2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level
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I have 13 inch Dell XPS for work and a 13 inch HP Spectre for home use. I prefer the HP Spectre for its great battery life, although the XPS has more horsepower.
I find that battery life > horsepower when traveling alot. I would be surprised if the C level truly needs horsepower and graphics to do what he/she needs.
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@IRJ said in 2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level:
I have 13 inch Dell XPS for work and a 13 inch HP Spectre for home use. I prefer the HP Spectre for its great battery life, although the XPS has more horsepower.
I find that battery life > horsepower when traveling alot. I would be surprised if the C level truly needs horsepower and graphics to do what he/she needs.
Good point - stick with an i5 or even an i3 if possible, avoid the i7.
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Good point - stick with an i5 or even an i3 if possible, avoid the i7.
Yes, this is very true. The core i7 is going to be overkill. Thanks for pointing that out.
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Right now I'm between a Surface Book 2 and a Dell Latitude 7390. I will be pricing these out with docking stations and researching these further.
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@Dashrender said in 2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level:
@magicmarker said in 2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level:
What about when the C-level is working from home. They are used to connecting their notebooks to docking stations that have dual monitor setups. Is there a particular model that is better suited for this?
I just did my first foray into docking stations. I picked up HP Elitebook 850 and HPs thunderbolt dock. We've only had one working for one day so far (deployed on Friday - but no real use yet)... That said - on my test bench, it setup super easy and worked without issue.
I've had other docks in the past that were a HUGE PITA, but that was 10+ years ago.
Also, 6 months ago for the boss - I setup a SP6 with MS docking station, other than some user error (because it went home and I didn't plug it all in for them) it's been working OK.
We've had so much grief with the Dell Thunderbolt TB16 unit it's not funny. BSODs galore especially on the cr*ppy Realtek NIC driver built-in to the dock.
Firmware updates have been hit and miss.
All of them have been deployed with Precision 7530 series and later laptops with a fresh Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit.
We was disappointed when we were told that we'd be ordering them instead of a proper dock. Our disappointment was warranted.
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For the Dells, the newest dock (WD19 IIRC) is much better (than the WD15) based on preliminary testing and a couple that we've deployed so far. I'll strongly suggest getting the version with the 180W power so as to minimize the chances of your user having to connect the dock and the laptop's power if he's got some especially power hungry gadgets connected to the dock.
Although, knock on wood we haven't had many problems with the WD15 lately, so maybe the latest FW has fixed some of the bugs that we'd run into initially.
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@magicmarker said in 2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level:
I have a C-Level executive that wants a 2-in-1 laptop. I’m trying to decide to recommend the Microsoft Surface Pro, Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga, or a Dell XPS 13 7390. I have no experience with any of the 3 listed. Has anyone deployed one of these products and your employee and/or customer is happy with? Is there another 2-in-1 product that I’m missing?
I have had good luck with SP6 here. Deplyed 7-8 of them.
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@magicmarker said in 2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level:
What about when the C-level is working from home. They are used to connecting their notebooks to docking stations that have dual monitor setups. Is there a particular model that is better suited for this?
I use the Kensington docking stations I think it is.
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@PhlipElder said in 2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level:
@Dashrender said in 2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level:
@magicmarker said in 2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level:
What about when the C-level is working from home. They are used to connecting their notebooks to docking stations that have dual monitor setups. Is there a particular model that is better suited for this?
I just did my first foray into docking stations. I picked up HP Elitebook 850 and HPs thunderbolt dock. We've only had one working for one day so far (deployed on Friday - but no real use yet)... That said - on my test bench, it setup super easy and worked without issue.
I've had other docks in the past that were a HUGE PITA, but that was 10+ years ago.
Also, 6 months ago for the boss - I setup a SP6 with MS docking station, other than some user error (because it went home and I didn't plug it all in for them) it's been working OK.
We've had so much grief with the Dell Thunderbolt TB16 unit it's not funny. BSODs galore especially on the cr*ppy Realtek NIC driver built-in to the dock.
Firmware updates have been hit and miss.
All of them have been deployed with Precision 7530 series and later laptops with a fresh Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit.
We was disappointed when we were told that we'd be ordering them instead of a proper dock. Our disappointment was warranted.
Proper docks were one of the best things about the Dell laptops. KACHUNK! Done. Firmly, securely connected.
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@notverypunny said in 2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level:
For the Dells, the newest dock (WD19 IIRC) is much better (than the WD15) based on preliminary testing and a couple that we've deployed so far. I'll strongly suggest getting the version with the 180W power so as to minimize the chances of your user having to connect the dock and the laptop's power if he's got some especially power hungry gadgets connected to the dock.
Although, knock on wood we haven't had many problems with the WD15 lately, so maybe the latest FW has fixed some of the bugs that we'd run into initially.
Glad to hear. Have had several issues with the WD15. Just recently started getting the WD19 but haven't had enough time in service yet to make any judgements on whether or not they are an improvement.
WD15 issues I have had reported-
- Screens losing signal off and on and even alternating rapidly (every second).
- BSOD
- Power alert pre-boot stating that the power supply is not large enough. Requires user intervention to finish boot.
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@PhlipElder said in 2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level:
disappointed when we were told that we'd be ordering them instead of a proper dock.
They don't make proper docks anymore, do they?
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@wrx7m said in 2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level:
@PhlipElder said in 2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level:
disappointed when we were told that we'd be ordering them instead of a proper dock.
They don't make proper docks anymore, do they?
I saw one more by mistake than actual purpose on HPs site the other day - they definitely seem to be going away from old school clamp on docks...
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@wrx7m
We ordered a rugged Dell laptop for one of the sales guys last year and it's dock was still a "real" dock. Not E-dock compatible but similar style / execution. -
I have a 13" XPS. I like it. The higher ups here like it too because it looks cool, like a MacBook!
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Yea - I suppose the MS Surface would be okay. But I recommend NOT going with the Surface. I have seen more than my share of the Surface with a swollen battery because of charge failures. Since the MS Surface is not serviceable, it's either scrap or warrantied to MS with a exchange.
In the case of a swap - plan on data backup, and wipe before releasing it.
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@gjacobse said in 2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level:
Yea - I suppose the MS Surface would be okay. But I recommend NOT going with the Surface. I have seen more than my share of the Surface with a swollen battery because of charge failures. Since the MS Surface is not serviceable, it's either scrap or warrantied to MS with a exchange.
In the case of a swap - plan on data backup, and wipe before releasing it.
Yeah, I've had more than my fair share of issues with Surface Pro.
In hindsight, I've become a lot more tolerant of issues with my hardware than I should be. :S
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@Dashrender said in 2-in-1 laptop for a C-Level:
Around these parts you'll get no love for anything Lenovo - After SuperFish, that company is blacklisted - if not for life, for a long while yet.
I have used a few Surface Pros - they seem fine for the most part. My wife has an SP5 - she seems to like it. I just rolled out an SP6 to my boss 6 months ago - no issues so far.
I agree with sticking with the Latitude series on Dell - this is a company laptop, so go with business gear.
I know JB has an XPS, and as far as I know, he likes it.
No, mine is an Inspiron, bought at MicroCenter when my previous machine died a day before an international trip to a client.
I try to stick to the latitudes for clients.
