Any tips on buying a new laptop.

[TSF]

Nearly time for me to get myself a new laptop. I'd appreciate any recommendations, particularly any specials on sale in the major stores or online. My budget is around 20,000Bt. I could go a bit more if it was really worth it. I'm not a gamer, really just need it for general internet use. I am into photography so a high resolution screen is necessary, either a 14'' or 15' screen. And obviously SSD. I like the laptops that fold up and can be used like a tablet. I don't have any great preference regarding brands, just as long as it's a well made reliable machine. Not interested in Mac or Linux, so a Windows machine. I also like lots of ram, but of course that can be added later.

Edited July 31, 2020 by TSF

[varun]

Your budget is extremely low for the kind of specs that you are expecting:

 

See here for a good idea of what 20,000 baht will get you:

 

https://www.advice.co.th/product/notebook

 

[dddave]

Not many folding Windows tablets, mostly Android.  Check this list

https://www.colourmylearning.com/2014/12/best-android-tablets-bigger-than-10-inch/

[Forza2002]

OP, try invadeit they have a good reputation. Here's a link for the spec that you mentioned.. https://www.invadeit.co.th/category/notebooks-laptops/14-inch-monitor/15-inch-monitor/8-gb-ram/sort/price/asc/

[clearance]

Actually for 20k thb you can get pretty good one

Acer Swift SF314-42-R18J (NXHULST004) AMD Ryzen5 4500U/Ram8GB/512GB SSD PCIe/14.0FHD IPS/Integrated Graphics/Win10 Home 19900 on lazada

Asus Vivobook D413IA-EB249TS 14" FHD / RYZEN 5 4500U / Vega 8 / 8GB / SSD 512GB/ Win10+Office / 2Y - BK - 20900 on lazada

Check reviews if additional RAM can added, sometimes it is only one slot here

If you into photography look for IPS 100% RGB screens, but it will be hard to find something in 20k limit.

 

Look for Ryzen5 4500/4600 models, there is also some cheap Xiaomi and Huawei models, not sure if you can get them in Thailand tho

Edited July 31, 2020 by clearance

[cormanr7]

Indeed, foldable windows labtops are rare/expensive and have not impressed many as it needs major revision of the operating system. The following from a computer magazine (Jan 2020):

 

Asus, Dell, and HP have also not yet revealed any dual-screen or foldable Windows devices, but most of them are playing around with some prototype ideas. Dell introduced concept foldable and dual-screen labtpos this week, and Asus introduced a smaller 14-inch dual-screen labtop.. All of these devices, including  Intel's folding concept, are also running a standard version of Windows 10 that’s not designed with this new hardware in mind. It’s fair to say that Windows 10 looks janky and awkward in dual-screen and foldable hardware demonstrations. It reminds me of the early days of touchscreen laptops, back when Windows 7 wasn’t designed and built around screens you could touch. Microsoft then went all-in on touchscreens with Windows 8 to much criticism, and is now taking a careful approach with Windows 10X.

 

Something like the (non foldable) Notebook Dell Inspiron 5593-W566054461PTHW10 might fit your specs, costs about 25,000 Baht.

[Eindhoven]

6 minutes ago, cormanr7 said:

Indeed, foldable windows labtops are rare/expensive and have not impressed many as it needs major revision of the operating system. The following from a computer magazine (Jan 2020):

 

Asus, Dell, and HP have also not yet revealed any dual-screen or foldable Windows devices, but most of them are playing around with some prototype ideas. Dell introduced concept foldable and dual-screen labtpos this week, and Asus introduced a smaller 14-inch dual-screen labtop.. All of these devices, including  Intel's folding concept, are also running a standard version of Windows 10 that’s not designed with this new hardware in mind. It’s fair to say that Windows 10 looks janky and awkward in dual-screen and foldable hardware demonstrations. It reminds me of the early days of touchscreen laptops, back when Windows 7 wasn’t designed and built around screens you could touch. Microsoft then went all-in on touchscreens with Windows 8 to much criticism, and is now taking a careful approach with Windows 10X.

 

Something like the (non foldable) Notebook Dell Inspiron 5593-W566054461PTHW10 might fit your specs, costs about 25,000 Baht.

 

I think you have grabbed the wrong end of the stick with the foldable concept. The OP is simply referring to laptop that have 360 degree hinges.

 

But as others have stated, best to let go of the gimmicks in order to get something of suitable quality.

IPS screens are 'two a penny', but getting a high quality screen with a wide colour gamut and suitable brightness is another thing altogether.

