New Laptop needed
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I like the HP Elitebooks. To get in your budget, you'd have to find a used one, but I've had pretty good luck with them. My travel laptop is a HP Elitebook Folio 9470m. I don't like the small screen, but I like everything else. Light weight, SSD, 8GB RAM, i5, thinner than a dime. You can also dock it and run dual monitors, etc. Some of the newer models let you run dual monitors and the laptop screen for a total of 3 screens.
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@thwr said in New Laptop needed:
Still like the Lenovo Yogas. Pretty good hardware.
Yeah, I know, bloatware and spyware. Never ever use a preinstalled operating systems
It was worse than just bloatware and spyware - Lenovo actually keyed the hardware in the case of the Wireless NIC to not work with non Lenovo drivers - i.e. the ones that included the spyware, AND
they included a BIOS add-on that auto-installed Lenovo's own updater software.While I have less of an issue with the second issue (mainly because the newer systems were designed to do this and Lenovo just took advantage of it), the first issue makes them completely untrustworthy.
I love the hardware I have from them from 2+ years ago too - having no other light weight laptop experience since then (I'm buying Probooks for my office and they are anything but ultrabooks), so I have no idea what is good out there.
I guess I'll end this by saying, don't buy a consumer model. Buy a Probook or Elitebook from HP, or whatever Dell's business class is. I think Toshiba still has a business class line - as for the rest (Acer, Asus, etc) I have no clue if they have a business class line.
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@thwr said in New Laptop needed:
Yeah, I know, bloatware and spyware. Never ever use a preinstalled operating systems
Makes no difference. People keep repeating his to cover up that it is NOT the software that is stealing your data in Lenovo devices. That's why it is a special case that we give zero allowances for using - because reinstalling the OS does not protect you.
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Didn't know yet. So it's built into the hardware?
Any sources at hand?
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...is this just related to consumer devices or also to ThinkPads?
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I have a Samsung Ultra that's pretty decent, but it's a few years old and I'm constantly in fear it will explode on me at any minute.
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@thwr said in New Laptop needed:
...is this just related to consumer devices or also to ThinkPads?
As far as I know it was only the consumer brands.
I can't quickly find a link talking about the driver locking - but Scott and I both have first hand experience with it. and I read tons of forum threads about the problem when I was having my problem. -
@thwr said in New Laptop needed:
Didn't know yet. So it's built into the hardware?
Any sources at hand?
https://darait.co.uk/2015/08/lenovo-another-security-hole-found/
If even I'm publishing about it..it's bad
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@Dashrender said in New Laptop needed:
@thwr said in New Laptop needed:
...is this just related to consumer devices or also to ThinkPads?
As far as I know it was only the consumer brands.
I can't quickly find a link talking about the driver locking - but Scott and I both have first hand experience with it. and I read tons of forum threads about the problem when I was having my problem.They reclassified at least 3 lines of equipment the week before they announced Superfish. So, yeah, technically all "business" class equipment were fine, so long as you didn't have something that got reclassified.
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@Dashrender said in New Laptop needed:
@thwr said in New Laptop needed:
...is this just related to consumer devices or also to ThinkPads?
As far as I know it was only the consumer brands.
I can't quickly find a link talking about the driver locking - but Scott and I both have first hand experience with it. and I read tons of forum threads about the problem when I was having my problem.We really shouldn't forget the BIOS level remote support tool, that used the same password for every single Lenovo. The "fix"? Change the password. I haven't seen any research into weather it's still a single password for every machine since.
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Ok, thanks guys. I thought this was about SuperFish, but it seems to be about abusing UEFI and MS anti-theft to keep an installer around. Pretty bad that UEFI got plenty of space...
Don't want to hijack this thread, but this is really a big problem for us. We got huge discounts on Lenovo equipment in the past, but I can't be sure anymore if the next version of ThinkPads or Business Yogas will have this "feature" too.
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@thwr said in New Laptop needed:
Ok, thanks guys. I thought this was about SuperFish, but it seems to be about abusing UEFI and MS anti-theft to keep an installer around. Pretty bad that UEFI got plenty of space...
