cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/15952791

Need help with buying new laptop

I have used my brothers’ laptop 1)Asus fx504gd:

  • hate how bulky it is
  • how hot it gets that I can’t play games with it in my lap(I played skyrim on the laptop with the trackpad and trackpad got ruined and my legs had burn marks)
  • it’s corner are not rounded , and it becomes annoying to use.
  • battery life is 1 hour whatever you do
  • service center F1 services in my country didn’t provide warranty even though it was under warranty
  • runs stuff like stable diffusion, kobold with silly tavern , VM to cheat on certain tests .

2)HP elite book 840 or 845 g7 (amd)

  • 10 hour battery life
  • bought second hand with 3 months extended warranty left, was a import. After 1 month of use notice battery goes to 10% if not used for a few days, calls HP and then HP serviceman comes home next day replaces battery is done by time I bring him tea.
  • touchscreen
  • fingerprint
  • aluminum
  • just feels nice
  • portable
  • easy repairs and upgrades
  • can’t use stable diffusion, llama.CPP and kobold ai with silly tavern , musicgen or deep live webcam
  • no games
  • best for most of my use as I only get to play games in summer vacations and have nearly no time for my hobbies like exploring alternative internet, or running ai projects with college and cfa prep
  • but I just feel like I should have a gpu
  1. Macbook
  • love the power efficiency
  • great battery
  • I have no apple products so ecosystem has no benefits for me
  • walled garden
  • repair man David seems to hate them
  • costlier repairs
  • price gouging
  • non upgradeable -no idea how it might run things had little time with it

My main use cases: watching lectures, reading books on it, need to run VM to cheat a little, running games( occasionally) , llms and SD

What I like Power efficiency, repairable and upgradeable laptops, durable future proof But above all value for money cause I am on a budget which is less than 1000$

My confusion -Mac is price gouging but power efficient and has great battery -Elite book is great but doesn’t have a GPU

  • I hate Asus but similar gaming laptops which are bulky and feel crappy have great specs on paper
  • Should I just get 2 devices (steam deck is not available in my country, am not gonna buy rog ally and can’t find anything similar second hand) but then if I get a elite book my wife won’t let me get a PC or a something like steam deck

Ideal world scenario I would like a laptop I can use and play games on in my lap, it being with coreboot and Linux mint and still being able to explore my hobbies like ai projects on AMD CPU and GPU (ideally power efficient as ARM) and still being repair able and upgradeable.

But that’s an ideal world Nowadays I’d be happy if I can get a laptop and use with a wireless keyboard comfortably

  • LunchMoneyThief@links.hackliberty.orgEnglish
    1·
    3 months ago

    There was once a time where I’d be ecstatic to advise on a post like this.

    But these days I just feel like an alien or somebody who just stepped out of a time capsule.

    Good luck on your search, but I wouldn’t touch any of that stuff. Sorry about the totally unhelpful reply.

  • domdanial@reddthat.comEnglish
    1·
    3 months ago

    I feel like you’ll end up having to pick some compromises, or spend a lot of money. I think your best bet would be a desktop PC that has a bit more punch for less money than a laptop would be, and then also buy a laptop for your actual laptop needs, if you can find used options you might come in at budget. A laptop with integrated graphics can handle some games, you probably need to pick non-graphic intense games for gaming on the go.

    There are some new laptops coming out from Qualcomm that have a Snapdragon X, and they are not as versatile or powerful as Intel or AMD, but they are incredibly power efficient and cheaper. (They are new so we’ll see how that pans out )

    $1000 is not enough IMO for a catchall laptop with a modern GPU, AI capable, power efficient, repairable, and lightweight. A 800$ desktop and a $200 laptop/Chromebook/used thinkpad and SSD can probably cover your real use case of school laptop and also gaming/AI at home.

    • nikhil@sopuli.xyzOPEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      I had something similar in my mind. Snapdragon processor does’t have that great app support yet, so I am wary of buying it (and probably they’ll be selling around 500-600$ next year)

      I am thinking of either Acer swift x(2021) or buying a used elitebook/thinkpad with a decent cpu and ram to run smaller models with llama.cpp on it and waiting for something like steam deck in my country for games.

      GPUs (nvidia) that I need are so overpriced and I have so little time lately to mess around it will probably be cheaper to rent on linode or something. Thank you, it is nice to know others thoughts on my situation.