Nexus/Pixel of Laptops? Microsoft Surface I assume?

illumination on 20/01/2018 - 19:23

Is there a Nexus/Pixel equivalent for laptops? i.e. "clean Microsoft" experience with no bloat?

I assume the closest would be the Surface series? Surface Pro, Surface Book, Surface Laptop etc.

Whilst they are really nice and seem to be a really refined product, they're a little pricey.

I would also imagine it is not as important to get a "Nexus/Pixel" of laptops because it's relatively easy to format a computer and just reinstall clean Windows 10.

On a side note, I'm still rocking the Acer ES1-411-C1WD which was really popular here back in 2015. It's working ok, but I'm struggling to get it to operate properly and am finding it a little difficult to find support. Considering an upgrade but otherwise happy for this to just generate discussion!

Computing

Comments

  • Savas on 20/01/2018 - 19:29
    +3

    i don't think Surface Pro is expensive compared to a Nexus/Pixel

    • illumination on 20/01/2018 - 19:46
      +2

      I'd say Surface Pros are expensive compared to a Nexus (because they were relatively cheap, and were marketed as such). Maybe not that expensive compared to Pixels though.

  • Jonski on 20/01/2018 - 19:33

    google chrome book laptops man. usually ok price and stockish. nothing great on it (spec wise)
    sometimes cheaper other brands tho

    • Savas on 20/01/2018 - 19:43
      +2

      what can you do on a chromebook? use google, is there anything else?

      • Jonski on 20/01/2018 - 19:58
        +1

        not sure, never owned one. OP asked for google/nexus/pixel like.
        I personally would prefer a mid range acer/asus/lenovo

    • illumination on 20/01/2018 - 19:47
      +1

      Doesn't run Windows though right?

      sometimes cheaper other brands tho

      But cheap >$250 laptops are often really weak and most laptops tend to have bloat

  • Clear on 20/01/2018 - 19:50
    +3

    Surface range will give you a clean stock experience like the Nexus range, but you can't upgrade them like standard laptops easily and are expensive. Unless it's too much drama, buy a laptop from Lenovo or similar and reinstall Windows or uninstall the bloat?

    On a side note, I'm still rocking the Acer ES1-411-C1WD which was really popular here back in 2015.

    Same! Got that baby as a backup laptop with dual SSDs and extra RAM. Useful for a lot of things.

    • illumination on 20/01/2018 - 19:57
      +1

      Surface range will give you a clean stock experience like the Nexus range, but you can't upgrade them like standard laptops easily and are expensive.

      Admittedly I did not think about customisability or ease of upgrading but that's a fair point.. but I also feel laptops are generally not that easy to customise anyway? But I guess the point being that Surface would be the worse choice from this perspective!

      Unless it's too much drama, buy a laptop from Lenovo or similar and reinstall Windows or uninstall the bloat?

      Yea, that's what made me think maybe looking for a Nexus/Pixel equivalent in laptops is really not that important because with laptops you can pretty easily just format and reinstall Windows and it's all clean again. Doesn't require rooting/installing custom ROMS!

      Same! Got that baby as a backup laptop with dual SSDs and extra RAM. Useful for a lot of things.

      Haha oh cool - dual SSD?! How do you do that? Do you use the optical drive caddy? What else do you find it useful for? Are you using Windows 10 on it and have you been having any sort of driver problems? I have this problem with shutting it down/hibernating properly and with having windows updates install properly… but otherwise it has been great and is still working fine.

      • Clear on 20/01/2018 - 20:29
        +2

        but I also feel laptops are generally not that easy to customise anyway?

        Normally only RAM and SSD/HDD are customisable in a laptop. Many laptops these days have an additional SATA or M.2 slot.

        Haha oh cool - dual SSD?! How do you do that? Do you use the optical drive caddy? What else do you find it useful for? Are you using Windows 10 on it and have you been having any sort of driver problems?

