Could anyone advice on a budget laptop with a good display functions? Mainly for watching movies and doing some basic photo editing.
Hopefully some computer geeks out there and hopefully right group this time
Thank you in advance.
Hello,
What is your budget?
Hello rainer-d, the budget is not so big...600-700CHF, I know its not the best budget for what I need, but hoping to find the best option from worst
I'd make it 879 and get a M1 MacBook Air.
https://www.toppreise.ch/preisvergle...101?selsort=rd
Or try to get a used one with warranty on Ricardo. Though the prices are often not worth the hassle, TBH.
Windows consumer laptops are often...suboptimal. For various reasons.
Wannabe open-source hardliner here, with a strong experience in amateur editing of photo starting from the RAW files, to avoid as much as possible the camera-embedded processing.
In 2015, my employer provided me my first MacBook (~1500 francs value, with so-called Retina display). I hated it, I could not understand how it worked, I could not understand how to type Germanic ümläüt and àll thê letters that my Latin-based language imposes to my writing to family and friends.
And let’s not forget the cumbersome file explorer, the lack of true right button, the disruption you may get with updates.
A couple of months later, however, I was still fighting with basic things (the umlaut, yes, who knew you just need to push for 2 seconds the relevant vowel?!) but I was so happy with the display that it was still a great machine.
2021: my employer provided me a Windows laptop (~2000francs, big name for professional laptop). I already suspected it would be a bad experience. Terrible screen, poor colors, questionable resolution.
May 2022: the 2015 MacBook is still my working horse and my private laptop of choice. Battery lasts 1h30 instead of 5hours ... but I used it daily for 7 years.
My experience is just one personal experience, but if you try to get the same screen quality on a non-Apple laptop , you have to spend always 1k more than the equivalent Mac hardware (please correct me if I am wrong).
Final remark: on an Apple screen photo looks gorgeous ... but it does not mean the same photo on another screen or printed will be as gorgeous, I suspect there is some eye-pleasing enhancement ... I trust and at the same time despise engineers for mediating every aspect of our life !
If you are searching for a new computer, the options are a bit limited.
As you want to do some media editing and naturally use this device for many years, an important spec will be memory. In 2022, the 16GB of RAM is absolute minimum. Anything below is suffering.
Few findings from online retailers:
- HP G8 (Windows 11, Ryzen 5, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 15,4" FHD screen)
On this machine the screen is average, but considering price, it being well under 2 kg and having decent stats, it'd say it's a very nice budget machine that will definitely last you. Here is a review .
- Dell Vostro (Windows 10, Ryzen 5, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 15,4" FHD screen)
This is very similar to the previous model, but has a better graphics chip which may interest you, since you wish to do some multimedia editing.
Windows10 can also be freely upgraded to 11 at no cost, and I can personally vouch for Vostros being durable. Here's a review .
And in case you're OK with used machines, you can nab some really powerful laptops with 700 already.
The best Windows machine is just very slightly out of range (XPS 15) on buy-now but you might get lucky on auctions, which I recommend.
I've been using XPS machines because of their screens.
4K UHD with maximum brightness is quite amazing for movies and video editing.
They also come naturally with 16GB RAM, and powerful i7 processors. They are very light, full aluminum body like MacBooks, and even have carbon-fiber palmrest.
- XPS 15 auction #1
- XPS 15 auction #2
How about this MacBook Pro for. Fr.700 (and this being Tutti, never pay the asking price...)
Full disclosure: I've been using Apple products since about 1982.
I'm currently using a 13" MacBook Pro I got in 2014. I use it for everything - work (I'm a programmer), editing movies and photos, usual internet stuff, etc... My previous laptop was a 17" MacBook Pro that lasted for (I believe) 9 years before I gave it to a friend.
I've never had any other laptop (such as the Windows ones given to me by various places of work) last anywhere near as long as any Mac laptop.
I wholeheartedly support rainer_d's suggestion of the M1 MacBook Air. (My wife's MacBook Air is 6 years old and still works perfectly.) You're going to spend a little more now for a computer that will last much longer and perform much better over that time.
Just my $.02.
I am going to suggest looking at iPads, really. They have some great photo editing software out there, they super portable [get a good case, like griffin] and usually less then a laptop.
Obviously I am talking about Apple, not windows.
if you can comprise on the portability side; does it really need to be a laptop, an M1 mini-mac is a great solution too. Maybe you've already got a keyboard and/or monitor you can use with it... and/or upgrade bits'n'pieces over time; like better screen, better mouse, better keyboard.
2560 * 1600 pixels on a screen with 13.3" diagonal yields ~227 PPI, at 879 CHF.
Retina displays have just high pixel density (>200 pixels per inch - PPI) and it's a trademark of Apple. Laptops with similar displays are marketed as OLED 3.5K or 4K. Anyway, I cannot believe myself I'm writing this...Apple price is competitive.
Similar Asus ZenBook with screen 2800*1800 pixels, 14", 242 PPI is at 1'000 CHF. Only difference is that Asus has twice as much RAM (16GB) and twice as much storage capacity (512GB).
Asus zenbooks have good screens. I think that, beyond the raw numbers, they are on par with Apples display in mitigating eye strains... and in fact the regular price of the zenbook you linked is 1500.
1000 francs for that display with that memory and storage is a very good deal. If the touchpad is as comfy as the Apple one, it is an excellent deal.
if you can stretch your budget
I am selling an LG gram 17
You have provided very little useful detail. What size laptop do you want, 15"? This fits your budget and has an ok screen and plenty of processing power https://www.interdiscount.ch/de/comp...d--p0002958984
Go and look at laptops in Media Markt and build an idea of what you want and which brand suits you in terms of comfort (keyboard etc).
By 'stretch', you mean double?
What do you consider basic photo editing? Anything with an i5 gen. 11 proc. & Iris Xe will probably be more than adequate.
Digitec day deal looks good. Got this for myself the last time it was on sale. Does a fine job.
https://www.digitec.ch/de/s1/product...ebook-16197978
Also updates to 11 no problem.
Thanks everybody for your valuable replies, suggestions and links. It helped me a lot in finding out preferable options for my laptop.
I personally prefer apple displays, I had apple laptop before and I loved it, but I am not using it for more then 10 years now (was stolen) and I do not miss confusions between my home laptop layout and working computer, which was never apple.
So long story short I have chosen Lenovo Ideapad 5 Pro https://www.microspot.ch/de/computer...E&gclsrc=aw.ds
Price/display, etc. functions are best for my needs. 350nits and colors seem to be very good for this price range according to the reviews.
If you are interested, you are welcome to look at the link above and give your opinion.
Thank you for your help once again, really appreciated!