Budget 90k+ Laptop Suggestion for Desktop Replacement

Atekihcan

Recruit
  • Budget: Within 80k. Can push to 1 lakh, if it adds value to my usage.
  • Primary Usage: All rounder. Photo/video editing, running Excel routines, 3D modeling/rendering in Blender, ocassional gaming (single player FPS games like Far Cry, perfectly fine with 60 fps gameplay).
  • Size and Weight: Not more than 15". Preferably thin and light. Less than 2 kg.
  • Any other considerations: I plan to use the laptop docked with a 2K 27" monitor. So support do that is most crucial. Along with it being somewhat future proof for 3 to 5 years (NVMe SSD, latest Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, USB 3 gen 2, good cooling solution, non-plastic chasis etc.). Don't care about touch screen, fingerprint scanner, RGB, in-built speaker quality, NFC etc.
I have been using self-assembled desktop since last 8 years. But recently started to think of shifting to laptop based system for the portability it offers. I had started with the desktop with a long term goal to slowly transform it to a powerful workstation, but ended up having a modest all-rounder desktop, as I do not have time or passion to do all the things that I thought I’ll do a decade back. Now I'm more inclined to slim it down.

Here is the desktop setup that I have been using which should give a good idea what I’m okay with:
  • Ryzen 5 1600 / B450-F Motherboard
  • 2x 8GB DDR4 3200MHz RAM
  • GTX 1050ti 4GB
  • 500+250 GB SSD, 1TB HDD
I have gone through some gaming laptops but I don't like their bulky and fancy colorful looks that screams "gaming laptop". I rather like the looks of more formal/unassuming ones like ThinkPad/Zephyrus/Victus/MSI Modern etc. Although I mostly plan to use it docked, I don't think I'll enjoy carrying a 2+ kg laptop with me when I need to.
 
Here are my picks:

1st Choice : https://amzn.to/3aIfpQi
This one is bit heavier than you might like 2.4kgs but for comparison it has RTX 3050 with 5800H with this combo your renderings will be much faster with Nvenc.
Gaming obviously will not be a problem for this, my recommendation will be to lock fps(vsync) for better thermals as all laptop tend to get hot.


2nd Choice : https://amzn.to/3lMrVV7
This is another a good laptop with decent specs for you to game and get your work done on, a bit less weight 2.2kgs and has IPS with 120hz. looks are pretty minimal which i personally prefer too.

p.s. my advice is to not worry about weight so much, if you do need less weighing machine you can get zephyrus, but then again for your work needs a sufficient cooling, that's difficult on smaller or thinner laptops. get a laptop with good specs to get things done, cuz that's more imp. regarding carrying your laptop, its a cons that'll you just have to bear with only sometimes. this is just my advice! :grin:
 
Thanks for your inputs. That's a great point about weight, and I agree with you. I like the Legion option better as it has 30xx series GPU, and I would prefer to go for as much latest as possible. Don't plan to upgrade at least for 3 years.

What do you think about Acer Helios (https://dl.flipkart.com/s/GPZmKWuuuN)? Looks like similarly priced as Legion, or is it just a crazy deal going on right now?
 
Great find, Nice specs too. Only down side for me would be cpu, which we know zen 3 has much better IPCs meaning renderings and gaming performance will be better. making ryzen enable laptop better option for future proofing.

If you need a good GPU and extra 1TB storage then go for Helios, I checked reviews also, CPU is a bit older on this but is decent and will perform for your needs.

I guess having a Ryzen cpu and features like DLSS would give you good performance in games?!?

Well upto you now!

