Laptop Suggestions
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We have a client that has way too many SurfacePro's (see all of @gjacobse posts this week). We are going to be looking into good laptop replacements for them. Keep in mind they have been running on Surface Pro's versions 2-4 so they don't need a lot
But we are looking for light, and more than one USB on the darn things and Ethernet. HDMI would be awesome too so we can get away from adaptors.
What do you suggest?
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We just did this evaluation and found these:
15 Inch Option:
HP EliteBook 450 G3:
17 Inch Option:
HP EliteBook 470 G3:
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For this level of gear I like the Dell Inspiron two in one. The users are already used to having a touchscreen so just keep that there's no ethernet port without an adapter but the surfaces did not have one either this is a really comparable solid device
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My boss has an Inspiron 2-in-1 as others mentioned and really likes it. He has it connected to a DisplayLink dock to get dual monitors without having the laptop open.
Our CEO recently got the HP Spectre x360 and likes it (very similar to the Inspiron in my mind). He had to get it directly from HP. Priscilla in the Spiceworks community made that recommendation here - https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1762078-needing-a-recommendation-on-a-hybrid-laptop-tablet?source=recommended.
But I will warn you...in both cases these guys got laptops with 4K resolution. Something with Windows 10 Pro and scaling issues for certain applications (Adobe Reader, Chrome, MS Office applications) plagued them both for a while until we figured out to turn off custom scaling to bring things back to normal. With just the laptop, everything is scaled as it should be. But when connected to the dock, that is when the fun happened.
Good luck!
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We like Surface Pro's here.
Mind you we are experts at reimaging them.We bought some adapters that give (at least) 2 more USB ports and Gig-E.
Our road warriors love them.Also, we have a local admin (not default) account to get us out of such jams that NTG was experiencing. If memory serves me well, that's not something that NTG does... something @scottalanmiller said ~2 years ago (?) about not using local admin accounts for security reasons. I can't recall when it was. Might have even been pre-ML days but that was several metric-tons of posts ago.
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@NetworkNerd said in Laptop Suggestions:
My boss has an Inspiron 2-in-1 as others mentioned and really likes it. He has it connected to a DisplayLink dock to get dual monitors without having the laptop open.
Our CEO recently got the HP Spectre x360 and likes it (very similar to the Inspiron in my mind). He had to get it directly from HP. Priscilla in the Spiceworks community made that recommendation here - https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1762078-needing-a-recommendation-on-a-hybrid-laptop-tablet?source=recommended.
But I will warn you...in both cases these guys got laptops with 4K resolution. Something with Windows 10 Pro and scaling issues for certain applications (Adobe Reader, Chrome, MS Office applications) plagued them both for a while until we figured out to turn off custom scaling to bring things back to normal. With just the laptop, everything is scaled as it should be. But when connected to the dock, that is when the fun happened.
Good luck!
Why buy from HP instead of from MS Signature Edition?
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As with everything in IT, it has to suit the use case/business need. SP's aren't the answer for everyone.
I hate the floppy keyboard.
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@nadnerB said in Laptop Suggestions:
We like Surface Pro's here.
Mind you we are experts at reimaging them.We bought some adapters that give (at least) 2 more USB ports and Gig-E.
Our road warriors love them.Also, we have a local admin (not default) account to get us out of such jams that NTG was experiencing. If memory serves me well, that's not something that NTG does... something @scottalanmiller said ~2 years ago (?) about not using local admin accounts for security reasons. I can't recall when it was. Might have even been pre-ML days but that was several metric-tons of posts ago.
The user shouldn't have the local admin account. But setting up a local admin account that you know the password to for recovery reasons is a good idea.
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@Dashrender said in Laptop Suggestions:
@nadnerB said in Laptop Suggestions:
We like Surface Pro's here.
Mind you we are experts at reimaging them.We bought some adapters that give (at least) 2 more USB ports and Gig-E.
Our road warriors love them.Also, we have a local admin (not default) account to get us out of such jams that NTG was experiencing. If memory serves me well, that's not something that NTG does... something @scottalanmiller said ~2 years ago (?) about not using local admin accounts for security reasons. I can't recall when it was. Might have even been pre-ML days but that was several metric-tons of posts ago.
The user shouldn't have the local admin account. But setting up a local admin account that you know the password to for recovery reasons is a good idea.
Yep, our local admin account is for device recovery/maintenance.
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@Dashrender said in Laptop Suggestions:
@NetworkNerd said in Laptop Suggestions:
My boss has an Inspiron 2-in-1 as others mentioned and really likes it. He has it connected to a DisplayLink dock to get dual monitors without having the laptop open.
Our CEO recently got the HP Spectre x360 and likes it (very similar to the Inspiron in my mind). He had to get it directly from HP. Priscilla in the Spiceworks community made that recommendation here - https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1762078-needing-a-recommendation-on-a-hybrid-laptop-tablet?source=recommended.
But I will warn you...in both cases these guys got laptops with 4K resolution. Something with Windows 10 Pro and scaling issues for certain applications (Adobe Reader, Chrome, MS Office applications) plagued them both for a while until we figured out to turn off custom scaling to bring things back to normal. With just the laptop, everything is scaled as it should be. But when connected to the dock, that is when the fun happened.
Good luck!
Why buy from HP instead of from MS Signature Edition?
Good question - I guess I didn't exhaust all my resources on this one before buying from HP. Next time I'll have to remember to check there as well.
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@NetworkNerd said in Laptop Suggestions:
@Dashrender said in Laptop Suggestions:
@NetworkNerd said in Laptop Suggestions:
My boss has an Inspiron 2-in-1 as others mentioned and really likes it. He has it connected to a DisplayLink dock to get dual monitors without having the laptop open.
Our CEO recently got the HP Spectre x360 and likes it (very similar to the Inspiron in my mind). He had to get it directly from HP. Priscilla in the Spiceworks community made that recommendation here - https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1762078-needing-a-recommendation-on-a-hybrid-laptop-tablet?source=recommended.
But I will warn you...in both cases these guys got laptops with 4K resolution. Something with Windows 10 Pro and scaling issues for certain applications (Adobe Reader, Chrome, MS Office applications) plagued them both for a while until we figured out to turn off custom scaling to bring things back to normal. With just the laptop, everything is scaled as it should be. But when connected to the dock, that is when the fun happened.
Good luck!
Why buy from HP instead of from MS Signature Edition?
Good question - I guess I didn't exhaust all my resources on this one before buying from HP. Next time I'll have to remember to check there as well.
I'm guessing the price wouldn't be any better, but at least the junk would be gone.
Though... that shouldn't matter.. you wipe them and load them clean, right
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@Dashrender said in Laptop Suggestions:
I'm guessing the price wouldn't be any better, but at least the junk would be gone.
Though... that shouldn't matter.. you wipe them and load them clean, right
Yep - that, and the CEO was chomping at the bit to order because the battery on his Surface Pro 3 was essentially gone (had to be hooked up to AC power constantly). Once he had a way to order, he took it.
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One of docs is considering the x360...