        Yep using an optical drive caddy since it didn't have a DVD drive. It's running Windows 10 without any driver issues and updates install fine thanks to the SSDs. Mostly a backup laptop if I forget my work laptop or need to look up videos, recipes etc. on a bigger screen.

        I have this problem with shutting it down/hibernating properly and with having windows updates install properly… but otherwise it has been great and is still working fine.

        Are you on Windows 10? Fast Boot often causes Win10 machines to not shut down properly. It exists in Win 8 too.

        • illumination on 21/01/2018 - 00:56
          +1

          Normally only RAM and SSD/HDD are customisable in a laptop. Many laptops these days have an additional SATA or M.2 slot.

          That sounds fair enough - that's probably enough customisation for most people anyway.

          Are you on Windows 10? Fast Boot often causes Win10 machines to not shut down properly. It exists in Win 8 too.

          I am on Win 10, yes. Thanks so much for the link.

          Just tried it though and it didn't work :( It was on by default, so I turned it off. Then tried shutting down/restarting about 2-3 times. Didn't work. Turned it back on, and again, didn't work (just like before, basically).

          I did notice though that when fast boot was on (default), the screen itself would go completely off whilst the fan remained running. If fast boot was off, the screen would freeze on the "Shutting down" or "Restarting" blue screen.

          And now that you mention it, yes, I think I was experiencing this issue on Windows 8.

          The other issue that I just remembered I'm sometimes experiencing (which is probably the most annoying of all) is that there are times when I leave the laptop idle for something like 3-5 minutes. When I come back, the laptop has frozen and I'm forced to restart. It only seems to happen when it's idle - playing music/videos doesn't help.

          Sorry - not necessarily asking you for help but if you (or anyone else) happens to have any other possible solutions for any of my issues it would be greatly appreciated!

          However, these problems I've been experiencing are what has made me consider getting a new machine.. just that this is generally still working fine. Haven't seen any particularly good "cheap" (<$400) laptop deals here lately too.

        • Clear on 21/01/2018 - 14:50
          +1

          @illumination: I'd try shutting it down with power plugged in and battery disconnected. Would be interesting to see if any of those issues are present. Normally I'd blame the Win10 Creators Update, but if it's been happening since Win 8.1 it's either hardware fault or time for a fresh install.

          Very unlikely, but I'd test the hard drive too.

          https://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.ht…

  • akd on 20/01/2018 - 20:26
    +2

    I thought that Signature Edition laptops were without any bloatware, but I might be wrong.

    • illumination on 21/01/2018 - 00:56

      Ah that's true. I think that is correct. I recall them.

  • grrrr on 20/01/2018 - 20:58
    +1

    I like metabox laptops.
    My brother and a mate have bought them. Good laptops with excellent service.

    • illumination on 21/01/2018 - 00:57

      Interesting. Never heard of them. They look pretty solid, and look similar to Razers!

      Not cheap though =/

  • JimmyF on 20/01/2018 - 22:44
    +3

    "clean Microsoft" experience with no bloat?

    Get new laptop, do factory reset or a clean install.

    Hello bloat free.

    Or just uninstall all the crud.

    • illumination on 21/01/2018 - 00:59
      +2

      Yep. Which is why as I was typing the post up I thought, actually it's not that big a deal with laptops…

      Best way to uninstall the crud though? I've never personally tried. Personally I just go with the clean install route.

      I stumbled upon some software called PC Decrapifier but haven't used it. Looks interesting, but again I'd rather not install software to uninstall software when I've got the option of simply doing a clean install!

      • JimmyF on 21/01/2018 - 10:20
        +3

        Best way is head to the Add/Remove programs section and start to uninstall all the crap you don't want/need.

        https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/uninstall-programs-window…

        or press windows key & R to get the run box and type "appwiz.cpl" then press enter

        • Clear on 21/01/2018 - 10:32
          +3

          Agreed. Sometimes these uninstallers do more harm than good. Like running Revo on Chrome can actually prevent you from reinstalling it again.

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