Comments

1. X1 carbon. I5 processor is fine (i7 gets throttled down due to heat consumption). Put 16gb of memory in it and call it a day.

   Many days I take mine to Starbucks at 8 and leave at 5 without power. You can get 8-9 hours at a decent screen brightness.

2. Given you want Windows 7, you can’t take what I chose, which is the Surface Book 2. I had quite similar requirements – lots of battery life being the main one and there’s nothing close to the Surface Book.

   One other model you might want to consider is the very latest HP Spectre x360. All of the reviews I looked at have its battery life being excellent (though not Surface Book level).

   By the way, without getting into religious battles about operating systems, I find Windows 10 similar enough to Windows 7 to not mind it. You may find downgrading to Windows 7 loses you some battery performance, as it’s possible that you could end up lacking optimized drivers (as companies spend little time now on Windows 7 compatibility)

3. I wrote a long and (I would like to imagine) very helpful comment from my phone when you posted this earlier today then lost it when the post was no longer there.

   Here’s the short version:

   1920 x 1080 non-touch matte finish screen.

   Good luck with the 512MB SSD. I recommend 512 GB instead.

   Consider Core M instead of i5 or i7 if you prioritize battery life over the very highest performance (I use one for software development, it’s fine).

   Ultrabook form factor.

   Battery life is largely dependent on screen brightness. When on battery, if you want all-day battery you’ll have to compromise on screen brightness.

   You won’t get Win 7 on a current computer. Use Stardock Start 10 to get your start menu back.

   Ensure that your OS partition has lots and lots of extra room. My 256gb Asus Zenbook with two equally-sized partitions is now so full on the OS partition that I can’t install updates.

4. I’m converting to apple for my laptop so I won’t be able to help u

5. I don’t know if anyone is still shipping with Windows 7. You might have to find Windows 7 skins on a Win 10 laptop.

   In general, more RAM could sap battery life. A lot of Chrome tabs will definitely take their toll on battery life. You have to be also careful about which sites you have open.

   For instance, I’ve caught some Safari browser tabs on my iMac pegging the CPU. When I examined the processes, it was some kind of crypto miner which had infected the sites. On a laptop, those tabs would have drained the battery life fast.

   Closing those tabs caused the CPU to ramp down to normal levels. I informed one of the sites of the problems and they denied there was a problem but it was unmistakeable. A few weeks later that site was shut down.

   Large screens and high resolution screens, like 4K screens, will consume the battery faster. It probably helps to not have a spinning HDD but SSDs are not cheap and you may have to swap movies in and out if you don’t have as much storage.

   A travel laptop (so that you have another computer which wouldn’t have to be so energy-efficient) may solve some problems. It could be lighter, wouldn’t need a high resolution webcam and may be easier to carry extra batteries, with the reduced weight.

   An all-in-one laptop approach will require compromises one way or another. Of course, having two laptops (or a travel laptop plus a bigger laptop or desktop for the home office) will be more of a hassle to manage.

   You can sign into a Google account on Chrome in more than one machine and have all your bookmarks, tabs and passwords sync’d, though again, you don’t want to have a lot of tabs open if you want your battery life preserved.

6. ThinkPad X1 Yoga.

7. I just got a Dell Inspiron 13 7000 series 2-in-1. i5 processor (comes in i7), touch screen, metal casing, thin and light, yet still feels sturdy. I liked it better than the XPS and about half the price. Stacked a recent Ebates promo with some coupons. Great deal.

8. so here’s my take on it. the Samsung 10.6 inch tablet i purchased for work and travel uses my same cell phone charger and even charges with a power bank. unfortunately the 12 inch version does not keep pace with power consumption to use a power bank but the 10.6 inch does fine. it come with both keyboard and pen.. fantastic machine for travel. it has an ad card slot and usb c port. i can’t say enough about it. no fan, so it works in dusty environments as well. it’s not a beast but i can’t say enough about how well it has performed for me!

9. Check out the LG gram. Light and long battery life.

10. Sounds like you are describing a MacBook to me. Long battery life, great screen,camera, long battery life, outlook word,excel all work perfectly. You can use Chrome or Firefox, you can get 16 GN ram and 512 ssd. You will easily get 3 to 4 years life usage. By AppleCare and stop in any apple store in the world if you have a problem. Sign up fo their business service ( can’t remember name). They will give you priority treatment.