Don't want to hijack this thread, but this is really a big problem for us. We got huge discounts on Lenovo equipment in the past, but I can't be sure anymore if the next version of ThinkPads or Business Yogas will have this "feature" too.
I don't recall any specific articles about Lenovo and superfish specifically about keying the hardware. Scott and myself found this through personal experience. Lenovo did release replacement NIC drivers that didn't have Superfish inside it.
Lenovo's lying about it then only after being crucified in the media actually changing it - this makes them untrustworthy basically forever more.
I suppose the only way they can dig themselves out of this whole is if the company is whole bought out by someone new, and the entire top several tiers of management are fired.
Then after that scandal, they have two more scandals in less than a year. Again, I personally mostly give them a pass on the UEFI thing because it was a 'feature' of UEFI and MS OSs.
But what's completely unforgivable is the targeting of consumers and the avoidance of businesses. It was clear from the models that got this crap vs those that didn't that there was thought and malice behind these decisions against the privacy of Lenovo's consumer customers. -
@Dashrender said in New Laptop needed:
Lenovo's lying about it then only after being crucified in the media actually changing it - this makes them untrustworthy basically forever more.
No matter what class of Lenovo machine you buy. I simply won't buy anything from them, nor will my wife or child, or anybody that listens to what I say.
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@thwr said in New Laptop needed:
Ok, thanks guys. I thought this was about SuperFish, but it seems to be about abusing UEFI and MS anti-theft to keep an installer around. Pretty bad that UEFI got plenty of space...
Don't want to hijack this thread, but this is really a big problem for us. We got huge discounts on Lenovo equipment in the past, but I can't be sure anymore if the next version of ThinkPads or Business Yogas will have this "feature" too.
It's about who Lenovo is st their core. Your enemy. Not a normal company with bloat ware.
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Considering these Dell options:
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To which I am leaning toward the New Inspiron 13 5000 2-in-1
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@gjacobse said in New Laptop needed:
To which I am leaning toward the New Inspiron 13 5000 2-in-1
All of them look decent, just please, swap that rust out for an SSD
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@travisdh1 said in New Laptop needed:
@gjacobse said in New Laptop needed:
To which I am leaning toward the New Inspiron 13 5000 2-in-1
All of them look decent, just please, swap that rust out for an SSD
Been thinking of that... but the 'best' drive I see is the
Samsung 850 EVO which adds another $130 to the over all cost.
I WAS going to put the SSD in the laptop I have, and the Netbook (not a 500GB).. but sheesh..I"m not made of money.
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338-BJRK 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-7200U Processor (3M up to 3.10 GHz) Cache 619-AHCR Windows 10 Pro (64bit) English 1 - - 658-BCSB Microsoft(R) Office 30 Days Trial 525-0033 McAfee LiveSafe Consumer 12 Month Subscription 658-BCCO McAfee(R) 30day Trial 525-0052 Adobe Acrobat Standard DC 370-ACRZ 8GB DDR4 (1x8GB) 400-AAXP 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive 391-BCST 15.6-inch HD (1366 x 768) Truelife LED-Backlit Display 998-CCJK Fixed Hardware Configuration 210-AIXV Inspiron 15 5000 Series (Intel) - 5567 583-BDGJ Backlit Keyboard 490-BDHD Intel® HD Graphics 612-BBCK 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.2 Dual Band 2.45 GHz 1x1 Wireless Driver 429-AAJV Tray load DVD Drive (Reads and Writes to DVD/CD) 555-BCJN 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.2 Dual Band 2.4&5 GHz 1x1 470-AACI Power Cord 125V 1M US 631-AAZP Windows System Driver 340-BINM Placemat Documentaiton 320-BBYH LCD Back Cover for Non-Touch Screen with HD Camera- Fog Gray 328-BCJH Shipping Material 389-BLKQ Intel HD Graphics 389-BLNV Palmrest Label for Non-Touch HD Screen (English) 450-AEHK 45 Watt AC Adapter 451-BBVN 42WHr 3-Cell Battery (Integrated) 332-1286 US Order 332-1530 Dell.com Order 389-BKKG Energy Star Label$718
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@gjacobse said in New Laptop needed:
$718
Use the drive that is in it until you find a good deal on an SSD.
