Laptops?

Any recommendations for good windows laptop that won't destroy my bank balance?

Mostly work, occasionally music. 

for doing what

regardless of what, make sure you get an SSD because it's the number one decider of perceived speed for most daily tasks.  If it has USB3.0 you can use an external harddrive for large files without issues since SSDs are smaller.

Mostly work (microsoft shit), occasionally music.

I like super light but sturdy/powerful laptops. I have the current gen 12" macbook (not pro). One for work, one for play. just over 2 pounds.

also had my eye on the dell xps 13. 2.6 pounds. The surface book 2 seems nice too.

Went for a Razer Blade Stealth 13;3" i7-8550U w/16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD a couple of weeks ago. Aside form the ugly logo (I just need a nice black sticker to cover it); it basically looks like a black MBP, so it's quite an elegant, minimalist design.

More importantly, it's a fast machine that can handle a lot when it comes to audio, especially now that I've done a slim-down install, using MSMG Toolkit to remove all the fat from Windows 10 (no more Cortana, telemetry, Edge, Store, Candy Crush etc...), really worth the hassle. A now much more satisfying experience IMHO. I've run Geekbench 4 on it : 14 500ish (FWIW, my desktop i7 6700k hackintosh scores something like 16 500 / 17 000 IIRC).

The screen is pretty nice, though a tad too bright and not as pleasing to stare as a Retina one (my GF has a MacBook Air Retina, and its screen is simply amazing).

Now, I had a 150€ discount and paid 1550€ for it. From what I've gathered, it would have cost something like 2000/2500€ to buy an equally fast MBP... and I really couldn't afford that. I'm an OSX guy, but the transition to Win10 isn't as steep as what I thought it'd be.

  On 10/7/2018 at 9:52 AM, Nil said:

(my GF has a MacBook Air Retina, and its screen is simply amazing).

No such thing exists! (I guess you mean the 12" macbook?)

the most important rule about choosing computers is not to buy macs. otherwise just get the laptop with best cpu/biggest ram/ssd you can afford. ergonomics and reliability is just something you'll have to research from user reviews.

  On 10/7/2018 at 10:16 AM, eugene said:

the most important rule about choosing computers is not to buy macs. otherwise just get the laptop with best cpu/biggest ram/ssd you can afford. ergonomics and reliability is just something you'll have to research from user reviews.

This, they are horrible value for the money.  They're nice and fancy, but you will get less CPU, RAM, and SSD/HDD space for the money in basically every single case.  There's a reason Apple is the first trillion dollar company, because they're making ridiculous profit margins.  Unless you actually require a Mac for some specific software you need to use, get a Windows computer and just install Linux if you don't like Windows.

@entropi: indeed :)

Basically impossible to get anything decent under 1500

SSD rec above was key, but will also say make sure you like the damned thing: keyboard/trackpad are of course very important and of widely varying quality on Windows laptops, and make sure it's got the right ports, right amount of battery life for how you want to use it. If you're just doing moderate work/moderate music, you can get something from a year or two ago with great specs for ~1K. If you're just doing light stuff with it then you can definitely get something in the ~700ish range if not cheaper second hand. 

If you're looking at the lighter end of the spectrum with workload, I'd say nearly anything with decent ratings can be good. HP (Spectre but they have others that are good supposedly), Surface Pros would be my first suggestions. Great keyboards and trackpads, very light and easy to carry around, plenty of battery life. 

Mid-higher, Razer Blade Stealth is a good option as Nil detailed. HP and MS have some beefier stuff here too, and Thinkpads are also very nice...haven't messed with too many in this price range personally (yet, may be on the lookout very soon though so I'm paying attention).

Cheers for that.

Been looking at Dell XPS and HP Elitebooks which seem pretty similar

Combo Tablet Laptops scare the shit out of me because of what we use at work which are terrible.

  On 10/7/2018 at 11:25 AM, bendish said:

Basically impossible to get anything decent under 1500

It depends what you call decent. You can find a Lenovo 520 or 320 with SSD, 8 Gb RAM and i5 (8th gen) for 700€ that will allow you to work on basic things with ease. Now if you're searching for premium finishing, SSD on PCIe and top screen... but it's not what bendish was asking for.

  On 10/7/2018 at 3:25 PM, Jafs said:

 

  On 10/7/2018 at 11:25 AM, bendish said:

Basically impossible to get anything decent under 1500

 

It depends what you call decent. You can find a Lenovo 520 or 320 with SSD, 8 Gb RAM and i5 (8th gen) for 700€ that will allow you to work on basic things with ease. Now if you're searching for premium finishing, SSD on PCIe and top screen... but it's not what bendish was asking for.

 

Will take a look at those thanks

  On 10/7/2018 at 2:49 PM, bendish said:

Cheers for that.

 

Been looking at Dell XPS and HP Elitebooks which seem pretty similar

 

Combo Tablet Laptops scare the shit out of me because of what we use at work which are terrible.

I've heard good about the Elitebooks but also maybe a bit overkill? XPS are pretty well regarded by almost everyone, I've never used one though. Not sure if those are more in line with what you need of course. Will say the Surface devices are generally very good, well-built machines, and sturdier than you might expect. Not sure if that's what you've used or not, but I've had mostly good experiences with them. Rarely use them as tablets even, just prefer the extra thin/light/flexible use.... Seen some places saying the Surface knock-off machines from HP/others are even better and somewhat cheaper, but haven't tried those. Also obviously still tablets so if you're against that then yeah...I personally just prefer the thin/light thing when possible, find it a much nicer experience with few downsides for me. 

I have a Thinkpad T460. They're affordable and really very decent laptops... durable. I mean, I can run like 4 instances of Diva simultaneously without any hiccups if I don't overload it with effects. Then again I'm running Fedora 99% of the time and not the resource-heavy pile of dog shit that is Windows. But it should be able to handle that just fine too.

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Thinkpad-i5-6300U-Dual-Core-Professional/dp/B01CJNRC3S/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1538935409&sr=8-5&keywords=t460+lenovo

Would not recommend XPS laptops.. I had one and it fell apart by the hinges. Screws were stripped after one time opening it to upgrade ssd.. literally cracked in half.

mothafuckin IBM thinkpad, bitches

I have a lenovo yoga pro 2, few years old now but the multiple problems I've had with it would put me off buying another lenovo device.

thinkpad as mentioned already

wait for a 35-40% sale in nov/dec

I've owned a Lenovo Y50 for the last four years, but I bought it specifically as a gaming rig. Was still able to get it for (barely) less than a thousand USD though. It's been a capable machine for the most part.

I've heard Huawei makes good Laptops

The consumer Lenovo laptops are shite. Only the ThinkPads are worth getting.

  On 10/7/2018 at 6:01 AM, bendish said:

...that won't destroy my bank balance?

Funny all of you are recommending machines most are above 1000€.

  On 10/8/2018 at 10:00 AM, Jafs said:

 

  On 10/7/2018 at 6:01 AM, bendish said:

...that won't destroy my bank balance?

Funny all of you are recommending machines most are above 1000€.

Look again. ThinkPad T460 is available brand new for around £650.

Also, the second hand market.