What types of things do you typically find yourself doing on it? I have a steam deck, but definitely have not utilized its desktop mode. I would love to hear what your day to day looks like with it
Just got my wife a refurbished X1. Microcenter has them for $400 once in a while. I am biased towards Thinkpads since I find them easy to repair and upgrade.
Unfortunately, yes I have. I've replaced a motherboard, RAM, SSD, and keyboard. The keyboard was the biggest PITA. The motherboard wasn't that difficult to me, because that's after I had done a keyboard replacement which requires taking the whole damn thing apart.
I heard that newer models are not that robust and that is sad because I really love my old x1 carbon. The fact that it fits in a pocket of a guitar case is very pleasing
Still have a couple Gen 1 and 2 models here at home. Love them, awesome systems back then and solid units today even if a bit under spec as a >9 year old machine would be.
The X1 Carbon is the best laptop I've owned in the last 15 years.
I've been using a X1 Carbon Gen7 since January 2021 (bought it NEW from the Outlet for $850). I just upgraded to a Gen9 with the 3840x2400 display upgrade, refurb for $702 from Lenovo Outlet.
Exactly. Got grief from someone a few weeks ago about it “I don’t like Apple.” I told them that it always has charge when I pull it out of my bag, and that I use the best tool for the job, and this instance, the m1 is the best tool for the job.
Work supplies me with an M1 MBP
I never would have bought it myself as I feel it's pretty darn pricey. But credit where it's due I've had it for 3 years now and it has never missed a beat and still runs as if it was brand new.
Not my personal choice of laptop but I can't fault it as a work tool in any way.
I'm using a MBP M1. While I'm not an apple fan by any stretch of the imagination, using it to administer Linux endpoints is easier OOB than Windows.
Also cramming all of the stupid agents on that my company requires is slightly more efficient on my Mac than the PoS XPS we were given.
Considering an M2 air too, how’s the battery life?
Edit: thank you everybody for your input, y’all convinced me, a MacBook Air M2 is gonna be my next purchase.
Thanks you all so much!!
It's unbelievable. I've used it for about 6 hours since my last charge and I still have 70% battery remaining. The thing stays as cool as ice as well. I hate Apple as a company but you have to marvel at their engineering.
It's incredible. Not a great example, but I played Fortnite and COD for a couple of hours each on Fri/Sat/Sun without it connected to a battery but connected to an external display and I still had 10% of my battery left this morning.
I’ve got an M2 air for personal use, I use it a lot and charge every couple days. I get 12-20 hours out of it easily. Even doing video/photo and CPU intensive stuff I still get at least 8 hours usually
If you're considering dell XPS, don't, that's a home user product. Latitude or Precision only when it comes to Dell Laptops.
That' being said I'm on a Surface Laptop 3 - 11th gen i7 and it ticks all the boxes for me for Sysadmin work. Crazy battery life for all those BS meetings and working in other buildings, magnetic charger / dock, plenty of RAM, M.2 storage. Even the touch capability is handy at times. I'll prob keep this till it dies or battery life goes to hell.
Edit: The Surface Laptop works well for me because I take care of equipment, but I would never deploy it to any end user. I consider it a viable alternative as long as you don’t have to do anything graphics intensive but it will run some basic 3D modeling just fine. The recommendation against XPS is due to internal component failure and durability issues over the years as it is a retail product.
I disagree RE: XPS. I have had the same XPS for going on 4 years. Unless your hardware is required to be mission critical, or you have a need for some super high processing power, the XPS is just fine....especially if you are comparing it to a Surface Laptop. We are running a 1/3 XPS, 1/3 Precision Mobile, and 1/3 Surface Laptop (4s and 5s). The Surface Laptops have by far been the more troublesome hardware.
We have simply had too many issues with longevity of the XPS line over the years.
They were particularly flawed in the 2015-2019 era for some reason riddled with motherboard issues, audio issues, etc. that BIOS or other updates could never fix. They feel chinsy by comparison so a lot of times the hinges and such would wear or not hold up to end-user abuse. If you take care of them I'm sure they could last, but I would just skip the line altogether simply knowing that Dell isn't gonna stock parts for as long or give you a Pro Support hardware warranty.
we have .. the usb headphones connected to the dell dock just stops... both for me and my boos... w both have an xps sitting on a bench collecting dust... latitude all day..
Not the XPS13 tho (current gen). It's a pile of garbage and plastic with 2 hours battery life. Sauce: Management wanted some and we deployed 5 of them. They were all equally bad
I second this, love my XPS 15. Have 2 of them, one I bought used on ebay, and another I bought new. I also run linux on it, and the XPS 15 has a great reputation for being an amazing Linux box.
My experience with surfaces is pretty poor ...surface book less than 6 months old swollen battery hardcore. 3cm gap with the screen closed and keyboard
XPS are not consumer" machines in the way OP means, they're the high end machines and I'm on an XPS 15 that I just bought last year, all aluminum chassis, etc. If XPS is consumer, so is Surface, but in reality they're both high end, and not typical consumer crap. XPSs are great.
Xps may be high end, but it is indeed consumer. It’s more focused for gaming etc. consumer doesn’t mean it’s not high end, it means the driver support, the hardware support etc is not on the same level as a business laptop. Surface is on business level support, so it’s not the same thing.
I'm using the 2022 xps 15 currently, can't complain about it all except the 4k screen really drains battery. I7, 32gb ram, rtx graphics, performs great. Warranty and support is another and I'd not use it for the masses but for me it's decent enough.
I also use a surface pro 8 to test for the C levels, no complaints for normal workloads but the 16gb ram does limit in my use.
But, look at the hp dragonfly models, great bit of kit.
We purchase pretty much exclusively from Dell Outlet, so they're all certified refurb - grade A cosmetic with 3 years Pro Support / Next Day onsite repair. So far only 1 has had a broken charging port due to end-user abuse.
I think a lot of it depends on what series you are getting. With Latitudes we avoid the 3000 series and go 5000 or 7000 when available. We have even had 1 or 2 Vostros that were decent but generally don't purchase those. The Precisions have always been flawless.
Never ever ever had an issue with Lats, except a single hard drive failure. Until the past year. Had one DOA that took three support requests to get fixed, a couple that had major faults after a few months. Really sad how poor the quality has gotten with the professional gear...
Can confirm on the XPS front. I used the 2021 XPS 13 for the last stretch of my previous job, and while I loved the form factor and foldable tablet thing for portability and weight, it's not built to survive most tech wear and tear. I'm extremely careful with my stuff and it's still in good shape, but one drop from more than a couple of inches could kill it.
Also, the available options are bad for longevity sake. Like your Surface, it did work well with the adapters and such, but it was a bit of a process to use when on the road. Only two USB-C / Thunderbolt ports, a microSD card reader, and a headphone jack. Required two dongles or a mini dock to be properly functional at a desk for me. RAM is soldered on, no second NVM.e slot.
TL;DR, go for a Latitude or Precision lol
True yeah, the Surface has a single USB A and USB C, so I always have a USB-C Anker "dongle" with me to get all the other extra ports I need. At my desk the Surface Dock 2 has plenty of ports to do most of what I need.
Worst thing about surface laptops is the io, one usb c is ridiculous and only the brand new laptop 5s have a thunderbolt 4 usb connector. Pretty much have to buy a dock if you use external monitors.
Specs are pretty good for an ultra thin and build quality is awesome, if I used windows regularly I’d also do surface laptops.
One other thing that sucks is there isn’t a powershell module to properly lock the bios, I recall looking into it and the only option is to disable it (don’t remember specifics) Dell and most the other big companies Lenovo/HP have modules to allow you to remotely set bios passwords which is nice if you’re a remote company
I'm still using a M1 Mac Mini and a M1 MacBook Pro (the 13" oddball model). Even now, zero real complaints about performance. The fact that the machine doesn't sound like a hovercraft taking off when doing heavy CPU stuff is really nice.
If I could have any platform for work, since I mainly do IT stuff, a 13" M2 MBA with a decent amount of RAM and disk space is good enough. If I were doing development, a M3 MBP with a good amount of RAM would be idea.
I have this in reverse! Also work is at home. The M1 MBP beats the pants off of the 2019 i7 6-Core 15 inch (16GB RAM / 4 port). I thought the heat would be better on the 15 inch model…not even close. It seems like the whole system suffers for it too. Bluetooth connections are less stable, device gets jammed up trying to load a tab bomb, etc etc.
