51-70k Need thin and light laptop with great keyboard

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FXGalvatron

FXGalvatron

Galvanizer
Title. I am a college student and I'll be doing a lot of typing and a little bit of photoshop, mostly to design covers and stuff. I'd ideally like a hexa-core CPU with 8GB of RAM so that it helps me for the next 4 years of college (6 would be great!) Ideally, RAM should be upgradeable and an SSD is must. Gaming wise, I don't really play a lot but if I do, I guess I play games like Euro Truck Sim or Assetto Corsa or sometimes, Apex. Keyboard must be great for typing and also backlit. 14 inches and a great display would be awesome as I plan on doing a lot of media consumption. Great battery life is also a must.

So far, I've shortlisted these.

ASUS VivoBook S14 - Ryzen 7 4700U
MSI Modern 14 - Ryzen 5 4500U
Lenovo Ideapad Slim 5 - Ryzen 7 4700U
Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Ryzen 5 4500U (mostly this is something I am seriosuly considering because its fairly cheap. 50K or something)
Dell Inspiron Core i5 10th Gen (if I consider the Intel route)
Acer Aspire 7 Ryzen 5 Quad Core 3550H (if I consider gaming, though I don't think I need so much graphics power)

or if none of these are good enough, I'd go for a second-hand MacBook 13 inch. Most likely pro from like 2015. But then again, I don't really have an expansive knowledge on laptops.

Thanks for your suggestions y'all and have a great day! :)
 
I'm using a i5 8th gen 14 inch Gram with only 16GB RAM for more than a year for pretty CPU intensive audio mixing mastering works.
Yes, it possibly throttles at times, but with audio, there are simple workarounds. Just finished a song with 106 tracks in Cakewalk. The final rendor took less than 5 minutes for a 7 minute song, not bad at all, considering the number of plugins ( non native)
M1 Air is wonderful, but it still has weird issues with Logic Pro ( some idiot posted a video about more than 100 instances of space designer, which a convolution reverb on each track and passed a idiotic statement. I can challenge anyone Logic with all latest update stutters when the same convolver is used as a send track and more than 7/8 sends, the system will freeze and will stutter from then on...Apple wants people to put reverb ( that too a convolver) with each track..a producer with minimal experience does these idiotic things.
Moreover if I bought Altiverb ( which costs four times the LPX and more than the Air) why would not I use it ( it's a LOT better) try Altiverb with M1 computers, it just drags it to a C2D experience...try it yourself.
Same with Omnisphere, THE software Synth..M1 can't handle it ( this software also costs more than the M1 laptops)
And these things don't care about Apple chip. They have an extremely complicated software and a very loyal customer base ( comprised of people who don't give a flying **** about Mac/ Windows..they want to get their job done)
Try running the "optimised" version of PT HD12...you will see how much work has to be done for these machines to work in a real professional environment.
 
red dragon said:
I'm using a i5 8th gen 14 inch Gram with only 16GB RAM for more than a year for pretty CPU intensive audio mixing mastering works.
Yes, it possibly throttles at times, but with audio, there are simple workarounds. Just finished a song with 106 tracks in Cakewalk. The final rendor took less than 5 minutes for a 7 minute song, not bad at all, considering the number of plugins ( non native)
M1 Air is wonderful, but it still has weird issues with Logic Pro ( some idiot posted a video about more than 100 instances of space designer, which a convolution reverb on each track and passed a idiotic statement. I can challenge anyone Logic with all latest update stutters when the same convolver is used as a send track and more than 7/8 sends, the system will freeze and will stutter from then on...Apple wants people to put reverb ( that too a convolver) with each track..a producer with minimal experience does these idiotic things.
Moreover if I bought Altiverb ( which costs four times the LPX and more than the Air) why would not I use it ( it's a LOT better) try Altiverb with M1 computers, it just drags it to a C2D experience...try it yourself.
Same with Omnisphere, THE software Synth..M1 can't handle it ( this software also costs more than the M1 laptops)
And these things don't care about Apple chip. They have an extremely complicated software and a very loyal customer base ( comprised of people who don't give a flying **** about Mac/ Windows..they want to get their job done)
Try running the "optimised" version of PT HD12...you will see how much work has to be done for these machines to work in a real professional environment.
Click to expand...
could you elaborate at times? reviews and forums state it throttles to unusable speeds even after 5 mins due to poor thermal design
 
From the ones mentioned, the MSI Modern and Thinkpad 4500u are probably going to be best suited for you (Thinkpad's display isn't great, but excellent value otherwise).

G14 is ~80k and lacks a a webcam (if that's important to you). The upgradable RAM requirement is going to limit your options somewhat. Many items from the list have also been out of stock for a while now.
 
farrukjavid said:
could you elaborate at times? reviews and forums state it throttles to unusable speeds even after 5 mins due to poor thermal design
Click to expand...
I don't know what they do with a laptop, but I can do my usual audio related work in any 3 DAWs regularly without any major problem.
I don't use PS all that much, but with LR basic edits, works fine for me.
But the audio related softwares are pretty heavy, I use Slate's VMR almost in every track in 30-40 tracks in a normal project, of course it is not as smooth as my main machine ( still an iMac) but very much workable ( it works fine with 10-15 tracks just fine, above 15, I usually freeze the drum tracks)
But my usage scenario is possibly different from a techie's perspective. My usual statistics related softwares run just fine.
For me, I'm pretty happy with this stupid light laptop.
However will buy an Air, if they can fix all the issues with LPX and reduce some weight. Otherwise will upgrade to another Gram when warranty expires on this.
 
