First thing, given there are a huge number of laptops out there, are what are your requirements/constraints/use cases…
a) What are the minimums you think you need (storage, RAM, battery life, screen res) b) What is your budget (or any other constraint – OS etc.) c) Is this going to be mostly portable, working in customer offices, cafes, planes etc), or mostly sit on your desk. Do you want to drive 4K screens etc. off it on your desk Given that this is going to be your primary work machine, I guess it’s safe to assume you need either (a) maximum reliability or (b) onsite service – no “return to base and wait a week” type offerings. Sorry I speak like an architect. I guess I’ve been doing that for too long now. From: ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com [mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com] On Behalf Of Tom P Sent: Thursday, 15 December 2016 8:40 AM To: ozDotNet <ozdotnet@ozdotnet.com> Subject: [OT] HP Spectre x360 thoughts Wow thanks for the comprehensive email Tony. During my research I actually did read about horror stories like yours where people ended up sending machines back several times. It's really disappointing when you're spending so much money. I know several people who just refuse to deal with Dell now after having many issues with them. I'll keep looking... On Wednesday, 14 December 2016, Tony Wright <tonyw...@gmail.com<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','tonyw...@gmail.com');>> wrote: Hi Tom, I have been reviewing laptops lately for value for money and decided the battery life on the x360 sucked. Most of the laptops in the $3000 range are dual core as well. If you're after a 2in1 and dual core is fine you could consider Lenovo thinkpad x1 yoga, or the Lenovo yoga 910. Lenovo yoga 910 is consumer and had 7th gen Intel chip but no pen capability. Thinkpad x1 yoga has pen but different port configuration. Check ports on all laptops you consider. Thunderbolt ports are best if you can get them. Usbc is second best (you can run multiple external monitors + Ethernet cable via those ports) But you will also need adapters to fit. The best value I ended up coming up with was a Dell Xps 15. But I have had major issues. They have now replaced my motherboard 3 times due to crashes, screen flickering and thunderbolt port failures. Tomorrow they will replace my motherboard for the fourth time. Not good enough. If it fails this time, I'm getting a refund. My advice is look for discount codes as well. My son has a student account giving him access to discounts on hp (limited selection up to 40%), Dell (15%) and Microsoft (15%). Lenovo had up to 20% recently but have removed that deal. Lenovo often have other deals. Apple 10% through a student discount. Auto clubs, like racv, also have discounts. If my laptop fails again and I have to buy another laptop, I think I might get a Lenovo P50, but they're expensive and not as sexy,but I can get a xeon chip or high end quad core, go up to 64gb ram, and put a second nvme pcie ssd of I like. The other laptops I considered were surface book. Didn't like the lack of thunderbolt. Apple Macbook pro, which you can install windows natively on. It's got an awesome configuration but bad battery life, and that's reduced further by windows. Asus Zenbook pro 15 but couldn't find a price for the right configuration I want (I only want 1920x1080 as I want more battery life) Hp omen - lacks extensibility. Dell precision 7510 far too expensive in Australia. Hope this helps! Tony On 14 Dec 2016 5:34 PM, "Tom P" <tompbi...@gmail.com<mailto:tompbi...@gmail.com>> wrote: Hi Folks, I'm thinking of buying the HP Spectre x360 13 inch with high specs (16gb ram, 512 ssd, i7) which ends up costing about $3100 with the warranty. Have any devs here had bad experiences with this machine or recommend a better alternative for the price? Cheers Tom -- Thanks Tom -- Thanks Tom