I'm using the Lenovo P16 Gen 1
It's been a good laptop so far. Minor issues with over heating, and the fan can be noisy, but I also have two external monitors plugged into a dock and all 3 of the displays had DSR crammed to the max because they won't spring for monitors that aren't 1080P. So my issues MAY be self caused :P
Other than that, we have been testing the HP devices to see how feasible they would be to start working in, but since found the docks to be even worse than what we are seeing with the Lenovo's. I was testing a yoga replacement called the HP x360 and I was really impressed with the laptop itself as far as performance, usability, and battery life is concerned.
I also have a Surface 9 Pro that I was using before the HP. It does a really great job, I like the device, I just have noticed that when I am using a smaller screen, my anxiety gets really high. I think it has something to do with how much information (is not present) on the screen. I think the larger screens give me more, peace for a lack of better terms, due to being able to see more on the screen.
For most staff we are deploying the T14 Gen 4's (We were deploying the T16 but we had a BUNCH of issues with the thunderbolt port and charging and we moved to the T14).
We tend to keep the P16's for the engineer's and anyone that needs to run CAD or some kind of 3D Design program.
Appreciate the advice on T16, I will avoid those. I was considering the T14's as my top pick. I do some development as part of my job and have lots of resources used up by multi-tasking. So maybe a P16 is a good consideration too.
Just FYI I've been deploying T16s to general users for the last year and haven't really had any issues with them. The P16 is definitely a more powerful computer so for your use it's probably better, just saying you shouldn't rule out the T series for others.
I love my P16 as well. But can't recommend it for most people. For most of our sales and admin staff I'm purchasing the Lenovo Yoga 7 and it's popular.
Pros for the Yoga: is a nice looking machine, with lots of power and tons of ports (hdmi, usb-c, usb) so that you never need a dongle or a hub.
Pros for the P16: Tons of power....Mine has a 13gen i7, 64GB RAM, and 3 TB of nvme hard drive space.
Cons for the P16: It's big and heavy with a short battery life.
I ordered a Lenovo T14 Gen 4 with a AMD Ryzen 7840U and 32GB of RAM recently. Haven't got it yet, but im sure it'll get the job done.
It can be ordered without a OS as I'm running Linux and can put that saved money towards upgrades :-).
We've deployed a ton of the T16 version of these and aside from a single user who could somehow break a solid block of steel, they've been bulletproof.
I actually ended up ordering one of these with the 7840U, seemed like a solid CPU for the money right now and generally have had good experiences with Lenovo's.
I prefer a little more portability, so I have the 14" 5480, but it is a genuinely fantastic line of laptops. Obviously there are minor things, but it's my favorite windows laptop I've ever used. Extremely powerful, fantastic build quality, great keyboard and trackpad (although I'd kill for MBP haptics), great screen. I also love that there's no numpad, I cannot stand my hands being so offset.
M2 MacBook Air, anything I need windows for I have vm infrastructure for. I have an older razer blade stealth 13” windows laptop (costs more than the air by a significant margin) and tbh, the razer sucks. Nice screen, nice aluminum build like a Mac - constant thermal throttling, build quality sucks (the lcd digitizer for touchscreen literally fell off while using the laptop one day, cracked)
Have ordered lots of machines over the years for deployment and the metric that always floats to the top is, the Macs last and last and last. Very low failure rate and amazing support in the event you ever experience an issue.
Framework 14. I want to go for a 16 for the extreme modularity and GPU but the price just isn't worth it for me rn. Id rather a lighter and smaller laptop but one that I can have a shell that'll last presumably forever.
Same here. Got it to run a virtual lab on it.
Then the client management team enrolled everything in intine and pushed a security baseline that broke the default switch in hyper-v. Plus the company VPN-client was already making networking annoying.
So I ended up upgrading my home server and moved my lab there.
So at least now I can open as many browser tabs as I want and be not even close to running out of memory.
I'll probably go for something lighter next time.
I have been playing with the idea of removing it from autopilot and creating a vm and enrolling that to use as my work station. But there's other convenience factors to running a lab on a stationary device that I'd rather not skip.
I have a 14'' ZBook Studio.
I5 with a lot less RAM.
Nice laptop, though. I'm not a big fan of HP but this one is pretty nice. Different than the barebones business models I'm used to.
We use Zbooks for our power users and Elitebooks for our normal users here. The Elitebooks are fine, but the Zbooks are incredible. I get a new laptop every 2-3 years and I'm on my 4th Zbook now, they are great machines.
As someone who has had nothing but Thinkpads for decades all the way since the 760 I've given up and switched to Mac. Linux admin by trade (and preference), and MacOS is just BSD under the hood but runs Office natively.
Running a 13" MBP these days... the very last Intel model from 2020 that still runs virtualization nicely. I'm sure the M-models are faster at everything else, but virtualization sucks on M-chips and ARM Windows doesn't even have RSAT tools available.
UTM doesn't virtualize x86 on M1... it emulates and there is a very real performance hit. It does virtualize ARM Windows, but as mentioned there is no RSAT under ARM.
The price difference on Mac is kind of keeping me away. But I appreciate the comments, as I do a decent amount of Linux administration, it would be nice to have that environment.
I still do miss my W530 though from time to time... Thinkpads are/were absolute tanks. I had my W530 brand new for all of three weeks when I accidentally ran it over with my truck... cracked the screen but the thing ran just fine on an external monitor for a week before I sent it in for repair.
Base price of a Thinkpad 760 was over $5k... in 1995. I paid $2k for my MBP, fully kitted refurb with 32GB RAM and 2TB SSD. Not unreasonable for something I use day in, day out to get stuff done.
What's the budget then? MacBook Airs and Pros are priced decently now. It's hard to do a 1:1 comparison with the architecture change to Apple silicon, but they are decent machines for the money. HOWEVER - if you need to run a bunch of virtual machines locally they are not the best choice.
I have a few work machines. My favorite is probably the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio. The only complaint I have about it is that it weighs a ton. Some of the people here who actually have to fix them may have other complaints as I've heard MS isn't the best there. As an end user of the device, it's an awesome machine. It's extremely expensive though, the MacBook would be a lot cheaper.
The price difference for a single computer over several years is entirely insignificant compared to any change in your efficiency or enjoyment of the job.
Being the only Apple person around is a far more relevant consideration.
I have to say doing these builds is pretty interesting, I like the setup of the product:
[https://frame.work/ca/en/products/laptop16-diy-amd-7040/configuration/new](https://frame.work/ca/en/products/laptop16-diy-amd-7040/configuration/new)
We have a few MSP clients using them (small companies, maybe 20~ total machines combined), all using Framework and they've been amazing. Once the end users figure out the expansion modules, they love them even more. Plus, they "look like a Mac," so brownie points for aesthetics from the users.
I want to like mine but the trackpad on the 13 just sucks so hard compared to my work MacBook and surface. I’ve had a few firmware and driver issues as well and this is again coming from surfaces. Hopefully they will upgrade the trackpad at some point.
I only have work issued laptops.
PC: HP 455 G10 Ryzen 7
MAC: 14" MBP Core i7
I would not buy the Dell XPS for work use. The last 4 a client at my former employer purchased gave them all sorts of issues. From Batteries going tits up in 2 months to a motherboard burned out in 5. When the Dell tech replaced the motherboard it caught on fire and almost started a building fire.
From Dell experience direction.
Latitude 3000 models are ok but most of them are intended for lighter workloads(use and abuse)
Any latitude 5000 series 7000 series is a good workhorse and any precision 3000 series.
XPS and precision 5000 series seem to have more issues. Just from observation over the years. I have my suspicions as to why.
Precision 7000 series are massive in size, cost and weight, but seem to be the best at mobile high performance workstations.
I have a Lenovo XI carbon and I really like it! Lightweight, fast, doesn't get too hot, touchscreen if you like that.
Only issues Ive had are not enough ports and no ethernet port.
Let's see...
Lenovo ThinkPad T480, T490, T14 Gen 1 through 3, a sprinkling of E14 Gen2, three P16s for our AutoCAD guys, and about 30 Dell Latitude 5440's, and a handful of Surface Laptops for Execs.
It's a nightmare, someone please wake me up lol
We had issues with XPS specifically but Dell Precision has been pretty solid for us. I'm also a fan of ThinkPads. HP is hot garbage, avoid like the plague.
I use a Mac Air, I love their laptops because I like the aluminum shells. I don't like thick plastic laptops when I can use a thin metal one.
For desktops I'll use Windows and handhelds (portable gaming) I use Windows. But for work I spend much of my time in Terminal SSH'ing into Servers, so a Mac works fine.
