Poly Laptop

[zeblues]

Very true. Haha. But he doesn’t game much. He just wants something 1.5kg or less and reliable to last him throughout the 3 years

Let me throw in the spanner ....

You are buying for your son... have you discuss with your son and is he comfortable with your choice considering that he will be the one using it for next 2 years?

Me and my wife was actually considering Lenovo too but end up buying him Aftershock Vapor 15....

 

[tutonic]

Your son may very well be into games, but that really isn't an issue when selecting a laptop for school. Parents sometimes have a tendency to give in and buy for them a gaming laptop for poly but that's a terrible idea. Firstly, it's heavy - the lightest and more premium gaming laptops come in at about 1.7-18kg - and most of them have quite terrible battery life so you die die need to carry your charger wherever you go. Secondly, and more importantly, when you install this and that on your work/school laptop, it'll be more likely to bog down the machine or cause problems for you over time.

It's good practice to just get a laptop for school + a desktop to play at home. A solid desktop with good graphics can be made for under $1k and it'll last him for at least 6-7 years, no problem.

@zeblues if it's just lighter than 1.5kg then the T495s fits the bill 100%. It's part of Lenovo's more premium Thinkpad series of laptops, so it is made to last.

 

[Anything_Whatever]

Very true. Haha. But he doesn’t game much. He just wants something 1.5kg or less and reliable to last him throughout the 3 years

Reminder for poly use ... make sure your Windows version is 64-bit.

No need to buy some softwares like Microsoft Office, these can download from Poly link through the SPICE account.

 

[GoodBetterBest]

Hi ! Not sure if this thread is appropriate to discuss JC school laptop. Didn't want to create a new thread.

We use Asus. I think the Power Delivery is a good idea. Just wondering is Acer brand OK ? I used to hear bad stories about it.

 

[tutonic]

Hi ! Not sure if this thread is appropriate to discuss JC school laptop. Didn't want to create a new thread.

We use Asus. I think the Power Delivery is a good idea. Just wondering is Acer brand OK ? I used to hear bad stories about it.

Asus isn't actually very good. They got QC problems. Acer is quite decent, although most of their cheaper lineups are plastic. Nothing wrong with that. Just that it will feel a bit cheap. What's your budget like? It'll be easier to recommend that way.

 

[GoodBetterBest]

Asus isn't actually very good. They got QC problems. Acer is quite decent, although most of their cheaper lineups are plastic. Nothing wrong with that. Just that it will feel a bit cheap. What's your budget like? It'll be easier to recommend that way.

Actually, I don't know market the price.

I think below $1000. But don't mind more, may be $1200/-.

Is getting SSD important ? One of my previous laptops, HDD very slow. Would current laptops with HDD be slow ?

Preferably below 1.5kg

 

[tutonic]

Actually, I don't know market the price.

I think below $1000. But don't mind more, may be $1200/-.

Is getting SSD important ? One of my previous laptops, HDD very slow. Would current laptops with HDD be slow ?

Preferably below 1.5kg

You can't get a good spec-ed laptop under 1k + below 1.5kg. The most value-for-money laptop is E495, in my opinion. However, that one is ~1.75kg.

Reposted from below:

Specs-wise, Ryzen 5 3500U, 16GB (8+8) ram, 1 TB SSD + 256GB SSD, with the 1080p screen + 60W USB-C fast charger & 3 years on-site warranty comes up to $999.14 on Lenovo official website after the website discounts. And still can earn 5% cashback on that, so total only around $950 bucks, and you'll have peace of mind, 3 years no need worry if laptop spoilt or whatever.

Yes, SSD is very important. A 3 year old refurbished laptop with SSD will feel snappier than a brand new laptop without SSD.

 

[zeblues]

Don’t recommend Acer. My house used to have Acer few years back. Laptop speed getting laggy and keyboard spoilt in less than 3 years. Minimum home usage only

Actually, I don't know market the price.

I think below $1000. But don't mind more, may be $1200/-.

Is getting SSD important ? One of my previous laptops, HDD very slow. Would current laptops with HDD be slow ?

Preferably below 1.5kg

 

[GoodBetterBest]

You can't get a good spec-ed laptop under 1k + below 1.5kg. The most value-for-money laptop is E495, in my opinion. However, that one is ~1.75kg.

Reposted from below:


Yes, SSD is very important. A 3 year old refurbished laptop with SSD will feel snappier than a brand new laptop without SSD.

SSD for the OS drive or OS+Data ?

