Hello Comrades, I am overwhelmed! have to get a new laptop for work stuff. And everything is horribly riddled with AI and unwanted features and planned obsolescence, etc. I am feeling so old and lost; and stuck with paralysis! Can someone help me with just a simple recommendation on a laptop or laptop series or something? Need: video calling, decent battery life. Wants: could play ~~RDR2~~ (I realize now this ask is too much- the purchase will be a write off so, I was being greedy and trying to treat myself)or some equivalent. This felt so simple 10 years ago! Stupid Crapitalism grumbling old man noises
Edit: Wow, thanks so much, this is so helpful! Guess, I'm realizing I'm gonna need to start on windows and hopefully switch over to Linux next year(going make time to start a 30 day intro mid Jan). And, looking at Thinkpad T series. All the new ones have MD ryzen ai pro processors- does anyone have thoughts on these??? (I'm really wary of ai on the computer because I work with HIPPA compliant stuff, so I just generally want to avoid it because if it isn't managed right its a potential violation.)
It depends on your price range and how much will you're willing to go up to, you can try a premium ultrabook like a framework 13 which should be able to play rdr2 which goes for around $1350+.
You can also get a second hand macbook (m1 or m2) which can do all your needs extremely well (though the wants are are severely lacking minus any linux that you put onto it). These macbooks should be good for about 5-8 years at least and can be found under $1000 (I got a fully specced macbook air m1 in mint condition for 750).
Otherwise you can go with the big box option of a mid-range thinkpad from 3-4 years ago, not going to do your want but its the cheapest option.
Don't recommend going for a "gaming" laptop as those are riddled with invasive BIOSes, poor heat management, very low battery life and also weight issues. If you want to play demanding 3D games just get a steam deck separately.
100%. Gaming laptops are a trap for all the reasons mentioned, PLUS you're paying at least 3 times as much for the performance compared to a desktop. PLUS the way GPU acceleration is implemented in laptops is by rendering certain windows on the dGPU and having them composited on the iGPU. This is done for power consumption reasons, but the architecture is a lot more complex then desktops where the CPU sends commands to the GPU which sends a signal to the display. It is a lot more prone to intermittent issues like video latency, tearing, applications not using the appropriate GPU, etc. You still WANT a dGPU, but expectations for the ideal gaming experience should be limited.
A laptop is supposed to be a portable computer. That comes with trade-offs, but (in my humble opinion) portability is non-negotiable. That is the reason you are getting a laptop, instead of getting more than twice the performance for the price in a desktop. If you are buying a laptop it shouldn't be 20 inches long and weigh 30 pounds. Get something with a high resolution 15 inch screen without a numpad. Get a bluetooth numpad if you really need one. It should be able to fit COMFORTABLY inside a bag. You get a big laptop which barely fits in your bag and guess what? The corners of your laptop now define the profile of your bag. Every time you put your bag down you are dinging the corners of your laptop, fucking up the hinges and cracking the thin parts of the case in-between the USB ports. You don't want a CD drive/burner either. That shit just takes up space and makes the thing nearly half and inch thicker for NO REASON. Nobody uses that shit anymore.
One thing I can say is that the build quality on a laptop is very important. A lot of people shop for laptops like they're shopping for any other computer - by specs. What CPU does it have? How much memory does it have? While this is all important, It needs to be housed inside a case that can actually endure the wear and tear of mobile use. Somebody IS going to trip over the power cable and send the thing crashing to the floor. It is going to be thrown around inside a backpack repeatedly, crushed against surfaces on busy buses, subways, elevators, or airplanes. Build quality is very difficult to discern when shopping online, so ensure you can put the thing back in the box and refund it in the event you open it up and it seems flimsy. It is only going to get worse with wear.