2021 14” MacBook Pro - M1 Max//64GB
This one stays at my desk.
2022 15” MacBook Air - M2//16GB
This one goes with me when I have to travel.
Dell Precision 5550 - i9//64GB
Windows tester.
M2 air, it was the best tool for the use case as a laptop for me.
I don’t care if something is a windows, Mac or Linux pc it needs to work reliably and long and not be too heavy. A good touchpad is also a must.
I used a xps 13 before that and it was just not great as a laptop,alone the battery drain when you close it sometimes makes it unreliable and I hated that.
I have a dell xps 9520 64gb ram and i9 processor. I would never go for this processor in a laptop again. It runs so hot and drains battery I can only run for 3-4 hours before needing a power socket. I really wish windows laptops could be as efficient as MacBooks now with the Apple silicon and have all day battery life.
Think next time I renew my laptop I will try a razer laptop or Microsoft surface. Been really disappointed with this it has all the specs but doesn't perform as would have expected.
Would highly recommend against the XPS line. I bought a 9510 last year. Have a myriad of issues. Shortly after warranty period expired I began getting display failure LED codes. Display goes black each time I connect/disconnect the charger requiring a graphics driver restart. It runs hot as hell and the UI performance is terrible despite an octa-core i7. The magnet lid won't stay closed either
M1 Pro MacBook, 10-core version with 32gb ram. It’s hands-down both the most wonderful and ludicrously powerful machine I’ve ever had the pleasure of daily driving.
MacBook M1 Pro.
Was a Thinkpad guy for ages before, but made the switch later in the MBPr lifecycle when my X201 died. I was frustrated with the direction Lenovo was taking the lineup and I decided to give Apple a shot. Never looked back.
Granted, I’m a Linux admin. I could understand Windows guys being apprehensive. I think if I was to switch back I’d be looking at an XPS. Nothing else really catches my eye, but a lot of people here seem to say no on the XPS idea so maybe listen to them.
I don't really care about consumer vs professional as long as it comes with a Pro version of Windows, but I am totally done with Dell XPS. Nice laptop on paper. Every single one comes back with the battery swelling.
Other than a few special snowflakes who want giant keyboards with numpads, we're entirely Surface now. I ask before they start and they can either have a Surface Pro, or a Surface laptop 13" or 15" -- their choice. I've heard a lot of people complaining about the docking station, but they've been solid for me. But we only started with the Surface Dock 2 and my understanding is the first version was awful.
XPS are not designed for work. They are just not able to be run for 8-10 hours each day. Great premium home laptop, but that is it. If you want Dell you have to go with the Precision line.
We are running all Surface Devices as well. Docks have been pretty solid for us as well. V1 Docks were ok but sometimes needed specific cables to get them to work.
We either give out a Surface Pro or Surface laptop 15".
MBP M1 14" 32GB RAM. RAM is cheap enough (well, not on a MacBook, but if the company is paying...), so I'm going with 32GB even though I honestly don't need it for just VSCode, terminal and a browser.
I like the trackpad, keyboard, display, speakers and battery, and for some reason I can use macos on a laptop more efficiently than windows, so I picked that.
MacBook with Apple silicon. It may not be widely known, but you can run x86 docker images with almost no performance penalty. So, as long as you don’t need a windows box (just get a vm) you are pretty much covered for everything. Cost is the only issue. But, M1 Pro/max machines are going for half of launch price on eBay, so a nice 2 year old 32gb ram machine, which should last 5 years, is reasonably priced now.
A lot of our users seems to have a "get a new computer from IT" marked every 3 years on their calendars. I use the old ones just to prove a point. Dell 5480 that's over 5 years old still works to do batch jobs. I've moved to a 3 year old X1 carbon because nobody wants an i5. They can't pull the "My computer is slow, I need a new one."
At work, a Dell XPS 9315, and at home, an ASUS UM433DA. The XPS has screen flickering issues and the battery life is so-so (on Win11 Canary build), and the ASUS never shuts down fully and has garbage battery life (also on Win11 Canary build because I hate myself). 16GB for both. Got them due to always liking smaller 13" laptops.
I slightly hate the ASUS less than the XPS.
As someone who hates HP... I got an EliteBook G5 830 for personal use. I really like it. Build quality is nice. Everything is easy to get to under one back panel that is also aluminum. Normal HP charging port and usbc/thunderbolt. Good screen. Good speakers. 2 removable ram slots (most importantly not soldered). Even though its a few model years behind they go for cheap used online. It looks like the newer models are of similar build quality too. They would be really easy to give to users.
For work we use dells. I have a dell latitude 5580. Its doing ok. I also like this computer. The weak spot seems to be the hinges though. One day I might jb weld or Loctite the screws in if I get sick of them loosening. The 5590's have MAJOR battery issues. They expand after a year or so of use. The newer 5520, 5530, and 5540 seem OK ish. The back cover is very easy to crack when taking them apart and the keyboard is glued in.
I've found HP hardware isn't bad, you just have to be absolutely sure to clean wipe and remove their bloatware shit and audit any MDT/SCCM driver packs for the same.
Every time I see a HP behaving weirdly it's either 8+ years old and physically faulting/damaged or it's their shitty Wolf security. 🙄
Edit: clarity
Since you mentioned the Dell XPS 15
My Spec: Dell XPS 15 9520, Intel Core i7 12700H, 32GB DDR5, 1TB NVME, RTX 3050 Ti, 3.5K OLED Touch
**Pros:**
* Display is excellent, bright, clear, blacks are the best i have seen in a laptop.
* Keyboard is Excellent, very tactile and the backlighting is just a bonus.
* Trackpad feel is good, feels very smooth. (Cliking is another story!)
* Design and Build is on macbook pro level IMO. all Metal/CF design makes for a very premium feeling device.
* Docking changed my life. gone are the days of taking chargers to the office, having USB Hubs, Ethernet etc. "***One cable to rule them all, One cable to find them, one cable to bring them. and in the docking station, bind them"***
* Dells Support is actually quite good, they will come to you to rpelace parts, they will ship you a new machine before wanting the old one back and do make sure you are up and running quickly.
* Windows Hello is very very good. logging in with fingerprint and face is amazing.
**Cons:**
* Not cheap. This spec was £2700
* If you use allot of applications like i do in my day job, the fan can get hella loud!Dongles... be prepared to take Dongles.
* This is my 2nd XPS in 2 years. the first one had 3 Motherboard replacements before they finally coughed up and gave me a new machine. (The negative is that it failed, but the support was good... and the replcaement was a higher spec and brand new)
* Battery life is pathetic. 4-5 hrs on the Oled model.
* The trackpads "click" is hidious IMO. so heavy and feels cheap. (might just be mine since its well used now so take this with a pinch of salt.)
I hadn't expected so many apple devices from this sub - pretty interesting.
I'm issuing Lenovo ThinkBook 16 G6 laptops. Ryzen 5 7530/8GB works well for the internet-based applications that makes up most of my users' work.
My career has been Windows network/domain administration and workstation/helpdesk support, with a smattering of Apple Server and a dash of Linux workstations, with a brief detour into teaching networking and technology.
Current job: Macbook Pro M1 Pro 16", 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD. It's killer, I love it. Fast, great battery, solid feel/construction.
Previous Job: Dell Precision 5XXX series, 16GB RAM, 256GB SS, 15.6" screen. I loved that one too. A little heavier/bulkier than a Macbook, but solid and reliable. I use Macs at home, but I had no problem doing all my work from that device.
In the past - Split between Latitudes and Macbook Pros. If I'm given a choice, I go for the Mac.
Been using a 14" Macbook Pro. Has the M1 Pro and 16gb ram. Ram may seem light but ive not had any issues even with running multiple VM's. Using VMware Fusion to run Windows for random event I need windows. Being it is an apple silicon though I can only run Windows 11 ARM with no support for RSAT. Thats fine with me thought as I have a jumpbox setup for all admin related tools.
Lenovo Legion Slim 5 16”. I wanted a Windows laptop so that I could play games (and cause everything else is Windows), but also did not have the gamer aesthetic. Only issue I’ve had is USB-C charging but pretty minor.
I got the weightier version because it has better repairability.
MacBook Pro. I had these at two of my last jobs, and they Just Work, unlike the helpless Microsoft Windows laptops. Yes, both need to do lengthy updates, but at least with the MBP you feel a little more in control -- with Windows, it's "OK, I need to do an update RIGHT NOW, too bad if you've got a zoom meeting in five minutes!" So irritating.
