Good Windows laptop
Discussion
Hi,
I'm a Data Architect by profession & use various tools for modelling/designing etc.... Currently I'm a permie so am given a laptop, but soon I will be moving to become a contractor.
At home I am a mac user, but the company I am going to be contracted with, won't allow a mac, so I have to get a windows laptop!
As I have been out of the windows arena for a long time, can anyone please recommend me a good all round laptop that isn't too expensive, but will be suitable for my needs. I will also be doing some Data Engineering POC stuff so may need more than the standard 16gb memory.
Any recommendations greatly received.
Thanks
Pete G
I'm a Data Architect by profession & use various tools for modelling/designing etc.... Currently I'm a permie so am given a laptop, but soon I will be moving to become a contractor.
At home I am a mac user, but the company I am going to be contracted with, won't allow a mac, so I have to get a windows laptop!
As I have been out of the windows arena for a long time, can anyone please recommend me a good all round laptop that isn't too expensive, but will be suitable for my needs. I will also be doing some Data Engineering POC stuff so may need more than the standard 16gb memory.
Any recommendations greatly received.
Thanks
Pete G
Does this need to be a truly mobile/lightweight mobile workstation that will be used on trains, buses, planes, or will it just be moved from one location to another and not switched on inbetween (i.e. a always plugged-in desktop replacement, rather than a mobile workstation)?
I'm currently using a 2 year old 15.6" HP Zbook G9 'mobile workstation' with a 12th Gen i7-12800H + RTX A1000 GPU, which is very good at what I need it to do (Excel models, PowerBI dashboard, etc.), but you can't use it for more than about 90 minutes on the battery alone...but it was about £2k in mid 2022...but you can get it for £1150 now.
https://www.laptopoutlet.co.uk/hp-zbook-power-g9-i...
I'm currently using a 2 year old 15.6" HP Zbook G9 'mobile workstation' with a 12th Gen i7-12800H + RTX A1000 GPU, which is very good at what I need it to do (Excel models, PowerBI dashboard, etc.), but you can't use it for more than about 90 minutes on the battery alone...but it was about £2k in mid 2022...but you can get it for £1150 now.
https://www.laptopoutlet.co.uk/hp-zbook-power-g9-i...
You'll get a lot of opinions from all of us about what we've used and liked.
Personally, my limited experience of having bought work/home laptops over the years is that Lenovo have always seemed quite robust and reliable. One reason being I haven't had to buy many to replace them!
As a side gig for a couple of years a while ago now (as in not relevant to right now), I found most manufacturers made machines with inherent problems like overheating or poor design at some point or other that created common faults.
In which case I'd choose the spec and layout that best fits the brief and be most careful about who you buy it from so any aftercare is first rate.
Personally I use a Microsoft Surface Pro (only needed to buy 1 replacement since 2015), but I'm not sure it would fit the workstation brief you're after.
Personally, my limited experience of having bought work/home laptops over the years is that Lenovo have always seemed quite robust and reliable. One reason being I haven't had to buy many to replace them!
As a side gig for a couple of years a while ago now (as in not relevant to right now), I found most manufacturers made machines with inherent problems like overheating or poor design at some point or other that created common faults.
In which case I'd choose the spec and layout that best fits the brief and be most careful about who you buy it from so any aftercare is first rate.
Personally I use a Microsoft Surface Pro (only needed to buy 1 replacement since 2015), but I'm not sure it would fit the workstation brief you're after.
mmm-five said:
Does this need to be a truly mobile/lightweight mobile workstation that will be used on trains, buses, planes, or will it just be moved from one location to another and not switched on inbetween (i.e. a always plugged-in desktop replacement, rather than a mobile workstation)?
I'm currently using a 2 year old 15.6" HP Zbook G9 'mobile workstation' with a 12th Gen i7-12800H + RTX A1000 GPU, which is very good at what I need it to do (Excel models, PowerBI dashboard, etc.), but you can't use it for more than about 90 minutes on the battery alone...but it was about £2k in mid 2022...but you can get it for £1150 now.
https://www.laptopoutlet.co.uk/hp-zbook-power-g9-i...
