Laptop options or recommendations

[AdmiralKirk]

Hi everyone,

Working on a laptop refresh plan and, to cut straight to the chase, I’m looking for a business class convertible/2in1

• 15" screen

• 10-key

• 16g RAM

• 256g SSD minimum

• 11th gen i7 processor

• 2 @ USB C

• At least 1 @ USB A

• Ideally Win 10 Pro

HP does not have a 15" business class model, Dell wants over $2,500 for their one model, Lenovo doesn’t appear to have anything business class, and I’ve burned too much time trying to find an answer.

I’m about to go with the Envy line even though they are consumer grade, just because they check the boxes besides the 2 USB C ports.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[thomaskaiser1597 (FinFanFinatic)]

Maybe this is more my opinion than an answer, but the HP EliteBook is what we would call Business class and have used them for over 5 years and they are pretty awesome. the Elitebook 850 I beleive covers most of your specs(not sure if they released the gen11 yet). for Execs(and weight issues) we went with a Lenovo X1 carbon which is definitely business class, though they are 14" and no 10 key and limited ports.

just 2 options we have used as Business class for a 190 user environment. I hope this helps.

Thomas Kaiser

Director of Technology

[thomaskaiser1597 (FinFanFinatic)]

just to be clear, the Elitebook 850 which I have been buying for many years is the 15" version of the one you get.

[Repairatrooper]

With supply constraints, it might come down to buy what you can get. We have purchased a couple of Zbooks because that was the only product available.

[adrian_ych]

Any reason you need 15" with 2 in 1 ? I would think the new Dell Latitude 9520 is the only one that meets your requirements.

Do know what is "required vs “good to have”. Also talk to your Dell corporate sales rep for corporate discount (5,10, 20, 50 units and up may get special pricing)

I would use a Dell Latitude 5320 then throw in a USB powered 17" screen for approx 1/2 or 2/3/ that cost ?

[adriannewgate (doommood)]

@kirkireton

HP does not have a 15" business class model, Dell wants over $2,500 for their one model, Lenovo doesn’t appear to have anything business class, and I’ve burned too much time trying to find an answer.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Actually, Lenovo has ThinkPad X1 Extreme, and, from what I see, it covers all the requirements. Basically, check the new X1 Extreme gen 4 with 16" screen which looks pretty good for me, or the previous generation which has a 15.6" screen. I’m using gen2 at the moment with no complaints.

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx1/x1-extreme-g4/22tp2x1x1e4

[AdmiralKirk]

@adrianyong4136

Any reason you need 15" with 2 in 1 ?

Yep, because that is the use case. 13" is too small of a screen and the 2-in-1 format is how these users operate (myself included)

@adrianyong4136

I would think the new Dell Latitude 9520 is the only one that meets your requirements. Also talk to your Dell corporate sales rep for corporate discount (5,10, 20, 50 units and up may get special pricing)

Indeed this model looks like it would work, thank you for pointing it out. Last week when I was looking the price on these was the full $2,800 (baseline), pricing it out of the range. I see today that they are offering a discount down to $2,300 (with options). Still exorbitant given that 18 months ago it was half that, but such is the market.

[kelly-for-intel]

Hey OP - I’m definitely a big supporter of laptops that support the Intel® Evo™ vPro® Platform , so it looks like Dell Latitude 9520 2-in-1 might be the best choice in all of this if you’re needing to stick to those specs! As @adrianyong4136 ​ mentioned, I would chat with a Dell rep to see if they may be able to help with price.

[adrian_ych]

@kirkireton

@adrianyong4136

Any reason you need 15" with 2 in 1 ?

Yep, because that is the use case. 13" is too small of a screen and the 2-in-1 format is how these users operate (myself included)

@adrianyong4136

I would think the new Dell Latitude 9520 is the only one that meets your requirements. Also talk to your Dell corporate sales rep for corporate discount (5,10, 20, 50 units and up may get special pricing)

Indeed this model looks like it would work, thank you for pointing it out. Last week when I was looking the price on these was the full $2,800 (baseline), pricing it out of the range. I see today that they are offering a discount down to $2,300 (with options). Still exorbitant given that 18 months ago it was half that, but such is the market.

The prices are still 1/2 of the Corporate or Enterprise models if you choose the consumer range with lower i7 specs.

Unless you are very familiar with how HP or Lenovo name their range, Dell still have Vostro & insprion which is their consumer range.

You are looking at rather extreme i7 CPU range though.

[adrian_ych]

@kelly-for-intel

Hey OP - I’m definitely a big supporter of laptops that support the Intel® Evo™ vPro® Platform , so it looks like Dell Latitude 9520 2-in-1 might be the best choice in all of this if you’re needing to stick to those specs! As adrian_ych​ mentioned, I would chat with a Dell rep to see if they may be able to help with price.

Unless people know what vPro vs non-vPro are used for and the cost involved ?

I dun think they can be found in sub-$1.5k machines ?

[AdmiralKirk]

After a three week hiatus during which I kicked COVID’s behind across two counties, I’m back to add closure to this thread.

I ended up going with HP Envy x360 for two reasons:

1. I could actually get them
2. They were not $2,500 apiece

[Repairatrooper]

@kirkireton

After a three week hiatus during which I kicked COVID’s behind across two counties, I’m back to add closure to this thread.

I ended up going with HP Envy x360 for two reasons:

1. I could actually get them
2. They were not $2,500 apiece

We have about 5 in our fleet and a sister company has around 25. Solid machines.