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Mar 7 2019 03:26pm
A friend is looking to purchase a laptop for general use + music editing. He has been dissatisfied that his previous laptops have broke after a few years and were shit.

Budget is up to $7k because he's insane but don't need to spend anywhere near this. Looks like we can get what he needs for like $2000 NZD

I was thinking of recommending a laptop with 240gb ssd, 1-2tb hdd, intel i7-8750h, 16gb ram

Do I need to watch out for certain brands of laptops that are less reliable than others? Anything to be wary of? Do I need to worry about looking up the specs of the MOBO/PSU?

Live in New Zealand so probably purchasing here - https://www.pbtech.co.nz/category/computers/laptops

But can buy from any New Zealand store + will use pricespy to find the best deal.

This post was edited by dbutiki on Mar 7 2019 03:30pm
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Mar 7 2019 03:49pm
Average lifespan of a laptop is 2-3 years with regular use/wear/tear

Even though the machine will remain functional for longer, the advance in technology/software is usually substantial enough to warrant a new machine.

If he is dissatisfied with that time frame, buy\build a desktop.
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Mar 7 2019 03:50pm
Quote (Cactuar_NOM @ Mar 8 2019 10:49am)
Average lifespan of a laptop is 2-3 years with regular use/wear/tear

Even though the machine will remain functional for longer, the advance in technology/software is usually substantial enough to warrant a new machine.

If he is dissatisfied with that time frame, buy\build a desktop.


Good advice thanks.

Any comments regarding brands to avoid or whether I need to look up the PSU/mobo stats? They aren't generally listed on retailer sites.
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Mar 7 2019 03:52pm
For which desktop or laptop?

I'd ask in the build discussion forum specifically.

King Atrhur is a baller at builds from my experience
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Mar 7 2019 04:14pm
Quote (Cactuar_NOM @ Mar 8 2019 10:52am)
For which desktop or laptop?

I'd ask in the build discussion forum specifically.

King Atrhur is a baller at builds from my experience


Yeah he helped me build my PC recently.

Asking about laptops only here.

Will let me friend know the PC may be a better option but I think he's set on a laptop. Texting him about it now.
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Mar 13 2019 06:53am
Quote (dbutiki @ Mar 7 2019 03:14pm)
Yeah he helped me build my PC recently.

Asking about laptops only here.

Will let me friend know the PC may be a better option but I think he's set on a laptop. Texting him about it now.


Hate to say this but if he has money to blow like this I highly recommend a top tier Macbook Pro. You can dual boot windows on it, the new ones have a pretty decent graphics card and you really can't go wrong here.
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Mar 13 2019 07:37am
I used to have both laptops and towers for working purposes.
Obviously I always preferred laptops for mobility and towers for power lifting tasks, until I discovered more about some kind of "rugged" notebooks.

Searching around to inform myself lead me to a taiwanese company called Clevo. Clevo supplies most of the biggest hardware houses with their chassis, customized for each brand.
If you start browsing around Clevo models you may recognize some models from HP, Acer, Lenovo and so on... unless they are brandless.

Although in addition to the "basic"models, which are widely sold as low, mid and high tier notebooks, there are also these enthusiastic's models. Similar models are sold by companies under the brand Alienware, Zenbooks and so on.
But there is more. Higher performance models which can be customized for greater purposes (extreme gaming, power computing, 3D modelling, engineering etc...).

So, making it shorter, there are some companies like MSI which customize specific chassis under users' requests and sell them for quite fair price (not cheap, just fair).

I personally found a local company called Santech which does this service in my country and I preferred them to MSI for insurance reasons mostly.

They sell around whole europe though https://www.santech.eu/

I had my first laptop as Santech M68 model and lasted 5 years. It still works but my workflow needs became more and more demanding so I upgraded to the Santech G59 model just recently.
I'm going to sell my 5 years notebook as used because it works just perfect.
Indeed another great feature of these laptops is the possibility to disassemble for cleaning and maintenance. I believe this kind of "heavy duty" machines can last years and years.

Let me know if you need further info about that.
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Mar 14 2019 05:47am
Quote (Cocoo @ Mar 14 2019 01:53am)
Hate to say this but if he has money to blow like this I highly recommend a top tier Macbook Pro. You can dual boot windows on it, the new ones have a pretty decent graphics card and you really can't go wrong here.



True.

Ended up convincing him to just go with a pc so will be building him one. Don’t need more advice for now. Thanks guys
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Mar 14 2019 08:31am
Quote (dbutiki @ 14 Mar 2019 13:47)
True.

Ended up convincing him to just go with a pc so will be building him one. Don’t need more advice for now. Thanks guys


Mac vs PC, the eternal war.

In my opinion you may sum up like that, very easily:

Mac

Pro: Stylish, easy to use, difficult to create troubles, good assistance (if you have an Apple Store nearby), stable OS.
Cons: Buy outdated hardware for really high price, deceptive about performance.

PC

Pro: Fully customizable, pay the right price for the hardware, higher power performance.
Cons: You can really fuck up everything, you need some basic knowledge, you have to be open minded to find yourself solutions to problems, assistance depends from where/who you buy.


I used to work with Mac, nothing against Apple Products although I'd never spend my money for it.
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