Replacing a vintage laptop

My current laptop is a Dell Precision M4800 that I'm ready to replace
1) What is your budget? $~1500
2) What size notebook would you prefer?
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
3) Which country will you buying this notebook? USA
4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like:
b. Dislike: HP
5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed? Yes
6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook? Internet access, social media, chromecasting videos,
youtube
7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both? Different rooms in the house.
No desk.
8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? (If so, please state which games or types of games?) No
9) How many hours of battery life do you need? At least an hour.
10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without
seeing it is OK? Buying without seeing is preferred
11) What OS do you prefer? Windows
Screen Specifics
12) What screen resolution(s) would you prefer? 1080p
13) matte/non-glossy screen
Build Quality and Design
14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you? No
Notebook Components
15) How much hard drive space do you need? Currently have 1TB
Timing, Warranty and Longevity
16) When are you buying this laptop? Ready now
17) How long do you expect to use this laptop? 5 years.
18) How long could you afford to do without your laptop if it were to fail? I have a couple of backups.
19) Would you be willing to pay significantly extra for on-site warranty, or would it be acceptable to you to have to ship the
laptop to the vendor for repair with perhaps a week or more outage? I don't need or want on site service

Thanks in advance for your input

 

Welcome back.
Your budget is more than enough to get a notebook to meet your needs. Look for an Intel Core i5/i7 or AMD Ryzen 5/7 processor and 16GB of RAM. A dedicated graphics card is unnecessary.
The Dell XPS 15 (9500) is well built and would serve you well. You can find them in the Dell Outlet for under your budget. Be sure to look for the Dell Outlet's coupons to save a little more. Here's our guide to outlet shopping: http://www.notebookreview.com/howto/nbr-how-to-outlet-shopping-for-hp-dell-and-lenovo-notebooks/

Charles

 

Under the I'm not moving it much and have no need for top performance so I don't need to spend all my money line of thinking, something like the Asus Vivobook or Acer Aspire 5 might be worth a look. You might want to hit Best Buy where you may be able to look at one or other notebooks to see if there's anything you like. Since you're not moving it much a lighter 17" notebook like the LG Gram 17 or XPS 17, the XPS 17 will also be available at a discount in the Dell Outlet, may be worth considering.

 

The Ryzen 7 4800H based laptop will fit your bill - Dell and Lenovo have some nice units, and I've been very happy with Dell for productivity use for my customers.
If you can wait a few, the 5800H will be replacing that Ryzen, and be a hair faster.

Spring for the 4K screen, and it should come with 16GB RAM at a minimum, and a 1TB nVME SSD.

Just make sure and grab the x800H or x800HS processors, not the xx00U series. Skip the thin-and-lights.

 

Thanks Charles, I appreciate it and I found a scratch and dent that fit the bill but it was gone before I decided to pull the trigger. The combination of a TB hdd and 16GB ram is generally running more than $1500 on the Dell Outlet. I need to find out more about the potential for adding a second SSD rather than solely looking at units at 1TB or higher.

 

Thanks, so far I haven't found any XPS 17 with 16GB RAM and 1 TB HDD within my budget.

 

A 1TB SSD and 16GB of memory should come in under $200. It'll likely be less expensive buying the one with the screen you want, then upgrading it yourself. All you need is a is a torx screwdriver and a pry tool if you feel up to it. There's videos on YouTube showing how to do it. The degree of difficulty doesn't seem high. You may find a 1TB 16GB XPS 17 under budget, though it''l probably require some patience.

 

Seconding ZaZ - Most not-bottom-end consumer laptops are just a back panel to take off, and Dell absolutely reams the buyer on upgrade pricing.

Installing a m.2 SSD, reinstalling Windows from scratch (which I would also recommend), and slapping in a pair of 8GB soDIMMs is easy enough to do, if you can follow a YouTube video and aren't all thumbs.

 

The XPS has two SSD slots, so you could just add another SSD without having to reinstall the OS.

 

Thanks again Charles. I found an XPS 15 with 16GB and 1TB SSD on the Dell Outlet and, through customer service chat, received an additional 14% discount which reduced the price to $979 plus tax.