Generally it will be used at home, but I will have to travel sometimes, so will need to not be massively heavy. I'm currently using a 2 year old 15.6" HP Zbook G9 'mobile workstation' with a 12th Gen i7-12800H + RTX A1000 GPU, which is very good at what I need it to do (Excel models, PowerBI dashboard, etc.), but you can't use it for more than about 90 minutes on the battery alone...but it was about £2k in mid 2022...but you can get it for £1150 now.
https://www.laptopoutlet.co.uk/hp-zbook-power-g9-i...
- Pete
My work laptop is a Lenovo Thinkpad P14s with a i7-1165G7 (mobile i7 with only 4 cores)
My personal laptop is a Lenovo Legion Pro with a Ryzen 7 5800h and a RTX 3060 GPU.
The Legion Pro destroys the Thinkpad. I use it in Whisper mode (CPU running at a quarter of it's speed) and it is still massively quicker.
However the Legion Pro weighs 2.5 KG so is hardly portable.
Personally I hate these little laptops that everyone seems to want as they are useless for actually doing anything.
My personal laptop is a Lenovo Legion Pro with a Ryzen 7 5800h and a RTX 3060 GPU.
The Legion Pro destroys the Thinkpad. I use it in Whisper mode (CPU running at a quarter of it's speed) and it is still massively quicker.
However the Legion Pro weighs 2.5 KG so is hardly portable.
Personally I hate these little laptops that everyone seems to want as they are useless for actually doing anything.
PeterGadsby said:
Generally it will be used at home, but I will have to travel sometimes, so will need to not be massively heavy.
- Pete
Thinkpad T14 or T14s- Pete
Dell 7330 (13.3") or 7440 14" (random one from ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276576623920)
You can get away with a smaller screen at home because you hopefully have space for a proper monitor(s)?
Also get something with USB-C (anything recent-ish will have it) and a USB-C PD monitor and you have a simple home setup.
Edited by the-photographer on Wednesday 14th August 18:37
Another vote for Lenovo - generally well made and tough.
I'm a fan of the X1 Carbon (12th) as it's so lightweight and powerful enough for my needs.
The T14s is cheaper though and still very mobile so that'd probably fit the bill in 32GB form. The Ryzen 7 version on the Gen 4 is probably the sweet spot currently for power vs price.
I'm a fan of the X1 Carbon (12th) as it's so lightweight and powerful enough for my needs.
The T14s is cheaper though and still very mobile so that'd probably fit the bill in 32GB form. The Ryzen 7 version on the Gen 4 is probably the sweet spot currently for power vs price.
We buy HP Latitude laptops, 16GB memory, 512TB SSD and a Ryzen 7 CPU with a 3 year on-site care pack. Whatever HP have in their shop that's under £1k basically with a good spec. Comes with Windows 11 and they're pretty robust. It's a tool, not a work of art but at least with these you can swap the memory and SSD, many others from HP and Dell you're limited to what's there. They have plenty of ports too and are only killed, usually, by large liquid ingress.
SteveKTMer said:
We buy HP Latitude laptops, 16GB memory, 512TB SSD and a Ryzen 7 CPU with a 3 year on-site care pack. Whatever HP have in their shop that's under £1k basically with a good spec. Comes with Windows 11 and they're pretty robust. It's a tool, not a work of art but at least with these you can swap the memory and SSD, many others from HP and Dell you're limited to what's there. They have plenty of ports too and are only killed, usually, by large liquid ingress.
HP Latitude? Erm.MickC said:
SteveKTMer said:
We buy HP Latitude laptops, 16GB memory, 512TB SSD and a Ryzen 7 CPU with a 3 year on-site care pack. Whatever HP have in their shop that's under £1k basically with a good spec. Comes with Windows 11 and they're pretty robust. It's a tool, not a work of art but at least with these you can swap the memory and SSD, many others from HP and Dell you're limited to what's there. They have plenty of ports too and are only killed, usually, by large liquid ingress.
HP Latitude? Erm.
I guess the question is what modelling tools do you need to run and do you just need a powerful office type machine mainly for Excel and data manipulation or do you actually need a full workstation with graphics capabilities or loads of cores for big data analysis? And if you are doing big data/AI, are you using cloud tools because if so you probably don't need much horsepower on the local machine.