    If you insist on Windows I have been told Windows 10 is a great os except for the forced updates. This week my MacBook pro would not charge on an American flight my regular MacBook did. Big negative is cost and lack of ports without adapters.

11. I just got this item for my dad and he loves it. If you can find a similar deal on eBay for a barely-used Dell XPS, I would snap it up.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/173197438492

12. cost…… i paid $700… you can now get it for less. $600 i think for the 128 expandable with micro sd card.. i had a conversation with mobiletechreview about it once. but she told me they only send the 12 inch unit out and thats why you can never get a good review on it anywhere. but i’m telling you , for a travel device YOU CANNOT BEAT IT!

13. Sounds like a MacBook Pro.

14. SSD is the must

15. @STVR I did not recommend the MBPro because the batter does not charge easily on the plane unless the 13 inch model does. Plus the large trackpad is annoying and the touch bar is useless.

16. From the model to which you linked on Amazon, I’d seriously consider downgrading the monitor to standard HD for the power savings. If you can deal with 8 GB rather than 16 GB of RAM that might also increase your battery life.

17. XPS 13.. Only thing is camera isnt great but this is a good reason for them to have you inside studio.. spectre or x1 are all good options but xps 13 is clean winner!

18. I also wrote a comment before and it was gone as soon as i posted, lol.
    I recommend something in the lines of the LG gram latest model with 8th gen Intel CPU (you can choose 13, 14 or15 inch). For the things you need they should work perfectly. They are under 1Kg of weight and the batteries are some of the longest lasting.
    This review could help you
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc6ODCqepb8&t=364s (if you cant see it just google lg gram linus)

19. Dell xps and for goodness sake upgrade to windows 10 already.

20. dell xps 13 as others have said.

21. Your intuition is the right one. The newest generation Thinkpad X1 is the way to go. I recently went looking to replace my 2nd gen X1 and after dabbling with the beautiful (but unreliable) Microsoft Surface Laptop and the lower build quality Dell XPS, circled back to a 5th gen Thinkpad X1. No looking back. Definitely go with 16GB of RAM, whether you go i5 or i7. I spent an extra $100 for the gorgeous WHQD screen (but I value screen quality over marginal battery life) — screen quality used to be my main beef with the X1 line compared to MacBooks. As for pricing, if you treat it a bit like shopping for an award ticket, you can score a new one for under $1,000. Between coupons and CB, I got a new / open box from the Lenovo Outlet for $979. Inventory refreshes (and depleted) quickly, so find the config you want, keep it open in a tab and refresh regularly.

22. Mine is a T470..not an ‘s’…I specifically went for this model as the slim line versions are over rated. I have an i7, 20 G memory with the extended battery (72wh.I guess)..And with decent brightness..I get a 12 hrs …I charge over night and would not just charge the rest of the business day all together.

    With that being said..I believe the T480 which is the latest one would be equally or more better than it’s predecessor.

23. I now you said no mac but… mac book air!!. i use parallels softwear for emulator and use windows environment 90% of time. easy to toggle back and forward. Best of both worlds and less chance of corruption and virus. Also great after sales support from Apple everywhere in the world.

24. I am glad to see this request because I, also, am searching for a new laptop with similar requirements.

    I hate hate hate Windows 10 app style interface, so I am running a “skin” or “shell” which can either be made to look like Windows 7 or Windows XP. Mine was a free download, but I donated 🙂

    I always swore to never get a touchcreen, but now I have one, I would never be without. So much easier than fiddling with a mouse, although you still have the option to use one whenever you choose.

    My current laptop is a 12.5″ Asus which has seen a lot of use, and the internal battery is pretty much gone, now only holds a partial charge for 1.5-2 hours. Battery time has come a long way since 2015 and I am eager to see what is suggested for you.

