Laptop Recs
Hi,
I normally use a Mac, and a windows only for work, but figure it's worth getting a windows computer (laptop) for personal use as well for Excel and potentially gaming. Does anyone have any recommendations? Normally an Apple user so quite unaware of the available options, and figured it's worth checking here. Budget is between $1-2k
Thanks in advance for any replies.
What kind of games do you play? And which Mac do you currently have?
An M1 Air--I could also get the M2 Pro but would really like the ability to use my personal laptop for work when working over the weekends, since I'd also be able to do things like watch twitch or YouTube or TV on the side which I don't like to do on my work laptop.
In terms of games, mainly Apex and COD. I think you can use cloud GPU functionality too which allows for gameplay on a Mac but the ping is too high etc
Why do you need a windows computer just for personal use? Windows is hands down the best for work purposes, but there's no benefit for light browsing / personal use over a Mac. If you have a personal Mac and a work PC it sounds like you have it covered?
Excel on a Mac is terrible but unless you're running an LBO on yourself, it works fine for light budgeting or whatever
Fair enough, maybe just a psychological thing but I don't like the dependence on just my work laptop for when I want to do any Excel/PPT/etc. stuff
Lenovo is the only correct answer. From there it depends if you want something super mobile w/ extra monitors, a tank you can work on solo, or something in between.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1. For light personal use, a Microsoft Surface might be good to check out, too.
For office apps, if you have 16GB of ram on the Mac, you can install VMware and windows on top just for office (i do that on my Mac specifically for the keyboard shortcuts on office). VMware for personal use is free, and you can use windows unregistered forever or get a cheap key from cdkeys(dot)com or some other similar site.
If you want a windows laptop for office and gaming for $1-$2k, you can look into something like the legion 7i from lenovo, the acer nitro 5 (though this is on the cheaper side), Dell G5, or Asus TUF.
These are generally good quality and are decently priced.
There’s a good YouTube channel for reviews called Jarrod’sTech that focuses on gaming laptops, and another one called Just Josh that focuses on more the productivity aspects of the laptops.
Thanks for the reply. This is very helpful.
Would you be able to direct me to any resources on how to make VMware work for excel after installing it? I installed the platform and launched a virtual machine but am confused on how to proceed and looked for other videos too
You need to first install windows (either 10 or 11). This article should help (if the link gets deleted just search for VMware kb 2128765)
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2128765
Afterwards, just install office - if you need a key, look at royalcdkeys(dot)com or some other site for a discounted key
This works nowhere as well as everyone claims.
Maybe if you hire someone who knows exactly how to tweak and configure a Mac running Windows, you can get it to perform reasonably well, but if you’re a beginner just messing around, it’s a hassle that will send your anxiety level into stratosphere.
Recently purchased a MSI gaming laptop with RTX 3070 graphics card for around $1200 on sale. Really good machine that I work and game on but my only complaint is it will get too hot gaming and the only way to cool it down is running the super loud "cooler blast" fan function. Fine when it's just me at home but if you have a spouse or roommates they will become annoyed quickly :)
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