Laptop advice

[Olorin]

So I'm thinking of buying a new laptop and I'm really confused (no surprise ). So many options out there. But what I've seen online that looks nice to me is the Asus Vivobook with an OLED display.

ASUS VivoBook 15 OLED K513EA-I71610S0W Core i7 11th Gen | 1TB SSD - Transparent Silver

Whether at work or play, ASUS VivoBook 15 is the compact laptop that immerses you in whatever you set out to do. Featuring a 15.6

www.computermania.co.za

However for the same price I can also get the Macbook Air M1 :

MacBook Air 13-inch | Apple M1 chip | 256GB - Space Grey

Buy MacBook Air 13-inch M1 Chip 256GB - Space Grey | iStore - The dedicated hub for all Apple products alongside the best Apple experience and exclusive services.

www.istore.co.za

This laptop is also very, very highly rated. But I'm unfamilar with Mac OS as I've been using Windows for years.

My use case is using Outlook, browsing, Office work and keeping tabs open. I'm not a graphic designer. I guess both options are probably wayyy overkill for what I need but I need my new laptop to last me a LONG time. My last laptop was an i5 HP laptop that was stolen, I bought a second hand Mecer laptop for 3K (has built in SSD drive at least) which has been serving me for almost 2 years somehow.

Any suggestions?

 

[RedViking]

Both looks good for your needs. Mac storage amount is a ripoff and a scam though, other than that should fine. Make use of online backups.

Personally I go with Dell XPS or Precision and 3 Year On Site Warranty. But our needs are different. I do not want to struggle with after sales support and warranty issues and I also do not want to go to a store to sort it out.

 

[bwana]

This laptop is also very, very highly rated. But I'm unfamilar with Mac OS as I've been using Windows for years.

The Air is a fantastic device with stellar battery life and OSX is a breeze to use. However 256gb is too small. My mother has that machine and we are constantly having to offload things just to update her OS. See if you can't get 512.

EDIT: plus with R100 worth of thermal pads you can give it a speed bump up to MacBook pro levels.

 

[Jean Claude Vaaldamme]

Both looks good for your needs. Mac storage amount is a ripoff and a scam though, other than that should fine. Make use of online backups.

Personally I go with Dell XPS or Precision and 3 Year On Site Warranty. But our needs are different. I do not want to struggle with after sales support and warranty issues and I also do not want to go to a store to sort it out.

How long will the Asus battery last, 5 hours?
And the Apple 22hours?
With all this load shedding that maybe more important than anything else.

 

[RedViking]

How long will the Asus battery last, 5 hours?
And the Apple 22hours?
With all this load shedding that maybe more important than anything else.

Yes, do your homework and make an informed decision.

 

[Olorin]

How long will the Asus battery last, 5 hours?
And the Apple 22hours?
With all this load shedding that maybe more important than anything else

****, I didn't know Apple lasted THAT long?? That's crazy battery life. I thought 5-6 hours was to be expected but over 20 hours is ridiculous, in a good way.

My current crap, second hand laptop has 128 GB SSD and somehow I've made it work by just applying proper storage management and deleting things I don't need. I reckon 256 GB will be more than sufficient for what I need.

I'm not planning on playing games or anything. It's just primarily for work, browsing and downloading stuff .

 

[Olorin]

Both looks good for your needs. Mac storage amount is a ripoff and a scam though, other than that should fine. Make use of online backups.

Personally I go with Dell XPS or Precision and 3 Year On Site Warranty. But our needs are different. I do not want to struggle with after sales support and warranty issues and I also do not want to go to a store to sort it out.

I just browsed online and looked at the XPS range from Dell. Looks beautiful but unfortunately wayyy outside my budget.

 

[RedViking]

I just browsed online and looked at the XPS range from Dell. Looks beautiful but unfortunately wayyy outside my budget.

Yeah I buy them as a demo or used and then I extend the warranty with Dell. After warranty expired you have zero support.

But there are many great options for your needs. Mac is good quality and good displays and quiet and good battery life. Just the storage that is a ripoff and a pain, enough for me personally not to get it as it will cause endless issues.

 

[prod]

****, I didn't know Apple lasted THAT long?? That's crazy battery life. I thought 5-6 hours was to be expected but over 20 hours is ridiculous, in a good way.

My current crap, second hand laptop has 128 GB SSD and somehow I've made it work by just applying proper storage management and deleting things I don't need. I reckon 256 GB will be more than sufficient for what I need.

I'm not planning on playing games or anything. It's just primarily for work, browsing and downloading stuff .

The M1 MBA is rated at 18hrs not 22, and in any event that's best case scenario when only browsing through Safari. Last time I tested mine I got to ±11hours with 10% to spare, this was doing some light dev work and browsing/watching videos etc. Still way more than any Windows laptop I've ever owned.

The build quality and touchpad will also be far superior to the ASUS, MacOS will be a bit of a learning curve if you're used to Windows, it's more akin to Linux. My suggestion, taking your requirements into account, is to 100% go for the MBA.

Edit: another to keep in mind, most Intel/AMD laptops will throttle when unplugged, but the MacBook will not, you get 100% power all the time (unless you're pushing it hard) ^^

 

[Olorin]

My only concern with Mac OS is .... I use Office and I have files on there. Is there an easy way to transfer my outlook pst file to Mac OS? Does MAC even have outlook?

I've never migrated to MAC OS so I dont know how easy or how complicated it will be.