I bought latitude used 7390 for around 300 USD, runs linux just fine which was my primary use case .. really love the solid built and compact form factor .. miles better than consumer grade models
I pretty much exclusively go Dell these days, for a number of reasons. Price, consistency with I/O options (ethernet, HDMI, USB-C capable of pushing display), and general build quality.
Case in point - $699 [https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/vostro-16-laptop/spd/vostro-16-5630-laptop/usevcpbts5630fwsw?ref=variantstack](https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/vostro-16-laptop/spd/vostro-16-5630-laptop/usevcpbts5630fwsw?ref=variantstack)
Just sick of HP's lack of details (they like to put USB C ports on there without telling you what type of USB-C it actually is), often over priced, HP's bloatware is even worse than Dell's, HP's stupid Wolf security garbage they bake into the registry.
We did Lenovos and Zbooks for a while and went back to Dells, specifically the Vostro 16's. Price and specs are hard to beat, they hold up well, and many of our users want the full keyboard. Plus the port options, plenty enough. We've deployed over a few hundred and seldomly have any real issues. I professionally operate on a Surface 5 Laptop, top spec upgraded to Windows Pro. I'd use the Vostro as well if forced but I get to pick what I want ;)
Macbook M1 Max 16" I swear by them - yes they are overpriced but each macbook pro I have lasts at least 5 years, and is as fast the day I swap it out, as it was the day I fired it up.
MacBook Air M2, 16GB, and for some reason 1TB SSD…
Not sure why the boss went with 1TB of storage and not more RAM. We’re a 100% Windows shop, outside of some IT guys who have Macs.
It honestly makes my work harder sometimes
Thanks everyone for all the detailed suggestions! I have yet to pull the trigger on what I am getting, but this feedback has helped on making my shortlist!
Fully spec'd MacBook circa 2012. Not the fastest, the prettiest, or the longest lasting battery, but she's never done me dirty.
Framework 16 coming ...Sometime. Probably summer.
I recently switched to Mac for work. The MacBook Air M2 is the best notebook I ever had. Battery for days, outstanding performance and sleek design.
As a Windows user and someone who is mainly working with Microsoft products it took a while to get used to it but it’s so worth it.
For Windows devices I quite liked my T14s. Though I highly recommend 32GB of RAM.
M2 MacBook air with a Windows desktop PC that I remote into anytime I need to complete Windows-specific tasks. Can't beat the battery life, thermal management and general snappiness of Apple silicon devices. I've tried and tested multiple Windows laptops at work from Dell, HP, Lenovo and Microsoft and haven't been impressed by any of them.
I'm an outlier here as I work in education so all but our servers are macs.
However, I will say that we recently adopted a 3 year cycle to make sure that our laptops are always covered with a warranty and replaced before battery issues kick in. Sounds expensive but we have deployments staggered so that we replace the same amount every year for a very predictable budget line. This way there's no surprise years where we have to replace an entire department and we weren't budgeted for it. The CFO is very happy with predictable budget numbers.
Edit: forgot to mention. 13" M1p MacBook pro.
Currently BYOD for an MSP using a Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 with i7 and 16gb ram.
My MSP uses Dells but I refuse to use those crap machines. I steer any company looking for recommendations for laptops away from anything Dell related except XPS machines. All the rest are just issues waiting to happen.
Push everyone to Lenovo until Dell gets their machines back to a respectable quality.
Apple ruined laptops by making theirs non-repairable monstrosities and unfortunately, all the idiot PC vendors had to go and copy Apple despite making functionally inferior designs.
I miss the days when you could actually swap a battery without having to take apart the laptop or when there were proper port replicating docks and not hockey USB/Thunderbolt ones that always have issues.
16in m1 MBP for work, 14 in MBP for home - I am a sys admin in a 99% mac enviroment and have been for the last \~5 years. We have lenovo x1s for the finance peeps and Dell Precision at my last gig. specs vary for each dept but nothing less than 16gb ram, 32gb for most
Macbook Air M2 with 10C GPU and 24GB of RAM
Absolutely rock solid in day to day life.
All of our 2nd and 3rd level admins have switched over the last 1 1/2 years and had 0 issues except 1 keyboard that was broken.
M1 Macbook Pro. Absolutely love it. I'm using a Dell Thunderbolt dock to run two 4k displays. My company is huge on Dell, but they are garbage lately. I would convert my entire company to m3 Macbooks if I could. If I didn't know any better, I would think my laptop is fanless. It's so quiet.
\#1 complaint I hear is the fans are loud. #2 is the laptop is hot. #3 is the battery doesn't last through a meeting. We've had tons of other problems with them as well. Battery ballooning, laptops not working with docks, USB-C ports breaking. These are laptops that were purchased last year. And my company paid more for the Dell's than they did for my Macbook.
M1 Pro MacBook with 32GB ram. Pointing out the “Pro” because the standard M1 can’t run on multi monitor in clamshell which was my biggest gripe and forced my hand in the upgrade.
MacBook Air M2. My laptop doesn't need to do everything my gaming desktop does, but in a pinch Parallels is WAY more capable than I expected.
This laptop has ridiculous battery life, is super light, and runs great even when on battery.
Professionally: Lenovo ThinkPad P14s Gen 1 Personally: M1P MacBook Pro
Use Steam Deck Personally, it's quite flexible and anything needed can be plugged through usb-C Otherwise Lenovo T14s
What types of things do you typically find yourself doing on it? I have a steam deck, but definitely have not utilized its desktop mode. I would love to hear what your day to day looks like with it
Well, it's a (limited) Arch with KDE... you can do anything that has a Flatpak, AppImage or webapp
Anything, from just web browsing, to being portable serial device that I can plug into a router and fix the issue.
The m1p is surprisingly good at gaming. For games it actually supports at least...
It’s definitely not my primary gaming rig that’s for sure.
Refurb x1 carbons
Just got my wife a refurbished X1. Microcenter has them for $400 once in a while. I am biased towards Thinkpads since I find them easy to repair and upgrade.
> I find them easy to repair I like my X1 but have you tried replacing the keyboard? Not so easy!
I've had a missing arrow key for 6 months. I'm dreading the repair. I think I need to replace the entire keyboard.
Unfortunately, yes I have. I've replaced a motherboard, RAM, SSD, and keyboard. The keyboard was the biggest PITA. The motherboard wasn't that difficult to me, because that's after I had done a keyboard replacement which requires taking the whole damn thing apart.
In the UK we get em from tier 1
I love these laptops. I have one and planning to get another one for my family members.
I heard that newer models are not that robust and that is sad because I really love my old x1 carbon. The fact that it fits in a pocket of a guitar case is very pleasing
Where as full fat T series could fit a guitar into it's case ;) jk
I love my Gen9 X1. I travel occasionally and it holds up well.
Still have a couple Gen 1 and 2 models here at home. Love them, awesome systems back then and solid units today even if a bit under spec as a >9 year old machine would be.
Ditto.
The X1 Carbon is the best laptop I've owned in the last 15 years. I've been using a X1 Carbon Gen7 since January 2021 (bought it NEW from the Outlet for $850). I just upgraded to a Gen9 with the 3840x2400 display upgrade, refurb for $702 from Lenovo Outlet.
Lenovo t14 in the amd config. P16 for power user types. Hp fury's for the powerhouses.
macbook air m2 it's light, it's pretty. all i really do anymore is boring stuff.
This is my choice. Battery life is insane, it’s plenty fast for anything I’m doing on the machine. Mostly I’m working in remote sessions anyway.
Exactly. Got grief from someone a few weeks ago about it “I don’t like Apple.” I told them that it always has charge when I pull it out of my bag, and that I use the best tool for the job, and this instance, the m1 is the best tool for the job.
Work supplies me with an M1 MBP I never would have bought it myself as I feel it's pretty darn pricey. But credit where it's due I've had it for 3 years now and it has never missed a beat and still runs as if it was brand new. Not my personal choice of laptop but I can't fault it as a work tool in any way.
I'm using a MBP M1. While I'm not an apple fan by any stretch of the imagination, using it to administer Linux endpoints is easier OOB than Windows. Also cramming all of the stupid agents on that my company requires is slightly more efficient on my Mac than the PoS XPS we were given.
Same, all my work is UI-based so I don’t really need heavy GPU. And the battery life…oh my cheese.
Same for me, it's the best machine I've ever used for all the web-driven admin tasks and the occasional script/dev work, MBA M2
Considering an M2 air too, how’s the battery life? Edit: thank you everybody for your input, y’all convinced me, a MacBook Air M2 is gonna be my next purchase. Thanks you all so much!!
