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Hi,

So I need to replace my work laptop (Lenovo y50-70). Basically the hinges broke apart, and I have a blank display. I had issues with the image prior to this (blanking out or lines of what looked like CRT TV static), but now nothing I do can get an image. I'm sure it can be repaired in some fashion but time is a bit of a factor.

I follow desktop tech but I'm a little light on laptop tech and I'm totally clueless on what manufacturers are offering right now. If I list my needs hopefully the community can point me in the right direction.

1. Good hinges (I open and close the screen very very often)
2. 1080p display that's not **** to look at.
3. Wifi and Lan chipset that's stable and consistent. (Not having a LAN port is an instant deal-breaker, no adapters.)
4. 200+ GB SSD or capability of taking a 2.5" SSD from the previous laptop
5. 16GB of RAM, I could live with 8GB or capability of taking dual 8GB SO-DIMM from the previous machine. (DDR3 so probably not)
6. Windows OS (any version) (application compatibility)
7. i5 or higher

*8. Touch screen would be nice.

Budget is ~$1500, but it'd be best for me if it hits closer to $1000.

Anyways, if anyone has suggestions I'd love to hear them and thanks in advance.

If not Apple then Dell XPS, Latitude, or Precision.

zzz wrote:

Hi,

So I need to replace my work laptop (Lenovo y50-70). Basically the hinges broke apart, and I have a blank display. I had issues with the image prior to this (blanking out or lines of what looked like CRT TV static), but now nothing I do can get an image. I'm sure it can be repaired in some fashion but time is a bit of a factor.

I follow desktop tech but I'm a little light on laptop tech and I'm totally clueless on what manufacturers are offering right now. If I list my needs hopefully the community can point me in the right direction.

1. Good hinges (I open and close the screen very very often)
2. 1080p display that's not **** to look at.
3. Wifi and Lan chipset that's stable and consistent. (Not having a LAN port is an instant deal-breaker, no adapters.)
4. 200+ GB SSD or capability of taking a 2.5" SSD from the previous laptop
5. 16GB of RAM, I could live with 8GB or capability of taking dual 8GB SO-DIMM from the previous machine. (DDR3 so probably not)
6. Windows OS (any version) (application compatibility)
7. i5 or higher

*8. Touch screen would be nice.

Budget is ~$1500, but it'd be best for me if it hits closer to $1000.

Anyways, if anyone has suggestions I'd love to hear them and thanks in advance.

What will be the general use of the laptop? How tolerant are you to flashy?

Another vote for Dell.

On this Dell page, most business laptops are under $1,000 and none are over $1,200-$1,300. I'd say you have lots of room to customize if you wish.

If you're not into Dell, there's also HP.

thecoldanddarkone wrote:

What will be the general use of the laptop? How tolerant are you to flashy?

Mostly network related things; setting up/modifying routers, WAPs, NVRs+cameras and IP controlled home automation systems (URC, Elan, Vantage, Lutron, Crestron). My workload isn't heavy but since I work with relatively low-powered devices I tend to jump between work on different devices while the previous one is rebooting or applying a change.

BIF wrote:

Another vote for Dell.

On this Dell page, most business laptops are under $1,000 and none are over $1,200-$1,300. I'd say you have lots of room to customize if you wish.

If you're not into Dell, there's also HP.

I'll poke around the website and see what sticks out, I'm cool with Dell.

zzz wrote:

thecoldanddarkone wrote:

What will be the general use of the laptop? How tolerant are you to flashy?

Mostly network related things; setting up/modifying routers, WAPs, NVRs+cameras and IP controlled home automation systems (URC, Elan, Vantage, Lutron, Crestron). My workload isn't heavy but since I work with relatively low-powered devices I tend to jump between work on different devices while the previous one is rebooting or applying a change.

BIF wrote:

Another vote for Dell.

On this Dell page, most business laptops are under $1,000 and none are over $1,200-$1,300. I'd say you have lots of room to customize if you wish.

If you're not into Dell, there's also HP.

I'll poke around the website and see what sticks out, I'm cool with Dell.

If you haven't yet you might want to poke on the dell outlet site for business. While they aren't huge deals, they are generally like new condition with a refurbished sticker on them. They also come with the same warranty as if you purchased it new. I'd also look at the lenovo refurbished site. They seem to have no reasoning for some of the pricing. The only hard part about the lenovo refurbished site is that they stock randomly. Sometimes on Sat morning, sometimes on Wednesday night, etc. I wasn't in a hurry on getting a laptop so buying from lenovo was fine with me. They also sell new in box items on both the lenovo outlet and dell outlet store.

If you want a strong hinge, have you considered milspec (military specification) laptops? They have to survive drop tests and the like, so I assume they have stronger hinges.

Lenovo offers several milspec laptops in their Thinkpad line, and they all have Intel dual-band wireless 8265 and an RJ45.

