Thread: New Laptop Recommendations

I've an Acer which was around 25k THB, so in the ball park. It's been really good up to now, however I don't know how resistent it us to drops, or 'water' ingress.

Originally Posted by Mendip

I've an Acer which was around 25k THB, so in the ball park. It's been really good up to now, however I don't know how resistent it us to drops, or 'water' ingress.

I'm basically looking for a mong-proof laptop.

Although it will be 5 years old next month, so I've not done bad for a tech retard.

It's not really about recommending a model nowadays, it's generally about deciding what you will be using it for, and then seeing what is important for that - GPU, or CPU, or RAM, and then buying the best one you can for whichever of those you need.

I don't think you're a gamer, or will be using it to watch 4k movies on, so you probably don't need a proper company name GPU with 4 or 8 GB.

For that price, minimum 16gb RAM. Get the most RAM you can, the future you will thank yourself.

Look out for sales such as 9.9 (9th of September for us kool kidz).

When looking at ones with different CPUs, just put (cpu name 1 here) vrs (cpu name 2 here) into google and you'll get lots of good easy to understand sites showing you which cpu is better, how much, and why, with simple bar charts etc.

Originally Posted by Edmond

It's not really about recommending a model nowadays, it's generally about deciding what you will be using it for, and then seeing what is important for that - GPU, or CPU, or RAM, and then buying the best one you can for whichever of those you need.

I don't think you're a gamer, or will be using it to watch 4k movies on, so you probably don't need a proper company name GPU with 4 or 8 GB.

For that price, minimum 16gb RAM. Get the most RAM you can, the future you will thank yourself.

Look out for sales such as 9.9 (9th of September for us kool kidz).

When looking at ones with different CPUs, just put (cpu name 1 here) vrs (cpu name 2 here) into google and you'll get lots of good easy to understand sites showing you which cpu is better, how much, and why, with simple bar charts etc.

My missus said similar. Cheers, Lu. It's great to know she was right- again!

Originally Posted by Edmond

It's not really about recommending a model nowadays, it's generally about deciding what you will be using it for, and then seeing what is important for that - GPU, or CPU, or RAM, and then buying the best one you can for whichever of those you need.

I don't think you're a gamer, or will be using it to watch 4k movies on, so you probably don't need a proper company name GPU with 4 or 8 GB.

For that price, minimum 16gb RAM. Get the most RAM you can, the future you will thank yourself.

Look out for sales such as 9.9 (9th of September for us kool kidz).

When looking at ones with different CPUs, just put (cpu name 1 here) vrs (cpu name 2 here) into google and you'll get lots of good easy to understand sites showing you which cpu is better, how much, and why, with simple bar charts etc.

Btw, are CPU, RAM and GPU friends of R2 - D2?

I don't believe you'll be buying in Thailand, so this reference only.

Laptops, Notebooks, Cheap Laptops, Acer Notebooks, Dell Laptops, Laptop Thailand, HP Laptop, Notebook Computers, 16GB Thailand - invadeIT


At the bottom of the page, around 21,000thb, looks like you'll be in the territory of 16gb RAM, 512SSD, i5 or i7, or the Ryzen equiv, and perhaps a 4GB GPU, depending on the model.

Not a bad setup for normal lulu'ing around.

Originally Posted by hallelujah

Btw, are CPU, RAM and GPU friends of R2 - D2?

CPU is the brain.
RAM is how fast it thinks when doing things.
GPU are the eyes (well, the graphics on the screen and how well it can produce them.)

I know you said there's no particular brand, but I loved that HP.

Surely there must be one that you'd choose over the other?

Me too. My work laptop is an Intel 9. My last home laptop is a 5 which is quite adequate. It depends on your graphics and Ram requirements imo but we are in the AI world now and if you are going to use AI a lot you can get AI enabled chips etc and CoPilot built in. The old days of do I just want to fiddle with a spreadsheet and have a Mendip moment are behind us.

So my advice is this. ASUS vivobook 16 inch with snapdragon 16gb RAM and 512 MB or the 5i both around £550 currently. One is AI friendly. Seen both on offer online on Currys.


Others will disagree

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/as...-10284271.html

Sorry 599 with 1Tb but OLED screen

But there are many options around processor and storage

LuLu's post #4 sums it up well. My only addition to that would to buy a laptop with a removable battery - for 2 reasons: 1). You can replace it yourself if you need to. 2) In the event that the laptop freezes, you can simply pull out the battery and re-insert it, instead of frantically pressing buttons for ages in the hope that some combination of buttons works to stop the freeze and the annoying buzz that goes with it.

