Hi folks,
I'm finding it's getting really difficult to find a non-customized
laptop that meets my agency's requirements. Granted, I'm pretty
picky, though I am somewhat flexible on the potential trade-offs involved.
Many of you use quite nifty hardware so I thought you might have some ideas.
I need it to be non-customized because I'm being required to purchase
through a MWBE vendor. (This is New York State, USA.) These vendors
generally refuse to provide customizations; in fact, most of them
just buy stuff off the rack from established electronics retailers
and mark it up (don't get me started....)
First, I won't do Lenovo or HP or Surface.
I prefer ASUS or Acer, as I've had good experience with them. I'd
rather not do Dell but if that turns out to be the only way to
accomplish this I might accept that.
I need (won't compromise on):
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
i7 processor or better (I don't know what the AMD equivalent would be
but I don't object to AMD chips)
At least 15.6" screen
At least 8 GB RAM
At least 512 GB HDD (I don't care if it's SSD or mechanical, but I
want all of that space)
LAN cable port
WiFi
At least 3 "old school" USB ports (some mix of USB 2 and USB 3; USB C
is nifty and all, but I'm not looking to replace my peripherals or
get a bunch of adapters).
HDMI port
VGA port (I have some old projectors and external monitors that I
don't want to spend $$ to replace; I probably could be convinced to
drop this requirement, at least for some users, if absolutely necessary)
Must have a TPM chip and UEFI BIOS (the latter seems to be standard
now but the former is often optional); these devices have to be
full-disk encrypted using Bitlocker
I would prefer the processor speed to be 2.2 GHz or faster, but a 1.8
GHz i7 is minimally acceptable.
I would like an internal optical drive but it's not required.
I don't care how much it weighs or how long the battery lasts or any
of that other stuff.
I'm not going to be super picky on price, because the whole MWBE
thing is based on inflated prices anyway.
(And BTW, I am not opposed to MWBE set-asides in principle, but I am
opposed to the situation that has been created, in which, because the
state mandates that we purchase from these companies, the companies
effectively face no competition and can therefore set absurdly high
prices for largely inferior products.)
Thanks for any thoughts any of you may have.
Ken Dibble
www.stic-cil.org
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