 

The DELL you mention, even if it has the IPS screen option(that is unclear), it only covers 54% of sRGB. 

https://laptopmedia.com/review/dell-inspiron-5593-review-does-it-have-the-balance/

 

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

About the extra RAM: Better buy it right away because at least in some cases a 8GB RAM notebook will have two 4GB modules. If you want later i.e. 16GB that means throwing the existing modules out and buying new modules.

If you have originally only one 8GB module and one free socket then you need only another 8GB to upgrade.

And that might be different for every notebook model.

 

[Eindhoven]

Here is a good resource: https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Best-Notebook-Displays-As-Reviewed-By-Notebookcheck.120541.0.html

 

For a photographer screen quality comes first. It's fine waiting a millisecond longer for a RAW file to load, but poor screen quality can stymie your work.

 

Photographers and graphic designers are more likely to refer to Adobe RGB, but 100% Adobe RGB is too high a bar.

4k is also more suitable to a photographer. Who takes pictures at such a low resolution as 1920p x 1080p? 

 

So you will need to make compromises. I suggest a good screen should score higher than just the latest CPU.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Eindhoven

[rvaviator]

Something like this - Yes small screen - But you can buy external big screen

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/lenovo-thinkpad-yoga-i1237762640-s2968904220.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.28.75ca664eZTpAz4&search=1

 

Look for 1 or 2 year old ThinkPad - High end business computer ...

[CNXexpat]

It depends how deep you want to go in photo editing. Some pics from your phone or do you have a real camera and take pics in RAW? Then you will need a good program, a good screen (better an external one), an i5 or similar chip, 16 GB RAM... And for sure not a laptop with touch screen what is always dirty. 

 

[Mavideol]

1 hour ago, varun said:

Your budget is extremely low for the kind of specs that you are expecting:

 

See here for a good idea of what 20,000 baht will get you:

 

https://www.advice.co.th/product/notebook

 

Being a Dell lover, usually for Vostro models (appear they don't carry them here in Thailand) bought a Dell Inspiron 5593 (as per the leaflet) back in January, happy with it, great machine, only replaced the SSD from 512 GB to a 1TB Samsung, the one provided with the offer was a Toshiba

[TSF]

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies. I realize my questions were very general and I need to look around and narrow my choices down. I'll look in some of the big stores and after I have a few possibilities will come back here are seek some final opinions...thanks again everyone.

[n00dle]

On 7/31/2020 at 3:17 PM, TSF said:

I am into photography so a high resolution screen is necessary, either a 14'' or 15' screen. And obviously SSD. I like the laptops that fold up and can be used like a tablet.

you aren't getting that spec for any less than 30k

[Eindhoven]

10 minutes ago, TSF said:

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies. I realize my questions were very general and I need to look around and narrow my choices down. I'll look in some of the big stores and after I have a few possibilities will come back here are seek some final opinions...thanks again everyone.

 

Take some sample pics and video on a USB drive.

 

Example: https://webkit.org/blog-files/color-gamut/

[TSF]

7 hours ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Take some sample pics and video on a USB drive.

 

Example: https://webkit.org/blog-files/color-gamut/

Good tip, thank you.

[scammed]

like yourself, i dont play the most demanding games,

but i do demand ergonomics so i use external

monitor/keyboard/mouse.

my recommendation is a laptop with hdmi & many usb ports,

and memory over cpu preference for performance

Edited August 3, 2020 by scammed

[TSF]

Asus Zenbook UM433DA-A5029T / R5-3500U / 8G / 512SSD / UMA / W10 / 14 "/ Silver

Looks pretty good to me. 8G ram + 512 SSD. Lightweight which I like. 14" Screen 1920 x 1080 resolution, high quality IPS panel. 

Lazada list it for 24,750.00 Bt. But IT City in Korat have it listed at 22,990 Bt.

Any opinions are welcome.

[Eindhoven]

2 hours ago, TSF said:

Asus Zenbook UM433DA-A5029T / R5-3500U / 8G / 512SSD / UMA / W10 / 14 "/ Silver

Looks pretty good to me. 8G ram + 512 SSD. Lightweight which I like. 14" Screen 1920 x 1080 resolution, high quality IPS panel. 

Lazada list it for 24,750.00 Bt. But IT City in Korat have it listed at 22,990 Bt.

Any opinions are welcome.

 

Looks to fit your criteria.

[4MyEgo]

On 7/31/2020 at 6:17 PM, TSF said:

Nearly time for me to get myself a new laptop. I'd appreciate any recommendations

If they say they will give you software like Windows and Microsoft Outlook for free, tell them to give you the disks, not to upload copies.