I got an Asus K401 Series with 12GB + 240GB SSD + 1TB HDD at about $900 from a IT sale. It weight 1.4kg. Bought > 1 year. I think the shop gave me free 4GB (or 8GB... now it's 12GB) and the SSD free.

Any laptop close to this ? May be I can then understand how much to spend now.

 

[GoodBetterBest]

Any comments about which brand is easier to do DIY upgrade ? Open up the case and install RAM or change HDD ?

 

[trenzterra]

1.2k can try Yoga S730. One USB-C, 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports 100% sRGB, 8gb ram, 512gb SSD. Currently on offer at Challenger. It's only 1.2kg and very good build quality. The only con is that no USB-A port so need to get a dongle.

 

[tutonic]

Any comments about which brand is easier to do DIY upgrade ? Open up the case and install RAM or change HDD ?

That one really depends on the particular notebook model. You can just YouTube the model and see the teardown video or something. Most entry-level laptops have on-board RAM.

SSD for the OS drive or OS+Data ?

I got an Asus K401 Series with 12GB + 240GB SSD + 1TB HDD at about $900 from a IT sale. It weight 1.4kg. Bought > 1 year. I think the shop gave me free 4GB (or 8GB... now it's 12GB) and the SSD free.

Any laptop close to this ? May be I can then understand how much to spend now.

SSD prices now dirt cheap, no real reason to get HDD for data. When people talk about SSD, generally referring to using it for OS then will feel snappy. If you have HDD+SSD combo, you'll need to worry about not shaking the laptop and stuff, since got moving parts in the HDD. For SSD, you can swing it however you like even when it's switched on, since no moving parts.

That laptop you currently should be quite sufficient in terms of handling basic word processing and other stuff you do in school.

You just need to decide on how much you wanna spend. If you wanna spend close to the 1.2k range, then T495s is your best bet. If you wanna spend as little as possible, the E495 goes for about 1k. Included in both of the prices are 3 years onsite warranty. With that, barring any extreme user error like you ownself spill water onto the laptop, it will definitely last you a good 3 years and even more.

1.2k can try Yoga S730. One USB-C, 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports 100% sRGB, 8gb ram, 512gb SSD. Currently on offer at Challenger. It's only 1.2kg and very good build quality. The only con is that no USB-A port so need to get a dongle.

If you're going to spend 1.2k, might as well get T495s. Also similar in weight + 16GB ram and 512gb SSD, and all the ports you need so no need for a million dongles.

 

[tahoo]

Considering Acer swift 3 ... 10 gen i7 1065G7 cpu, 16Gb and 1 tb ssd for $1499.

Worth? From poly notebook fair

 

[zeblues]

No. Not worth the price. Acer not so good. This price can buy Asus already. Vivobook 14 less than $1200

Considering Acer swift 3 ... 10 gen i7 1065G7 cpu, 16Gb and 1 tb ssd for $1499.

Worth? From poly notebook fair

 

[trenzterra]

No. Not worth the price. Acer not so good. This price can buy Asus already. Vivobook 14 less than $1200

I won't buy ASUS... Their laptops don't support display port or power delivery over USB-C. Assuming the hdmi version on the laptops are version 1.4 (as with most laptops), you can't even connect an external 4k monitor at 60hz. Not an issue now, maybe, but 3 years down the road, it could become a limitation.

Vivobooks are also the worst of the Asus laptops. I would try for a Zenbook at the minimum, though, the limitation above applies.

Brand wise, imo, all are the same. Really is see Heng suay. I've had a lot of issues with Lenovo lately, for example.

The current gen swift 3 offers very good specs for the price. Only con is build quality and screen not as good as the swift 5.

And another annoying thing about Acer laptops is that if has a loud 'beep' whenever you plug in/ out your ac adapter (unless you mute all windows sounds). There is a way to disable it but you need to go device manager or something.

 

[zeblues]

Also currently looking into Dell Inspiron 14. Wonder is dell good? I7 10th generation, 8gb ram. 512 ssd. 2 year warranty.

I won't buy ASUS... Their laptops don't support display port or power delivery over USB-C. Assuming the hdmi version on the laptops are version 1.4 (as with most laptops), you can't even connect an external 4k monitor at 60hz. Not an issue now, maybe, but 3 years down the road, it could become a limitation.

Vivobooks are also the worst of the Asus laptops. I would try for a Zenbook at the minimum, though, the limitation above applies.

