Holiday 2011 Laptop Buyer’s Guide
by Jarred Walton on December 2, 2011 3:45 AM ESTThat’s a Wrap
And that just about does it for our laptop holiday buyer’s guide. Obviously this is mostly one man’s opinion, and some areas are rather subjective. I’ve also skirted the whole Black Friday madness and largely avoided digging around for door buster sales. I’m sure you can find some great deals on other laptops if you look around, and if you’re not looking for anything more than a typical consumer laptop a lot of the differences start to blur together. Fact is, outside of gaming and certain CPU intensive tasks (tasks which a lot of people still don’t do, e.g. video transcoding), for a lot of users any reasonable laptop made after 2007 is still “fast enough”. That’s where the discussion of build quality comes into play.
I’ve got a Core 2 Duo laptop that’s perfectly fine as far as performance is concerned, but the hinges are wearing out. I have plenty of friends that ran into the exact same problem with Core Duo/Core 2 Duo or Athlon/Turion X2 laptops—blown hinges and cracking plastic cases. Battery life and performance have certainly improved over the years, but if you’re normally plugged in that’s not a major concern. It’s hard for me to imagine something coming along in the next five years (outside of gaming and video editing) where a modern Core i5 or even AMD A6 laptop will prove to be too slow. The HD video revolution was the last major bump in requirements; if all you’re doing is surfing the web and writing email, plus some Office applications, 2004-era hardware can handle it. We’ve hit a plateau, and build quality and display quality are the areas that seem to have the most problems right now as far as laptop longevity is concerned.
5000+ words later and I still feel like there are plenty of other mobile laptops that we could mention. One area I didn’t get into was the difference between business and consumer laptops. I’ve been the head laptop reviewer at AnandTech since 2006, and something that has become very clear to me over the past five years is how much of a gap we frequently see between the business and consumer models. Consumer models typically offer more in the way of graphics performance, often at lower prices, but I’ve got several laptops that have been around for at least three years and the hinges are all feeling very loose. I’ve also used some ThinkPad and Latitude laptops that are even older where the hinges are still doing fine. Plus, nearly all business laptops still give you a matte display; not everyone prefers anti-glare, but I certainly do.
Business and/or school for the next five years: Lenovo ThinkPad T420 for $950
It may seem like a small thing, and if you upgrade laptops every couple of years it probably won’t matter as much, but if you’re looking for a laptop that can last through four years of college I would strongly recommend passing on gaming and consumer laptops and going for a business laptop instead. My top three picks are all similar in terms of size and features: the Lenovo ThinkPad T420 ($950 for the 1600x900 model with the current sale), the Dell Latitude E6420 ($1172 with an i5-2520M, 6GB RAM, 1600x900 premium panel, and Quadro NVS 4200M), and the HP EliteBook 8460p (no sales on this one currently, so you end up paying a lot more compared to the T420 and E6420—around $1800 right now). As long as you get the 1600x900 LCD upgrade (all three laptop offer such a display), I’d be happy with any of these three business laptops. You get a good keyboard, great build quality, and an attractive design; yes, they cost more than consumer models, but that’s because they’ll last a lot longer. I’d recommend going with whichever laptop costs the least, which means right now the ThinkPad T420 would get my vote.
There are some other topics I never quite got to as well, like 3D displays. Let me put this succinctly: fuggedaboutit! Watching a 3D movie at the theater or on a large HDTV is one thing; on a laptop, though? Seriously, what are you going to do: whip out your stylish 3D glasses to watch a movie while you’re on a plane? Sit in the library on campus, again with the glasses? Certainly you’re not going to be playing any 3D games, because you’d really need a GTX 580M just to reach playable frame rates in most titles. But I’m curious: are there any readers that actually like 3D displays on notebooks? Okay, sure, the 120Hz refresh rates would actually be nice, but does anyone want to view 3D content on a notebook? I’ve tried it and was not impressed; if you disagree, please let me know where I’ve gone astray!
There are still a lot of laptops out there that I haven’t had a chance to test. I can tell you that every time I wander through a Walmart, Costco, Target, etc. I’ll take a minute to go bang on some laptops—it drives my wife crazy! What I’ve found is that the consumer laptops stocked by such stores have all been chasing the bottom dollar, and the result is that build quality and display quality are in the dumps. I can’t remember the last time I saw a laptop with a decent display at any of the local stores. Ironically, the tablet revolution is at least getting manufacturers to focus on their displays more, but while we’ve got 1280x752 IPS panels in several tablets (and we’re talking about 2560x1600 tablets in the next couple of years!), we still get shelves full of 1366x768 TN panel laptops. So, my final request this holiday season is for the laptop manufacturers to take a chance and start offering $100 display upgrades on more of your systems. I know I’d happily pay $1000 for a good 1080p 15.6” laptop rather than $850 for a 15.6” 768p display, and I’m not the only one. If you build it, we will come—and our reviews in the next year will continue to praise the companies that get the importance of a display.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
88 Comments
View All Comments
aranyagag - Friday, December 2, 2011 - link
I am also holding on to my core 2 duo until it either gives up the ghost or I get a taller screenHrel - Friday, December 2, 2011 - link
Gonna have to disagree on the midrange gaming laptop.http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Xplorer_X6-9300...
