Ask HN: What‘s the best all-in-one coding/gaming/travel Notebook?
Question says it all. Money is not an issue! Are the new MacBook Pros it? Razer Blade? What is the best overall notebook I can use for everything?
42 comments
I suppose it depends a lot on what the game is, but I've found the new MBP has amazing performance and battery life. Nothing seems to really stress it out thus far, I can sit and compile stuff, browser videos and so on without thinking too much about running out of juice. By comparison I also have a maxed out 2019 and that will huff and puff with similar loads, and run out of juice before the day is up.
Is any Mac hardware actually up for the task of gaming, especially the new M1 ones? One would think that you'd have to run a virtualized environment to even get it started, and performance will most likely be very bad. Even Linux seems like a better choice than Apple for gaming today, even if it also uses virtualization.
The Verge review [1] went into some detail on this. It runs them fine, because it is ridiculously powerful, but it doesn‘t blow it out of the park like it does in other tasks.
[1] https://youtu.be/ftU1HzBKd5Y
[1] https://youtu.be/ftU1HzBKd5Y
I use a ThinkPad T14s after my X1 Carbon fell apart. The thicker chassis makes it more reliable for travel, and the Ryzen CPU can play most Xbox games pass games fine. If you don't need Linux then the new Macs seem pretty amazing though.
My all time favourite laptop is the X220 though, lasted 10 years or more. Only got rid of it because I messed up replacing the screen.
My all time favourite laptop is the X220 though, lasted 10 years or more. Only got rid of it because I messed up replacing the screen.
Thinkpads are great, miss mine, next one will be a ThinkPad again. I think the thicker chassis is nice; better cooling, more comfortable, allows for nice keyboards.
Are TPs still advisable, even the brand being owned by Lenovo now for a long time?
They've got worse but they're still the best imo.
I haven't heard of any spyware or anything being embedded in the hardware or BIOS. Seems like all pretty standard components. All I heard is that there's some Lenovo software/crapware in the Windows installation (don't all vendors do that though?). Haven't heard of any concerns running Linux on Thinkpads, could be wrong though.
Thanks for your opinion.
Definitely. They compromise too much for "thin and light" like reducing the key travel, removing ports, reducing reliability and power, and the Carbon price is insane now. I'm happy I switched to the T series.
Asus zephyrus 14 latest edition with AMD Ryzen, definitely worth it, not even as costly as others
+1 for this. I have last year's edition - it's fast and cool enough for the games I play (though admittedly I don't play too many graphics-heavy ones) and lightweight (1.6Kg) enough to lug around wherever you want.
+1, good combination of lightweight (for travel) and high performance (for game or for work) but can get quite hot sometimes. Plus for OS would recommend Pop OS with dual boot. no issues with Nvidia in 20.04 and works out of the box.
Agree, I have the g15 with a 100w 3070. I can boost the power when needed for games. Big downside is no webcam.
They are good, but lack webcam which is a necessity for anyone using it for work.
Whatever you do, avoid anything new from Dell. The keyboards are incredibly bad, and quality is just lacking. Source: I am the unhappy owner of a several-month old XPS 13.
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My cheap Dell laptop went tits up after only 2.5 years of use. It was rendered completely unusable.
I have been avoiding the brand like plague since then, and advised a lot of people to the same.
I have been avoiding the brand like plague since then, and advised a lot of people to the same.
If you are traveling internationally, don't forget about the warranty. Some laptop manufacturers will only service your laptop in the country of purchase. Or they'll claim you have international service, but the service is so bad you basically don't have a warranty.
The greatest laptop in the world is useless if it's broken and you can't repair it.
The greatest laptop in the world is useless if it's broken and you can't repair it.
This is why I still use a i7 Thinkpad x230: ease of repairability.
If are willing to go a little bit high, get anything by Asus. I can vouch for its quality.
If you need a discreet GPU, then Zephyrus or TUF Gaming laptops.
If not, then Vivobooks are fine.
Asus is very reliable in a way that it never dies on you suddenly or gives you rampant problems.
I highly rate Asus laptops right now.
Note: Not in any way affiliated to Asus.
If you need a discreet GPU, then Zephyrus or TUF Gaming laptops.
If not, then Vivobooks are fine.
Asus is very reliable in a way that it never dies on you suddenly or gives you rampant problems.
I highly rate Asus laptops right now.
Note: Not in any way affiliated to Asus.
What games do you play? I think that will be the biggest factor in any decision you might make.
Avoid Razer because they’re unreliabe garbage. They look nice, but they die on their own. Mine died after ~2 years of infrequent use.
My “does it all” machine is a Thinkpad X220T with Linux. I can do programming on it, and drawing with the Wacom digitizer. It can’t play most modern AAA games, but I personally have never enjoyed gaming on laptops anyways.
