In the market for Laptops?

[HeadlessHorseman]

My old laptop (god rest her soul) has recently died and I am looking for a replacement, I wont repair the old laptop as she has seen plenty of warfare in my highschool years and I plan on gutting her insides for parts for diy builds.
Looking at the market tho I cant seem to find any standardized options, any laptop I look at is a monster machine one generation and then gets downgraded to a chromebook in the next.

Any good options, budget is 1700 NZD at the moment but I will try and bargain my way down to under 1k, second hand items will be considered, this will be used for mainly workstation and uni activities so graphics are less than important, 16gb ram min (or 8gb with upgrade option), storage is not limited as i will be using external drives anyway.

Thanks gh

[Leslieann]

The only new laptop I'd consider is Framework but I have a really hard time buying or recommending new laptops and phones as not only are you walking into a minefield, I prefer to know common problems before I buy as some like my Dell are really bad but I HAAAAATE the idea of carrying around something so fragile and expensive.

My standard recommendation....
Lenovo T470 and T480 (note, no S or P in the model name) with a Core I5, 16gb ram, an SSD and a 1080p screen (beware the 1366x768 models which are super common).
If you're on a budget get the T470, if you want more speed, get the T480, which will have a quad core, you can even buy a nice T470 to start and then buy a gutted T480 and swap your parts over later without spending  much more than just buying a T480 now. T480 works with Win11, though Lenovo has at least some T470 running it, personally, I don't think it matter much and at these prices, you can upgrade again later when the T480 drops in price.

Why these?
They're nice units, tough, well made, easy to find and parts are common and dirt cheap. Are they as fast as something new, no, but they're new enough to not be slow either.

[fohat.digs]

Lenovo T470 and T480 (note, no S or P in the model name)

Off-topic  ....  my seldom-used but very dependable old T440p has been great, but I thought that I understood that the "p" was the superior version?

[Leslieann]

Lenovo T470 and T480 (note, no S or P in the model name)

Off-topic  ....  my seldom-used but very dependable old T440p has been great, but I thought that I understood that the "p" was the superior version?

They're all pretty similar and an absolute ton of parts interchange.

S= Slim
P=(?)Power
Slim and non-lettered use a soldered cpu, the S is built to be a thinner version, that means less cooling, less ram, drive slots (the 470 holds 3 drives) and depending on the year, battery.
Power uses a socketed cpu, which means it can be upgraded, however upgrades are often insanely priced. They are also a bit thicker and much more power hungry and so they have beefier cooling system.  P also used to include a used to include a dvd/cdrom and sometimes offer a dedicated, though low powered GPU (not for gaming!).

It's not that the P or S is inherently bad (there's very few actually bad Thinkpads!), the difference between the non-lettered and the S is almost nothing, like a mm or two, the weight isn't much different and they run hotter, they've just kind of lost their purpose in my opinion. The P on the other hand uses more power, and while they are faster and run cooler most of the time, they're heavier and in my experience neither the P or the S justifies the downsides for most people. If you have a need or can get a better deal on one, go for it, but in most cases the standard version is the way to go.

Also keep in mind, how much they differ changes year to year, sometimes one had a second battery, other years they had a dedicated GPU, other times more drive slots or ports so it kind of depends on the exact generation as to whether the S or P is justifiable and I just find the plain models to work well 99% of the time for people just wanting a good solid laptop. I try to keep it simple unless they have a specific need.

[HeadlessHorseman]

The only new laptop I'd consider is Framework but I have a really hard time buying or recommending new laptops and phones as not only are you walking into a minefield, I prefer to know common problems before I buy as some like my Dell are really bad but I HAAAAATE the idea of carrying around something so fragile and expensive.

My standard recommendation....
Lenovo T470 and T480 (note, no S or P in the model name) with a Core I5, 16gb ram, an SSD and a 1080p screen (beware the 1366x768 models which are super common).
If you're on a budget get the T470, if you want more speed, get the T480, which will have a quad core, you can even buy a nice T470 to start and then buy a gutted T480 and swap your parts over later without spending  much more than just buying a T480 now. T480 works with Win11, though Lenovo has at least some T470 running it, personally, I don't think it matter much and at these prices, you can upgrade again later when the T480 drops in price.

Why these?
They're nice units, tough, well made, easy to find and parts are common and dirt cheap. Are they as fast as something new, no, but they're new enough to not be slow either.

Looking at the local second hand site I found a t480 for 500nzd
How’s that going

[Leslieann]

Looking at the local second hand site I found a t480 for 500nzd
How’s that going

I'm not sure if that's good or bad.
Based strictly on exchange rate, with a little effort, you should be able to get a decent 8gb I5 model for about 250nzd and a 16gb model for about 400nzd but that's just based on exchange rate which doesn't always reflect local market pricing. Also you may need to pay a bit more to feel comfortable with a seller or get a nicer one so that price might be pretty good for your market.

Just look around, you should be able to get a pretty good idea of going rates (also make sure it comes with the charger).