red dragon said:
I don't know what they do with a laptop, but I can do my usual audio related work in any 3 DAWs regularly without any major problem.
I don't use PS all that much, but with LR basic edits, works fine for me.
But the audio related softwares are pretty heavy, I use Slate's VMR almost in every track in 30-40 tracks in a normal project, of course it is not as smooth as my main machine ( still an iMac) but very much workable ( it works fine with 10-15 tracks just fine, above 15, I usually freeze the drum tracks)
But my usage scenario is possibly different from a techie's perspective. My usual statistics related softwares run just fine.
For me, I'm pretty happy with this stupid light laptop.
However will buy an Air, if they can fix all the issues with LPX and reduce some weight. Otherwise will upgrade to another Gram when warranty expires on this.
Click to expand...
im was also looking at M1, but no windows and Linux support. So kinda stuck
 
farrukjavid said:
what your budget? check acer swift 3 , lenovo slim 7i/5i , hp pavilion, lenovo s540/s340
Click to expand...
Roughly 50-60k. Will stretch it upto 70k if needed. I would be happy with even 8GB but dunno how much longer it'll hold out the next few years. Meaning to use it for atleast 3-4 years. Gaming isn't a priority. I could get away with backlight since if it isn't there, I'll buy a usb flex lamp or something. The cheaper, the better. So far, leaning towards the ThinkPad above.
 
farrukjavid said:
im was also looking at M1, but no windows and Linux support. So kinda stuck
Click to expand...
Buddy I wrote about Gram there..M1 Air I used doesn't possibly throttle..it behaves weirdly with LPX at times ( and with PT is unusable, but the Air was a borrowed unit, I possibly didn't setup the PT correctly and the using it with a usb key is a PITA)

Apple MacBook Pro 13" M1 Audio Power Test - Pro Tools

www.google.com
What an elaborate lie!! Apple's marketing is so sly!!
 
red dragon said:
Buddy I wrote about Gram there..M1 Air I used doesn't possibly throttle..it behaves weirdly with LPX at times ( and with PT is unusable, but the Air was a borrowed unit, I possibly didn't setup the PT correctly and the using it with a usb key is a PITA)

Apple MacBook Pro 13" M1 Audio Power Test - Pro Tools

www.google.com
What an elaborate lie!! Apple's marketing is so sly!!
Click to expand...
understood. how is lg laptop service? is the screen dim?
 
red dragon said:
Buddy I wrote about Gram there..M1 Air I used doesn't possibly throttle..it behaves weirdly with LPX at times ( and with PT is unusable, but the Air was a borrowed unit, I possibly didn't setup the PT correctly and the using it with a usb key is a PITA)

Apple MacBook Pro 13" M1 Audio Power Test - Pro Tools

www.google.com
What an elaborate lie!! Apple's marketing is so sly!!
Click to expand...
farrukjavid said:
could you elaborate at times? reviews and forums state it throttles to unusable speeds even after 5 mins due to poor thermal design
Click to expand...

Muathaz said:
if multiple reviews state the same thing, it's probably true. especially something like throttling.
Click to expand...

I am currently using a Gram i5 10th Gen
It's a great machine for productivity and general usage and performs extremely well with short burst loads that is often the case with general purpose usage (mail/ browsing/ spreadsheets / VoIP calls etc)
Battery life is very respectable and the weight is - let's just say it will 100% leave you surprised when you pick it up for the first time

Yes - it won't benchmark very well under sustained loads like rendering or encoding videos - that is not what it is meant for - period!

This aspect is true for pretty much any ultraportable - Reviewers using Cinebench etc for comparing any ultraportable with the numbers from a desktop or a full fat laptop are doing it wrong

If your workflow requires sustained loads for a long period regularly , you are better off with a desktop or a full sized laptop
 
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Thinkpad E14 - Very capable machine. Never heard its fan or felt it heating up and have played COD MW3, Black Ops, Genshin Impact, Minecraft all with 30+fps. Display is NOT too bad. Its reasonable for the money and much better than what came in my Vivobook. Only concern is that Extended Warranty is bloody expensive. The usual EW offers are not applicable on Thinkpads and Lenovo only allows to buy the most expensive 'Premier Onsite' EW option only.

MSI Modern 14 - better specs (display, storage) than Thinkpad but need to check if you have a service centre at your place or not. No idea about EW rates.

LG Gram - Very capable machine but I'd recommend getting an 11th gen Intel instead of 10th gen as 11th gen is easily 20-25% better than 10th gen and slightly better than Ryzen 4000 series too.

That Slim 5 is a good config but you lose out on RAM upgradability. I don't recommend getting an Asus Vivobook or Ryzen 3000 series or 10th Gen intel processor.
 
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xkcd0137 said:
Thinkpad E14 - Very capable machine. Never heard its fan or felt it heating up and have played COD MW3, Black Ops, Genshin Impact, Minecraft all with 30+fps. Display is NOT too bad. Its reasonable for the money and much better than what came in my Vivobook. Only concern is that Extended Warranty is bloody expensive. The usual EW offers are not applicable on Thinkpads and Lenovo only allows to buy the most expensive 'Premier Onsite' EW option only.

MSI Modern 14 - better specs (display, storage) than Thinkpad but need to check if you have a service centre at your place or not. No idea about EW rates.

LG Gram - Very capable machine but I'd recommend getting an 11th gen Intel instead of 10th gen as 11th gen is easily 20-25% better than 10th gen and slightly better than Ryzen 4000 series too.

I don't recommend an Asus Vivobook or Ryzen 3000 series or 10th Gen intel processor.
Click to expand...
agreed. vivobook s15 is also good
 
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