Help pick out a laptop please

[pinky33]

Going on a road trip for 2 weeks and decided I want more than just my phone to look stuff up and stay connected. Budget is what ever I want it to be, but just so happens I don't "need" much. Check in with work, email, video calls, check out reviews of places to stay while I road trip across the USA.

Only NEEDS are as fallows
backlit keyboard
webcam
not a piece of crap???

Wants are as fallows
Maybe play deep rock survivor ( I don't game much these days, but have been playing this one)
Nice built in webcam
wifi 6
usc tybe C for charging (for convenience)
touch screen seems cool.

Please feel free to be the devils' advocate and think of things I might want/need.


So far this one seems hard to beat for the price. I have microcenter, best buy, and costco all near me.

https://www.costco.com/hp-14%22-touchscreen-laptop---amd-ryzen-7-7730u---windows-11.product.4000213570.html

 

[EarthDog]

Maybe it's just me... but I could count the 1366x768 pixels, even on a 14" monitor. 1080p monitor, even for that size, is my suggestion.

Edit: latest amd apu with better igpu than any intel. This will stay relevant longer.

https://www.costco.com/lenovo-ideapad-slim-5-16%22-touchscreen-laptop---amd-ryzen-7-8840hs---wuxga-1920-x-1200---windows-11.product.4000253721.html

 

[pinky33]

Thank you EarthDog. That is a very low resolution.

I have to down to these two. Trying to figure out how poopy a 7520u processor is in real life use. I don't think its so slow it would anger me while looking up maps, places to book camping sites, restaurant reviews and pics. Watching a movie in the back of the minivan on a rainy day during road trip..... This laptop will probably be used for road trip and future road trips. Maybe look up a recipe in kitchen....but probably sit around unused most of its life sadly. So part of me is leaning towered the cheaper option. One thing I know I will use it for is a court appearance via webcam in a few weeks.

The more I think about it the more I realize I wont game on it. Unless there is something I am missing on the cheap Acer Aspire 3 I am leaning that way.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/678485/lenovo-ideapad-5-16-2-in-1-laptop-computer-luna-grey

https://www.costco.com/.product.1725621.html


Thanks again. If I was thinking more about gaming I think your recommendation would be spot on. As I get closer to pulling the trigger I realize how cheap I am and how little it will be used over its life.

 

[Flamethrower1972]

Maybe it's just me... but I could count the 1366x768 pixels, even on a 14" monitor. 1080p monitor, even for that size, is my suggestion.

Edit: latest amd apu with better igpu than any intel. This will stay relevant longer.

https://www.costco.com/lenovo-ideapad-slim-5-16%22-touchscreen-laptop---amd-ryzen-7-8840hs---wuxga-1920-x-1200---windows-11.product.4000253721.html

I agree it has to be at 1080p.But hey that's just me.

 

[Woomack]

I just got a laptop, and I wanted it mainly for typing and photo editing (with a monitor when I move between home and work), maybe watching some movies from time to time. I wanted it to be 13-14" with a touchscreen, but something higher quality and still at a reasonable price. Thunderbolt was an addition that I wanted in case I get a weird idea to use an external graphics card (I have an enclosure for that, collecting dust for over a year).

If you want to use it with the laptop display, then get at least 15.6". They are usually cheaper than 13-14"
If you want to use it with an additional monitor, then the size doesn't matter much.
In both cases, don't buy anything less than 1920x1080. Lower displays are usually for budget laptops and are also of lower quality (brightness and other things). As ED said, you will see everything large, and it's fine for some things, but for others, it will ask for more native space on the desktop. In short, higher resolution = more stuff can be on one screen. 1080p is just right for A4-size documents and other things.

If you don't play games, then integrated graphics is enough, and a CPU like Ryzen 5 7250u or i5 13XXu will be just right. I had no big choice, and I got an i5 1345u CPU. I had a chance to test it before, as I have the same on a laptop at work, so I knew what I was buying.

Regarding brands, look at the best warranty. If you move a laptop often, then you never know what may happen. Based on my experience, I don't recommend Acer, Lenovo, and some other brands. However, it's just because of my experience with local support and available products (this is a long topic, so maybe another time). I typically recommend DELL or HP for business series and ASUS or MSI for gaming.
Looking at what is available from new laptops, Lenovo from post #3 has pretty good specs for the price. I would consider this version for a faster CPU and larger SSD. Actually, if I had it available at the same price in Poland, then I would probably buy it. I'm not complaining, as I got DELL Latitude for half the local store price.

 

[pinky33]

Thanks woomack, went with that one. Seemed to be $100 less than the Costco one. Still a little more than I wanted to spend.... But might have it replace my basement HTPC that is still rocking an i7 2600k at 4.8GHz. Maybe pay for itself over time since that PC uses 200watts at idle basically

 

[Flamethrower1972]

Thanks woomack, went with that one. Seemed to be $100 less than the Costco one. Still a little more than I wanted to spend.... But might have it replace my basement HTPC that is still rocking an i7 2600k at 4.8GHz. Maybe pay for itself over time since that PC uses 200watts at idle basically

I Rember those days I had a I5-2500K.