Solid laptops for under R20,000 in SA

[Hanno Labuschagne]

Solid laptops for under R20,000 in SA

South Africans in the market for a new laptop have some excellent options to choose from without breaking the bank.

The most important factors users interested in buying a new laptop for business and everyday purposes should consider are processing speeds, battery life, size, and storage.

The MacBook Air is a great choice for people who are constantly on the move and don’t always have access to a power point since it has up to 14 hours of battery life. The M1 processor offers fast performance for a reliable and snappy experience.

 

[bwana]

The MacBook Air is a great choice for people who are constantly on the move and don’t always have access to a power point since it has up to 14 hours of battery life. The M1 processor offers fast performance for a reliable and snappy experience.

The MBA battery life is good, really good in fact, but I'm not convinced it's that good.

It is an impressive little machine though. Perfect for the on the go photographer who's not sure where his next 240v power point is coming from.

 

[Tech Guy SA]

The MBA battery life is good, really good in fact, but I'm not convinced it's that good.

It is an impressive little machine though. Perfect for the on the go photographer who's not sure where his next 240v power point is coming from.

Ive heard one guy getting 2 days of work done on them.

and it is possible the way apple has designed their batteries is very impressive. if the chipsets dont hog power its possible they in the passed had something like 10hours on a macbook pro (think was 15inch models) before touchbar etc.

 

[prod]

The MBA battery life is good, really good in fact, but I'm not convinced it's that good.

It is an impressive little machine though. Perfect for the on the go photographer who's not sure where his next 240v power point is coming from.

I think the 14hrs would be rated against basic things like web browsing and light work. For a typical workload day, I managed to get 10,5hrs and it still had 10% battery left, so could probably have squeezed it to 12hrs.

 

[bwana]

Ive heard one guy getting 2 days of work done on them.

and it is possible the way apple has designed their batteries is very impressive. if the chipsets dont hog power its possible they in the passed had something like 10hours on a macbook pro (think was 15inch models) before touchbar etc.

I think the 14hrs would be rated against basic things like web browsing and light work. For a typical workload day, I managed to get 10,5hrs and it still had 10% battery left, so could probably have squeezed it to 12hrs.

Fair points. I don't coddle the laptop when it's on battery like I probably should. The only power savings I do is disabling the keyboard backlight. I also use a small power bank when possible in order to conserve the life of the battery.

Realistically I'd probably only get 4-5 hours of work out of it, which is a lot.

 

[Kosmik]

Dell, never again. Terriable heat issues on their xps line, can't beleive the lower version would be any better.

 

[backstreetboy]

Dell, never again. Terriable heat issues on their xps line, can't beleive the lower version would be any better.

Never had any problems with their Lattitudes.

 

[Kosmik]

Never had any problems with their Lattitudes.

I got 8 in the field, all suffering with heat issues, all less than 2 years old.

 

[JuliusSeizure]

IMO, laptops under 10k should work for most people unless you are into gaming, programming or have an IT related career.

 

[leafhead]

I buy refurbished laptops and replace the OS with Linux. The only downside is that Linux tends not to go beyond 2-3 hours of battery life. But I can live with that due to the cost savings.

 

[Virex]

Only the MacBook Air doesn't link to Evetech. MyBB shilling for Evetech?

 

[Supernut77]

Saw this at Makro, seems like a pretty solid device and deal at R13k - Lenovo Ideapad 5:

 

[JuliusSeizure]

I buy refurbished laptops and replace the OS with Linux. The only downside is that Linux tends not to go beyond 2-3 hours of battery life. But I can live with that due to the cost savings.

I also got two second hand in the past year, one for myself and my Dad. The one I got for myself was from Bid or Buy and has some small but manageable issues while the one I got for my Dad is great.

Honestly, if you don't need any advanced specs, used or Refurbs are the way to go if you want to save money. Just make sure the seller has high ratings.

 

[RedViking]

Only the MacBook Air doesn't link to Evetech. MyBB shilling for Evetech?

Because they always the cheapest. For a reason of course.

 

[Bryn]

IMO, laptops under 10k should work for most people unless you are into gaming, programming or have an IT related career.

I'm not sure about that. Everyone wants:

• Reasonable speed
• Good battery life
• Good display
• Clear microphone
• Half-decent webcam
• Serviceable speakers
• Build quality that should last a few years

The MacBook Air is the best value I can see on the market for laptops. It ticks all the important boxes and will maintain a much higher resale value. The battery life is so good that you don't have to stress about a load shedding solution for your computer - just a cheap setup for the router. And you'll feel good in all your Zoom meetings knowing that your video feed is pretty good and the audio quality is outstanding. And having the option of AirPods that seamlessly shift between Mac and iPhone is awesome.

 

[Virex]

Because they always the cheapest. For a reason of course.

Evetech was a painful experience for me. I luckily got a refund, but that is a long story. I'll never buy from them again. They are skelm and MyBB is helping skelms by linking to them

 

[bwana]

• Reasonable speed
• Good battery life
• Good display
• Clear microphone
• Half-decent webcam
• Serviceable speakers
• Build quality that should last a few years

Quality trackpad is high right at the top on my list. Having used windows laptops though-out 2021 it is the one area sorely lacking.

 

[Bryn]

Quality trackpad is high right at the top on my list. Having used windows laptops though-out 2021 it is the one area sorely lacking.

Most Windows laptop users I know seem to mostly rely on a mouse, so a trackpad probably isn't a big selling point to them.

 

[Johnatan56]

• Serviceable speakers
• Build quality that should last a few years

So not a MBA? Or do you mean speakers that work fine, which most laptops have. Since if actual service, they're far from easy to fix/replace.

Quality trackpad is high right at the top on my list. Having used windows laptops though-out 2021 it is the one area sorely lacking.

Most modern trackpads on non cheapo devices on Windows are fine for the last few years if they use windows' drivers (and Lenovo's drivers are also decent).

 

[bwana]

Most Windows laptop users I know seem to mostly rely on a mouse, so a trackpad probably isn't a big selling point to them.

My [anecdotal] experience is different... but why do you think that is? Do you think it could be because they're rubbish? Would they become a priority if they were usable?