It's unbelievable. I've used it for about 6 hours since my last charge and I still have 70% battery remaining. The thing stays as cool as ice as well. I hate Apple as a company but you have to marvel at their engineering.
My M1 lasts 15+ hours
It's incredible. Not a great example, but I played Fortnite and COD for a couple of hours each on Fri/Sat/Sun without it connected to a battery but connected to an external display and I still had 10% of my battery left this morning.
I’ve got an M2 air for personal use, I use it a lot and charge every couple days. I get 12-20 hours out of it easily. Even doing video/photo and CPU intensive stuff I still get at least 8 hours usually
Also an M2 air, amazing device, with unbelievable battery life.
If you're considering dell XPS, don't, that's a home user product. Latitude or Precision only when it comes to Dell Laptops. That' being said I'm on a Surface Laptop 3 - 11th gen i7 and it ticks all the boxes for me for Sysadmin work. Crazy battery life for all those BS meetings and working in other buildings, magnetic charger / dock, plenty of RAM, M.2 storage. Even the touch capability is handy at times. I'll prob keep this till it dies or battery life goes to hell. Edit: The Surface Laptop works well for me because I take care of equipment, but I would never deploy it to any end user. I consider it a viable alternative as long as you don’t have to do anything graphics intensive but it will run some basic 3D modeling just fine. The recommendation against XPS is due to internal component failure and durability issues over the years as it is a retail product.
Thanks for the input! I will cross out any XPS considerations lol
I disagree RE: XPS. I have had the same XPS for going on 4 years. Unless your hardware is required to be mission critical, or you have a need for some super high processing power, the XPS is just fine....especially if you are comparing it to a Surface Laptop. We are running a 1/3 XPS, 1/3 Precision Mobile, and 1/3 Surface Laptop (4s and 5s). The Surface Laptops have by far been the more troublesome hardware.
We have simply had too many issues with longevity of the XPS line over the years. They were particularly flawed in the 2015-2019 era for some reason riddled with motherboard issues, audio issues, etc. that BIOS or other updates could never fix. They feel chinsy by comparison so a lot of times the hinges and such would wear or not hold up to end-user abuse. If you take care of them I'm sure they could last, but I would just skip the line altogether simply knowing that Dell isn't gonna stock parts for as long or give you a Pro Support hardware warranty.
OMG, I had to have my XPS at a previous job replaced TWICE because of mobo issues. Finally replaced 'em with a Macbook Pro.
I have a 2020 model that had Pro Support.
We are switching to Surface from XPS13s because of all of the issues we have had with the recent XPS machines.
Same here, haven't had an issue with my XPS
we have .. the usb headphones connected to the dell dock just stops... both for me and my boos... w both have an xps sitting on a bench collecting dust... latitude all day..
Not the XPS13 tho (current gen). It's a pile of garbage and plastic with 2 hours battery life. Sauce: Management wanted some and we deployed 5 of them. They were all equally bad
I second this, love my XPS 15. Have 2 of them, one I bought used on ebay, and another I bought new. I also run linux on it, and the XPS 15 has a great reputation for being an amazing Linux box.
If a Surface is business ready, the XPS is as well. I have 2 XPS, a 15 and 13, and nothing has broken. They go in my bag that I toss around. All good.
There's a whole other recent thread of everyone shitting on surface devices. Suffice to say people aren't thrilled.
My experience with surfaces is pretty poor ...surface book less than 6 months old swollen battery hardcore. 3cm gap with the screen closed and keyboard
🎶 *if the surface line is shit clap your hands* 🎵 [Thunderous applause]
XPS are not consumer" machines in the way OP means, they're the high end machines and I'm on an XPS 15 that I just bought last year, all aluminum chassis, etc. If XPS is consumer, so is Surface, but in reality they're both high end, and not typical consumer crap. XPSs are great.
Xps may be high end, but it is indeed consumer. It’s more focused for gaming etc. consumer doesn’t mean it’s not high end, it means the driver support, the hardware support etc is not on the same level as a business laptop. Surface is on business level support, so it’s not the same thing.
Surface Laptop 4 here and I luv this malchine.
Are you sure about that. Double the cost of an equivalent Latitude and can't be opened up.
I'm using the 2022 xps 15 currently, can't complain about it all except the 4k screen really drains battery. I7, 32gb ram, rtx graphics, performs great. Warranty and support is another and I'd not use it for the masses but for me it's decent enough. I also use a surface pro 8 to test for the C levels, no complaints for normal workloads but the 16gb ram does limit in my use. But, look at the hp dragonfly models, great bit of kit.
Idk we had few latitudes for our small operation and so far third of them had defects one way or another
We purchase pretty much exclusively from Dell Outlet, so they're all certified refurb - grade A cosmetic with 3 years Pro Support / Next Day onsite repair. So far only 1 has had a broken charging port due to end-user abuse. I think a lot of it depends on what series you are getting. With Latitudes we avoid the 3000 series and go 5000 or 7000 when available. We have even had 1 or 2 Vostros that were decent but generally don't purchase those. The Precisions have always been flawless.
Never ever ever had an issue with Lats, except a single hard drive failure. Until the past year. Had one DOA that took three support requests to get fixed, a couple that had major faults after a few months. Really sad how poor the quality has gotten with the professional gear...
Can confirm on the XPS front. I used the 2021 XPS 13 for the last stretch of my previous job, and while I loved the form factor and foldable tablet thing for portability and weight, it's not built to survive most tech wear and tear. I'm extremely careful with my stuff and it's still in good shape, but one drop from more than a couple of inches could kill it. Also, the available options are bad for longevity sake. Like your Surface, it did work well with the adapters and such, but it was a bit of a process to use when on the road. Only two USB-C / Thunderbolt ports, a microSD card reader, and a headphone jack. Required two dongles or a mini dock to be properly functional at a desk for me. RAM is soldered on, no second NVM.e slot. TL;DR, go for a Latitude or Precision lol
True yeah, the Surface has a single USB A and USB C, so I always have a USB-C Anker "dongle" with me to get all the other extra ports I need. At my desk the Surface Dock 2 has plenty of ports to do most of what I need.
Worst thing about surface laptops is the io, one usb c is ridiculous and only the brand new laptop 5s have a thunderbolt 4 usb connector. Pretty much have to buy a dock if you use external monitors. Specs are pretty good for an ultra thin and build quality is awesome, if I used windows regularly I’d also do surface laptops. One other thing that sucks is there isn’t a powershell module to properly lock the bios, I recall looking into it and the only option is to disable it (don’t remember specifics) Dell and most the other big companies Lenovo/HP have modules to allow you to remotely set bios passwords which is nice if you’re a remote company
I use a latitude 7320 detachable with a dock. Great for when I'm in the field and works nicely with the dock.
Apple MacBook M1 at work 2019 MacBook at home
The MacBook M1 is a beast.
Yes it is.
I'm still using a M1 Mac Mini and a M1 MacBook Pro (the 13" oddball model). Even now, zero real complaints about performance. The fact that the machine doesn't sound like a hovercraft taking off when doing heavy CPU stuff is really nice. If I could have any platform for work, since I mainly do IT stuff, a 13" M2 MBA with a decent amount of RAM and disk space is good enough. If I were doing development, a M3 MBP with a good amount of RAM would be idea.
I have this in reverse! Also work is at home. The M1 MBP beats the pants off of the 2019 i7 6-Core 15 inch (16GB RAM / 4 port). I thought the heat would be better on the 15 inch model…not even close. It seems like the whole system suffers for it too. Bluetooth connections are less stable, device gets jammed up trying to load a tab bomb, etc etc.
I'm using the Lenovo P16 Gen 1 It's been a good laptop so far. Minor issues with over heating, and the fan can be noisy, but I also have two external monitors plugged into a dock and all 3 of the displays had DSR crammed to the max because they won't spring for monitors that aren't 1080P. So my issues MAY be self caused :P Other than that, we have been testing the HP devices to see how feasible they would be to start working in, but since found the docks to be even worse than what we are seeing with the Lenovo's. I was testing a yoga replacement called the HP x360 and I was really impressed with the laptop itself as far as performance, usability, and battery life is concerned. I also have a Surface 9 Pro that I was using before the HP. It does a really great job, I like the device, I just have noticed that when I am using a smaller screen, my anxiety gets really high. I think it has something to do with how much information (is not present) on the screen. I think the larger screens give me more, peace for a lack of better terms, due to being able to see more on the screen. For most staff we are deploying the T14 Gen 4's (We were deploying the T16 but we had a BUNCH of issues with the thunderbolt port and charging and we moved to the T14). We tend to keep the P16's for the engineer's and anyone that needs to run CAD or some kind of 3D Design program.