    My daughter has a Macbook Pro and as much as I appreciate the build quality, there are some features I don’t like, and the dependence on Apple products–especially when traveling the globe–can backfire. Here in the US Macbooks are ubiquitous, and we assume that the rest of the world is Apple-centric, but that isn’t true. Just try finding a Macbook charger in a midsize city in Central Europe or Latin America, and you may be stuck. This happened twice to my daughter when she was traveling abroad–once in Oaxaca, Mexico (population over a million), and once in Budapest–and on both occasions I had to Fedex replacements to her.

    By the way I have heard great things about the HP Spectre 360.

25. Don’t forget the Dell Latitude line.

    Personally I’d go with Thinkpad X1 Carbon or Microsoft Surface Book.

    As to battery life, do note that Windows 10 is much more power efficient, ceteris paribus.

26. Definitely XPS.

27. Use founders card discount for lenovo x1 carbon 6th gen. I5 is sufficent for your needs. Use classicshell to get the benefits of win 10 with usability of win 7. Nice thing about x1 is lenovo has now standardized around usb c so one charger to rule them all. Get the thunderbolt docking station and you can pop in and out of your office with 1 cable.

28. No Mac and no Windows 10 will make your choice difficult. I recommend you at least be open to Windows 10. It really isn’t that different from Windows 7 (and I’m a Mac user, so my saying that they aren’t that different is something).

29. HI Gary, what you need is a gaming laptop. The Razer Blade (and other models) will awe you it is so fast. And light, too. Less than 3 pounds. I’ve had one for two years and it’s the best. I log about as much screen time as you do maintaining 800 gigs of website content. George

30. As many have said, not running Windows 10 is undoubtably hammering your battery life, there’s a lot of good power management under the hood in windows 10 (and other up to date OSes), battery life is a key selling point.

    You are also putting yoursef at risk, it’s been out of mainstream support since 2015, so security updates are not going t be a thorough. Not sure what your relationship is with your employer or clients but I would not contract with someone using Windows 7 for my work, it’s too vulnerable.

31. I have two travel laptops. My corporate Dell Latitude battery seems to last forever but most new laptops are going to be on Windows 10. Its not as good as 7 but not that bad. I also have a fairly cheap Lenova Yoga. It is touch screen but it’s tiny. Battery last a long time and although I rarely use it in tablet mode it is very handy on planes since you can fold it over into tablet mode and keep if out gate to gate. Once in the air turn it back to keyboard laptop mode.

32. Gary – consider the Huawei Matebook X Pro (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CTHN94Z)

    13.9″ 3K Touch, 8th Gen i7-8550U, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, GeForce MX150,

33. X1 Yoga would be my choice. Light w plenty of power x1 carbon a close second.

    If only the carbon hadnt gotten rid of its OLED screen…

34. Get a glossy screen. My colleagues (stuck with their dull, matte finish dells) drop their jaws when they see my screen. You’ll be in a plane – who cares about glare assuming you can pull the shade.

    Stay away from 4K screens. Everything will be so tiny you can’t read it, and so the OS suggests you double or triple the res so you can see clearly, which defeats the purpose. Just go 1920×1080 (true HD) and be done with it. But insist on glossy. You won’t regret it.

    1tb SSD – will boot almost instantly and use less power than a spinner. Most new laptops take m.2 or NVMe high performance storage that comes on a “stick” – buy your desire model with a spinning rust drive (saving hundreds) and invest the hundreds and reimage with the largest SSD you can buy for the difference in price.

    Watch out for way souped up models with game graphics cards. I was testing one on a plane and blew the circuit breaker on my seat -find a model with 65w 1 90w max power supply.

    When ordering online make sure the backlit keyboard and fingerprint scanner are included. Usually like a $20 option that can’t be added later.

    Finally, I was a tried and true windows 7 guy. I have fully embraced W10 and haven’t looked back. You’ll get used to it!

35. >I don’t reboot the machine for weeks at a time. I work with a dozen tabs open in Google Chrome and a couple of other applications open, too. I need memory and enough processing speed not to slow me down.

    Change your computing habit. Chrome is notorious at killing battery life. Windows 10 is more efficient. Upgrade to Windows 10. Restart weekly. Switch to Firefox. Don’t keep a dozen tabs open at a time. Pick any or all of the above, whatever works for you.

