Same person, increased funds - now $2000 USD for photographer and artist.
Same person, increased funds - now $2000 USD for photographer and artist.
Haven't made a purchase yet... but it was worth the wait! Sold something I wasn't expecting to sell, so my budget went up. I can now go a little bit above 2k, but not much...
I'm redoing the questions/answers as I've done a lot of refinement. (
Old thread here
with $1500 budget, and when I was considering a desktop,
here.
)
1. What is your budget?
$2000 US
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
On the big side. I do a lot of typing.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
My favorite (only?) game Maxes out at 1024 x768 (It's from 1999). I must be able to see it without a lot of fussing with settings.
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop Replacement. The only time it will be moved around much is if my elderly mom lands in the hospital and I need the distraction.
5. How much battery life do you need?
8 or 10 hours min. Where mom prefers me to sit in the living room it'd be hard to plug it up. Hence the laptop instead of a Mini PC.
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop?
I have
one
Game that I play. Petz 4, from 1999... So it's a moot point.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop?
Zoom video chats as a participant (meetings average around 40 to 50 connections, with the odd 100+)
Discord.
YouTube videos, and other streaming.
Listening to Music Streaming ( MP3s in itunes, Pandora)
Libre Office (Spredsheets)
Light Programming (Mostly Hexadecimal, and website building, thinking of learning Java or Python)
Image editing. (Paint.net mostly) Photographs, and scans of drawings on 9x11 paper and smaller. Most scans at 300DPI. Most editing is Pixel art though.
20+ tabs when I fall down a research rabbit hole.
Lots of writing
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
My current win 10 install has a 1TB drive and I currently have 600 GB of it free.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
No Resellers please... Directly from the store strongly preferred.
https://www.walmart.com/
https://www.amazon.com/
maybe
https://www.bestbuy.com/
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
As long as possible. I'm hopeful for a minimum of 5 years.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
External. Recommendations welcome.
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Not Apple... iOS and my brain do not get along.
NOT Razer... Unrepairable piles of junk from the reviews I've seen.
Probably not Intel, the overheating issues terrify me.
Maybe Thinkpad's... I've heard that they still sell parts for them after several years? (new batteries down the road)
Framework's look interesting? (Repairablilty) but i've yet to find any long term data on thier endurance.
13. What country do you live in?
USA
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I will be sitting about 6 feet away from my mom while she's watching TV, so I need to be careful of the fan noise when in use. It doesen't have to be ultra quiet, just not super loud like a gaming laptop under load.
I'd prefer a clunky laptop over something super thin. My brother has a Dell with a touchscreen and I feel like if I hold it too hard I'm going to fold it in half like a taco.
If a laptop is going to be sitting in a safe spot, is it ok to leave it open, or will that cause the hinges to fail quicker?
You know that Macs aren’t compatible with iOS? That’s because the 15-inch MacBook Air meets all your needs, but it doesn’t support iOS. The problem is your budget and what you require don’t quite fit a Windows setup. You could opt for a reliable laptop with a decent keyboard for less than what you’re spending now, then upgrade to a portable gaming device for just one game. Framework laptops are harder to repair compared to even a Mac, but they’re more flexible—repairing and upgrading is simpler, though it costs more than just replacing the device.
I really didn't realize they didn't. I'll carefully examine it for you, since you're absolutely correct. Your feedback was well worth the effort to start a new thread!
My previous game works fine in Wine (it's been tested thoroughly), so that shouldn't be a problem either.
I'm not concerned about paying less than that... It's better to save money, isn't it? I'm quite confused.
In the US, contact Lenovo directly. Their representatives are experienced and can usually highlight offers and products you might otherwise overlook. Take a look at the thinkpad models— the keyboards are top-notch. You don’t need separate gaming graphics. And check out the newest Intel chips; they’re surprisingly power-saving and perform well. I see plenty of options that fit your budget.
Thank you for the suggestion to contact Lenovo directly. I hadn't considered that option.
I’d confirm wine pairs well with the game since Mac dropped 32 bit previously, and you can always visit an Apple Store to test the Macs and see if they suit your taste. The staff there are usually quite helpful and they provide classes such as getting started with macOS almost every day.
If you prefer Windows for your needs, you can find good options at reasonable prices—just be mindful that battery life might not meet expectations. AMD is a better choice, and opting for the last generation will likely help you get a more affordable laptop. Personally, if you’re aiming around $1000, I’d recommend HP. Dell tends to be pricier, while Lenovo mainly focuses on budget-friendly business laptops, which often lack quality, especially at that price point. They seem to rely on the blackberry image, making people think they’re excellent when they’re actually just average for a study build at that cost.
There's a small, but very active fan base for the game, and 3 people run the windows version of the game, on a version of macOS, via PortingKit. I know one of them has an M1 Macbook Air from 2020. The only known issue so far is that you have to adjust the screen resolution a bit, because of the game being cranky (it still runs, but looks very slanted). It does that on windows too.
I can ask the other two what OS they have, I doubt they'll mind. (Ill show them this thred.)
There's also the possibility of a VM of linux to run it in wine. The game is extremely lightweight by today's standards. (32 MB of ram) so I could possibly get away with it?
Thank you for the suggestion, I'd like todo that someday, It's 3 hours to the nearest apple store, and that makes it not practical for me to go currently. I've been watching YouTube videos (MacVince manly) to try to get a better idea of what im getting into. I've also downloaded krita to try as my current favorite (paint.net ) doesn't have a mac version.
I've been looking and attempting to spec out a windows laptop since May(?) And before that, I was trying to spec out a prebult tower.
My brother's new dell (slim, aluminum, with a touch screen, windows 11) feels flimsy. My brother plays solitaire to practice (its his first computer) and the ads are awful . I have yet to dig into the settings, but so far im unimpressed.
Lenovos being sturdy was actually what caught my attention.
The only HP product I've had last awhile is my flatbed scanner. We went though a ton of HP printers at my dad's repair shop before he got a Xerox. Im reluctant to drop that much cash on an HP.
Apples reputation for lasting, if you take care of them, is very appealing, Apple care is tempting too.
My mom (83 years old, im her full-time caregiver) just wants me to pick something out at this point. 🙃
Hi! I wanted to let you know we chose a MacBook Air and the game is running smoothly. The porting kit was a bit different from the tutorial, but it worked fine!
It seems the game is more stable here compared to the old Windows 10 setup. Everything else is functioning well so far. (I can hear your skepticism about working with Windows!) The only time the MacBook got warm was during file transfers; otherwise, I just know it’s working because I’m using it.
(My brother’s Dell gets quite hot when playing Solitaire.)
The case also feels more durable than my brother’s Dell — though I don’t claim to be right.
Thanks for answering all my questions!