Old Lenovo not cutting it, opine on best replacement

bull2118

Distinguished
Apr 8, 2009
5
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18,510
I need to replace my surprisingly good refurb purchase from 3 years ago

1. What is your budget?

I bet we can keep it under $1000 with all the syber monday holidays etc.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

14in, almost non-negotiable

3. What screen resolution do you want?

Don't care, not gaming, making sales presentations and web surfing

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

Light, slim, stylish (I love the brushed aluminum of my boss' expensive Asus)

5. How much battery life do you need?

As long as possible, but not at the expensive of a hugh jump in weight or bulk

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?

Nope

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)

Need something that will run insurance software and produce 20-40 page pdfs as fast as possible

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?

I thought alot, but I guess most of what I save is cloud cloud based, I have only filled 125gb on my current laptop. Maybe a 256SSD would do it... would that signigantly increase the speed that I am looking for?

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

Agnositc, USA

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?

Until I get frustrated again, a while for sure

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?

You can tell this sticky is from 2008

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.

Pretty sure I won't own an HP, Dell seems overpriced for the specs. This Lenovo I really kinda like, its just an aging old i3 that is too slow on the pdf and software side. Web browser, start up, software updates and install are all too slow. Can't break the flow during a sale. I like Asus, but they have a dearth of 14in laptops, but I also don't have the time any more to get smart, hence, the best tech community on the lines!

13. What country do you live in?

USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

From my diminishing knowledge is a SSD head and shoulders above a HDD?

Almost forgot to mention. I thought I would never use a touch screen, but this one has one and I actually use it quite a bit. If that can be accomplished with this wish list that would be awesome.
 
From your details I conclude that (a) you're a Lenovo guy and (b) you need a light and flexible presentation device that reflects favourably on you and (possibly) your business. Here are two such devices:

Lenovo Yoga 910 14", at $1,050:
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/yoga/900-series/yoga-910/
Note: The 910 doesn't have an HDMI or a VGA port, but uses a USB 3.0 Type-C port for video-out. Weight is 3lbs and battery life is listed at 9 hours. You get the latest Kaby Lake i7 CPU with the HD 620 IGP and a 256GB SSD. For your stated needs, these specs should be more than enough.

Lenovo Flex 4 14", at $700:
https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Flex-14-Touchscreen-80VD000FUS/dp/B01LNOE4JO/ref=sr_1_9?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1480676342&sr=1-9&keywords=lenovo+yoga+910
If you can live with an i5-series, this Kaby Lake version has price and RAM going for it. It is a bit heavier (3.8lbs) but battery life is roughly the same (8.5 hours). i7-series CPUs are "only" available in the Skylake version, but you can get one with a dedicated 2GB AMD Radeon card.

The (significant) price difference is down to the 'Yoga brand' and the complex wrist-band hinge design. The Yoga is definitely the flashier of the two and it will no doubt serve you well as an 'ice breaker' in any social or professional setting. The Flex is less 'in your face' but also a bit 'last year's model'. It does have an HDMI port which I'd guess is probably more useful to you than a Type-C port. They both come with multi-touch IPS panels.
 

bull2118

Distinguished
Apr 8, 2009
5
0
18,510
What would the drawbacks of this be?

I specd out a T460 and with an I5 vs this I7 it was $250 more

I'm guessing this "home" laptop will have a shorter battery and be less rugged than the T class business model... am I missing anything else?

http://www.officedepot.com/mb/a/products/492407/Lenovo-IdeaPad-510s-Laptop-14-Screen/