    I get that you are set in your ways and you want technology to adopt to you, but this is the equivalent of driving a Corolla with a led foot and redlining the engine constantly and want to change a car because you get shit fuel economy. Yes getting a new laptop will help, but if you don’t change your habit it’ll still kill your battery.

    As for laptop recs, Any Thinkpad T-series or the Dell XPS will be fine, but if you don’t use your computer smartly you’ll still go though battery doesn’t matter what fancy machine you get

36. Oh, and turn down the brightness. Bright screen is awesome, but bright screen kills battery. You can’t have it both ways.

37. @ Gary — You sound like my 74-year old mother, who refuses to learn to text on a phone. Get over it and get the stupid Windows 10. You wont even know the difference after a few days. You can turn off the touch screen. For a “decidedly middle aged guy” (in your own words), you are pretty tech savvy, so dont be so stubborn and resistant to change. You will have about 10000x more options for a laptop…

38. ThinkPad (maybe the X270 with the extended battery?) but seriously — Windows 10.

    And don’t get a Dell, the webcam situation won’t be ideal.

39. x270, or Yoga Thinkpad. Make sure the drive is a nvme drive. My Yoga Thinkpad gives me about 9 hour+ with full brightness and heavy workload.

40. Win 10 is fine without touch screen. If you really want, you can use classic shell

    http://www.classicshell.net

    I personally like Samsung Ativ 9 notebooks. I have 2 of them, a 15 inch and a 12. 2 inch. I usually travel with the 12.2 unless I get upgraded in advance but if I only had one I’d compromise and get a 13.3 if Samsung or 14 inch for X1 Carbon.

    Regardless of what brand, get an Intel processor that has leading digit after the – of 8 and 9 for kast digit ie. i5-8259u not i5-8250u or i5-7 something

    That will be the latest “coffee lake” processor

    https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/intel-coffee-lake-faq

    The suffix u processors will be more energy efficient than older models.

41. Even a year ago, I might have been able to understand your aversion to Windows 10. In mid-2018 it’s a Luddite position. You’ll find nothing that truly satisfies your requirements and still runs an unsupported OS like Win 7.

42. Agree with comments. Suggest X1 CARBON. Get an i5 and an SSD.

    Windows 10 will take you a day to learn and then its done.

    Just rip the plaster off already.

43. Really love my Surface Pro 3. It’s light but very powerful and the battery last at least 8 hours (doing regular Word / internet stuff). Microsoft Support was good when the thing didn’t boot up. They offered to send me a new replacement. BTW, I’m still using the same Tom Bihn bag as you!. The best..

44. I didn’t read all the comments so maybe it has already been suggested. I work as a photo editor and last November I ditched the “traditional” laptop and now use a Microsoft Surface Pro for everything. It is AMAZING. It does everything my old laptops did (photoshop, calls, movies, light gaming) and the detachable keyboard is great as a tray table space saver. Added bonus I love using the touchscreen for basic computer maneuvers as simple as paging up/down or clicking buttons instead of using a mouse or worse the trackpad. It’s a subtle difference but so much faster too!

45. One bit of advice. Windows 10 is fine. It is in my opinion a mature yet ever improving OS. Your windows 7 apps will run fine and you can run all windows native apps and dont worry about windows 10 (Native apps from the app store) I think that tradeoff makes sense. And for security purposes moving forward Windows 10.

46. Microsoft has really backed away from the “touch-first” stuff in more recent builds of Windows 10. It’s nothing at all like Windows 8, which was basically a phone OS transposed to PC. You can easily get by without using the Windows Store at all, and remove anything that annoys you about the Start Menu.

    And you really do want the security upgrades and hardening built in to Windows 10. Windows 7 is still in extended support (but only until January 14, 2020), which means it still gets security updates, but even totally updated it lacks many of the more advanced security features that were developed later.

47. A lot of good suggestions from the comments, but one question that’s begging to be asked: WHY do you hate the T460s? Size/bulk? Performance? Screen? Battery life? Brand? Looks? Answering this question would go a long way towards finding a suitable replacement.

    But yes, move to Windows 10. There are emulation options for those apps that simply absolutely require Windows 7.