[Eindhoven]

5 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

If they say they will give you software like Windows and Microsoft Outlook for free, tell them to give you the disks, not to upload copies.

 

Quote

CPU : AMD RYZEN 5 3500U
RAM : 8 GB DDR4 (ON-BOARD)
STORAGE : 512 GB PCIe/NVMe M.2 SSD
DISPLAY : 14" FULL HD ANTI-GLARE
VGA : AMD RADEON RX VEGA 8
OS : WINDOWS 10 HOME

 

Preinstalled. Doesn't come with a disc. From which decade....? ????

[Logosone]

3 hours ago, TSF said:

Asus Zenbook UM433DA-A5029T / R5-3500U / 8G / 512SSD / UMA / W10 / 14 "/ Silver

Looks pretty good to me. 8G ram + 512 SSD. Lightweight which I like. 14" Screen 1920 x 1080 resolution, high quality IPS panel. 

Lazada list it for 24,750.00 Bt. But IT City in Korat have it listed at 22,990 Bt.

Any opinions are welcome.

It's a good laptop with that novelty display trackpad, however, you will be not be able to use all the WIFI bands available today unless you get a dongle, which is a bit annoying.

 

https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/asus-zenbook-14

[Eindhoven]

Just now, Logosone said:

It's a good laptop with that novelty display trackpad, however, you will be not be able to use all the WIFI bands available today unless you get a dongle, which is a bit annoying.

 

https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/asus-zenbook-14

 

Why? It doesn't even mention wireless connectivity and anyway, you've linked to the wrong laptop review.

 

Quote

Integrated Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 ac (2x2))

https://www.asus.com/th/Laptops/ASUS-ZenBook-14-UM433DA/specifications/

 

Not many will come with 802.11 ax. I don't imagine that it will be a dealbreaker.

[4MyEgo]

3 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

Preinstalled. Doesn't come with a disc. From which decade....? ????

When I purchased mine about 3 years ago, I asked does it come with Windows and Microsoft, yes all installed the guy said.

 

After a year I found out that the laptop didn't come with them, maybe Windows but I keep getting a notice come up when I fire up my email window and open a word document, it says something about Microsoft Office Professional 2013 requires a product key, so it didn't come with the laptop and not being to computer literate, I just leave it alone as it still works.

 

 

[Logosone]

36 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Why? It doesn't even mention wireless connectivity and anyway, you've linked to the wrong laptop review.

 

https://www.asus.com/th/Laptops/ASUS-ZenBook-14-UM433DA/specifications/

 

Not many will come with 802.11 ax. I don't imagine that it will be a dealbreaker.

Plenty of laptops can do 5GHz now and it's definitely a dealbreaker for me. 5GHz is faster and better, and if you download and stream you'd definitely want 5GHz capability.

 

And yes I am aware the review is not the exact model but it's as close as trusted reviews go and many of the specs are the same and it will be helpful to the OP, Kaaskopp.

[Stocky]

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

If they say they will give you software like Windows and Microsoft Outlook for free, tell them to give you the disks, not to upload copies.

They've not come with 'disks' in a long time, you just need to make sure that the product identifier (certificate of authenticity) stickers are either stuck to the bottom of the laptop, or come in a plastic envelope somewhere with the packaging. 

 

.

Edited August 4, 2020 by Stocky

[Eindhoven]

1 hour ago, Logosone said:

Plenty of laptops can do 5GHz now and it's definitely a dealbreaker for me. 5GHz is faster and better, and if you download and stream you'd definitely want 5GHz capability.

 

And yes I am aware the review is not the exact model but it's as close as trusted reviews go and many of the specs are the same and it will be helpful to the OP, Kaaskopp.

 

??

 

I have no idea why you think that it doesn't support the 5 GHz waveband.

[Logosone]

10 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

 

??

 

I have no idea why you think that it doesn't support the 5 GHz waveband.

Neither do I, it does support 5 GHz. 

 

Carry on.

[TSF]

For internet connection I have an unlimited data deal with DTAC on my smartphone sim and I tether my laptop (and my Android TV and my wife's phone) to my smartphone hotspot. Everything works very well. When I go back to Australia and spend some time there I do the same thing, tether my laptop to a Vodafone sim.

 

Does anyone have any alternative models/brands laptops with similar specs/prices that I should consider.

[Logosone]

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/acer-swift-3-sf314-56g-58bm-i330934049.html