vendors of refurbished machines, but watch the quality of the screens as the basic screens popular with purchasing managers can be rather average.
https://www.howtogeek.com/119825/whats-the-differe...
Kermit power said:
Unless they have additional memory, there is no guarantee that "almost any laptop" will be able to run three screens (built in plus two external) and multiple applications such as PPT and Teams simultaneously.
I would disagree, my old HP G4 laptop from work which is knocking on 10 years old will do 2 external QHD monitors as well as its own screen quite happily, from memory it had 4gb of RAM and only 1GB of shared GPU memory (taken from the overall RAM). It's easy enough to check by Googling the chipset, but I'd be amazed any 5< year old Intel chip won't run 2 decent external monitors.
Condi said:
Kermit power said:
Unless they have additional memory, there is no guarantee that "almost any laptop" will be able to run three screens (built in plus two external) and multiple applications such as PPT and Teams simultaneously.
I would disagree, my old HP G4 laptop from work which is knocking on 10 years old will do 2 external QHD monitors as well as its own screen quite happily, from memory it had 4gb of RAM and only 1GB of shared GPU memory (taken from the overall RAM). It's easy enough to check by Googling the chipset, but I'd be amazed any 5< year old Intel chip won't run 2 decent external monitors.
To be clear, it could run two external monitors without a problem, and could even run Teams. What it absolutely couldn't do was run those plus PPT in presentation mode at the same time. At that point it just died.
I’d also just get what work supplied.
Don’t go with Apple if your primary work involves Office. It’s definitely under featured, buggy and slow compared to the PC version. I have been issued with a high power Windows laptop specifically to run Excel VBA / Macros because Mac support for ‘advanced’ Office features is so woeful. Otherwise my main laptop is a M1 Macbook Pro, and it’s not as if that lacks the power to run Mac version of Office ‘properly’.
I think you will have to spend four figures to get a work appropriate ‘business’ machine with build quality designed for 8 hrs use, 5 days a week, frequent transportation between home and client sites etc. The price of a machine isn’t just about ‘power’. There was someone here called GaryB, he wanted a machine to use all day, but got a consumer Lenovo model. He was shocked the keyboard / touchpad packed up after a few months. You do need the right tool for the job, unless you don’t mind the risk of extra downtime, sending the machine for warranty repairs and potential lost earnings.
If you don’t need the portability, you could get a desktop machine.
Don’t go with Apple if your primary work involves Office. It’s definitely under featured, buggy and slow compared to the PC version. I have been issued with a high power Windows laptop specifically to run Excel VBA / Macros because Mac support for ‘advanced’ Office features is so woeful. Otherwise my main laptop is a M1 Macbook Pro, and it’s not as if that lacks the power to run Mac version of Office ‘properly’.
I think you will have to spend four figures to get a work appropriate ‘business’ machine with build quality designed for 8 hrs use, 5 days a week, frequent transportation between home and client sites etc. The price of a machine isn’t just about ‘power’. There was someone here called GaryB, he wanted a machine to use all day, but got a consumer Lenovo model. He was shocked the keyboard / touchpad packed up after a few months. You do need the right tool for the job, unless you don’t mind the risk of extra downtime, sending the machine for warranty repairs and potential lost earnings.
If you don’t need the portability, you could get a desktop machine.
Edited by wyson on Thursday 18th July 00:01
I'm on the look out for a new laptop and this thread was the most recent on here, don't need a gaming laptop as all I do on it is browse the internet, stored photos etc and write up the occasional letter, plus the usual email and plug into my tv to stream movies.
have narrowed it down to this one....
https://www.currys.co.uk/products/hp-15sfq5585sa-1...
Decent price/spec or is there something else I should look at?
Thanks
have narrowed it down to this one....
https://www.currys.co.uk/products/hp-15sfq5585sa-1...
Decent price/spec or is there something else I should look at?
Thanks
Well for the ops use case, it looks like he won’t be able to connect dual external monitors. The USB C port won’t do video.
Also would be suspicious about its durability, given its the low end consumer model for 9 to 5 business use, 5 days a week.
Also RAM and SSD are on the low side, I’d want at least double the amount of both. Especially if he wants to have an Excel spreadsheet open, to paste into a Powerpoint presentation, typing up notes on a Word document, whilst on a Teams call, sharing his screen with a client, whilst researching something with a dozen open Chrome tabs.
Plus, can’t see the exact specs of the screen, but that NTSC gamut of 45% is pretty poor. I’d expect to see something closer to 72% NTSC or 100% SRGB at a minimum so it looks pleasant to view. The OP wouldn’t want to be on a call, where the client is saying, the figures in orange blah blah, but his monitor displays them in a washed out yellow he can barely see.
Also would be suspicious about its durability, given its the low end consumer model for 9 to 5 business use, 5 days a week.
Also RAM and SSD are on the low side, I’d want at least double the amount of both. Especially if he wants to have an Excel spreadsheet open, to paste into a Powerpoint presentation, typing up notes on a Word document, whilst on a Teams call, sharing his screen with a client, whilst researching something with a dozen open Chrome tabs.
Plus, can’t see the exact specs of the screen, but that NTSC gamut of 45% is pretty poor. I’d expect to see something closer to 72% NTSC or 100% SRGB at a minimum so it looks pleasant to view. The OP wouldn’t want to be on a call, where the client is saying, the figures in orange blah blah, but his monitor displays them in a washed out yellow he can barely see.
Edited by wyson on Wednesday 17th July 23:37
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