    I have a Dell XPS 15 9560 purchased during last year’s Black Friday sale. Suits my personal needs down to a T (for the exception of no internal optical drive – have a USB drive on hand for those rare times). I have yet to travel with it so I’m looking forward to taking that along when that time comes.

48. I think the X1 Carbon is the way to go. Make sure it is the later models that charge off of USB-C/TB3 — lots more forward compatibility and you can get external battery packs if necessary. Get the lower res screen to save battery life, no reason to go “retina” sharp for business use. Got my mom one recently who is on the road a bunch too. She loves it. Lightweight, quick and can easily make it across the country on an old LUS A321.

    Also, upgrade to Win 10. You won’t regret it.

49. Check out the Huawei Matebook X Pro. It’s Windows 10 but you’ll need to get used to it if you want a new computer (I prefer it). It’s the PC version of a MacBook and just came out with amazing reviews across the board. It’s out of stock/pre-order for most places right now, but should be available in the next 1-2 weeks. I’m waiting to buy this one too.

50. XPS 13 (9360) unless you want to full dongle mode then 9370.
    You’d need a USB cam.

    Also, you can get an external power brick to power it from Dell for a few extra hours of productivity. Or a third party usb-c power pack (with ‘power delivery’) – this will actually work with a couple other suggestions here to.

51. Gary,
    I’m in a similar situation and was tired of the boat anchors from IT. I got a surface. Its ultra portable, plenty powerful and docks nicely when at home or office. So I used it for a year and then broke down and bought a Macbook. All the guys at work said I’d be sorry losing compatibility, but I have had no issues with MS applications. Just try the macbook- it’s hard to beat for business travel, and I’m a Windows guy.

52. Just to give a reason WHY you wouldn’t choose the XPS, it’s because the camera sits at the bottom rather than the top of the screen, so the angle is awful. Don’t touch. If cam wasn’t an issue, then it would be the machine to go for.

53. Dell XPS 13 with i5 processor, manufacture refurbished from Ebay. Then buy additional warranty for 3 years from Dell website.

54. @phoenix – I thought I was clear on the reason, I hate it because the battery life is terrible

55. @FLN – “who cares about glare assuming you can pull the shade.” I usually take the aisle seat…

56. Gary,
    Buy a razer blade stealth for 1049 usd. It’s not a gaming laptop but an ultraportable. 13.3 inch monitor touchscreen with core i7 -8550u processor with hyper threading1.8ghz/4.0 ghz(base/turbo),16gb ram, Intel uhd graphics 620, 1tb ssd drive. Weighs 2.98 lbs/1.35 kg. It comes with windows 10 . Go for the max extended warranty razer offers for this unit. Just my 2 cents worth.

57. HI Gary ….

    There is a clear winner in this space. Both the positives and negatives have been mentioned above. I bought my XPS 13 – 3 years ago. It is still my full time go to PC.

    Likes:

    * Runs like a hose. Rarely needs rebooted. Very stable hardware. I am still running Windows 8.1 and Office 365.
    * Get at least 8MB of RAM. Very comfortable running this configuration – typically have 10 Chrome pages open.
    * Great Battery life. I found the bottom of this PC’s battery once, and I was broadcasting video wireless for several hours.
    * Get a touch screen – very helpful when reading or on planes.
    * This PC can be used on planes.
    * Display port for the video, – has 2 USB ports.
    * Has solid Case and keyboard.
    * SSD Drive.
    * I bought an i5 – fan rarely comes on.

    Dislike:
    * Camera is positioned low.

    Net – very happy with this PC. And it is now 3 Generations old.

    Also – I own a new Surface – Gen 7 – I5. The 7th generation I5 processor is fanless. Windows 10. Great Battery life also on this PC. The differentiation between the 2 is the surface pen. I love to write notes in meetings in One Note. Works perfect for me – I am basically paperless now. use a blue tooth mouse – saves your single USB port. MIcrosoft keyboard is good also – buy the second level one. Rest of it – Solid and good battery life also.

    If I needed a desktop/laptop again – I would buy another XPS13.

    Also – go to the Microsoft Store … you can test drive everything. they have sales all of the time and I saved $200 on both my Surface and XPS13. Also – clean Windows install – no bloatware.

