ProtegeManiac
Headphoneus Supremus
My Yoga 700 started disintegrating this year and looking to get a new one. The rubber-like plastic trim piece that wraps around the base/keyboard side and protrudes at the top started crumbling and then the top clamshell popped off the display.
Cash is a little tight so I want to keep it under $600, but I need it to run Affinity and PS emulators; if Chromebook I can delay Affinity (hopefully it comes out for Android/ChromeOS), but the problem is the internet connection. Some have enough power with a Core M3-8100Y for some old PS games on Android but the storage either outright sucks or the CPU+storage config sucks for the money vs some Windows machines that come out cheaper but with 720p screens. One other concern: I have some Crumpler and Timbuk2 bags that I don't want to have to replace, so the size has to be very close to a Macbook Pro 13in (13in x 9.1in x 1in) from around 2010 to 2014.
Lenovo's got a lot of deals on some Thinkpads and they've got 1080p screens, but I'm wary because they have the same construction style, with the wrap around pad looking like it's on the display side clamshell instead of the keyboard. Thinkbooks seem to have zero padding at all.
Right now I'm looking at an HP with Intel Optane and a 10th gen Core i3, sale ends tonight but the battery is 41whr vs the total 72wHr on the Thinkpad (depends on the model; I might get just the 48whr model instead of the one with additional 24whr, Lenovo doesn't make clear distinctions between the on sale models and the best spec ones). Plus it's a 14in with a 720p screen...which kind of sucks if I'm coming from a 1080p 11.6in that apart from Windows being slow in tablet mode looks like a tablet when watching Netflix.
Looking up Dell but not liking the deals there, but for the same reason I want a Thinkpad or and HP Probook, I'm monitoring deals on the 14in Vostro. They're 9.5in long front to rear though so it might not slip into my old Karachi Outpost.
No Macs please. Even if I can stretch the budget for a 13in Air (I almost wanted the Core M5 model last year since it runs ultra low voltage then has a fan to maintain boost clocks when needed, like photo editing) I'm not about to trade crumbling plastic and "spend nearly the same amount of money to refurb the chassis" for unibody lasts forever then get screwed by the keyboard or any tiny problem on the circuit and I need to buy a new $1000 motherboard.
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Anyone using the current style Thinkpad body now, or the ones since 2015 or so? Is the rubber/plastic trim protrusion holding up well? My Yoga 700 was taken off my desk for less than a hundred times in three years, but I think the friction of it moving around a little bit in a bag - and most likely in my messenger bags (that side across my back instead of straight up as on the backpack) provided the minute movements that wore down that trim.
Cash is a little tight so I want to keep it under $600, but I need it to run Affinity and PS emulators; if Chromebook I can delay Affinity (hopefully it comes out for Android/ChromeOS), but the problem is the internet connection. Some have enough power with a Core M3-8100Y for some old PS games on Android but the storage either outright sucks or the CPU+storage config sucks for the money vs some Windows machines that come out cheaper but with 720p screens. One other concern: I have some Crumpler and Timbuk2 bags that I don't want to have to replace, so the size has to be very close to a Macbook Pro 13in (13in x 9.1in x 1in) from around 2010 to 2014.
Lenovo's got a lot of deals on some Thinkpads and they've got 1080p screens, but I'm wary because they have the same construction style, with the wrap around pad looking like it's on the display side clamshell instead of the keyboard. Thinkbooks seem to have zero padding at all.
Right now I'm looking at an HP with Intel Optane and a 10th gen Core i3, sale ends tonight but the battery is 41whr vs the total 72wHr on the Thinkpad (depends on the model; I might get just the 48whr model instead of the one with additional 24whr, Lenovo doesn't make clear distinctions between the on sale models and the best spec ones). Plus it's a 14in with a 720p screen...which kind of sucks if I'm coming from a 1080p 11.6in that apart from Windows being slow in tablet mode looks like a tablet when watching Netflix.
Looking up Dell but not liking the deals there, but for the same reason I want a Thinkpad or and HP Probook, I'm monitoring deals on the 14in Vostro. They're 9.5in long front to rear though so it might not slip into my old Karachi Outpost.
No Macs please. Even if I can stretch the budget for a 13in Air (I almost wanted the Core M5 model last year since it runs ultra low voltage then has a fan to maintain boost clocks when needed, like photo editing) I'm not about to trade crumbling plastic and "spend nearly the same amount of money to refurb the chassis" for unibody lasts forever then get screwed by the keyboard or any tiny problem on the circuit and I need to buy a new $1000 motherboard.
---
Anyone using the current style Thinkpad body now, or the ones since 2015 or so? Is the rubber/plastic trim protrusion holding up well? My Yoga 700 was taken off my desk for less than a hundred times in three years, but I think the friction of it moving around a little bit in a bag - and most likely in my messenger bags (that side across my back instead of straight up as on the backpack) provided the minute movements that wore down that trim.
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