I think the Lenovo X, T, and 13 lines would fit you best. X is thin-and-light, T is more powerful. 13 is, well, 13 inches.

https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/t ... /thinkpadt

https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/t ... /thinkpadx

https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/t ... thinkpad13

The X270 looks to be within your price range. (The other X-laptops look too expensive.) It's an ultralight 12.5". Configured with everything you said, it came out to about $1,200.

Every laptop in the T-line fits your price, but it looks like only the T-470-P and T-470-S offer touch-screens. They're both 14". The P has a quad-core Core HQ processor while the S has a dual-core Core U processor. These also come out to about $1,200.

Finally, the 13, configured to your specs, comes out to only about $900. By default, it has only a Celeron, but you can upgrade to an i5 and it will stay below your budget.

I would note that both the X and the T allow you to upgrade to a huge battery for only a few dollars, while the 13 has no such option.

The T allows you to upgrade to a Geforce 940MX, while the X and 13 are limited to integrated Intel graphics.

I would also note that Lenovo (and many other laptop manufacturers) put a huge markup on their SSDs. So I would recommend you buy the cheapest hard drive and install an SSD yourself. I'm not sure which of their laptops accept M.2 NVMe PCIe and which only accept SATA. So you should check that. You can look at the Lenovo PSREF (Product Specifications Reference) to get more details about any given system: http://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/i_pdf/psref515.pdf. If I'm reading it correctly, it looks like the X270, T-470-P, T-470-S, and 13 all have both M.2 PCIe and 2.5" SATA. But double-check. The PSREF also shows every other system characteristic, such as every port (RJ-45, USB, etc.) and every option. So you can see whether the system matches everything you need or not.

I think ASUS N552 could be a great replacement, has 16Gb RAM and strong capacity. Price is a bit higher than $1000 though.
Or you can look at some Asus Zen Book, perfect for work.

How about Asus VivoBook E403SA?

It Might not be exactly what you are looking for, but I think it is worth the try.

The laptop features are as follows

A 14-inch Screen display
A 1920 x 1080 Screen resolution with Full HD
A 4 GB DDR3 RAM
A 128 GB eMMC Flash storage
A 1.6 GHz Intel Quad-Core processor
An Intel HD Graphics
Wireless connectivity of 802.11ac

The RAM is limited, though. So, you might not run some virtual machines. Also check these laptop reviews if you are looking for additional options.

I like my XPS 13, but as I've mentioned in a different thread, I like my 5th generation Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon X1 a lot more (5th gen Carbon X1 for short). I was hesitant going with Lenovo (I've only bought Dell laptops since the '90s), but have no regrets after doing so. The hinges seem sturdy (definitely better than the XPS13), so I imagine they'll hold up.

You don't mention screen size or laptop weight/size/thickness, but if you're opening and closing the screen a lot, I'm assuming you want portability. The 1080p 14" screen on the Lenovo is good, and the laptop is amazingly light and thin. It uses USB-C for charging, so no weird proprietary chargers, and it has all-day battery life.

It's a business-class laptop, so you'll need to get it on sale, but I've seen an i5, 8GB, 250GB SSD (may have even been an NVMe SSD) config for around $1150-$1200 on sale, so I'd imagine you can get it with 16GB within your budget.

Good luck!

Edit: sorry, just saw your note about no LAN port being a dealbreaker. The X1 Carbon has a dongle, so I guess it's out.

Dell has a sale on their Inspiron 7000 series right now; they have an i7 (u-series), 8GB, 250GB SSD with 15.6" 1080p touchscreen on sale for $650 (coupon code 649INSP). I've worked on a few 7000 series Inspirons; I'd call them prosumer grade, and the hinges seemed decent enough, but not business class. I don't know if they have any 16GB models on sale. They also have them regularly through the Dell Outlet where you can get an i5, 8GB, 250GB for around $500-550, same warranty as new.

They're nice laptops if you prefer to stay at only 50% of your budget.

Update: I ended up picking up a Dell E5470 for a good deal. A co-worker has the same model and I figured if it didn't work out as a work laptop it'd become a replacement home laptop since I'm looking to get one that isn't shared between me and the wife anyways but I'm really digging it. I Appreciated all the responses

Good to see you finally found the right laptop for your needs.
I've heard good things about Dell E5470, although I personally avoid both Dell and HP and stick with Sager.
But just for anyone who might be in your shoes and looking for a similar deal with the same budget.
I've been doing some research lately and found Lenovo Y50 and Acer Aspire V17 Nitro Black Edition to be excellent options at this price point, not to forget the gaming and multimedia capabilities they bring to the table.
I also came across this laptop buying guide here for under your budget. Even though they talk about gaming laptops mainly but I guess that's an added advantage which comes along.