^ I thought pressing the power button for 30s will do a hard reboot....

Back to OP...

Which HP did you have?

What about a refurbished laptop from laptops direct? You might be able to pick up a decent one at a good price.

If you travel a lot metal versus plastic body

Originally Posted by Neverna

buy a laptop with a removable battery - for 2 reasons: 1). You can replace it yourself if you need to. 2) In the event that the laptop freezes, you can simply pull out the battery and re-insert it, instead of frantically pressing buttons for ages in the hope that some combination of buttons works to stop the freeze and the annoying buzz that goes with it.

Good tip, that's something I'd look for if buying a laptop now.

Originally Posted by hallelujah

I know you said there's no particular brand, but I loved that HP.

Surely there must be one that you'd choose over the other?

For me at this price point, no, not really. Asus, Acer, HP, etc, will all be good machines, the internals will be intel or ryzen and not their own, I saw a few new brand names on that Invadeit link, I wouldn't buy one of those, the same as I wouldn't buy a new TV from some new brand I've never heard of.

Originally Posted by Neverna

My only addition to that would to buy a laptop with a removable battery

Originally Posted by david44

If you travel a lot metal versus plastic body

Nowadays, you need something reasonably high end to be metal and have a removable battery. I think Dell still do them and so do HP high end ones, like the ZBook.

I like my ZBook, it's coming up to 7 years old now and still holding up, although I need to replace the keyboard. I've dropped drinks on it, had ants nest in it, and it's been in 40C, 98% humidity for days on end without faltering. It's also travelled around everywhere with me and has taken considerable abuse. You can open it up, change whatever you need to keep it up to date. Out of your price range though.

Originally Posted by Neverna

LuLu's post #4 sums it up well. My only addition to that would to buy a laptop with a removable battery - for 2 reasons: 1). You can replace it yourself if you need to. 2) In the event that the laptop freezes, you can simply pull out the battery and re-insert it, instead of frantically pressing buttons for ages in the hope that some combination of buttons works to stop the freeze and the annoying buzz that goes with it.

So, just like being in Yorkshire, I want loads of rams and a big battery to stick up its arse.

Cheers Nev/Lu.

MacBook Air. Simples.

Originally Posted by malmomike77

So my advice is this. ASUS vivobook 16 inch with snapdragon 16gb RAM and 512 MB

Originally Posted by malmomike77

Others will disagree

But some others will agree

Both of my last 2 laptops have been ASUS vivobook 15.6 inch 16GB RAM 1TB SSD

Old one had a Ryzen 7 5700u (2022)

New one has a Ryzen 7 7730u (2025)

This standard OTS spec is currently supercheap for the performance. The old one is still lightning fast. Just got the new one since it was EOFY and on sale

Get the 15.6" screen if you plan to use it for extra-curricular xHamster explorations!

My current bedroom laptop is 14" (mistake) but that one will soon be relegated to lounge-room media machine so the recently relegated Ryzen 7 5700u 15.6" workstation can take over bedroom entertainment duties. (get the IPX7 water-proof sealing on the keyboard and ports too so it can be rinsed off with a showerhead in the morning!)

Originally Posted by Troy

Nowadays, you need something reasonably high end to be metal and have a removable battery. I think Dell still do them and so do HP high end ones, like the ZBook.

I like my ZBook, it's coming up to 7 years old now and still holding up, although I need to replace the keyboard. I've dropped drinks on it, had ants nest in it, and it's been in 40C, 98% humidity for days on end without faltering. It's also travelled around everywhere with me and has taken considerable abuse. You can open it up, change whatever you need to keep it up to date. Out of your price range though.

I'll pay extra for this kind of shit.

What is a Zbook?

Originally Posted by Looper

But some others will agree

indeed. The sound is excellent too and OLED screen, and if you get the qualcomm snapdrangon its AI turns the power on and off depending on if you are sitting in front of it so 20 hours between recharges is not uncommon.

Oh and they do MilSpec which is pretty rugged

Originally Posted by malmomike77

The sound is excellent too

Do people actually listen to the sound from laptop speakers nowadays?

Surely 99% of people/the time will have it connected to either bluetooth earbuds, a bluetooth speaker system, or audio system through the 3.5 jack.

Depends if you are out and about

Ref the battery, just take it to an IT shop, a 20 minute job for nothing money