Brand wise, imo, all are the same. Really is see Heng suay. I've had a lot of issues with Lenovo lately, for example.

The current gen swift 3 offers very good specs for the price. Only con is build quality and screen not as good as the swift 5.

And another annoying thing about Acer laptops is that if has a loud 'beep' whenever you plug in/ out your ac adapter (unless you mute all windows sounds). There is a way to disable it but you need to go device manager or something.

 

[tahoo]

10th Gen Intel ® Core™ i7-1065G7 processor
(up to 3.9GHz, 6MB smart cache)
• Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
• NVIDIA® GeForce® MX250, 2GB GDDR5 VRAM
• 14” Full HD IPS Narrow Border Display
• 16GB LPDDR4X RAM, 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
• Intel® Wireless-AX(Wi-Fi 6)
• Password Free with Fingerprint Reader
• 1.2kg
• 3 Years On-Site Warranty
Bundling:
- 1TB External Hard Disk
- Display Adapter (HDMI to VGA)
- Headset with Microphone
- Notebook Numeric Lock
- Optical Mouse
- USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor
- Backpack
- Type C USB to USB 3.0 Adaptor

Bundling:
- 1TB External Hard Disk
- Display Adapter (HDMI to VGA)
- Headset with Microphone
- Notebook Numeric Lock
- Optical Mouse
- USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor
- Backpack
- Type C USB to USB 3.0 Adapto


$1499
(price includes GST)

Very tempting

 

[tahoo]

Or $150 more for this one ? Swift e Vs swift 5

10th Gen Intel ® Core™ i7-1065G7 processor
(up to 3.9GHz, 6MB smart cache)
• Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
• NVIDIA® GeForce® MX250, 2GB GDDR5 VRAM
• 14” Full HD IPS Narrow Border Multi-Touch Display
• 16GB LPDDR4X RAM, 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
• Intel® Wireless-AX(Wi-Fi 6)
• Password Free with Fingerprint Reader
• 0.99kg
• 3 Years On-Site Warranty
Bundling:
- 1TB External Hard Disk
- Display Adapter (HDMI to VGA)
- Headset with Microphone
- Notebook Numeric Lock
- Optical Mouse
- USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor
- Backpack
- Type C USB to USB 3.0 Adaptor


$1649
(price includes GST)

10th Gen Intel ® Core™ i7-1065G7 processor
(up to 3.9GHz, 6MB smart cache)
• Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
• NVIDIA® GeForce® MX250, 2GB GDDR5 VRAM
• 14” Full HD IPS Narrow Border Display
• 16GB LPDDR4X RAM, 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
• Intel® Wireless-AX(Wi-Fi 6)
• Password Free with Fingerprint Reader
• 1.2kg
• 3 Years On-Site Warranty
Bundling:
- 1TB External Hard Disk
- Display Adapter (HDMI to VGA)
- Headset with Microphone
- Notebook Numeric Lock
- Optical Mouse
- USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor
- Backpack
- Type C USB to USB 3.0 Adaptor

Bundling:
- 1TB External Hard Disk
- Display Adapter (HDMI to VGA)
- Headset with Microphone
- Notebook Numeric Lock
- Optical Mouse
- USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor
- Backpack
- Type C USB to USB 3.0 Adapto


$1499
(price includes GST)

Very tempting

 

[zeblues]

Don’t recommend you go for Acer. Acer is poor with reliability issues. Would recommend try Asus or Lenovo or Dell instead

Or $150 more for this one ? Swift e Vs swift 5

10th Gen Intel ® Core™ i7-1065G7 processor
(up to 3.9GHz, 6MB smart cache)
• Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
• NVIDIA® GeForce® MX250, 2GB GDDR5 VRAM
• 14” Full HD IPS Narrow Border Multi-Touch Display
• 16GB LPDDR4X RAM, 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
• Intel® Wireless-AX(Wi-Fi 6)
• Password Free with Fingerprint Reader
• 0.99kg
• 3 Years On-Site Warranty
Bundling:
- 1TB External Hard Disk
- Display Adapter (HDMI to VGA)
- Headset with Microphone
- Notebook Numeric Lock
- Optical Mouse
- USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor
- Backpack
- Type C USB to USB 3.0 Adaptor


$1649
(price includes GST)

 

[Skypower]

I just bought the following laptop from challenger for $1298
- 15.6" LCD
- 1kg
- 16GB ram
- 500GB NVMe SSD
- 2 yrs warranty

its Acer Swift 5 with i5-8265 processor