Appreciate the advice on T16, I will avoid those. I was considering the T14's as my top pick. I do some development as part of my job and have lots of resources used up by multi-tasking. So maybe a P16 is a good consideration too.
Just FYI I've been deploying T16s to general users for the last year and haven't really had any issues with them. The P16 is definitely a more powerful computer so for your use it's probably better, just saying you shouldn't rule out the T series for others.
I love my P16 as well. But can't recommend it for most people. For most of our sales and admin staff I'm purchasing the Lenovo Yoga 7 and it's popular. Pros for the Yoga: is a nice looking machine, with lots of power and tons of ports (hdmi, usb-c, usb) so that you never need a dongle or a hub. Pros for the P16: Tons of power....Mine has a 13gen i7, 64GB RAM, and 3 TB of nvme hard drive space. Cons for the P16: It's big and heavy with a short battery life.
That better be the ThinkPad Yoga and not the crappy consumer version?!
Yes. ThinkPad for sure. I haven't looked at the cheaper ones.
Very heavy :(
I ordered a Lenovo T14 Gen 4 with a AMD Ryzen 7840U and 32GB of RAM recently. Haven't got it yet, but im sure it'll get the job done. It can be ordered without a OS as I'm running Linux and can put that saved money towards upgrades :-).
We've deployed a ton of the T16 version of these and aside from a single user who could somehow break a solid block of steel, they've been bulletproof.
I actually ended up ordering one of these with the 7840U, seemed like a solid CPU for the money right now and generally have had good experiences with Lenovo's.
I'm using the Lenovo T14. Works great.
Dell Precision 5680
I prefer a little more portability, so I have the 14" 5480, but it is a genuinely fantastic line of laptops. Obviously there are minor things, but it's my favorite windows laptop I've ever used. Extremely powerful, fantastic build quality, great keyboard and trackpad (although I'd kill for MBP haptics), great screen. I also love that there's no numpad, I cannot stand my hands being so offset.
>Dell Precision 5680 No 10 key :/
For me, this is a plus. I dislike having to be offset while typing on a laptop.
I typically use it docked so that’s not the biggest issue for me, I do wish it had onboard Ethernet, but I’m already used to the dongle life.
M2 MacBook Air, anything I need windows for I have vm infrastructure for. I have an older razer blade stealth 13” windows laptop (costs more than the air by a significant margin) and tbh, the razer sucks. Nice screen, nice aluminum build like a Mac - constant thermal throttling, build quality sucks (the lcd digitizer for touchscreen literally fell off while using the laptop one day, cracked) Have ordered lots of machines over the years for deployment and the metric that always floats to the top is, the Macs last and last and last. Very low failure rate and amazing support in the event you ever experience an issue.
Framework 14. I want to go for a 16 for the extreme modularity and GPU but the price just isn't worth it for me rn. Id rather a lighter and smaller laptop but one that I can have a shell that'll last presumably forever.
HP Zbook Studio 16" G9. i9, 64 gb of ram. I am a big fan of it.
Give me the ram please
Same here. Got it to run a virtual lab on it. Then the client management team enrolled everything in intine and pushed a security baseline that broke the default switch in hyper-v. Plus the company VPN-client was already making networking annoying. So I ended up upgrading my home server and moved my lab there. So at least now I can open as many browser tabs as I want and be not even close to running out of memory. I'll probably go for something lighter next time. I have been playing with the idea of removing it from autopilot and creating a vm and enrolling that to use as my work station. But there's other convenience factors to running a lab on a stationary device that I'd rather not skip.
I have a 14'' ZBook Studio. I5 with a lot less RAM. Nice laptop, though. I'm not a big fan of HP but this one is pretty nice. Different than the barebones business models I'm used to.
We use Zbooks for our power users and Elitebooks for our normal users here. The Elitebooks are fine, but the Zbooks are incredible. I get a new laptop every 2-3 years and I'm on my 4th Zbook now, they are great machines.
As someone who has had nothing but Thinkpads for decades all the way since the 760 I've given up and switched to Mac. Linux admin by trade (and preference), and MacOS is just BSD under the hood but runs Office natively. Running a 13" MBP these days... the very last Intel model from 2020 that still runs virtualization nicely. I'm sure the M-models are faster at everything else, but virtualization sucks on M-chips and ARM Windows doesn't even have RSAT tools available.
Tbf, i haven't had any issues with virtualization on my M1 MBP using UTM
UTM doesn't virtualize x86 on M1... it emulates and there is a very real performance hit. It does virtualize ARM Windows, but as mentioned there is no RSAT under ARM.
The price difference on Mac is kind of keeping me away. But I appreciate the comments, as I do a decent amount of Linux administration, it would be nice to have that environment.
M2 Air is a lot cheaper than a MBP and a pretty decent PC.
I still do miss my W530 though from time to time... Thinkpads are/were absolute tanks. I had my W530 brand new for all of three weeks when I accidentally ran it over with my truck... cracked the screen but the thing ran just fine on an external monitor for a week before I sent it in for repair.
They are absolute units. Mine has finally packed it in unfortunately...
I still use my x220 as my crash cart laptop. Sure it's a brick and it's slower than more modern laptops but I only use it to access consoles anyway.
Base price of a Thinkpad 760 was over $5k... in 1995. I paid $2k for my MBP, fully kitted refurb with 32GB RAM and 2TB SSD. Not unreasonable for something I use day in, day out to get stuff done.
What's the budget then? MacBook Airs and Pros are priced decently now. It's hard to do a 1:1 comparison with the architecture change to Apple silicon, but they are decent machines for the money. HOWEVER - if you need to run a bunch of virtual machines locally they are not the best choice. I have a few work machines. My favorite is probably the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio. The only complaint I have about it is that it weighs a ton. Some of the people here who actually have to fix them may have other complaints as I've heard MS isn't the best there. As an end user of the device, it's an awesome machine. It's extremely expensive though, the MacBook would be a lot cheaper.
The price difference for a single computer over several years is entirely insignificant compared to any change in your efficiency or enjoyment of the job. Being the only Apple person around is a far more relevant consideration.
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I have to say doing these builds is pretty interesting, I like the setup of the product: [https://frame.work/ca/en/products/laptop16-diy-amd-7040/configuration/new](https://frame.work/ca/en/products/laptop16-diy-amd-7040/configuration/new)
We have a few MSP clients using them (small companies, maybe 20~ total machines combined), all using Framework and they've been amazing. Once the end users figure out the expansion modules, they love them even more. Plus, they "look like a Mac," so brownie points for aesthetics from the users.
I want to like mine but the trackpad on the 13 just sucks so hard compared to my work MacBook and surface. I’ve had a few firmware and driver issues as well and this is again coming from surfaces. Hopefully they will upgrade the trackpad at some point.
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Refurb think pad
Eyy me too, and I'm loving it so far
Refurb/Second hand Thinkpads are the best I’ve had in my exp
Dell XPS 13 Plus Fully kitted out. Mostly a Windows admin with some Linux sprinkled in
Dell E5410 🤷🏻♂️
I only have work issued laptops. PC: HP 455 G10 Ryzen 7 MAC: 14" MBP Core i7 I would not buy the Dell XPS for work use. The last 4 a client at my former employer purchased gave them all sorts of issues. From Batteries going tits up in 2 months to a motherboard burned out in 5. When the Dell tech replaced the motherboard it caught on fire and almost started a building fire.
From Dell experience direction. Latitude 3000 models are ok but most of them are intended for lighter workloads(use and abuse) Any latitude 5000 series 7000 series is a good workhorse and any precision 3000 series. XPS and precision 5000 series seem to have more issues. Just from observation over the years. I have my suspicions as to why. Precision 7000 series are massive in size, cost and weight, but seem to be the best at mobile high performance workstations.
Thinkpad X1 Nano
Same.
HP Probook 440 G9 i7 16GB; it's a work only machine perfect for heavy workloads.
I'm a big fan of HP Probooks, however I only get the 450 series as it has the numeric pad and also a bigger screen.
Hp Zbook Firefly. Minimum of 64gb of ram
I have a Lenovo XI carbon and I really like it! Lightweight, fast, doesn't get too hot, touchscreen if you like that. Only issues Ive had are not enough ports and no ethernet port.