58. My biggest suggestion: if there’s a Microsoft store near where you live, check the machines there out. They have the best selection of Windows laptops I’ve seen, they’re all functional, the people there are reasonably knowledgeable.

    The Dell XPS 13 is a great machine, but as one poster said before, Gary, it’s NOT for you. The low angle of the camera, as it is mounted on the bottom of the screen will make one look unprofessional on Skype.

    I think the X1 Carbon is the way to go here. I personally wouldn’t worry about the brightness—modern screens are brighter at the same level. But, you may want to try it and use a return policy in case it doesn’t hold up battery-wise.

    A choice out of left field might be the Surface Laptop. It is not a tablet at all, has a touchscreen but you don’t have to use it.

    All of these come with Windows 10, but the tablet features stay out of the way on laptops.

    (And for the Mac suggestions, I’m a loyal Apple user, but I would not recommend the current Macbooks anyway for two reasons: 1) battery life has been reduced; 2) they have a new keyboard technology that is susceptible to stuck keys in the case of crumbs, and for a road warrior that’s likely to happen.)

59. Gary, to answer your question about the processor: definitely get a laptop with an 8th-gen Intel Core processor – generally the best value is the i5-8250U. Intel doubled the number of cores from two to four, but lowered the clock speed, for an overall 50-70% boost in performance over 7th-gen processors. An i5-8250U is much faster than ANY previous-gen U-series processor (the kind used in ultrabooks), including the i7 you have now. There’s no penalty in battery life.

60. Here is what The Wirecutter, a trusted and highly regarded review site, recommends for their top business lap top in 2018: “After considering 30 models and testing 11 in 2018, we think the Lenovo ThinkPad T480s is the best business laptop for people who need one. It has an outstanding keyboard and trackpad and just about every port you could want, it’s easy to upgrade and repair, it’s thinner and lighter than most other business laptops, and its battery life can get you through a workday with no trouble.” https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-business-laptops/

61. Microsoft Surface, XPS 13, Macbook Pro. Others are no competition IMO.

62. I have, and recommend, the HP Spectre x360. It’s small, light, and battery life is excellent. I have the i7 / 16gb RAM version because like you I also use this as my home/office/mobile machine.

    I previously used a Dell XPS 13 – super compact and light, but battery life was not nearly as good and the trackpad was meh.

    The newest HP Spectre x360’s also have a built-in privacy screen you can turn on and off as needed, which I think is a pretty badass feature on top of the great specs.

    http://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/spectrex360/overview.html?jumpid=in_r11260_us/en/psg/premiumfamily/spectre-x360-tab-learn-more-top#spectre-x360-13

63. As a follow up, something to consider is laptops that use USB-C for charging (which the HP laptop I mentioned does). Then (hopefully) your phone and laptop can use the same cable. Even my Verizon hotspot is USB-C now, meaning my 3 key devices can use the same style charging cable. I always have two just in case, but that means you’ve always got a backup, instead of having to carry 3 different ones and being SOL if one breaks.

64. X1 Carbon hands-down, for the following reasons…

    (1) Can work all day, especially if have 6th generation X1 Carbon with 8th generation Intel CPU. You won’t care about the increased speed, but will love working all day without a charge.

    (2) Larger 14″ screen trumps XPS 13″ screen

    (3) Move-able switch to open/close webcam.

    (3) Keyboard as good or better than your T460s, but weighs almost a pound less. I insert a lightweight shoulder bag inside my checkpoint bag so I can carry it around all day.

    (4) You don’t need all the ports offered on the T480s. X1 has HDMI, (2) USB-C/Thunderbolt 3, Ethernet (with optional adapter)

    (5) Unless you already use a touch screen, don’t bother. Keyboard is faster, and cleaner!

    (6) Lenovo selling them for under $1200 on Memorial Day sale.

    –Scott

65. Microsoft Surface Book 15 inch screen, a true laptop, not the tablet — the screen detaches for use as a tablet. Great everything. Check for veteran’s discount with Microsoft if eligible.