 

[UrBaN963]

My only concern with Mac OS is .... I use Office and I have files on there. Is there an easy way to transfer my outlook pst file to Mac OS? Does MAC even have outlook?

I've never migrated to MAC OS so I dont know how easy or how complicated it will be.

Microsoft Office is available on the Mac, so you will have your usual software.

And yes, you can easily transfer the .pst.

Import a .pst file into Outlook for Mac from Outlook for Windows - Microsoft Support

Transfer email messages and other items by importing an Outlook data backup file from Windows to Mac.

support.microsoft.com

 

[Jean Claude Vaaldamme]

The M1 MBA is rated at 18hrs not 22, and in any event that's best case scenario when only browsing through Safari. Last time I tested mine I got to ±11hours with 10% to spare, this was doing some light dev work and browsing/watching videos etc. Still way more than any Windows laptop I've ever owned.

The build quality and touchpad will also be far superior to the ASUS, MacOS will be a bit of a learning curve if you're used to Windows, it's more akin to Linux. My suggestion, taking your requirements into account, is to 100% go for the MBA.

Edit: another to keep in mind, most Intel/AMD laptops will throttle when unplugged, but the MacBook will not, you get 100% power all the time (unless you're pushing it hard) ^^

Sorry, we have a Macbook pro, did not know the air has smaller battery capacity. Pro is rated for up to 22 hours.
But even 18hours on the air beat the Asus by far, That Asus 5 hours is probably also just for light browsing.

 

[W@P]

So I'm thinking of buying a new laptop and I'm really confused (no surprise ). So many options out there. But what I've seen online that looks nice to me is the Asus Vivobook with an OLED display.

ASUS VivoBook 15 OLED K513EA-I71610S0W Core i7 11th Gen | 1TB SSD - Transparent Silver

Whether at work or play, ASUS VivoBook 15 is the compact laptop that immerses you in whatever you set out to do. Featuring a 15.6

www.computermania.co.za

However for the same price I can also get the Macbook Air M1 :

MacBook Air 13-inch | Apple M1 chip | 256GB - Space Grey

Buy MacBook Air 13-inch M1 Chip 256GB - Space Grey | iStore - The dedicated hub for all Apple products alongside the best Apple experience and exclusive services.

www.istore.co.za

This laptop is also very, very highly rated. But I'm unfamilar with Mac OS as I've been using Windows for years.

My use case is using Outlook, browsing, Office work and keeping tabs open. I'm not a graphic designer. I guess both options are probably wayyy overkill for what I need but I need my new laptop to last me a LONG time. My last laptop was an i5 HP laptop that was stolen, I bought a second hand Mecer laptop for 3K (has built in SSD drive at least) which has been serving me for almost 2 years somehow.

Any suggestions?

Contact @Flashgear on the forum. He has good service and prices.

 

[Olorin]

Just browsed a thread on here regarding Mac repair costs and I'm a little worried. Apparently Mac parts are way more pricey than non-Mac. Like on a different level of price.

I guess if you want to play on a Mac you have to be prepared to accept the high cost if things go wrong.

 

[bwana]

I guess if you want to play on a Mac you have to be prepared to accept the high cost if things go wrong.

In my experience it's a big "if".

I suppose if you're concerned you could extend the 12 months of apple care that comes with it.

 

[SauRoNZA]

****, I didn't know Apple lasted THAT long?? That's crazy battery life. I thought 5-6 hours was to be expected but over 20 hours is ridiculous, in a good way.

My current crap, second hand laptop has 128 GB SSD and somehow I've made it work by just applying proper storage management and deleting things I don't need. I reckon 256 GB will be more than sufficient for what I need.

I'm not planning on playing games or anything. It's just primarily for work, browsing and downloading stuff .

You don’t need more than 256GB.

Especially if you make use of cloud services.

For that matter it’s only a thing if you are mobile and you could use external storage if you absolutely needed to but I have all of those sitting in a drawer somewhere.

For your use case it’s an excellent machine.

 

[SauRoNZA]

My only concern with Mac OS is .... I use Office and I have files on there. Is there an easy way to transfer my outlook pst file to Mac OS? Does MAC even have outlook?

I've never migrated to MAC OS so I dont know how easy or how complicated it will be.

Yes Office works the same on Mac.

And depending on which licence you have no you can likely just move over and re-download it and carry on with your life.

That being said now may be the time to switch away from offline email systems and make a clean break.

Embrace the cloud.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Just browsed a thread on here regarding Mac repair costs and I'm a little worried. Apparently Mac parts are way more pricey than non-Mac. Like on a different level of price.

I guess if you want to play on a Mac you have to be prepared to accept the high cost if things go wrong.

Difference is they don’t break.

Unless it’s physically and for that you have insurance (you did plan to insure it right?).

I have 1000+ in the field and if I have 10 failures in a year I’d be very surprised and pretty much they always have a big user related question mark and didn’t just magically break themselves.

 

[chrisc]

Had MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and ASUS. Now have Dell XPS with 512Gb SSD, 32Gb RAM. Battery lasts over 20 hours. Also bought a docking station for it. Has Windows 11 but I prefer to use Linux Mint on it

By far the best machine I have had in the past 12 years

 

[Flashgear]

Good morning @OP,

Drop me a PM and I can assist with a few options, nowadays any machine with a 12th gen CPU and 16GB RAM would more than likely be more than adequate for your needs Just depends on what other extras you like (4K Screen, Touch, Screen Size) but a simple Latitude would suffice with 3 years on-site warranty.