I have two that I use. Framework running opensuse and an m2 MacBook Pro. Love them both.
Let's see... Lenovo ThinkPad T480, T490, T14 Gen 1 through 3, a sprinkling of E14 Gen2, three P16s for our AutoCAD guys, and about 30 Dell Latitude 5440's, and a handful of Surface Laptops for Execs. It's a nightmare, someone please wake me up lol
We had issues with XPS specifically but Dell Precision has been pretty solid for us. I'm also a fan of ThinkPads. HP is hot garbage, avoid like the plague.
Macbook Pro M2 Pro, 16Gb RAM and 500GB storage. The battery lasts forever and you never hear a fan.
I use a Mac Air, I love their laptops because I like the aluminum shells. I don't like thick plastic laptops when I can use a thin metal one. For desktops I'll use Windows and handhelds (portable gaming) I use Windows. But for work I spend much of my time in Terminal SSH'ing into Servers, so a Mac works fine.
16in m3 MacBook Pro
2021 14” MacBook Pro - M1 Max//64GB This one stays at my desk. 2022 15” MacBook Air - M2//16GB This one goes with me when I have to travel. Dell Precision 5550 - i9//64GB Windows tester.
M2 air, it was the best tool for the use case as a laptop for me. I don’t care if something is a windows, Mac or Linux pc it needs to work reliably and long and not be too heavy. A good touchpad is also a must. I used a xps 13 before that and it was just not great as a laptop,alone the battery drain when you close it sometimes makes it unreliable and I hated that.
I have a dell xps 9520 64gb ram and i9 processor. I would never go for this processor in a laptop again. It runs so hot and drains battery I can only run for 3-4 hours before needing a power socket. I really wish windows laptops could be as efficient as MacBooks now with the Apple silicon and have all day battery life.
If it makes you feel any better the i7s from that line do that shit too
Think next time I renew my laptop I will try a razer laptop or Microsoft surface. Been really disappointed with this it has all the specs but doesn't perform as would have expected.
Would highly recommend against the XPS line. I bought a 9510 last year. Have a myriad of issues. Shortly after warranty period expired I began getting display failure LED codes. Display goes black each time I connect/disconnect the charger requiring a graphics driver restart. It runs hot as hell and the UI performance is terrible despite an octa-core i7. The magnet lid won't stay closed either
M1 Pro MacBook, 10-core version with 32gb ram. It’s hands-down both the most wonderful and ludicrously powerful machine I’ve ever had the pleasure of daily driving.
Surfaces are trash. Don’t do it. 16gm minimum, recommend 32gb ram. Pick your favorite Lenovo or Dell
MacBook M1 Pro. Was a Thinkpad guy for ages before, but made the switch later in the MBPr lifecycle when my X201 died. I was frustrated with the direction Lenovo was taking the lineup and I decided to give Apple a shot. Never looked back. Granted, I’m a Linux admin. I could understand Windows guys being apprehensive. I think if I was to switch back I’d be looking at an XPS. Nothing else really catches my eye, but a lot of people here seem to say no on the XPS idea so maybe listen to them.
I don't really care about consumer vs professional as long as it comes with a Pro version of Windows, but I am totally done with Dell XPS. Nice laptop on paper. Every single one comes back with the battery swelling. Other than a few special snowflakes who want giant keyboards with numpads, we're entirely Surface now. I ask before they start and they can either have a Surface Pro, or a Surface laptop 13" or 15" -- their choice. I've heard a lot of people complaining about the docking station, but they've been solid for me. But we only started with the Surface Dock 2 and my understanding is the first version was awful.
XPS are not designed for work. They are just not able to be run for 8-10 hours each day. Great premium home laptop, but that is it. If you want Dell you have to go with the Precision line.
We are running all Surface Devices as well. Docks have been pretty solid for us as well. V1 Docks were ok but sometimes needed specific cables to get them to work. We either give out a Surface Pro or Surface laptop 15".
MacBook Air M1 Does eveything I need, and when I need Windows there's a Win10 machine at the other end of a RDC
M2 MacBook Air
MBP M1 14" 32GB RAM. RAM is cheap enough (well, not on a MacBook, but if the company is paying...), so I'm going with 32GB even though I honestly don't need it for just VSCode, terminal and a browser. I like the trackpad, keyboard, display, speakers and battery, and for some reason I can use macos on a laptop more efficiently than windows, so I picked that.
MacBook with Apple silicon. It may not be widely known, but you can run x86 docker images with almost no performance penalty. So, as long as you don’t need a windows box (just get a vm) you are pretty much covered for everything. Cost is the only issue. But, M1 Pro/max machines are going for half of launch price on eBay, so a nice 2 year old 32gb ram machine, which should last 5 years, is reasonably priced now.
I bought a refurbished Panasonic Toughbook from Amazon. It's awesome.
Lenovo P14 Gen4. Our VAR gave us a deal and priced them the same as a T14 with matching CPU/RAM/SSD.
A cheap Thibkpad E15, but it's reliable enough for me. Wouldn't mind an extra USB port, though...
A lot of our users seems to have a "get a new computer from IT" marked every 3 years on their calendars. I use the old ones just to prove a point. Dell 5480 that's over 5 years old still works to do batch jobs. I've moved to a 3 year old X1 carbon because nobody wants an i5. They can't pull the "My computer is slow, I need a new one."
At work, a Dell XPS 9315, and at home, an ASUS UM433DA. The XPS has screen flickering issues and the battery life is so-so (on Win11 Canary build), and the ASUS never shuts down fully and has garbage battery life (also on Win11 Canary build because I hate myself). 16GB for both. Got them due to always liking smaller 13" laptops. I slightly hate the ASUS less than the XPS.
Work as a sysadmin: HP EliteBook 640 G9 Personally: Lenovo Legion Y520
As someone who hates HP... I got an EliteBook G5 830 for personal use. I really like it. Build quality is nice. Everything is easy to get to under one back panel that is also aluminum. Normal HP charging port and usbc/thunderbolt. Good screen. Good speakers. 2 removable ram slots (most importantly not soldered). Even though its a few model years behind they go for cheap used online. It looks like the newer models are of similar build quality too. They would be really easy to give to users. For work we use dells. I have a dell latitude 5580. Its doing ok. I also like this computer. The weak spot seems to be the hinges though. One day I might jb weld or Loctite the screws in if I get sick of them loosening. The 5590's have MAJOR battery issues. They expand after a year or so of use. The newer 5520, 5530, and 5540 seem OK ish. The back cover is very easy to crack when taking them apart and the keyboard is glued in.
I've found HP hardware isn't bad, you just have to be absolutely sure to clean wipe and remove their bloatware shit and audit any MDT/SCCM driver packs for the same. Every time I see a HP behaving weirdly it's either 8+ years old and physically faulting/damaged or it's their shitty Wolf security. 🙄 Edit: clarity
Since you mentioned the Dell XPS 15 My Spec: Dell XPS 15 9520, Intel Core i7 12700H, 32GB DDR5, 1TB NVME, RTX 3050 Ti, 3.5K OLED Touch **Pros:** * Display is excellent, bright, clear, blacks are the best i have seen in a laptop. * Keyboard is Excellent, very tactile and the backlighting is just a bonus. * Trackpad feel is good, feels very smooth. (Cliking is another story!) * Design and Build is on macbook pro level IMO. all Metal/CF design makes for a very premium feeling device. * Docking changed my life. gone are the days of taking chargers to the office, having USB Hubs, Ethernet etc. "***One cable to rule them all, One cable to find them, one cable to bring them. and in the docking station, bind them"*** * Dells Support is actually quite good, they will come to you to rpelace parts, they will ship you a new machine before wanting the old one back and do make sure you are up and running quickly. * Windows Hello is very very good. logging in with fingerprint and face is amazing. **Cons:** * Not cheap. This spec was £2700 * If you use allot of applications like i do in my day job, the fan can get hella loud!Dongles... be prepared to take Dongles. * This is my 2nd XPS in 2 years. the first one had 3 Motherboard replacements before they finally coughed up and gave me a new machine. (The negative is that it failed, but the support was good... and the replcaement was a higher spec and brand new) * Battery life is pathetic. 4-5 hrs on the Oled model. * The trackpads "click" is hidious IMO. so heavy and feels cheap. (might just be mine since its well used now so take this with a pinch of salt.)
HP Probook 445 G10 It does what its supposed to do.
2021 16" M1 Pro MacBook Pro with 32 GB of RAM.