66. Gary,
    So many choices.
    Why not go with a custom build shop?

67. +++++1 for the 15″ Surface Book. I have worked in IT for 25+ years and I’ve used hundreds of laptops. It is simply the best machine I have ever used. I cannot recommend it enough. It’s my daily workhorse and the battery lasts a mind-numbingly long time. The screen is gorgeous, the keyboard fantastic, and I have never had a single issue with it. It’s damn expensive as compared to similar models, but it is worth every single penny imho. If cost is no object and you want the best of the best, this is your laptop.

68. I have an HP Elitebook from my employer, it’s been great. I can’t comment much on battery life since I’m typically tethered to an outlet. It’s light, VERY functional (I usually reboot it once every month or so), travels well, and is customizable on HP’s site. I’ve been a Dell fan in the past but this HP laptop rocks…and it replaced a macbook pro that was pretty solid and let me run a windows VM, the HP option is MUCH better.

69. Is go apple – I know you said your a windows guy. We are at the office. My air is dependable, long battery, plays well with everything, handles all you needs, integrated to my iPhone. Just saying. Might be time to make the move.

70. I’m with a lot of the other people telling you to go Mac and never look back. Battery life is amazing and most importantly, it just works. Mine gets rebooted every couple of months at most. I also have an XPS 13 for work. (I work for Dell). If it were not for Windows 10, I would say it was the equal of the Mac. The hardware is great except for the camera location. That is terrible. If you decide to go Dell, reach out to me directly and I’ll get you a discount.

71. I’m on the HP Spectre x360 bandwagon, I own the 13.3 inch model (they have a 156 model also). Someone linked to the page above. I have never had a laptop with the mix of performance, light weight and battery life of this freaking thing. I think one of their selling points is “WORLD’S LONGEST BATTERY LIFE IN A QUAD-CORE CONVERTIBLE”

    Yeah, it’s windows 10, but I’ve found the Classic Shell software (free!) fixes all the annoying Windows 10 “features” and gives you the Windows 7 start menus we all know and love.

73. Strongly agree with recommendations for the HP Spectre line. I have a two year old model and it has been fantastic:
    1) beautiful with polished copper trim
    2) fast with upgraded 512 SSD drives
    3) thin and light
    4) I run Windows 10 pro so that I can encrypt hard drive using bit locker
    5) reasonably good driver, firmware, etc updates from
    HP
    6) good battery life, drawback; my model at least does not have capability to put in extra battery pack

74. Suck it up, bite the bullet. Buy a Mac! I had the same resistance until I did it 2 years ago and now, I just won’t go back to a windows based computer. And, you can get Windows for a Mac. BTW, after 2 years, my battery life is spectacular with virtually no degradation since new. Go ahead, Just do it!

75. I’m a full-time professional Windows developer, and I own a Macbook Pro with and i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD hard drive (used for both work and personal). I run Parallels, which allows me to run Mac OS and Windows at the same time. The battery life is amazing, and so are things like the HD performance, camera, sound speakers, etc.

    Regarding Windows — not rebooting Windows 7 for weeks will absolutely slow down the performance. You should consider rebooting more often.

76. Regarding the camera: If you need to do those Skype interviews and want it to look it’s best, consider getting an external camera which mounts on the top edge. The quality will be so much better than most laptops built-in camera (in part because it’s less restricted by size requirements) and it will usually have a better mic as well. I can’t recommend a specific brand because I’m primarily on the receiving end of other’s using one but the quality difference is significant and the additional weight is very small.

77. If you’re still using Windows 7, then you’re a prime candidate for a Mac. The Apple overlords won’t allow you to run an uber-obsolete (and therefore power-hungry) OS on their jewelry.

    If you were to keep your OS current, then a Lenovo ThinkPad would be my recommendation (better specs than Mac).

78. @Peter Mac

    Absolutely correct. Win 10 runs great on bootcamp which is officially supported by Apple. Gary can stay in Win 10 100% of the time if he desires. The build quality of the Mac fars exceeds any Windows laptop. In addition there is an Apple store in every city in the world Gary visits where he can get great support if something does go wrong.