The HP zbook etc mobilie workstations as mentioned all have some form of graphics chipset (usually the professional version rather than consumer), whereas eg a Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon is a very capable machine but doesn't have great graphic capabilities. If you use any form of data visualisation technologies you might want that capability, but the graphics in high end more mainstream work laptops (like the HP ProBook or EliteBook range) are getting better. A decent workstation class machine will cost about double the equivalent mainstream one (or more, if you really go to town).
If you are happy with the size/format of your mac, then Parallels is a good shout, try it and if it doesn't work well for you then you didn't loose much and can still go out and buy a suitable Windows machine.
What's your current work laptop and would it be sufficient for your needs?
The HP zbook etc mobilie workstations as mentioned all have some form of graphics chipset (usually the professional version rather than consumer), whereas eg a Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon is a very capable machine but doesn't have great graphic capabilities. If you use any form of data visualisation technologies you might want that capability, but the graphics in high end more mainstream work laptops (like the HP ProBook or EliteBook range) are getting better. A decent workstation class machine will cost about double the equivalent mainstream one (or more, if you really go to town).
If you are happy with the size/format of your mac, then Parallels is a good shout, try it and if it doesn't work well for you then you didn't loose much and can still go out and buy a suitable Windows machine.
What's your current work laptop and would it be sufficient for your needs?
I really like the Lenovo Yoga products. I recently advised my sister to get a Lenovo Yoga Pro 7 and was able to set it up for her.
I think it has a really good build, a fantastic screen and decent performance. I see the current version can be had with 32Gb RAM, an Intel Ultra 9 185H CPU and a 3072 x 1920p 14.5" screen.
I also just took possession of a Lenovo L13 Yoga, which is from the ThinkPad range. This is a convertible device with a touchscreen and stylus that can transform to a tablet or be used in tent mode. I only really got it for general use and for use while travelling for which it should be fine.
I think it has a really good build, a fantastic screen and decent performance. I see the current version can be had with 32Gb RAM, an Intel Ultra 9 185H CPU and a 3072 x 1920p 14.5" screen.
I also just took possession of a Lenovo L13 Yoga, which is from the ThinkPad range. This is a convertible device with a touchscreen and stylus that can transform to a tablet or be used in tent mode. I only really got it for general use and for use while travelling for which it should be fine.
Lenovo would prob be my recommendation, with some though on docking setup at office & home (usb c hub/dock with additional monitors).
I'd avoid HP like the plague. My last experience was s
tty products backed up by even worse service with attitudes that would.make Ryanair look friendly.
I've got an old Gen4 lenovo Carbon x1 that my wife still uses for her business that's been flawless, if you want portability over power.
I've got an LG that I got at a major discount that's OK, although for the first few months of ownership it would randomly peg the CPU to 100% and set the fans to liftoff. It is thin and light though.
I've also got an old Asus zenbook that myvdaughter uses for school and that runs well for a c 7yr old machine.
I'd avoid HP like the plague. My last experience was s
tty products backed up by even worse service with attitudes that would.make Ryanair look friendly.I've got an old Gen4 lenovo Carbon x1 that my wife still uses for her business that's been flawless, if you want portability over power.
I've got an LG that I got at a major discount that's OK, although for the first few months of ownership it would randomly peg the CPU to 100% and set the fans to liftoff. It is thin and light though.
I've also got an old Asus zenbook that myvdaughter uses for school and that runs well for a c 7yr old machine.
Second the Yoga notes above.
Not sure how much poke they'd have for serious computational work, but I just bought a 9i and it's as close to perfect for my general needs as is available.
Only gripes...dumb "function" keys on the right of the keyboard, keyboard not as good as my gen6 X1 Carbon (travel is the issue...it's down 0.3mm, which matters. Though this is still as good as you can now get) and lack of HDMI port.
Other than that, a great machine.
Not sure how much poke they'd have for serious computational work, but I just bought a 9i and it's as close to perfect for my general needs as is available.
Only gripes...dumb "function" keys on the right of the keyboard, keyboard not as good as my gen6 X1 Carbon (travel is the issue...it's down 0.3mm, which matters. Though this is still as good as you can now get) and lack of HDMI port.
Other than that, a great machine.
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