My “does it all” machine is a Thinkpad X220T with Linux. I can do programming on it, and drawing with the Wacom digitizer. It can’t play most modern AAA games, but I personally have never enjoyed gaming on laptops anyways.
Gaming excludes macOS. It's particularly bad with controllers, bunch of problems related to the os. I can't even think how you could use it now that it has a notch.
However it's great for everything else.
I'm not a _huge_ gamer, but I've been very happy with my MacBook Pro (I have the 16" Intel one) + GeForce Now for me ~1-2x per week gaming sessions. There are other similar cloud gaming services if GeForce Now doesn't have what you want.
Caveats: wifi can work okay if you're close, connect with 5GHz, etc., but an actual ethernet cable works way better. The latency is good enough for me, but again: I don't game that much and I'm certainly not good enough at e.g. Apex for the latency to be the primary factor in why I lose :)
Caveats: wifi can work okay if you're close, connect with 5GHz, etc., but an actual ethernet cable works way better. The latency is good enough for me, but again: I don't game that much and I'm certainly not good enough at e.g. Apex for the latency to be the primary factor in why I lose :)
I recently got Lenovo Yoga with Ryzen 4800u(8c/16t), 16GB 4266Mhz, 1TB PCIe, FHD for under 1000$.
It can run Dota 2 at 120fps in low settings and ultra at 58-62fps. Can run Warzone at 720p around 35fps. I can only assume CSGO works >60fps.
It has onboard video, battery is truly amazing(10-15h) and it charges via usbc.
Display is not so great, windows 11 ready, backlit keyboard and weighs around 1kg. It boots extremely fast too(~5s).
I'd say it's an extreme machine.
(you can also get the yoga pro with ryzen 5800h)
Acer Nitro's are cheapish, perform pretty well and are quite rugged with good resale value.
downside: enormous power supply, battery life. When I travel I take a smaller generic power supply and leave the fat one at my desk. Back when I was travelling it wasn't exactly convenient though. My old work used to supply HP Spectre laptops which are a bit rubbish for gaming but great work machines.
downside: enormous power supply, battery life. When I travel I take a smaller generic power supply and leave the fat one at my desk. Back when I was travelling it wasn't exactly convenient though. My old work used to supply HP Spectre laptops which are a bit rubbish for gaming but great work machines.
Check out https://frame.work. That’ll certainly be my next laptop.
Do you like Macs? Probably MacBook Pro then. Linux fan? ThinkPad (I like the chunkier ones, so T or P series) IMO. Although any high end offering from Acer, HP or Dell is nice too and all have decent reviews WRT Linux. Windows fan? Probably same. Biggest question though is what kind of gaming? Need discrete card or nah?
Yeah my ideal world would be to be able to play RDR 2 with 60fps on 1440p plus have a decent coding experience (aka UNIX).
So maybe dual boot a decently thin Windows laptop?
So maybe dual boot a decently thin Windows laptop?
Yeah would probably just get an Acer gaming machine, ThinkPad P series or Dell XPS with discrete graphics. All work well with Linux, all have a decent amount of options, nice screens, etc...
You’ll need something with a Nvidia 20 or 30 series GPU(or AMD equivalent). Anything with integrated graphics will barely be able to run RDR2 at 1440p 10FPS
travel do you mean using the computer in a coffee shop ? or setting up a desk at where-ever you travel to ?
I move around with my 27" inch monitor to whichever city I'm going. plus xbox in tow - too heavy. can replace it with a mini itx pc that will hookup to monitor.
I have an asus g15 and I’m happy with it, and it has great graphics/gaming performance and doesn’t skimp on battery power at all. I would get a g16 w a webcam now though.
It is windows though, and I prefer not dealing w the file system differences when coding.
It is windows though, and I prefer not dealing w the file system differences when coding.
I like my Dell G7 17 - 7700 with Ubuntu installed.
A nice combination of power, form factor and battery life. I would prefer it to a MacBook or Blade any time.
If this is the case for you to, I don't know.
A nice combination of power, form factor and battery life. I would prefer it to a MacBook or Blade any time.
If this is the case for you to, I don't know.
I've got the G7 15 7590 running Windows. I'll second that I'm very satisfied with power and form factor, and it's mostly a solid laptop that I'm very happy with. The biggest problem I've had is incredibly poor thermals even when playing mid range games, but this may be model specific (the 7590 was especially bad I believe) and is something you can try to address by repasting. The built-in speakers were pretty poor as well, but most people are probably using headphones.
Best is going to very person to person.
Do you care about weight? Screen size? You need to at least give some pointers or you'll just get random answers.
What do you know about the differences between the 3 main OS (windows, mac, linux) as they relate to your question?
If money really is not an issue then check out the Zenbook Pro Duo Ux582.
I've had a good experience with Lenovo Legion laptops.
I like tuxedo notebooks (for linux/windowsndual use)