I have for some time, and continue to believe this is simply the best laptop per dollar you can buy right now.
JarredWalton - Saturday, December 3, 2011 - link
That's practically the same as our W150HRQ recommendation in many ways, only without Optimus and with a faster GPU. However, it's also $1200+ where we linked an ASUS G53SX going for under $1000. The Clevo P151HM is potentially faster, but having reviewed the P151HM I can say that the keyboard quality and overall build quality are nothing special. I would rather have the ASUS.Hrel - Saturday, December 3, 2011 - link
Jarred, you and everyone else at Anand are always going on about laptop screens. How can you recommend the Asus when you know the screen is bog standard? Yes it's 1080p, which helps. But viewing angles, contrast, color accuracy, all those are areas where Asus consistently and inexplicably goes with a sub-par display.Hrel - Saturday, December 3, 2011 - link
Also to clarify, from my perspective money isn't a concern as much as bang/buck is. And I care a great deal about the screen. I will say, while I'm satisfied with the quality of the speakers on the P151 Clevo, they could be louder. My only other complain though is the 10 key, the 0 needs to be moved over, if that means shrinking the arrow keys that's fine with me; then make the enter key larger or move it to the left. Build quality however and the rest of the keyboard, and tactile feedback, I find very impressive. I bought this laptop after asking you if I should get this or the MSI actually. You said Clevo or Asus, I went with the Clevo and couldn't be happier with it.JarredWalton - Saturday, December 3, 2011 - link
My understanding is the G53SX has models in both matte and glossy, and that those are all higher contrast displays. However, I can't say for sure as ASUS is clearly sourcing from multiple vendors. Right now, I only know of two matte 1080p 15.6" LCD panels, both from AU Optronics and both good quality. One is high color gamut and the other is standard sRGB, and I would be happy with either one.If you've personally seen the G53SX and it does not have a decent contrast (e.g. it has a very poor black level), let me know, but the information I was able to dig up suggests the 1080p models are better than average displays.
Hrel - Saturday, December 3, 2011 - link
Oh, also the GTX560M is the slowest GPU I'd accept. It is a shame it doesn't have Optimus, especially since it's supported. But the battery life is quite impressive, in my own uses.pepperoni - Friday, December 2, 2011 - link
Jarred - I was a little surprised by your dismissal of 3D panels on notebooks. I have never seen a 120Hz display, but I have been intrigued ever since I read this review by your colleague:"[It] was my first exposure to 120Hz refresh displays that aren’t CRTs, and the difference is about as subtle as a dump truck driving through your living room. I spent the first half hour seriously just dragging windows back and forth across the desktop - from a 120Hz display to a 60Hz, stunned at how smooth and different 120Hz was. Yeah, it’s that different." --Brian Klug 8/7/10
Your critique of mobile 3D has mainly centered on the lack of utility -- a point I completely agree with. Like you, I have zero interest in viewing any 3D games or movies on a notebook (or in my living room or in a theater, for that matter), but if 120Hz benefits the 2D experience half as much as Brian Klug claims, it sounds great.
The Toshiba A665-3DV you reviewed had crappy resolution and low contrast. I'm thinking about Dell's XPS 17 with 1080p 3D. Do you think 120Hz is a worthwhile upgrade for someone like me who hates 3D?
snuuggles - Friday, December 2, 2011 - link
I agree. I own an hn274h for 2d only, it makes a significant difference in my day to day activity and game playing. Everything just feels... Crisper? I'm not sure how to describe itOne reason they might not want to do it it power use, I'm guessing if it's running twice as fast it'll use more juice. But the truth is that there's simply no market for better displays--witness all the 13" 1360x768 60hz tn panels on supposed high end ultra books. The average consumer is idiotic.
Hey, not to put too fine a point on it, but our own jarred recommended the UTTERLY worthless ux31 based from what I can only guess is on the looks and specs. Certainly anyone who tried to use it to work would instantly find the keyboard--the single biggest differentiating factor between this and a tablet--completely unusable due to the short throw and stiff action of the keys
Sorry Jarred, you blew it big time. I'm not normally this harsh to an individual, but you need to hear this: it is unacceptable for you to recommend something based on specs alone
JarredWalton - Saturday, December 3, 2011 - link
Two things for you. First, here's the last part of my paragraph dismissing 3D: "Okay, sure, the 120Hz refresh rates would actually be nice, but does anyone want to view 3D content on a notebook?" I like the idea of 120Hz displays for non-3D purposes, but unfortunately you have to pay for all the 3D rigmarole to get there (e.g. glasses, emitter, etc.) and you generally can't get 120Hz displays unless you go with NVIDIA GPUs.Second, and this is specifically for snuuggles, I've got the UX31E sitting on my test bench right now. I can tell you the expected battery life and the performance. Given that it's an ultrabook, going outdoors into brightly lit environments is a very likely use case. A 500 nit display is going to be very useful. Would I prefer higher contrast? Of course, but at least the resolution is better than the competition. But you weren't talking about the display.... [To be continued!]