If you're still confused with anything, let me know! :joyful:
 
Sure. I'm not in a hurry to buy it right now. I'll take some more time to browse and go through the reviews. I'll check back here if I get confused with more options. :D
 
I would rather get a desktop if I were u, maybe a mini itx system if you need some degree of portability

For a workstation laptop, you could look to get a used ThinkPad P1
 
I would rather get a desktop if I were u, maybe a mini itx system if you need some degree of portability

For a workstation laptop, you could look to get a used ThinkPad P1
I have actually thought about shifting to mini itx system to make the existing setup more compact. But still it won't give me the portability of moving around that a laptop would. I have also thought about keeping the desktop and getting a secondary laptop (light and compact, within 50k). That way I don't need to sacrifice the flexibility to upgrade/replace components as I need, and still have some amount of portability with the secondary laptop. Otherwise I was planning to sell the desktop setup to offset the price of the new laptop.

Honestly, the motivation behind this itch for laptop came from a ThinkPad that I received for my work. It's a T14s, beautifully built, sleek, lightweight, and quiet powerful. No GPU though. Love working on that.
 
I am personally quite disgruntled with the Laptop landscape after being fairly satisfied with it circa 2019-20. We waited more than the usual cycle for a refresh to 1650 and ended up with a hobbled 3050/ti with only a 4GB frame buffer which is a massive drag on performance that will progressively worsen as the years go on, and is already very consequential check out:


Theoretically, even the 3050ti should have been more than a replacement for the 1660ti (although the actual replacement is meant to be the 3060) but this is not so in practice and the prices put even the 3050ti (let alone the 3060) an entire market segment above where the 1660ti used to be available! (when considering the CPU that was paired with the 1660ti in its own generation). This annoying state of affairs is only balanced by the fact that PC component availability and prices are equally outrageous. I do not know if these prices reflect Covid inflation or that is still to hit us. In any case, I would suggest that you look at :


At the lower end of the price spectrum, I think this is a decent bargain although by the standards of the previous generation offerings it should offer much more hardware.

If you want a full-fat 11th gen Octa-Core laptop: https://www.amazon.in/Acer-i7-11800...3050+laptop&qid=1634490228&s=computers&sr=1-7

the above is probably your best CPU+GPU combo at 85K (which is a bit disappointing as the 3050ti is not an effective replacement for the 1660ti which used to be available at that point let alone an upgrade).

If you need more Vram for your productivity tasks or 9th gen gaming, this is the best pick I think at 1 Lakh: https://www.flipkart.com/acer-preda...o473cg0000001634490676999&qH=146309cf93cc05b4

The CPU is bumped down to 10th gen which is still pretty decent but no other device offers this mix of CPU+GPU at this price point, either the GPU is downgraded to oblivion or the CPU ends up being at best last-gen hexacore. Pretty pathetic stuff considering previous-gen offerings were consistently high-end on both ends and didn't make any such compromises at this price point.

It comes down to which component you value more but your usage indicates a good heterogenous utilization so I would suggest the three models listed above as a healthy mix at each ascending price point. For productivity, according to a quick Google search blender really likes Vram so 6GB 3060 preference is a no-brainer with video editing like premiere pro its a bit more ambiguous with the official page saying 4GB is sufficient for 1080p edits and so on. But of course, these metrics are subject to change and in any case, you would know better in these matters. Overall both gaming and other uses would benefit from the 3060 but getting it anywhere lower than the 1 Lakh mark may require too much CPU sacrifice, especially considering equivalent models with the 3050ti generally have current-gen octa-core CPU's ( there's a Hexa core model at 86K and 95; last-gen and another at 97, with the last being much heavier probably higher wattage GPU and better-sustained cooling but I haven't checked the details), to be worth it and would probably perform (slightly?) worse in productivity at least. I would highly recommend the last option listed as I do think it adds sufficient value to the purposes you have listed and future proofs you for quite a while.
 
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Honestly, the motivation behind this itch for laptop came from a ThinkPad that I received for my work. It's a T14s, beautifully built, sleek, lightweight, and quiet powerful. No GPU though. Love working on that.
Yes, T series are a beauty. I have used it, now using P series which are workstation level and heavier too, so not so portable like T series.
I also had E series as my personal laptop. Very rugged, top notch keyboard.

If you soo like T series, why dont you get thinkpad series ? If you can get it carried from US of A, it will come in your budget. Do check their site (IN and US) for their offerings
 
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