Need help choosing laptop

[itklutz]

Hi, I am looking to purchase a laptop and would appreciate any advice/suggestion.

The main daily use would be for shows, emails and the usual social media activity. Photo editing and the occasional sound editing. I may want to try my hands at graphic design as well so that is part of the consideration.

I won't be carrying the laptop around much, so weight isn't that much of an issue here. Budget should hopefully stay in the $1.5k range or lower.

I went to Challenger and looked online a bit, and shortlisted the following:

1. Acer Aspire V Nitro VN7-592G-79WA

2. Asus Vivobook K501UX-DM079T

I saw the Aftershock brochure for Comex and wonder if I should consider their M-15 V2 Edition.

BEtween these three the difference are the graphics cards and also the HDD+SSD. Would it be better to have both of them or just one or the other?

Lastly, would the price/deals for laptops be better at Comex or would they not differ that much from buying online or at the physical stores?

Thanks!

 

[alanwade123]

Hi, I am looking to purchase a laptop and would appreciate any advice/suggestion.

The main daily use would be for shows, emails and the usual social media activity. Photo editing and the occasional sound editing. I may want to try my hands at graphic design as well so that is part of the consideration.

I won't be carrying the laptop around much, so weight isn't that much of an issue here. Budget should hopefully stay in the $1.5k range or lower.

I went to Challenger and looked online a bit, and shortlisted the following:

1. Acer Aspire V Nitro VN7-592G-79WA

2. Asus Vivobook K501UX-DM079T

I saw the Aftershock brochure for Comex and wonder if I should consider their M-15 V2 Edition.

BEtween these three the difference are the graphics cards and also the HDD+SSD. Would it be better to have both of them or just one or the other?

Lastly, would the price/deals for laptops be better at Comex or would they not differ that much from buying online or at the physical stores?

Thanks!

go with aspire.

 

[theobserver]

if you have a rough idea of what you need and want, then you can try using my compiled summary here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Qzah6e3aV1l_1OuWYfA0AozXmPG7Q2Q8BBdNdS407_s/edit?usp=sharing

hope this helps.

1) shows, emails and usual social media activity

these aren't demanding at all, although you might want more RAM if you're the kind to open 30+ chrome tabs at once, which would mean at least 8GB++ of RAM. Something good to take note of is whether there're additional memory slots which can expand your RAM, if you're at the show more often than not you can coerce them to add it in for you.

2) photo editing and occasional sound editing

again, from what i remember, sound and photo editing at more CPU and RAM bound, it's only video editing that can outsource tasks to the GPU. hence, you're looking for something closer to an i7 with 8GB++ of RAM.

3) <1.5k range, lightweight

you can use my summary to filter out prices within your budget and also the weight of the laptops, however for some of the blank spaces you'll have to do the research yourself. in my experience i would say go for something as portable and lightweight as possible, otherwise just build a desktop. in both instances, go for best bang for the buck specs.

4) graphics cards

of course a dedicated graphics card is better, but typically for video editing or gaming. benchmarks for individual graphics cards are available on youtube for particular games. if you're not a gamer or video editor this isn't as big of a requirement, although it'd be good to have a lightweight one just in case you want to dabble in either.

5) SSD vs HDD vs both

NVMe SSD > SSD > HDD hands down. however, when buying laptops with SSDs, prices also increase, sometimes more than proportionately. so, will be good to keep updated with SSD prices and upgrade yourself. SSD+HDD combos are just additional SATA slots available in your computer store the SSD/HDD.

5) prices/deals

at COMEX, you can bargain, especially if you don't have a preferred brand. of course, if you can find the better deal online, then even better. however, be informed of warranty arrangements, and also most importantly, knowledge of specs and what you're looking for, because if you know the specs, you cannot be hoodwinked into buying something you don't need.

all the best!

 

[itklutz]

Thanks for the help, appreciate it.