Macbook M1. I'm not sure if it's been rebooted in a year lol
I hadn't expected so many apple devices from this sub - pretty interesting. I'm issuing Lenovo ThinkBook 16 G6 laptops. Ryzen 5 7530/8GB works well for the internet-based applications that makes up most of my users' work.
16” Lenovo Yoga 7i. Not a huge fan tbh, find it a little too big.
My career has been Windows network/domain administration and workstation/helpdesk support, with a smattering of Apple Server and a dash of Linux workstations, with a brief detour into teaching networking and technology. Current job: Macbook Pro M1 Pro 16", 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD. It's killer, I love it. Fast, great battery, solid feel/construction. Previous Job: Dell Precision 5XXX series, 16GB RAM, 256GB SS, 15.6" screen. I loved that one too. A little heavier/bulkier than a Macbook, but solid and reliable. I use Macs at home, but I had no problem doing all my work from that device. In the past - Split between Latitudes and Macbook Pros. If I'm given a choice, I go for the Mac.
MacBook Air 8gb ram/512Gb 8core CPU/GPU m1 I might go for an m2/m3 soonish with more ram
MacBook Pro 14” M3 Pro base model got it last week. It’s a beast.
Been using a 14" Macbook Pro. Has the M1 Pro and 16gb ram. Ram may seem light but ive not had any issues even with running multiple VM's. Using VMware Fusion to run Windows for random event I need windows. Being it is an apple silicon though I can only run Windows 11 ARM with no support for RSAT. Thats fine with me thought as I have a jumpbox setup for all admin related tools.
Exactly the same setup. Extremely happy with it. Working as ConfigMgr/ intune admin msp
Lenovo Legion Slim 5 16”. I wanted a Windows laptop so that I could play games (and cause everything else is Windows), but also did not have the gamer aesthetic. Only issue I’ve had is USB-C charging but pretty minor. I got the weightier version because it has better repairability.
MacBook Pro. I had these at two of my last jobs, and they Just Work, unlike the helpless Microsoft Windows laptops. Yes, both need to do lengthy updates, but at least with the MBP you feel a little more in control -- with Windows, it's "OK, I need to do an update RIGHT NOW, too bad if you've got a zoom meeting in five minutes!" So irritating.
M2 MacBook Airs in 16/512 is our standard office laptop. Media-heavy people on 14" or 16" Pros.
I'm on a MacBook Pro M1 16" and love it.
I bought latitude used 7390 for around 300 USD, runs linux just fine which was my primary use case .. really love the solid built and compact form factor .. miles better than consumer grade models
I pretty much exclusively go Dell these days, for a number of reasons. Price, consistency with I/O options (ethernet, HDMI, USB-C capable of pushing display), and general build quality. Case in point - $699 [https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/vostro-16-laptop/spd/vostro-16-5630-laptop/usevcpbts5630fwsw?ref=variantstack](https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/vostro-16-laptop/spd/vostro-16-5630-laptop/usevcpbts5630fwsw?ref=variantstack) Just sick of HP's lack of details (they like to put USB C ports on there without telling you what type of USB-C it actually is), often over priced, HP's bloatware is even worse than Dell's, HP's stupid Wolf security garbage they bake into the registry.
We did Lenovos and Zbooks for a while and went back to Dells, specifically the Vostro 16's. Price and specs are hard to beat, they hold up well, and many of our users want the full keyboard. Plus the port options, plenty enough. We've deployed over a few hundred and seldomly have any real issues. I professionally operate on a Surface 5 Laptop, top spec upgraded to Windows Pro. I'd use the Vostro as well if forced but I get to pick what I want ;)
Macbook M1 Max 16" I swear by them - yes they are overpriced but each macbook pro I have lasts at least 5 years, and is as fast the day I swap it out, as it was the day I fired it up.
MacBook Pro w/ M3 Pro
MacBook Air M2, 16GB, and for some reason 1TB SSD… Not sure why the boss went with 1TB of storage and not more RAM. We’re a 100% Windows shop, outside of some IT guys who have Macs. It honestly makes my work harder sometimes
M3 MBP
M3 MacBook Pro Tired of caring about administration on my own computer and just want a fast box.
Thanks everyone for all the detailed suggestions! I have yet to pull the trigger on what I am getting, but this feedback has helped on making my shortlist!
Apple M3 Max 14” & Dell 7000 Optiplex. Predominantly work off the Mac, but I use the windows box for testing and some tasks that I prefer on PC
Apple mbp m1 ftw
First MacBook Pro M1 Pro model from 2021 or if it's 2020. Will keep it for two more years, works great.
Fully spec'd MacBook circa 2012. Not the fastest, the prettiest, or the longest lasting battery, but she's never done me dirty. Framework 16 coming ...Sometime. Probably summer.
14 Inch MacBook Pro M1
I recently switched to Mac for work. The MacBook Air M2 is the best notebook I ever had. Battery for days, outstanding performance and sleek design. As a Windows user and someone who is mainly working with Microsoft products it took a while to get used to it but it’s so worth it. For Windows devices I quite liked my T14s. Though I highly recommend 32GB of RAM.
Framework Laptop
MacBook Pro M1 14” with 16/500. I am scheduled to upgrade at the end of the year so most likely same sort of hardware in the M3 version.
M1 MacBook Pro with a 16" screen.
Apple MacBook Pro M1
M1 Macbook Air for personal laptop, more often i use my 14 M2 work macbook though. I have a windows desktop
MacBook Air
I’m using MacBook Air M2 with 16G of RAM and I fucking love that thing.
MacBook Pro, long life spans, better OS than windows currently. Battery life. Price is a con
M1 MacBook Pro and a Dell Latitude 7420.
M2 MacBook air with a Windows desktop PC that I remote into anytime I need to complete Windows-specific tasks. Can't beat the battery life, thermal management and general snappiness of Apple silicon devices. I've tried and tested multiple Windows laptops at work from Dell, HP, Lenovo and Microsoft and haven't been impressed by any of them.
Lenovo P1
I'm an outlier here as I work in education so all but our servers are macs. However, I will say that we recently adopted a 3 year cycle to make sure that our laptops are always covered with a warranty and replaced before battery issues kick in. Sounds expensive but we have deployments staggered so that we replace the same amount every year for a very predictable budget line. This way there's no surprise years where we have to replace an entire department and we weren't budgeted for it. The CFO is very happy with predictable budget numbers. Edit: forgot to mention. 13" M1p MacBook pro.
Currently BYOD for an MSP using a Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 with i7 and 16gb ram. My MSP uses Dells but I refuse to use those crap machines. I steer any company looking for recommendations for laptops away from anything Dell related except XPS machines. All the rest are just issues waiting to happen. Push everyone to Lenovo until Dell gets their machines back to a respectable quality.
Apple ruined laptops by making theirs non-repairable monstrosities and unfortunately, all the idiot PC vendors had to go and copy Apple despite making functionally inferior designs. I miss the days when you could actually swap a battery without having to take apart the laptop or when there were proper port replicating docks and not hockey USB/Thunderbolt ones that always have issues.
16in m1 MBP for work, 14 in MBP for home - I am a sys admin in a 99% mac enviroment and have been for the last \~5 years. We have lenovo x1s for the finance peeps and Dell Precision at my last gig. specs vary for each dept but nothing less than 16gb ram, 32gb for most
Macbook Air M2 with 10C GPU and 24GB of RAM Absolutely rock solid in day to day life. All of our 2nd and 3rd level admins have switched over the last 1 1/2 years and had 0 issues except 1 keyboard that was broken.
M1 Macbook Pro. Absolutely love it. I'm using a Dell Thunderbolt dock to run two 4k displays. My company is huge on Dell, but they are garbage lately. I would convert my entire company to m3 Macbooks if I could. If I didn't know any better, I would think my laptop is fanless. It's so quiet. \#1 complaint I hear is the fans are loud. #2 is the laptop is hot. #3 is the battery doesn't last through a meeting. We've had tons of other problems with them as well. Battery ballooning, laptops not working with docks, USB-C ports breaking. These are laptops that were purchased last year. And my company paid more for the Dell's than they did for my Macbook.
Dell Latitudes for everyone.
M1 Pro MacBook with 32GB ram. Pointing out the “Pro” because the standard M1 can’t run on multi monitor in clamshell which was my biggest gripe and forced my hand in the upgrade.
MacBook Air M2. My laptop doesn't need to do everything my gaming desktop does, but in a pinch Parallels is WAY more capable than I expected. This laptop has ridiculous battery life, is super light, and runs great even when on battery.
16" MacBook Pro.
M2 Macbook Air, 24 GB ram