79. Know however that Windows 7 is about to go unsupported. No new updates meaning no security updates meaning computer open to vulnerabilities. Windows XP, now long out of support, had the same issue with people not wanting to upgrade. I’ve used a MacBook Pro for two years now (after 25 years with Windows computers) and after a bit of transition am happy. Great battery life and goes everywhere I go.

80. The Lenovo T480 (not T480S) with 14 hours battery life is my recommendation. The X1 and T480s may seem better, but the T480 battery is very compact and can be replaced while the computer is plugged in..
    Windows 10 is here to stay. So, go through the learning curve. Its much less than the Mac learning curve. The right PC guy will show you how to connect to WiFi without using Access Connections, as well as the other differences from Win7.
    Get the 4G LTE card for always on internet.
    If you need 1TB, a good reseller will upgrade the Storage before sending it to you. They may even configure it for you, but you will need to move all your data, so that wont be very useful.
    The most important criteria I hear is battery life. And end user replaceable battery is very important, a feature not common in most notebooks, except Lenovo. As the battery life deteriorates, either from running it down one to many times or just a lot of use, or if you just forget to recharge it when you could have, you will want to replace it and keep on going. So, don’t get cornered into a non-user replaceable battery if you don’t have to.
    The weight, excluding additional battery and power supply is about 3.5 lbs. Add 8 oz for a 2nd battery and 8 oz for the power supply, and you are still under 5 lbs.
    Skip the Storage upgrade, stay with 512GB or save even more and just get 256GB storage, and use the savings to buy the Lenovo 4 year worldwide warranty, next business day with accidental damage protection for $270. The specific Lenovo model is: 20L50010US but there are several cheaper variations with equivalent resolution, features, warranty, and battery life, so this is the top end model.
    Please tell me you have a backup service in case of lost computer or corrupted data. If not, keep the T460s, replace the battery, clean the fan (compressed air) and buy the online backup service.
    Contact me if you want personal service from a retailer that can provide a custom product a little better than Amazon or Costco.
    Win10, you will quickly appreciate the features, the security, the ability to tie it to your mobile devices, and its similarity to Win7.
    I am surprised Dell isn’t your first choice given your proximity to … Dell HQ..

81. If the only thing you hate is the battery, replace the battery.

    Otherwise if you insist on not owning the best hardware for an essential part of your life (i.e. a Mac, which you can run Windows on), get an XPS13 and a small external camera. Do not get a Lenovo.

82. https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/29/17396818/huawei-matebook-x-pro-laptop-review-specs-price

    “HUAWEI’S NEW MATEBOOK X PRO IS THE BEST LAPTOP RIGHT NOW
    You won’t find another laptop with more bang for your buck”

    https://youtu.be/pAMDtXUnrUo

83. Huawei the best way for China to watch everything you do

84. Late to the party, but will put in another vote for the X1 Carbon.
    I have the 2017 model, and get fantastic battery life, even in Linux (~

    HDMI, 2x “regular” type A USB ports, and 2x USB-C ports are great. Fully compatible with current Macbook chargers, accessories, and monitors over USB-C — so there’s almost always a charger nearby, and my phone charges over USB-C too, letting me just use my laptop charger for my phone too.

    Great keyboard, trackpad and trackpoint, incredibly light and durable (including the power adapter).
    Cons: microSD card reader is idiotic placement (you need a SIM ejection tool to get to it!), maxes out at 16gb ram, can’t [easily] open with one hand (common for lightweight laptops).

    Would strongly recommend looking at this review:
    https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Carbon-2018-WQHD-HDR-i7-Laptop-Review.284682.0.html
    It’s a German site (in English) that does the best laptop reviews, so I’d look at it for other laptops you’re considering. Much of it may be unnecessarily technical, but check out things like fan noise level, temperature info (including IR pictures of which part of the laptops get hot), more practical battery life estimates based on usage types, and screen performance in outside/natural light settings.. plus plenty of other info.

85. Don’t be afraid of Win 10. 8 was lame but 10 is actually great, just a short adjustment period. Would never go back.

    you got to reboot more than that. Just have to. Win or Mac. Bad habit you have to change.

86. How about a free fix: try upgrading to Windows 10 and see whether you still have terrible battery life after that. Windows 7 is very old and can’t take advantage of new power management features in today’s hardware.